Great weekend with Alex and GG!

Last weekend Alex and Giesla took a roadtrip with Giesla's sister and husband to Minnesota - we were lucky to spend Friday night through Monday morning with them! We can't have a visit with GG and Alex without making at least one stop at Punch Pizza. Shortly after they arrived, we all loaded into our truck and headed to Punch on Grand Avenue. Giesla enjoyed one pizza but made the wise choice to bring home another pizza for lunch the next day. We rarely have Punch without walking across the street to Grand Ole Creamery - there's always room for ice cream!

even though she had her own cup of ice cream, "Alex, can I try yours?"

Saturday morning Olivia was up at her usual weekend-time, 6:02am, and happily watching her cartoons. Olivia played with Alex while Giesla and I ran to Target and the Apple Valley Farmer's Market. When we came home, Duane was off with some friends and Alex took off for a 20-mile run. The girls had lunch (GG had her Punch pizza!) and then Liv took a nap. That evening we went to Minnehaha Falls for a bike ride and dinner at Sea Salt.

so these are fun and I'm glad we tried them but it was kind of hard work!

while we waited for our food, Liv went down to the falls with Alex and GG

Olivia had the best seat - one without pedals!

 

Sunday morning we rushed out the door to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. This farmer's market is huge and is fun to see. Giesla's sister, Joni, and her husband, Adam, met us there around 9:30am and the girls (only GG and Joni) took off for a 16-mile run. While they ran and ran and ran around Minneapolis, the rest of us headed for St. Paul and had lunch at Cossetta's. A spontaneous stop in their bakery was a wonderful surprise - they have some amazing desserts! The girls were still running so we came back to our house and relaxed on the front porch. After their run, guess where GG ate?! Punch!

We really wanted to have a bonfire that afternoon but it started pouring down rain. The rain did not stop Liv and Alex from playing pirates in her playhouse - they literally played in the rain! Finally, Alex brought Liv back up to the house but she was ready to go back out - we convinced her we could make a pirate ship with a table and some blankets. Best.Idea.Ever. For the next several hours, Liv bossed around Alex and made him play pirates. Duane, Giesla and I prepped dinner and then we saved Alex with some non-pirate time.

Monday morning came all too quickly when Alex and GG had to head back to Indiana. We had a great weekend and really appreciated them taking 2 days off work to visit with us! It's crazy to know that the next time we see them, we'll be a family of 4!!!

Finally, another day on our boat and White Bear Lake

We have had our boat out only 1 time this summer so we were determined to get it out again this weekend! All the week the weather promised to be perfect but on Friday, the forecast changed to cloudy all day on Saturday and thunderstorms on Sunday. Boo! First thing Saturday morning, Duane and Liv went to a hair appointment and I did my Target run. The sun was periodically popping out of the clouds so I decided we should just try it out and see what happens. We saw the sun for about 20 total minutes the whole time we were out, but we still managed to have some fun. No trip to White Bear Lake would be complete without a stop at the Cup-N-Cone for ice cream! Liv fell asleep on the way home but perked up quickly enough with the promise of pizza and s'mores.

making "clam stew"

Mmmm?!

helping navigate

While the fire died down a bit, Duane and Olivia played pirates in her playset. She was ordering Duane around a lot but it was funny to listen to her telling him what was going on in the scenario she had in her head!

"Daddy! Iron Man is in that tree over there. Go get him!"

Today was the day that we were supposed to have thunderstorms. Yah, right. It was beautiful outside until about 2pm and then it become a little cloudy. Duane and Olivia took advantage of the nice weather and stopped by a splash pad not far from our house. I stayed back to clean the house and get ready for the week. Tomorrow I head to Boston until late Wednesday night so it's Duane and Liv on their own....

Fun on Forest Lake

Some friends of ours have a house and a pontoon on Forest Lake; last weekend they invited us for a day out on the lake. The water level around their house is super shallow so we left our boat at home. The day couldn't have been more perfect - the weather was beautiful and all of the kids got along really well! Olivia was in the water from 11:30am - 4:00pm, with short breaks for lunch and a snack. She missed her nap but was perfectly fine until we left their house - she fell asleep in the truck on the way home (which we knew she would) and woke up once we arrived back at our house around 6pm. She wearily asked for cereal for dinner and then cried, "After my cereal, I want to go right to bed." We thought she'd sleep in the next morning to catch up a bit on sleep but she was up at 6:02am....