Fall in photos

Starting with Cade's Birthday way back in September! (Look how cool of parents we are, we've got the Zhu Zhu's!)

First day of Pre-school-

Apple orchard-

Corn Pit at the Green Barn-

Halloween-

Bike trip at Bunker-

All the cousins-

Photo overload

We've been busy. Here is the short list:
Planting gardens
Visiting the cabin
Celebrating birthdays
Throwing parties
Visiting cousins
Enjoying the outdoors
Being completely potty trained (Yup, even at night!)
Swimming lessons
Art Fairs
Fireworks
Boat rides
Picking strawberries and flowers
Mix in a few tantrums and thats our summer so far!


Andrew's 30th surprise party set up!


Baby turtle at the cabin!




As close as we could get Trash to the water...


4th of July







Princess-

It's Official

Genevieve is done with diapers! (Ok, except at night-but she has nap time down!)
She has been for a few weeks now, but with Eve we never know if we're going to jinx it!
Yay Genevieve!

March and April...

About 2 weeks ago Andrew and I left the kids behind and traveled to the Big Island. The flight in was long, too many transfers, but we made it in an hour early which is apparently pretty unheard of! We grabbed our rental car, found our adorable hotel, got a beer, and ate Taco Bell! (Even though there was a 20 minute wait (with three other people in there) for food...?)
The next morning we woke up and drove to Volcano National Park. About a 3 hour drive from Kona.



The weather is crazy on the big island. In Kona is was always 78' and beautiful. The rest of the island, you never knew what you were going to get. Rainy one minute, sunny and hot the next. But we weren't in MN, so it really didn't matter!
This is the closest we got to any real flowing lava...



You used to be able to walk through this crater, but a few weeks before we came it decided to open up a little bit more! The day before we got there it was throwing out 3 meter wide rocks, and broke the viewing fence. Half the park was closed because of all the sulfur dioxide gas.


After our day at Volcano we made a slow drive home. Visited a winery, ate a fabulous lunch, then went to a Black Sand beach and saw our first (ahem, dead) Sea Turtle! (Don't worry, we eventually found live ones near our hotel!)



Then we went to South Point, driving down crazy, narrow, hardly paved roads. We walked along the edge for awhile looking for the Green Sand Beach, but it was getting late and the sun sets very early in HI, so we never found the actual beach-we did see a lot of green sand though!
We also watched some locals fish and tried not to fall over from the wind.


We did a fantastic hike into Waipio Valley. We walked down a 25% grade road to Hi'ilawe Falls. Then we wandered the valley and the road doesn't get much better.


This was the nicer part of the road with lines cut in it for traction.



Once in the valley the road crossed the river many times. Usually it was ankle deep and calm. This time it was thigh high and raging rapids. The first time we crossed it we had the thrill of a tour bus watching us. The bus turned around and went back up...we kept going.


We were also told that mosquitoes were thick in the valley- we laughed at the guide, especially when I only had to brush one off of me the whole time!


We also visited Hilo, and saw the beautiful falls around the town.



Half-way through the trip we were starting to go through kid withdrawal. Luckily our friend Holly, her husband Jason, and their two ADORABLE daughters came from Oahu to visit us! We headed back to VNP, and loved every minute of it!




The VOG rolls in. Yuck.


Holly and I split a delicious volcano cinnamon roll.


We took a lot of hikes, and for once we actually did one twice! The first time, we really had no idea what we were getting into. (We had no idea it was a 2 hour hike, full sun, blah blah blah.) The second time we were a little more prepared and brought our snorkel gear to swim in Kealakekoa Bay.


The trail was all lose volcanic rock too...


The snorkeling was beautiful and we had a great time, until I accidentally hit a sea urchin with my heel.



The wound. It doesn't look that serious but I probably pulled out 20 barbs in the hotel room and I could feel even more. Not to mention that they release venom which makes you light headed and short of breath and we had a 2 hour hike up a hill to do! I'm still limping in the mornings and we've been home for over two weeks. (Just needed to prove how tough I am...)


On our last day we explored the Kohola coast and all the fancy resort villages-which made me love our hotel even more! But we enjoyed shopping, eating, and more beautiful views!

Out last hike was Polou Valley. It was pretty quick, but very painful! The bottom was another black sand beach, and full of make-shift swings from old ropes.


Our flight home was long and late. We missed one plane and had to run through an airport to not miss another. But we were thankful to be home and for such a wonderful trip.

So, we got home and got right to work. Of course the house needed sweets, so Eve and I worked on that!



Cade and Andrew put together a smaller bike for Cade until he grows into his new one.



The kids and I spent a morning at the Macy's Flower show. The best part was the sleeping cat (See the chair behind them) and the cookie at the end.


