MN State Fair

We headed to the State Fair on Saturday (along with 189,072 other people - see Fair attendance here). It was Johan's birthday and we had a great time celebrating at the fair. My family all met up for a few hours to go on kiddie rides and eat (of course). Here are a few of the highlight pictures of the fun day - we love the MN state fair! Can you see 4 of the 5 of us on the Giant Slide? Weeeeeeeeeee!!

Happy Birthday, Johan!

Johan is turning 3 tomorrow, but we had his family party tonight. The theme was superheroes and the cousins had LOTS of fun running around with masks and capes. We had a fun relay with superhero costumes. Tomorrow, we head to the MN State Fair on Johan's actual birthday.

i heart faces - week 33: nostalgia

Sorry! I am a big fan of games, so it gives me great pleasure to play games with my kids. My oldest is almost 5, so I've been teaching him one of my favorite board games, Sorry. There are actually a lot of rules, so I've been adding a few each time we play (7 - split it between 2 numbers, 11 - move forward or switch places, etc.). I happened to get the "retro" version of this game - I love the wooden pieces and original style cards.

As a kid, I played a lot of games with my family and I have very fond memories of the good times shared. You can tell that Gus is happy in this picture because he had just won the game! :)

Head on over to http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ to check out all of the other nostalgic photo entries this week.

Cloth Diaper Photo Contest

I'm going to enter one of these photos into a cloth diaper photo contest. Winner gets $150 gift certificate to a great cloth diaper store. What do you think? #1, #2 or #3??

Fireman Matt

We visited our local fire station on 38th street and 4th avenue (Station 17). Our tour guide, Fireman Matt, gave us a very informative tour. The kids really enjoyed seeing everything and getting to climb into the fire truck at the end.

Fireman Matt gave us a few great reminders that I will share below:

• Be sure to check your smoke detectors and make sure your kids know what they sound like and what to do if they hear it.
• Have a designated meeting spot outside of your house in case of fire or other emergency
• Teach your kids to call "911" in an emergency

Fireman Matt also put on all his gear and wanted the kids to understand that he wasn't scary even while wearing his mask and other gear. Thanks to my friend Tami for setting up the tour! See her pictures and videos (i.e. Johan stressing about the "practice" sirens) of the day here.

Gus' mosquito quote

I've been meaning to post this quote for some time now. Gus came up with this line at the cabin and we thought it was perfect.

"Ankles are like ice cream to mosquitos."

Ella at the Guthrie

I went to see the play "Ella" at the Guthrie theater yesterday with some friends. It was fabulous! It was my first time going to the new Guthrie downtown, so I enjoyed that part as well. The woman who played Ella Fitzgerald, Tina Fabrique, had an incredible voice and the other jazz musicians were so talented. (Click here to see a video of her in action). We bought tickets through a Star Tribune promotion, so we were in the 3rd row. I love plays and especially plays with great music. If you have time and like jazz music, I highly recommend it.

Lanesboro Bike Trip

I traveled to Lanesboro for an annual bike trip with my college friends. We rent a house and bike the trails near Lanesboro for a few days. The rolling hills and scenery are beautiful. We all enjoyed the time together and we laughed a lot! The house we rented had enough recliners for all of us to lounge while we played a rousing game of Catch Phrase. I'm thankful to have such fun-loving friends!

Thanks to Angie for the pictures!

Sarah's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister, Sarah!

We celebrated my sister's birthday together as a family. The adults ate Thai food and the kids got Sarah's homemade mac and cheese. We had a great time being together and the kids played really well. Here are a few pictures from the evening.