4th of July

For the 4th this year we headed to Andrew & Brea's in Hudson for a mini-reunion with two of our best buddies from college, Katie and Sara (aka Preggers). It was lucky that none of us had plans to be camping or other traditional summer events that weekend, so we took advantage. The boys went to the freakishly long Twins game Friday night, while us girls and Jackson watched fireworks at the park by the St. Croix river. We got down there just after 8:30, so we figured we'd be waiting a while. It was confusing, though, because we kept seeing fireworks everywhere, some that were clearly being shot off nearby boats or islands, but some that weren't as obvious, and they didn't always follow each other in rapid succession like a typical fireworks show would. We kept asking ourselves, "Was that it? Are those the real thing? Is the show starting?" We knew the real deal would be big and loud, but it kept getting darker and darker and all we saw were these random fireworks every now and then. But sure enough, just past 10 p.m., we saw the real deal and knew the official show had begun. It was short, but the fireworks were great! We chose a quieter spot away from the large crowds, and it turned out to be a great view.

Waiting for the show to begin

Finally!

And soon enough, the grand finale

Jackson did a great job! We kept him happy with snacks beforehand, and by the time the real fireworks started he'd gotten used to the smaller ones that had been going off, so the big ones didn't even bother him. He went back and forth a few times between Brea and I, but overall he was totally mesmerized and occasionally made little noises. He also had a really good time hamming it up with the ladies, being goofy and making them laugh. But first he had to try to get over his shyness, which didn't take long with Auntie Brea since she looks like Mommy:

Wild hair day

Lovin' the corn on the cob - first time!

Future egghead

The Bathroom

Though the pictures don't do our tiny new downstairs bathroom justice, here's an idea of what it looks like, courtesy of Chuck, who built the cabinets, shower, and vanity by himself and did a wonderful job with everything!

Before, looking from the laundry room all the way through the bathroom to what is on its way to becoming an extra storage/computer room on the other side

The tile shower

The oak cabinets that sit into the wall

And the tile vanity with oak cabinet underneath

THEY'RE GONE!!!

Ding, dong, the cows are gone
The cows are gone
The cows are gone
Ding, dong, the wicked cows are gone!!!

Curt and I mutually decided to get rid of the cows because they would not stop escaping and running amuk in the yard, no matter how hard he worked on improving the fence and adding electric voltage (which zapped him quite well). Poor Curt. The good news is that I won't have to see, smell, or hear a cow in my own yard for several more months until the fence is up and running and we buy our own cows late this fall. Oh, I guess that's the bad news, too. Whatever, I'm too excited about the current absence of cows to care right now. I'm pretty sure this is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. :)

P.S. Sorry, Ben, I guess you won't get to ride a bull at my house for quite some time.

Camping in the Yard

In June my family came up to our house along with family friends Chuck & Meline and their granddaughter. They all camped out in our yard, literally, with their tents, trucks, and boats (except Brea and Andrew, who stayed in the basement). We fished, enjoyed campfires and some great meals, played in the rain (Jackson and Chuck), went for boat rides and swam, and just hung out. Everyone admired Chuck's handiwork on the now-finished downstairs bathroom (which would have posts dedicated to it if I weren't so lazy with this thing), and he even solved the two problems of a toilet that wouldn't flush properly and hot water that wouldn't come out in the shower. Turns out that there were toys stuck in one of the holes that was pre-plumbed with the first owners, and a Jolly Rancher wrapper was clogging the showerhead! Seriously; you can't make this stuff up. Yay, Chuck, for building us a great bathroom and for fixing all its boo-boos! :)

Speaking of boo-boos, here's the other owie Jackson has sustained this summer. With several people quite close by, he fell down the steps on the deck and scraped the hell out of his forehead. You should have seen his daddy come running to save him. :) It was pretty sweet.

Jackson was having fun sharing water with Grandma and Papa. And by "sharing" I mean taking the bottle, trying to take much too big a drink, and pouring it down his front while giggling. He had a pretty severe diaper rash at the time, so I had to air it out just a little.

Showing Uncle Ben the "new" toy Mommy bought him at the neighbors' garage sale

Showing off in the new camp chair Papa bought him

Helping Papa clean up camp

Practicing wearing a life jacket before the boat ride.

He actually seemed to enjoy it, oddly enough.

He was super worn-out from all the activity of the weekend and had just fallen asleep in the car when we got to the lake. I worried that the boat might scare him as he was groggy, it's unfamiliar, and I thought it'd be loud, but it was actually really quiet and he sat well, watching as much as he could while I tried to keep him covered on the fast ride. It didn't take long for this tired little boy to fall asleep in Grandma's arms.

