MarketFest...Summer's Official Kickoff

At our house, summer officially begins on the first MarketFest night of the season. The weather was fabulous on Thursday night and we enjoyed music by Lamont Cranston, the bouncy house maze, face painting, and the company of good friends.


The kids take their stations watching for Dad to come home from work.





The bouncy house maze was at the top of Ethan's list. Mary Kate loved it, too.

The free face painting booth was next. Ethan chose a spider. Mary Kate chose a caterpillar, but would not let the lady get her paintbrush close to her face, so she got hers on her arm. Both arms actually. A caterpillar on each. Getting your face or arms painted makes a kid thirsty, so sno-cones were required.

After that, we settled in for some groovy music and stayed up way past our normal bed time. Ahh...summer is here.

Summer Days at the Lake

We've spent the last three weekends enjoying the sun, sand, and water at Grandpa Grilz's cabin on Lake Charlotte. Here are some highlights from our past few weekends.

Fishing with Dad...

Playing catch. Ethan's a pretty good shortstop. Quick to the ball and has a good arm.

Hanging out with Dad and Grandpa.

Mary Kate enjoys some quiet time with Grandpa...

She also loves to help Grandpa drive the boat.

On Saturday, we got the tube out and the kids took a ride with Dad.

It was Mary Kate's first tube ride. We were surprised when she told us she wanted to "go for a ride." We hadn't put her swim suit on because we didn't think she'd be interested in riding. Boy were we wrong! So she rode in her t-shirt and sweats.

"I Want a Speed Boat", "Ethan" and A Frog

Today was a big day for Mary Kate in the vocabulary domain. She's been speaking in sentences for the past couple of months and we've mentioned before how much she LOVES boats. Well, writing the word LOVE in all caps simply does not do her excitement justice when it comes to watercraft. Tonight, on our way to our monthly dinner at the Three Seasons in Mahtomedi, she was looking at all the boats out on White Bear Lake and proclaimed "I want a speed boat!" John almost had to pull over because he was laughing so hard. We're hoping she says it this weekend at Granpda's cabin. Maybe he'll buy her one.

Mary Kate's other big linguistic milestone today was saying "Ethan." Until today, she has simply called him "E." Her version of Ethan sounds like "Etan." Needless to say, big brother is thrilled.

If we get her saying "I want a speed boat." on video, we'll post it for your enjoyment.

Until then, here are some photos of Ethan and a new friend he found in the back yard. The frog spent two nights in a plastic box with airholes cut in the top, some water, a rock and some worms and insects. We set him (or her) free today so s/he could continue a happy life in the wild. Ethan shed some tears and spent quite a while saying "goodbye, Froggy" as his amphibious friend hopped off into the big blue yonder. But overall, he agreed that its best for frogs to live outside and not in a Rubbermaid container. Future frog friends will get to spend 2 nights in the luxurious green box and will then return to their day jobs of catching insects.

Mary Kate's Big Girl Bed

On Sunday afternoon, we dismantled the baby crib and Mary Kate made the official transition to Big Girl Bed Status. Mary Kate LOVES her new bed...the mattress and box springs are on the floor (to ensure head and spinal cord safety!). She is quite particular about the arrangement of her favorite blanket, her Sun Bonnet Sue quilt (made by Great Aunt Kate) and the baby dolls that she sleeps with.


The first night, she wanted to sleep with her dog and cat legos. We're not sure why.

Ethan helped her get snuggly before heading off to read books with Dad.

So far, the transition has been great. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Planting Strawberries

Ethan really wanted to grow strawberries, his favorite fruit, this summer. So we purchased a few plants and transplanted them to the deck last weekend. Every morning he runs out to look for ripe berries and so far he's enjoyed several. I'm not sure how they'll do on the deck...? We hope the birds don't get to them before E.

Como Conservatory and Curious George

Back in mid-April, we visited the Como Conservatory. I forgot to post these. The spring flowers were gorgeous and we had a fabulous time.

Curious George made an appearance for children's story time and we got to hear three CG stories. Ethan ran right up and give him a big hug. Mary Kate and Laura were content to observe from a distance.