Easter Eggs! They made awesome eggs this year.




And now the weather has been beautiful and we've been outside every minute we possibly can be! Cade has been loving the Spring Yard cleanup!





The kids got three Easter's! First the Bunny came to our house. Both kids woke up and instantly started spotting eggs. Thankfully we only put a few Jelly Beans in a couple because Eve had them GONE before breakfast!




The kids got all dressed and ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa R's, then Andrew decided Eve needed her nails painted!


Forgot the camera at the second Easter...
Then we grabbed a nap, and later headed to Grandma and Grandpa S's house for more eggs and the annual trap shoot.

Hello?

Well, we haven't dropped off the face of the planet, yet! But since I have posted in, well, 2 months, prepare yourself for a lot of photos. We'll start with the most recent and work our way back!

Last weekend Andrew and I took the kids to the Edgewater Water park in Duluth. We had planned to start the day at the aquarium and then swim, but because we got such a late start we just grabbed lunch, checked in early, attempted a nap, then swam till well past bedtime.



Pizza dinner on the floor!


This was at probably 6 in the morning. We woke to Eve helping Cade go to the bathroom-there was no sleeping after that!


Except an attempt by Daddy.







After we packed up and started driving, I gave the kids some animal crackers- they didn't even make it to Eve's mouth before she fell asleep! Cade was out 5 minutes later.


The weather has been pretty nice lately too! So the kids have been enjoying being able to play outside for more than 5 minute at a time! We spent an afternoon making forts, following deer trails, rolling down hills, and teasing the dog.




King of the mountain!



We celebrated Chris's birthday a few weekends ago. I love having all the cousins together to play- Though this time I set up a huge "art" table with markers, crayons, playdoh, and more, so that hopefully they could play "quietly" together rather than just run around-which eventually happened!!




Yes, we still have Trash. An though sometimes he is a little hyper, he does have his moments where he loves laying with the kids and lets them (I mean Eve) get away with anything!





Yes, I actually let them do this...


And how could I forgot, Eve turned 2 at the beginning of the year!
Her prized possession: The Hut Baby




Just waiting for the party to start!



We had an ice cream social for her party. Even her Godmother Briana came down to celebrate!
(Speaking of birthday's I just ran across Thank you letters that I wrote, but obviously NEVER sent out! Maybe we'll combine them with another holiday! But Thank you, Eve loved all her presents from a new Grandma Jean pillow case to Money to new books and games!! THANKS!)






And here is Cade's view of the world in the last few weeks! Funny half the photos on his camera were taken when he should have been sleeping...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas has come and gone, the New Year is almost year, the flu has run through this house 2 times in the last 2 weeks, and my baby is almost two. Wow.
Cade got an early Christmas present...ice skates. He has been out once and we hope to take him again soon, he had a blast.


Andrew cut down a full size tree for us and brought in the top of it! It was prefect!



We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa S's house. Cade was sick the night before so he took it easy watching Polar Express.


Eve waiting for present's after dinner...


She knew there was a few "BIG" presents that were hers!


She is all about babies right now, she hasn't stopped pushing the stroller around with one of her many new babies in it!


Christmas chaos...




After going home that night the kids put out cookies for Santa and even checked the window's to make sure it wasn't flying by!







Check it out...Cade Skywalker-


Baby #1...


Cade's new bike-




After naps (yes somehow we got them to nap on Christmas) we headed to Grandma and Grandpa R's house. Eve sucked down as much egg nog as she could!


We've gotten so big the living room is now the dining room!


The cousin's sing Christmas carols





Total Chaos...


At the hotel after the farm. Unfortunately Cade wasn't feeling the best the first day at the farm, and the second day Eve got sick again...make it stop!


Cade got a camera for Christmas...

Here are some "best of" Christmas photos from Cade's point of view:

Halloween

Halloween preparations...Genevieve found a pirate wig and lived in it for a day. Maybe next year...



On Halloween we headed to Jilly's school for a parade. Then we were off to the Zoo for trick or treating!
Cade, my orangutan, had fun pretending to eat Genevieve all evening.
They came up with their costumes by themselves. Cade said he wanted to be a monkey again, and Eve looked right at me and said "Nana!" Then Cade said, "Yeah and I can eat her!"


They all had to touch the snake.





On Sunday we got to celebrate Madeline's 3rd birthday at Adventure Park!
The kids played, ate pizza, cake and ice cream and had a great time!





After a much needed nap, Genevieve got her first motorcycle ride and she was WAY into it, which kind of scares me. I thought she'd just want a little ride around the yard, but they went up and down the road and apparently she was yelling "faster, faster"...Hmmm...