Chomp Chomp

Let's see...what has happened in the last few weeks? Last we checked in, Ava was turning 14! We had a small family celebration at home on her birthday, and then she and one of her best friends hosted a joint birthday party the following Thursday. Abby was born one day after Ava, so it just makes sense for them to celebrate together. They came up with a galaxy-themed birthday party, and created food/game stations for each of the planets. But mostly, they just had a great time with their squad. They ate pizza, snacks, cake, played games, and even ended the evening at a local park, playing on the equipment. Seems like success to me! 

Chomp, chomp - how many alligators are in this post?

The next day we took our kiddos to apply for their passports, and then G and I spent the rest of the day together. We went to the Mall of America, and toured the SeaLife Aquarium. We went to the M&M store, and then walked through Nickelodeon Universe and watched the rides zoom by us. We also decided that when we go to Disneyland this winter, we're not going to go on any scary roller coasters (hooray!) We then ended our journey at the LEGO Store, which was chaos. G picked out a brand-new set and was super excited to build it.

Top photo at the MN Zoo, bottom photo in the crocodile habitat

Chomp, chomp - I'm watching you! (although, I think this is a crocodile, not an alligator...)

Taking a pretzel break

Once G and I made it home from our adventures at the MoA, we all took Pria up to Grandma Deb's house so they could spend the weekend together. I think they made a great team, and gave each other lots of company. Pria did wonderfully, and I'm so happy to know that Deb is a safe place that we can bring Pria in the event we need to head out of town for a few days.

Pria LOVES the sunshine and warmth! "Give me belly rubs!"

And why were we going out of town, you ask? We were headed down to visit our dear friends, the Winfield family! Tiffany and I try to always plan annual massages for our April birthdays, but COVID wreaked havoc on our schedule the last few years. So, we went all out this year and got both massages and facials in Rochester. While we did that, Scott and Darren took Ava, Evie, and G golfing, while Isabel headed into town to volunteer at one of the town's events (Hayfield was celebrating it's 150th anniversary, so there was a lot going on!) Tiff and I met up with Isabel, Ava, and G and played several rounds of bingo at the American Legion. Evie was off with other friends, and Scott and Darren were enjoying some quiet time with the Winfield dogs, driving around the rural back roads.

Bingo and pizza!

It was a wonderful weekend spent with close friends, and was just what we needed to get away for a few days!

This week was insanely busy for me at work as Patterson held its first annual Tech Days events. It was 4 days of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and a working hackathon. Once TD wrapped up, we went right into our corporate QBR. Plus it was a sprint start week, so we had a ton of sprint/team meetings that we needed to fit into a schedule that was already pretty booked. I think we were all exhausted by the time Friday afternoon rolled around, and we were looking forward to the long weekend...

...so it's a really good thing that I was able to take off a few hours early, and G and I went to our neighborhood pool! The weather was perfect (low 80's and sunny) and the pool wasn't too crowded. He's at the age where he can be in the pool by himself, and had a blast jumping in, over and over and over. Plus he's trying to hold his breath underwater, and open his eyes to look around underwater. We're waitlisted for swimming lessons right now, but it seems like he'll have an interest in learning more, once we can get into the lessons.

We're hosting dinner on Saturday night for my parents and Scott's mom, a sort of early birthday celebration for Scott (he'll be 46 on Thursday!) We have a few other fun things planned this weekend, but after the last few busy weeks, I think we're also hoping for some down time where we can just relax for a bit. 

We'll see what happens with the weather for the 4th...it's looking a little rainy, which is a bummer. If it's nice out, we had talked about going to a festival for a bit on Monday, and of course watching fireworks that night. 

Snuggling early on Saturday morning...

This just made me laugh...smiling fries, looking like they want to escape...

Happy 4th of July!