Down…

Today, I said goodbye to an old friend. Not really a friend in the  lets talk soon sense, but something that has been a mainstay in my visual life for as long as I can remember: The Gage Towers.  I never lived in Gage (Crawford was much nicer and with only 4 floors there was no elevator drama) but nevertheless, felt a tug at my heartstrings seeing it go down.

I’m not going to lie, watching it come down was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life. The sound of the dynamite detonating was chest rattling and then just watching it fall so quickly, was truly awe inspiring.  I admit, it’s still a shock to drive by and see the rubble in a pile where two towers should be (you know, because I’m not up to date on the blog, it’s been over a month.)

 

This isn’t my video, mine is wobbly and has lots of people standing in the way.  When we got home after the implosion and the videos were all that was on my facbook feed (from every angle imaginable) we watched them and Jack absolutely loved it. In fact, he still talks about “building go boom boom boom” a lot.  Both kids thought it was a very cool thing (and want to watch more buildings fall.)

Sweet!

At least the bath tub was awesome (and less noisy than the pool!)

Birthday extravaganza

We had an exciting birthday weekend for Jackson (and Lauren of course enjoyed it as well.)  We were supposed to be in Duluth for the weekend but were not able to go as Grandma Pat was quite sick (and with Grandmas marathon happening, there were no available rooms.) Instead, we took a weekend trip to the cities.  We started in Shakopee at Jumps and Downs.  Both kids have been there before but it was a great time even for a repeat visit.

Later, we visited our favorite park in Bloomington.  We didn’t realize they had a little lake with rentals during our previous visit.  This time we did though, so we took a paddleboat out for a spin.

Then, it was playtime. Lauren loves the fact that the park has ‘misters’ spraying water, so she’s always soaked (but happy!) After some playtime we checked into our hotel (Radisson Blu-attached to the MOA) and then headed out for some dinner and IKEA.

Ole!

Finally, it was time to swim in the saline pool.  We didn’t enjoy it (who builds a hotel without a hot tub.) Plus, it was incredibly loud in there.  Overall, the hotel was nice and upscale, but I don’t think we’d book it again (even though it was attached to the MOA.)

Happy Birthday Sprouty!

Yaaay for me!! I finally remembered to bust out the you are special today plate that I made hmmm, about 3 years ago.

Haircut sprouty

This poor little guy sweats horribly in the heat.  We honestly should buzz his hair but I’m not quite at that point yet.  His new haircut courtesy of Daddy and the clippers turned out better than expected.  Next time it’ll be perfect! ;)

Birthday Party fun

We had Jackson & Lauren’s birthday party today. Lauren has asked for a friend party so that lucky girl is getting two celebrations this year. I didn’t make the cakes, a friend of mine did as she is just starting a cake decorating business.  I did however, make the cookies and the rest of the food.

Here we are seeing how many kids you can fit into our fun playhouse.   It was a lot!!  We were super excited that our old friends (who moved to Chicago 3 years ago now) were in town and could make it to the party.  We sure do miss them.

This photo accurately describes Lauren and Jackson’s hot/cold relationship. 

They both received a bunch of fantastic gifts and had a good time playing with their friends.

Hulk smash!!!             Jack and Great Grandpa Jack had a fun time shooting arrows in the house.

Happy Anniversary

All of our babysitters are gone on vacation right now, so we brought the kids out to dinner with us.  I meant to have someone take a family photo but totally forgot.

The turtle races

I lived in Windom for my entire life and never participated in the turtle races.  It’s hard to find a turtle.  This year, I thought we’d find one for sure as I remembered to start looking a couple of weeks in advance (instead of a couple days like usual.) No luck!  However, a kind friend offered to let us “borrow” one of their turtles (since they run the race in multiple heats.)  It worked out perfectly (minus the craptacular weather of which we were ill-prepared for.)

It’s almost time…..                                                                         Go turtle go!!!!

Jack was not as impressed with the turtle and dropped him. Poor abused little guy!

Being dropped may have had something to do with the speed in which he traveled.  He was a slow turtle during his first two races, but during his 3rd and final race he was speedy gonzales and lost by just a nose.

You can see here it was quite the exciting race as Kevin is mid-cheer in this pic.  But, alas, it was not meant to be.  Maybe next year!  It was about this time that we learned that the parade was cancelled for the evening and everything was washed out due to the rain. :(  I guess we should have gone out last night, huh?

Riverfest Fun run

Lauren ran the 1 mile race this morning.  It was a very small group running the one mile.  This is the longest distance yet for beanitude but she did it!

Yaaay we did it.  OOps I didn’t realize my hand was in front of Lauren’s face.

Then, it was time for the wacky races.

Riverfest

We headed to Windom for the weekend to celebrate Riverfest.  The kids (and daddy) did some hardcore playing at the park before fireworks.

last year                                                                                                    this year

(I just thought it was funny as I was basically wearing the same sweatshirt as last year, love my scuba hoodies!!) PS I like last year’s hair color better, lol!

We enjoyed the fireworks with Michael (as we typically do) and agreed that we were too tired to go out on Friday night and would go out on Saturday night instead.  Big mistake, never put off fun until tomorrow when you can have it today.

Last day of kindergarten

1st day on the left/ last day on the right

I couldn’t resist this one!

Lauren with her BFF (and our neighbor) Rosie.

Happy National Running Day

I took the bean out for a run with me tonight in celebration of national running day.  She insisted upon the headband and my amphipod for when she was thirsty.

Bakin’ with the beanitude

 

I wish my ipad had a self timer for photo taking. I can’t even remember what we were baking here, I need to do a better job of keeping this up to date.