The Beach

I LOVE summer time and the beach. I am so glad my girls seem to love it as much as I do. This awesome beach is in Sheboygan WI. This was just a great Saturday that we got to spend together at the beach.

Lilly and I

A few weeks ago I was in real need of a pedicure. I hate going by myself to the salon so I decided to take my little buddy Lilly. Lilly was excited to go on a special date with me despite the look on her face. (I think she gets sick of me always taking pictures.)

Lilly loved the bubbles during the foot soak. But the scrub really tickled.

I loved being able to spend a little time with Lilly. I am amazed at how fast she is going up. I pray that we can always be buddies.

4th of July

With the 4th of July being on a Sunday this year we celebrated on the 3rd of July. We went to a fun little parade in the next town over called Grafton. We all love parades!

In the afternoon we took the girls to the movie Toy Story 3 with our friends the Sessions. I was nervous about the girls making it through the show. They did amazing. Lilly thought the show was so funny and Kate even sat and watched it.

After the movie we had a nice BBQ. It is great having good friends. We then headed to lake Michigan to watch fire works with the O'Neills. Milwaukee puts on quite a show. In fact it was almost to long.

We had such a great and long day! My girls are such troopers. Ryan and I love to go, go, go. The girls keep up with us pretty well. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Strawberries

We are lucky to have great farms and orchards so close to us. Lilly saw her favorite cartoon friend "Caillou" go strawberry picking and she has been asking to go ever since. At the end of June I finally took the girls strawberry picking before the season was over. Let me just say we had a blast! Kate thought they looked so good that she just could not resist and kept eating them. She also kept throwing them back almost as fast as I could pick them. Lilly got the vision and was a great little strawberry picker.

Lilly was very proud of our strawberries. Everyone that came by got to see our strawberries. Kate was not so helpful. She was trying to put them back the whole time.

Proud Lilly!

Kates favorite part of the whole thing was the dog that was there. She really loves animals. It was hard to get her to say good bye to the dogie.

High Cliff Triathlon

I am a little back blogged. Back in June Ryan completed his first triathlon. I was so extremely proud of him. Two years ago Ryan started talking about and researching triathlons. Honestly I never thought he would actually do it. Not that I didn't have faith in him but it was a tall order. I just couldn't see it happening. Well June 19 2010 Ryan did it! He completed a 1/4 miles swim. (With the choppy water he ended up running through the water rather than swimming most of it.) Then was a 22 mile bike trek. And he finished things off with a 5k (with a good size hill). What an accomplishment! We stayed the night before the race in Appleton WI. Needless to say the kids did not sleep well in the hotel and we were up most the night. We then got up bright and early because Ryan had to be to the race by 5:30 am.

Here he is after getting painted with his numbers 1082. (I guess this is to be able to identify him).

Supportive and proud family.

Ryan's home teaching companion and friend Nate did the triathlon with him.

Ryan pumped and ready for the swim.

Swim completed now time for a bike ride.

22 mile bike ride done.

Time to start running. They had to run up a huge hill. I would not have made it!

The finish line! I have to say I was nearly in tears when Ryan came across the line. He had been training and working for this for a long time. He has lost 63 pounds. He is so dedicated to his training. It has really helped me lose my weight. He completed the race in 1 hour 46 minutes. (His goal was 2 hours)

Congratulation Ryan! I am so sorry I ever doubted you. You are amazing and dedicated!

Utah in June

I got a bonus trip to Utah this year. My mom had surgery where they placed a device to fix a hole they found in her heart. (It is called patent foramen ovale (PFO)). She was very lucky that they even found the hole. Her surgery went really well. And she seems to being recovering great!

We loved the excuse to come see family and that is mostly what we did. I did get to see a few friends. I loved being able to catch up with them.

Here are a few highlights of our trip.

The kids picnicking with Grandma.

Left to right

Easton, Savannah, "Amma", Kate and Lilly

This was maybe my favorite moment. My mom just retired from teaching school for the last 32 years. She used to keep her guitar at school and sing with her first graders but now she plays for us!

I love a fire even on a hot summer night. The roasted marshmallows never tasted so good.

We had a few rainy days. To beat the rain we took Lilly and Kate to the play area in the mall and let Lilly ride the carousal.

The Grandpa's took the girls fishing at a little fishing pond. I think Lilly like feeding the fish more than anything.

Kate giving Cash kisses.

Ring around the roses.

Madie and Lilly had a lot of fun together.

All in all we had a fabulous trip!

Kate turns 1.

Kate's birthday started out by introducing her to her new car seat. She loves it and I love it because she is so much happier in the car.

Later that day Kate went to her 12 month check up. She is 90% for height and 25% for weight. She is a very healthy active girl! Although those darn ears are still giving her troubles.

Next we went with Daddy to get Kate's birthday present. We decided to get her a build a bear because she is always stilling Lilly's beloved "Fluff" the bunny. I was worried that Kate was way to young for such and experience but she had fun.

Meet "Cupcake". Lilly helped with the name.

Later we opened a few gifts. A zuhu pet and some balls. (Kate just loves balls)

For Kate's special dinner I made her favorite steamed vegi's! Really they are the only thing I can always count on her eating.

As tradition in our family Kate got her very own cake.

And the family cake.

Kate was not sure about her cake.

But once I gave her a spoon everything was better!

She started out being very proper in her eating but it did not last for long.

Happy Birthday Kater!!! We are so happy to have you in our family!