Summer Fun--Week 9

The summer just keeps whizzing on by. We took another week off of our "schedule", since Matt was off Mon-Wed and we had some fun stuff planned. Monday we enjoyed being together after nearly a week apart. We hit a couple of parks in the afternoon, the local food co-op, and then drove home with all the windows down like Matt said he always did with his dad growing up. Jillian loved this more than I can say.

Adrienne tried to love it. But her enthusiasm turned to tears as we neared home.

Long suds-baths in mom and dad's tub are all the rage these days

Matt calls this the self-cleaning option because they get so covered with soap that he just makes them run through our shower to rinse off... no parental scrubbing required.

Tuesday was busy with a RAC Dr. Seuss Camp and ice skating. Both girls demonstrated major improvements (and enjoyment) from week one.

On Wednesday, we declared a family fun day. We headed up to the Twin Cities to try some new stuff and revisit one of our favorites.
First stop--Hyland Park Play Area, aka 'chutes and ladders park'. This was a mere 10 minutes from the MOA and probably the most awesome park in the entire world. Seriously. Our kids were in absolute heaven.

Oh the options are endless

Can you see Jillian sitting up top?

The bonus was the "car wash" mister

Adrienne discovered she could slide down the fireman pole alone, so she did it over and over and over and over.

After a fun morning of play, we headed over to St Paul to try out The Nook, a famous place for cheeseburgers that was featured on 'Diners Drive-Ins and Dives'. They even have a burger named after the host, Guy Fieri. Matt ordered the Nookie Supreme, which was a hot mess and needed a knife and fork, but my cheeeburger with grilled onions, pickles, mustard, and ketchup was culinary heaven. Jillian concurred, devouring her entire burger as well.

Snuggled in our nook inside The Nook

After a kids-gone-wild stop at some board game store Matt wanted to check out, we hit the Como Zoo for the rest of the afternoon.

Just an ordinary day hanging out next to a massive gorilla

Matt let the girls put $2 in the machine to get the plastic molds of animals. Here we were waiting on Jillian's lion. The suspense was just killing her, so she had to cover her eyes.

Other highlights of the week included.....

Picking and eating our first (and maybe our only) two ears of corn from the garden.

Getting new ballet shoes for ballet camp next week and doing "balleray" in the living room. Here Jillian tries to teach Adrienne what 'first position' is.

Getting some pretty sweet Olaf shirts in the the mail from Grandpa Bennie. They make some comfy night shirts!

Discovering "witch finger" grapes at Hy-Vee. This was a produce first for this foodie. The girls think these are hilarious and very tasty.

Family pizza night on Saturday. I went to a cooking class in June where I learned some Neapolitan pizza making techniques and we just finally tried them out. I made 5 pizzas over the course of the evening (including one dessert pizza, which the girls had no clue was even an option), while we chatted and the girls played a game at the table (their current favorite--Obstacle). We just ate a piece here and there as the pizzas came out of the oven and had the most relaxed and enjoyable dinner together that we have ever had.