Trip to the Northwest

Wow...I have fallen way behind in my blogging, so I will attempt to catch up in the next few days.

About a month ago, we got to travel out to Oregon for Cameron's family reunion that occurs every two years.  Since we were heading that way anyway, we decided to go out a few days early and spend some time with Cameron's brother, Brennan, and his family who are living in Seattle.

After a VERY early flight, with a connection in Denver, we made it to Seattle at around 10:30 in the morning on July 12th.  We were all pretty wiped out, but had fun just hanging out with the family and taking it easy.  Miley was so excited to play with her cousins, Hailey and Jacob.

The next day, we tried to pack in some fun.  Rachel, my sister-in-law, and I went in the morning to get pedicures and manicures.  after we got home, we packed up the rest of the family and went to downtown Seattle to check out the sights, go to the aquarium, and eat some fish and chips.  It was beautiful being on the sound.  Our kids tired out pretty quickly, so we went back home and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

On Saturday, we packed everything up and drove three hours down to Portland, OR to get things ready for the reunion.  Brennan and Rachel had just moved from Portland to Seattle, so we were able to stay in their home there, since it hadn't sold yet.  The guys were busy shopping for all of the food and things for the reunion, so we basically hung out at the house and let the kids run around.  We were able to grab some sushi for dinner one night, and spend some time at a great park.  It was great just being with family that we don't get to see often.

On Monday, the 16th, we packed up again and drove down to Waldport, OR to our beach house for the reunion.  I don't have all the pictures from this week yet, so that blog post will have to wait, but at least I am starting to catch up!

4th of July Festivities

For the 4th of July this year, we were definitely low-key.  The fact that it was 100 + degrees with the heat index didn't make it very enticing to go anywhere too far from home.  It was nice to have a day to just relax though, and enjoy being with each other.

As if I haven't mentioned it 400 other times in previous blog posts, we are so lucky to have the coolest neighbors ever.  So it was no surprise that we spent the evening at one of our neighbors house (inside for most of the time, unfortunately, due to the heat!).  It was great to be with good friends, have good food, and celebrate this wonderful country that we live in!

We were able to go outside for a few minutes to let the kids play with some snappers that Cameron and I had brought over.  Some of the smaller kids (and the moms!) decided to stay inside and let the guys take care of the kids outside.  They were all heading back into the air conditioning after not too long!

We all braved the heat for a few minutes as we made our way home, stopping every couple of houses to let kids play.  All in all, it was a great evening!  We didn't think we were going to see nay fireworks, as our kids are still a little young to keep up and make the trek into Minneapolis to see them, but as a pleasant surprise, some other families in our neighborhood had quite the fireworks show!  We woke Miley up and let her watch them from the comfort of our office.  Can't complain about that.  Maybe next year we will do some of our own...  :)

My Little Firecrackers

Happy 4th of July!

Miley's 4 Year Stats

With the fun of birthdays comes along the not-so-fun well child visits.  Miley has managed to stay pretty healthy for the past year, so actually is not that afraid of doctors anymore.  That, coupled with the fact that Doc McStuffins on the Disney channel is one of her favorite shows right now, made this a pretty easy check-up.

Here are Miley's 4-year stats:

Height:  38 1/4 inches - 20.15 %

Weight:  32 1/2 pounds - 29.21 %

BMI:  15.62 - 59.77 %

At the check up she got her eyes and ears checked, and everything looked good there.  Overall, she is doing great!  

Unfortunately, she had to get 4 shots.  These are the shots she needs before kindergarten, so we could have waited another year, but my doctor recommended just getting them over this year so she wouldn't know they were coming next year.  She was really brave, and didn't cry during any of them.

Poor girl that night though had a fever of 102-103, and threw up.  I am sure it was from the shots, but she was 100% better the next morning, besides just having sore legs.

We are happy to have this behind us, now let's just hope for another healthy year!

  

27???

Yup.  That's how old I am.  Can I go back to 25?

No really, I don't mind the sound of 27.  I think it's going to be a good year.  :)

Due to all the celebrations of Miley's birthday a few days prior, Cameron being in school on Monday and Wednesday nights, playing softball on Thursday, and golf on Friday, we didn't have too much of a chance to celebrate my birthday, but that is fine with me.  We got to open presents as a family, and go out for frozen yogurt, which is just what I wanted!  I definitely got spoiled this year...I lucked out with a new Coach purse, some Toms wedges, new Nike Free running shoes, some Under Armour running shirts, a Gap shirt, some iTunes gift cards, and some money.  I was so excited by all of my new goodies!

Even though my birthday was pretty low key, I did get to go out to a Twins game with three of the girls from my neighborhood.  I love these ladies!

Here's to 27!  Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Happy Birthday to Miley (Part 2)!

Even though we celebrated a lot on Miley's actual birthday, we wanted to have a little get together with our neighbors to celebrate as well.  We have been so blessed to have the most wonderful families as our neighbors.  I truly consider them to be my best friends up here, and I know Miley feels the same way about their kids.

So, on Saturday, we hosted a little get together to have lunch and just to have an excuse to hang out and let kids play together.  I am definitely not my sister when it comes to cakes, so we let Miley pick out a cake at Target...it was actually really cute and just the right size, and she seemed excited enough...

Our friends came over for a lunch of pizza, veggies, and watermelon, and the kids immediately got to playing and the adults for to visiting.  The guys were hooping to play some bocce ball, but that came to a halt when all the kids started interfering, so they were resigned to visiting like the rest of us!

Despite a specific request in the invitation to not bring gifts, all of our neighbors showed up with presents for Miley anyway.  She was so excited to get a new Fancy Nancy book, a Merida doll from "Brave" (kind of perfect, considering that is what we did on her birthday!), and a little Merida doll and a coloring set.  After opening presents, we brought out the cake.  Now for the past two years, Miley has cried when everyone starts singing Happy Birthday to her.  We thought this year she would love being the center of attention and not even think twice about it.  However, she still hid behind dad during the song.  No tears though, so I guess that is progress, right?

After cake, we just let the kids run around and play some more.  Everyone started making their way home at about 2:30 or 3:00...we couldn't believe how fast the time went!  It was such a fun way to spend  Saturday, and we are so glad that we were able to celebrate Miley's birthday with such fun people!