We had a pretty low-key weekend, which included celebrating Father's Day with Mike. We had lunch and then spent some time lounging on a blanket at a park while Benjamin ran around the playground equipment.


We have some important events coming up in the next week. Benjamin will be celebrating his 6th birthday with his friends at a Star Wars themed party on Sunday and will officially be a year older the following day. Lucy will hit 9 months old on July 1st and hopefully by then will no longer be plagued by the horrible teething pain and constant runny nose she's been experiencing lately.

I am blogging from my deck while enjoying a gorgeous sunset, lit tiki torches, the occasional mosquito (okay, so maybe I am not enjoying that part) and a cold one. The day finally turned into something magnificent after we endured above 90 degrees for the past two days in a row. Not that I am complaining, because heaven knows that this is better than -30 degrees. It was so hot yesterday that I broke down and purchased a kiddie pool for the backyard to cool Benjamin and I down a bit. We both enjoyed splashing around in it for a while before Daddy got home from work.

As you can see in my previous post about this weekend, we were busy but not terribly so. Earlier in the week, on Monday, I decided to clear out the house of all unnecessary items and put on a garage sale. I gathered all of the misc items and furniture we wanted to sell and organized it for our grand opening Friday morning. The weather looked like possible rain, so I put up all of the tables inside the garage in a nice configuration for those stopping by to see our wares. Friday's crowd was full of garage sale professionals ready to buy some goods and eager to make deals. But Saturday was the cleanup crew. We went into the day wanting to at very least sell the last few furniture pieces that were left, which we did.

To celebrate Father's Day, Mike decided that he wanted to take a little road trip down to LaCrosse, Wisconsin Saturday afternoon. It was his choice to pick whatever he wanted to do, so he chose the Pearl Street Brewery tour, picking up food at the co-op and picnicking at Riverside Park down by the waterside. We have always adored LaCrosse and we had a great time visiting once again. The brewery tour was okay. We did get to try a bunch of their beers though and the price of their 6 packs was very reasonable. I won't go into it, but the tour guide was - um, interesting. As always the co-op in LaCrosse puts ours to shame, especially their prepared foods/deli section. Benjamin and I enjoyed sloppy Josephines, which were made from textured vegetable protein - awesome! Mike had a goat cheese and roasted red pepper sandwich on a delicious baguette.

We had originally planned on camping somewhere near LaCrosse Saturday night, but were unsure of the weather and also unsure of how hard it would be to find an open campsite. But we came up with a solution. Mike and Benjamin put up the tent in our backyard and after all three of us sat around the campfire for a while, they both camped out in the tent for the night. I got to sleep inside. I woke up early and surprised them with a newspaper, coffee, chocolate milk and a bagel from the gas station. They were very happy and actually slept very well during the night. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and dining at our favorite place. I think Mike enjoyed his father's day very much.

We have a very big weekend ahead of us. Benjamin turns the big #4 on Saturday and Mike runs his first triathlon on Sunday. We are all preparing for the weekend and can't wait to celebrate with Benjamin.

What a lovely Father's Day weekend it has been. I'll do a full recap in a couple of days, but here is a taste...

On Friday and Saturday we held a garage sale at our house to free up some space in our closets and rooms. Proceeds are going toward a fancy new vacuum cleaner and maybe a night out for Mommy and Daddy some day. After we closed up the garage sale, we headed to LaCrosse for some activities of Mike's choosing...

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic for all of us. It has taken me that long to put any recent pictures on our photo site, so now there are a lot of new pics there.

Benjamin turned two on the 27th. Mike and I went to his daycare that day to celebrate with all of his friends. We brought party hats and cupcakes for everyone to enjoy. Benjamin was in love with the attention, especially when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him! That night our friends Eric, Reese and Sidney came over to help us celebrate some more. Benjamin was able to eat a second cupcake that night and was popular enough to receive many singing phone calls and one video call as well. We had his birthday party on the following Saturday, the 30th. Family drove all the way in from Illinois and Wisconsin. We had gorgeous weather, Mike made fabulous food, and everyone had a great time! Sunday was a very relaxing day for all of us. Benjamin spent time playing in his new sandbox and using all of his new toys and we just enjoyed sitting out in the yard without feeling like we had 100 things we should be doing. Benjamin is in his new BIG BOY bed, which he just loves. He has been sleeping so well in it, too. It is hard for us to walk into his nursery and not see his crib, he is growing up soo fast.

I also uploaded pictures from father's day. We had a picnic at a lake with Mike's parents, Dan and Jennifer. While I was out of town for a work-related conference, Mike and Benjamin went to a party to say farewell to some of Mike's running friends who are moving back to Norway. Benjamin had fun running all over the house and yard at the party.

The day before father's day was the annual cemetery walk for Rochesterfest, which I like to participate in. This year I not only played a character, but I also wrote my own script for the day. Basically this involves standing on a grave for about 4 hours in god-awful heat, reciting the same 6 minute script over and over to groups of about 20 people. It is grueling, but I love it.

I think that is about it. We are glad to have the month of June be done and gone, as it was a really rough one for both Mike and I. And now we have some exciting things to look forward to in July and beyond: including Erin's baby shower, a weekend away for Mike and I, more camping trips, a huge relay race for Mike, the state fair, and many visits with family and friends.

Mike celebrated his first Father's Day this weekend! We had an excellent day with his family at Minnehaha Falls park in Minneapolis. Mike received the poster here in the picture from Benjamin and I. It is made up of pictures of Mike and Benjamin throughout the past year. He also got a Dr. Suess Book called "Hop on Pop!"

On Saturday I performed in the Rochesterfest Cemetery Walk as a dead person from Rochester's history. I had SO much fun and acted my little heart out for 17 separate groups! What a tiring day!!! Joe had a graduation party on Saturday as well so Mike and Benjamin went up to the cities for that, a parade and also so that Mike could watch the US World Cup team tie with Italy. Thursday will be a big day for the US team who plays Ghana. We're very excited!