Countdown to Disney

We have a family vacation coming up to Disney in oh 19 days!!!!  So, about a week ago when the girls woke up we made countdown chains and have been anxiously ripping one off each morning.  Yeah, I know you would have thought we would have made them for their birthdays or the first day of school but nope, a Disney trip with their cousins and Grandma and Grandpa definitely trumps all of that!  And since the girls made theirs we know Leyton has made one too, we have had facetime discussions showing each other where we keep them and what colors everybody made their chains.  Disney was such a great trip the last time we took the girls I know this time will be even better and more memorable for us all (except maybe Dad having to leave early for a Vikings Stadium interview but we will probably get over it since we have our cousins with and a good interview means a another stadium at home and no travel for Dad =) !!!).

August is Birthday month!

With both of the girls birthdays in August most of our weekends in August are filled with birthday parties and with the addition of the pool this year we started our first of many birthday pool parties.   It started with Lucy's 6th Birthday on August 11 where her friends Sophie and Ava came and celebrated with her.

 Sophie, Lucy and Ava having lunch.

 The girls enjoying pool time.

 Grace's birthday was next on August 25th and she got the American Girl bitty twins that she has been asking for.  She has a few American Girl dolls and a bitty baby but has been pretty insistent that she needed bitty twins that looked like her.

She picked out a pretty cool two tier cake for her friend party.

 Grace and her friends in the pool.

 On Sunday we had the family over to celebrate both of the girls birthdays.  Here are all of cousins, minus a sleeping Cal outside by the pool where the girls opened presents.

 Luca and Cal admiring Mya out on the deck.

All of the cousins lined up for candles and cake.  Hard to believe that after all the birthday parties are done it means summer is almost over and that school is going to start soon.

Willow River State Park

With the weather a bit cooler the past week or so we found a new place to check out in evening.  We went for a hike at Willow River State Park one night this week while Dad was out of town and decided it was pretty cool so we took him back tonight.

Here they are getting closer to the falls.

 Here they are on a 'trail' that Dad found.  (It really isn't a trail and we probably should have went back the way we came....)

 Standing with Mom on the bridge in front of the waterfalls.

 Grace took this picture of the waterfalls.........it is pretty good.

 We had to stop for a bunch of turkeys crossing the trail on our way back out.