Girls Day!

It has become a tradition for my good friend and I to take our girls to American Girl for lunch. This time Sally (bitty baby) came along! We also celebrated the girls birthday with an ice cream at the end of our lunch! The girls were sooo cute dressed up alike. We wonder how many more years we will be able to pull that off!

Family Day!

It was a super fun family day for the Carlson's! We enjoyed a 5K run around Lake Harriet, Reindeer Run, in the morning! It was a beautiful course but a hard one with all the snow! It was not easy to push the stroller.
After the run we went home and got ready to go to see Santa! We went to the Mall of American with the Ames Family and had a blast!

Gobble Gobble

We were pretty excited this year that my grandma and grandpa came up for Thanksgiving! It was such a nice visit. We felt very lucky to have them come all the way from Illinois to visit! I am always proud of my turkey! Isn't it pretty!!

Monster Dash!

Oh a beautiful fall day our family enjoyed another Team Ortho Race! It was my final race in my Monster Race Series- a 10 mile race. I ran it with my friend Brenda. I was proud of myself that I completed the series! Rich and the kids took part in the 5K race along with Brenda's husband Bill. We plan on doing the race again next year!

Getting caught up

I am working on updating the blog.. I got a little behind due to a computer crash... and I guess just life in general. Be sure to check back to see other updates (you might have to scroll down to see posts as I add them. I am trying to keep things in order!

Until Later....
Melyssa

Shooting "Out of Town"

One morning Lylah decided she wanted me to take her photo and insisted we go out of town to do it. I told her her we can go to another town but what did she want to do. Over and over again she said Out of Town! It took me awhile-- with the help of Dayne-- to realize she wanted to go Downtown! We headed to one of my favorite spots, one I actually had taken Dayne to a month earlier to take some shots of them. I love this one because he spotted the yellow railing and said "Hey mom- that will look cool in a photo" and ran and said like this all on his own. He is becoming my model! Plus a very good helper!Such a sweet shot.... My babies..... they bring me so much joy... Love you! XOXO

Cold Weather Fun... during the summer

We grabbed our sweatshirts and sharpened our ice skates and headed to the local ice rink. Wait a second... isn't it summer you might ask. Yup...it was a over 90 degrees that day... we live in Minnesota... the State of Hockey.. we ice skate in the summertime. Ha! Now we have never actually gone skating in the summer before- but there is a first time for everything! Our neighbors planned a trip to the rink during open skating and we thought we would give it a try. I have skates of my own and I had actually gotten skates for the kids from students of mine. Many of the boys play hockey so summer ice time isn't to crazy but it was the first time for Dayne and Lylah and they did pretty good. They lasted longer than I thought- about 30 minutes. Dayne said he would do it again so I took that as a good sign. Happy Dayne- upright!
I actually really like to ice skate but it is not easy with the kids. I ended up having to carry Lylah at the end while I tried to skate a little!

Happy Lylah-- she never really got upright- but she said she liked it!

Hot Days!

There is nothing better on a hot summer night than a water park!! After Dayne attended a birthday party at a local water park he wanted to go back. We decided give in to his begging one evening to take advantage of the twilight admission and a coupon... that would make my mom proud! ha! Lylah is finally getting into going on the smaller kids slides so she had a blast. Dayne wasn't quite tall enough to go on the big slides- a huge bummer to him. We might have to hold off going back again until he is tall enough for those! Water pouring on his head! He loves the water!
Lylah and I

Rich and Dayne

Wheeeee Look at me momma!! Lylah went down the slide OVER AND OVER again!!

Day Out With Thomas

Rich took the kids on a VERY special trip! To see Thomas the Train. They LOVED IT! Thomas the Train pulling the coach cars.

The kids looking out the window at the sights!

There were many different activities for the kids to do. Dayne is showing off his new tattoo!

Waiting for the little train ride to start!

They had a really cool suds machine.

And of course they play with a Thomas Train Set.

Take me out to the ball game!

Dayne played coach pitch baseball this summer. It was great to see him on the team. I am not sure if baseball is something he will do in his future- he needs a little more practice! But it was great to watch him play and see him grow. He was on a team with many of his neighbor friends so that made it even better!

SWING!

Here some the ball!Run Dayne!!A Happy Camper! He made it on base! This is the reaction we like to see. If he didn't make it on base he would pout! =(Yippee! Made it all the way home! The Scrappers!

Very proud of his trophy!

Bringing back Memories

It is funny how old childhood feeling come back to you. Mine came back to me on a trip I took to Maryland for my cousins wedding. I was a lucky gal that traveled A LOT as I was growing up. I don't really remember all the places we visited. I know I have a sweatshirt filled with patches that tell me where I went- but I don't really remember them. But I do remember the feelings I had. Traveling was always a little stressful. My dad worked for United Airlines so we always flew standby. Sometimes waiting a long time at airports.... but it was worht it...back then traveling was actually fun! We usually flew first class..cheese and cracker carts, meat sliced right in front of you, the ice cream cart... ahhh now that was the life. Now you are lucky to get a glass of water!

But I digress.... My sister and I flew out together to DC where we met our parents. Ahhhhh flying in silence with no one asking you anything or climbing on you... it was wonderful! My hubby and kids stayed back visiting his family. My parents met us at the gate since they just came on a plane from Arizona... Just walking in the airport with my parents brought back all kinds of odd memories. Ha! Then driving with them.. oh my! My mom had to use the GPS AND a map..... what the heck!! It was something.... but that is a whole other story! ha!

I always love that part of the country with the green hills and curving roads. We took some time to go to the Great Falls before my cousins beautiful wedding. It was beautiful... I wish I had brought my good camera instead of the point and shoot because there was some GREAT shots to take!Mere and I..... Three generations... My mom, grandma, and my sister and I.

The wedding was beautiful and it is always fun to spend time with family I don't get to see very often. My cousin was beautiful! My Aunt Beth, Lynn my cousin, and my Uncle John

Yummy cupcakes!!! I had to try each one! ha ha!

All in all it was a nice trip.... I realized how much I LOVE to fly, even if there isn't an ice cream cart anymore.... I wish I could do it more.

Tubing!!!

We went to our good friends cabin this past weekend. The kids had a blast! It is so much fun! Of course the minute we got home they asked when we were going to go again.

I have lots of photos to post but I just had to share this video of Dayne tubing. He totally loved it!!

More photos to come later....

4th of July

Yet another tradition. We seem to have a lot of those. With the neighborhood we live in there are lots of events we do each and every year. Gotta love that! For the 4th of July we have a kiddie parade where the kids decorate their bikes/scooters and we walk down the road and the kids get a treat at the end. The parade is followed by fun at our clubhouse with bounce houses and a dip in the pool. We have a picnic dinner of fried chicken and sides to end the fun family day. It is fun to visit with neighbors and enjoy time together!

I love this photo- caught him mid-air!

A holiday isn't complete if we don't take some photos!

We ended the fun 4th of July weekend with some snacks at the neighbors before we watch the fireworks!

Ready for the show!

Here is the little group we sat with!

Hope you had a great 4th! We did!!