The Adventures of the Sullivans and Sorensens

The week after we got back from Stormy Lake, Matt started work and we also had our first 'non-relative' visitors come to see us. Jen Sullivan is one of my best friends from when we lived in Des Moines and we hadn't seen each other for over a year and a half. Now that we are in the cities, it's only a 3 hour trip for us to see each other and we were long overdue. Jen and Ryan and their kids Elle (6 weeks younger than Sadie) and Wheaton (4 mos. old) came to visit us for the weekend and we had quite the adventures!

Before you scan through the pictures, or in case you already have, I have to set up the story of their first night here. We had just finished dinner on Friday night and told the girls to go upstairs and play (we have a loft area set up as a play area). After sitting and talking for awhile, I asked Wyatt to go upstairs and just check on the girls to make sure they were doing ok. He came back downstairs, crying, and saying, "Mommy, they are playing with my preschool stuff." I wasn't sure exactly what they were doing, but realized that they had gotten into his backpack that we had just put all his school supplies in in preparation for him starting school. Once I calmed him down and told him we could get more school supplies, I was able to get him to tell us exactly what it was that they were into. And that is when Jen gasped and Matt walked upstairs, while I got the camera........

They had gotten out his markers and drawn all over their faces, hands, feet, and the walls. Poor Jen was mortified and immediately started saying, "I'll buy you new paint, new carpet, everything. I feel terrible" as we assumed it was Elle's idea to open the backpack since Sadie had seen it sitting there for weeks and hadn't touched it.

When I looked at Sadie and said, "You know we don't draw on walls."

She replied with, "I didn't Mommy"

To which Elle quickly piped in proudly, "I drew on the walls!"

I quickly took as many pictures as I could while Matt started cleaning. And I could see the panic setting in with him as he was scrubbing the carpet--until he went to wipe it off the walls and exclaimed, "This washable stuff is amazing!"

Exactly! The only stuff a mother buys and the reason I wasn't also panicked.

But as you can see from the pictures, they had drawn all over their feet and consequently it was all over the carpet. So it did take quite a bit of scrubbing, but it ALL came out of the floor and walls AND the girls....

We spend Saturday at the Minnesota State Fair--the weather was beautiful, the food delicious, and the company couldn't be beat.

We have decided that Elle and Sadie are destined to have a great friendship, just like their mothers.

(We are at the top of the Giant Slide--all the way on the right)

Elle had already been to the Iowa State Fair a few weeks prior, so this was old hat for her. But my kids were pretty amazed by the live animals--notice Sadie's face in response to the pig snorting!

One other quick story.......on Saturday night we put the kids to bed so we could enjoy some time talking. After about 15 minutes, Ryan went upstairs to check and make sure Elle was okay. He was up there for a bit and then came back downstairs with a half-eaten jar of children's vitamins, exclaiming, "Elle was sitting in her bed eating these. Do you know how full this was?"

To which I replied, "Well, I just bought it yesterday"

We emptied the bottle and counted how many were inside as well as the few that Ryan got out of her mouth before she ate them and determined that she probably only ended up eating about 10-15 of them. We looked over the ingredients and determined it wasn't harmful to her (despite the fact that I daily tell my kids they can only have one in the morning otherwise they'll get sick).

Jen asked if there was anything else upstairs that she could get into and I thought, "Yeah, I don't put anything up high! My kids just aren't that adventurous."

Jen made sure she couldn't get in to anything else and we spent the next hour laughing about what had just happened.

We had an amazing weekend with Jen and Ryan and their kids and can't wait for another 'adventure' when we go visit them in Des Moines.

Stormy Lake

After being in our new home just over a week, we headed up to Matt's parents cabin on Stormy Lake. It was great to be able to get away from the boxes and never ending list of things to do at our new house. And this was probably the best year we've had up there for several reasons: 1. The kids were old enough to be able to really enjoy the beach on their own and I didn't have to watch their every move 2. We got to spend time with Matt's family as well as having my parents and sister up for a weekend and our good friends Andy and Missy and their son Daniel 3. We now live closer than we ever have and know we can come back as often as we'd like (as opposed to coming up once a year). And I can't help but take tons of pictures while we are up there because everything is so beautiful.....so here goes!

Kartway---it's tradition in Matt's family to go in to town one night and right the go-karts at Kartway and Wyatt had been talking about this since we went last year

Watching Daddy, Uncle Ty, Andy and Missy on the fast track

Race is on!

(Notice Wyatt's face as he was so worried about not getting his seatbelt on in time!)

Daniel's first ride on the skiboat

Miss No-Fear

She would stand at the back of the boat like this the entire time with no concerns, despite the sudden increase and decrease in speed

(Notice my hand holding on to her, which at times was not appreciated)

In past years, Wyatt has been terrified of the boat and would cry everytime we took him on it. But this year he not only came along, but actually enjoyed it and became the newest member of the 'boat crew'. He loved being able to toss the rope out to the skiers and pull it in.

And after watching everyone skiing all day, the kids loved to 'practice'. Despite Wyatt now being able to swim on his own, he still didn't want to try skiing this summer. I'm thinking next summer will be the year

Fishing with Pops and Daddy

Our last night up there was just the four of us and we really had such a great time. We went out for a boatride at sunset and just soaked in the beautiful creation around us.

(I had to include this last pic of Sadie showing her new baby doll "Kenya" how to drive the boat!)

We really had such an amazing time together as a family. No work, no projects on the new house, no TV or internet---it was much needed and much enjoyed.

Home Sweet Home

The kids and I flew out of Columbus on Wednesday, July 29th. Matt still had to work through the end of the month but the closing on our house was scheduled for the 30th, so the kids and I left early and I went to the closing solo. After the closing, I went to pick up at the kids at our good friends' house and take them to see the house (they hadn't seen it before). I was quite excited to show them their very own rooms and let them run around, but they were most interested in the park across the street from our house.

After a bit of coaxing and reassuring them that we could play at the park anytime, we walked in to our very own home for the first time.

Of course Mom and Dad's bathtub was much more appealing than their own!

Our stuff arrived the next morning and Matt got in that evening. So we were able to all spend our first night in our new home together as a family--amidst the mass of boxes! But in between trying to get everything unpacked, we managed to find time to also enjoy time as a family before Matt started work. And the park has been the #1 requested place to go---I am SO thankful that we are directly across the street from this huge park and our neighborhood is filled with great kids and great families.

I had to include this picture----Wyatt's reaction if he doesn't hit a perfect shot and Sadie's reaction (not bothered at all). We're working on teaching him that many things in life take practice but he struggles with not being able to do something correctly the first time he tries it.

We love our new home and new neighborhood. We couldn't have found a better place to be and we love visitors (hint, hint). We've already had several visitors and hope for more soon!