Our Weekend!

We had a jam-packed weekend of FUN!  I'm going to try and keep this to mostly photos because I have so many of them.  I had a work dinner on Friday night, but I was able to sneak away for a bit to see Andy and the kiddos, who had a little dinner picnic at the park.

One Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to pick strawberries!  I am confident that Joshy ate more than he picked (by a long shot) but even Genevieve got to enjoy a few berries.  

We snuck in some haircuts for the boys on our way home.  Look how handsome they look!

After a quick nap, it was time for Hannah and Emily's birthday party.  I didn't take a ton of photos, but rest assured the boys loved playing with the big kids and eating cupcakes. 

Sunday was Father's Day!!  We have some pretty great dads in our lives, so of course we had to celebrate!  Our sitter made the cutest Father's Day gifts with the kids.  These 3 kiddos absolutely adore their daddy!  We are all so blessed to have him our lives.   

Our first stop was our annual breakfast by the lake with my grandpa!

Next stop was the Wildlife Center. Andy had never been before and he LOVED it!  It was such a fun trip!  We rented a golf cart and fed a ton of animals.  The boys were a little scared at first, but by the end they were both so brave!  Even Genevieve got excited about the animals!

Last but not least, we went to Andy's parents' to grill out for dinner.  It was the perfect ending to a fabulous weekend!  And Papa John and Nana got home from Spain on Sunday as well, so the kiddos were happy to have them back.  We are counting down the days until we close on our house!  So much to look forward to!

Weekend Recap: Road Trip!

We took our first little family road trip this past weekend!  I think 2 hours is the longest that we had all spent in the mini-van at one time until now.  To be honest, I was totally dreading the drive, mostly because Josh doesn't love being in his carseat for that long, but I was pleasantly surprised.  We picked up Ben from Vacation Bible School, had a quick lunch at Culver's, and we were on our way!

I think both boys napped for about an hour in the car, but they were otherwise up and looking for entertainment!  Josh is still rear-facing so he couldn't see the TV, not that he really watches TV, but he was still at an entertainment disadvantage!  He read books and colored….and snacked on his feet. :)

Look at those tears of happiness to be out of his carseat at one of our breaks!  We made it there in about 6 hours, including some traffic and 2 stops.  I sat in the back next to Josh for awhile so I could keep him entertained.  It was tiring but there really weren't too many tears.  Ben only asked how much longer about three thousand times.  "Is 4 hours a long time?" Hehehe

The first night of sleep at the hotel was rough.  Little sleep was had by all, but they were up with the sun (of course!) and wanted to locate the hotel pool ASAP!

I had a conference all day on Saturday, so the boys had a boys' day!  After breakfast, they checked out the Mall of America or the "mall with games" as Ben called it.

They even had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Meanwhile, I was learning all about spina bifida with some co-workers.  :)

After my conference, Ben wanted to go back to the mall with games to show it to me.  :)  I did not resist!  Ben bravely went down this giant water ride.  I thought he was going to be afraid and terrorized  afterwards, but he wasn't!  Though he didn't want to go down again.  ;)  My dad and I used to go to the Mall of America on "black Friday" every year and we would always go on this ride, so it was fun to go back again, even if I was too pregnant to ride!

So happy to see daddy again after they went on a train ride with just me for about 45 seconds.  They love that guy!

Thankfully, night #2 of sleep was better than night #1.  Probably because everyone was beat!  I was up early with Josh and we headed to the lobby so as not to wake up the other 2.  Joshy enjoyed waving to all of the people who get up early to go running.  That used to be me.  Sigh…

We packed up and hit the road nice and early!

We made a stop at a beach for a little break.  It was perfect!!  We stopped at the dollar store and got some toys and the boys could not have been happier.  

We were home by dinner time and were more than ready for a nice sleep in our own beds!  I had taken off on Monday, so we decided to go strawberry picking, one of my favorite summer activities.  I'm getting too tired to pick out the best pictures, so I'm just going to post a bunch of them.  :)  Yes, they are mostly of Josh, but Ben isn't as in to pictures these days.  Plus Ben wasn't as messy of an eater as his little bro.  However, he certainly was in years past!  Like here in 2014 when he was even wearing the same hat that Josh has on in these pictures.  And look at Joshy trying strawberries for the first time last summer.  Time goes way too fast!!

Andy had to work the rest of the day, but I had so much fun hanging out with my boys.  Oh to be able to be home with them more often!  Looking forward to a fun holiday weekend with my family!  Also, hoping to take some 18 month pictures of Josh, finally!