P.S. I know it looks and sounds like we never see Curt's parents, but we do! Honest! I just suck at remembering my camera or am too lazy to dig the honkin' thing out of whatever bag it got tossed into when we're away from home, so then I have no pictures to remind myself of what went on in order to make a post out of it. I am terrible.

Cows

A couple weeks ago Curt went against my wishes and borrowed not one, but two cows from a friend. She is letting him keep them for a while as a trial run. This is the same woman who tried to talk him out of keeping cows in our yard in the first place (bless her heart). I told Curt I don't care what happens to them, I will not help feed or water them, and I would let them run away or starve if it came down to it, but by now he has found out I'm just a big talker and will actually help avoid a cow disaster. I was sitting on the deck eating my lunch the other day when I heard an odd noise and saw Sadie perk up. I turned around and about had a heart attack when I saw the cows standing in the yard. They were mosying about, rubbing against our newly-planted apple trees and eating grass. I called Curt at work and of course he couldn't come home, so I had to do something. He coached me over the phone as I lured them back into their pen with a scoop of grain. Although the cows are not that big yet, they scare me, so I just try to yell loudly and boss them around so they will hopefully become more scared of me than I am of them. This marks the second time that I've successfully gotten the cows back into the gate all by myself without stepping in any of the cow patties that now litter the yard and lie close to the inside of the gate. I am proud of that.

We were out of town overnight for the 4th. Saturday night when we got home, it was after 1:00 a.m., and Curt drove the truck over by the shed so he could unload wood for the stove the next day. We saw in the headlights that both cows were lying down just inside the fence and were super relieved that they hadn't escaped while we were gone. So I was carrying Jackson to the house while Curt began hauling stuff in, and he comes out of the sliding glass door as I'm climbing the deck steps and says, "Holy shit, what's that?" Keep in mind that it's pitch-black and very late. So I haul ass up the steps as much as possible with a sleeping child in my arms, turn around, and see a figure in the dark just a few yards from the deck. I begin shaking. We both just stand there, looking at it and trying to figure it out for a second. I moved closer (can you imagine?) and calmly said to Curt, "Holy shit, get your light. That looks like a person." (I am shivering right now just writing this.) Thank God I had Jackson with me, or I would not have been able to maintain my calm. I was freaking out on the inside. So Curt flips on the deck light, which isn't too powerful, and marches down the steps towards the figure. I quickly grabbed the spotlight out of the cupboard, turned it on, and shined it at the figure. Relief washed over me when I saw two blue, glowing cow eyes looking back at me through the light beam. Thank the Lord. We both let out huge sighs of relief. Curt goes, "I thought it was a ghost!" You would not believe how much that damned animal looked like a medium-sized human child standing there in the dark. We couldn't see the bulk of it - the back third - just the shadowy front portion that was clearly some sort of being's body. Apparently this cow had been lying just outside the fence, not inside like we had thought, and was curious to see what was going on in the middle of the night. I put Jackson to bed and couldn't stop (slightly) shaking for the next fifteen minutes, no joke.

Here are the animals that have begun to ruin my life.

Memorial Day

We spent the holiday weekend at the Wojo's land in Duxbury again this year and had a great time! Jackson eventually warmed up to the crowd and had fun running all over outside and in the cabin. He and his cousin Maddie played together a little bit, as much as two toddlers can really play together. It was more like playing next to each other with grown-ups mediating, but they still had fun. He also saw baby cousin Jameson again and greeted him with a couple squeals and a pat or two, but wasn't much interested in him until Mommy held him. Then Jackson did not like him.

Checking out the cousins

Having a drink (not really, it's empty)

Starting to get cozy now that it's pj time...

"What did I just do?! He's my cousin - yikes!"

Playing carpet pool with the big kids

Random Events

Since I have been a terrible blogger this spring and summer, I am determined to catch up today by posting all the pictures I have on my camera, which I believe go back to before Memorial Day. Hopefully there will end up being two or three different posts for you to look at and I won't feel like such a slacker! (I am totally being a slacker at work right now, though. Ahh, all by myself.) Here are a few photos from some random events of early summer.

These photos were taken at the home of Chuck & Meline, family friends of ours. We went to their place for a bonfire in late spring, and Jackson loved climbing all over Chuck's big trailer thingie, exploring things around the yard, and watching the campfire.

This was a weekend we were visited by Jim & Liz & kids. Their boys are greeting the neighbor cows who had just arrived this spring; Jackson playing in his sandbox in the yard.

Jackson has already gotten two big owies this summer. This one was pretty much my fault. I was pulling him in his wagon while he held onto a toy car from the sandbox, and I didn't even know he had fallen out of the wagon until he started to cry. We'd gone over a small bump and he hit his cheek with the hand that held the toy car. I felt really bad after that. :(