Cabin Fever

For years my parents have taken their bikes and spent weekends enjoying an area of Southern Minnesota. While we've all heard great stories about this little place, it wasn't until last weekend that we experienced it in person. The entire crew - Sam, Erin/Martin, Abby/Brian, us, and my parents traveled near and far to spend a couple of nights together in a cabin. During the day we went on bike rides, tubed the river, and visited the local restaurants. And the nights included campfires, of course. The kids loved it, and we're already looking forward to next year!

Abby and Mom.

Ella and Jack in the bike trailer.

Twins!

After he tried the lemon.

This may be my only bump shot from this pregnancy. Poor third child...

Off to do some fishing. You never know when you might need a helmet.

Ella made friends with the local dog.

He finally wanted to take his helmet off.

While biking on the trail, we came across this rattlesnake!

Easy riders.

Loving life on the top bunk.

Date Night

A few posts ago, we included pictures of Ella's Daddy Date. Well, Jack did not like being left behind, and requested a date of his own. To be fair, just because he's a boy doesn't mean he shouldn't get some man time with his old man. So when they rode the bus to Potbelly's for dinner (Jack's requests), Ella and I had a Mommy Date. She was so excited, she even picked out matching dresses, put on her date-night shoes, and requested a cell phone to put in her purse. We all had so much fun on our nights out!

Our matching dresses and purses.

This girl was hungry!

She ate that entire pizza, plus dessert!

A popsicle party on the front steps.

Ella had a run-in with a wasp, so they both sported facial band-aids.

Helping water the dirt.

Jack and Ella think Jack is ready to wear underwear. Mom isn't so sure...

Pretending to be cats.

Jack on his man-date at Potbelly's.

It wouldn't be a date without ice cream!

Ella took a real liking to our friends' little girl. She's really practicing to be a big sister again!

Remembering Grandma Nee-ma

It has been one month since my mom passed away and I felt like it was a good time to make a post in her honor. As expected, it was somewhat difficult to find photos of my mom as she was usually the one taking the photos. However, we were able to find a few photos from prior blog posts.  

It is nice to hear Ella talk about her favorite memories of Grandma Nee-ma and how much she misses her.  Ella likes to tell me that Grandma Nee-ma was the nicest person ever. As is evident in the photos below, my mom absolutely loved playing with her grandchildren and would do anything to make them happy.  

The first airplane ride!