It Is Fair Time!

Not only do we have a crazy week planning for our annual camping trip with the Rust family, we can also throw the Polk County Fair into the mix! I seriously thought about skipping it...but when you only live two blocks from he fairgrounds it is pretty hard to pretend it is not there. Even the 18 month old gets it. Kacy loves the fair, so she has been waiting a full year for it to come back, in fact I think she asked every time we drove by it when it would be back. Like I said, I really thought about skipping it, Mark is working nights, Bret was already at camp, and it had rained about an hour before we were going to head down....three strikes for me not to go! Kayli, Chris and the girls were already there so, we were going to hook up with them so the girls could have good time....

Madi and Kacy on the Merry Go Round!

Kacy is always up for this ride, in fact she went on them twice this night.

The first time Ry and Kacy went and Madi wanted too.

So the second time Madi rode too. We had tried to get her on the one at Como, Madi sat on the horse, but once it started to go up and down she wanted off. That was not he case this time,

she loved it, in fact she even cried when she had to get off.

Kacy always loves to ride a horse, it does not matter if it is real or fake!



Rylee loves it too!

I think it looks like Quinnie loves the fair too, next year we will have to watch out

with her and Madi running a'muck as well.

Yes they are going to love this one when I bring it out at high school graduation!

OK, I know this is blurry, but this was huge! Kacy wanted to go on the big slide,

so she hiked it up to the top with Kayli and Ry and had a blast coming down. Look how big her mouth is....Kayli said she laughed all the way down!

After some fair food and much money it was time to head for home. We had a good time and I was glad we went, I was however glad, and sad, that we would be out of town for the rest of the weekend! One night is enough with two little girls on the rides, it is however hard to see all the exhibits in that amount of time and I do miss that. Polk County has an excellent fair....you would not believe the amount of animals and exhiblts that are there, and they do a great job with the upkeep of the grounds. If anyone wants to come let us know, we live close and would love to show you around!

A Boy Named Sue!

Thursday seemed to be dress up day at our house. The girls are always up for it and I am not sure how they talked Trey into it, but it a riot when he does. He will just grin from ear to ear. I am sure that is because he knows that his Dad despises it.....

but no need to worry Todd, Trey is all boy!They use the closet landing as a stage!
The whole world is a stage for these four!

Trey, how did you agree to this?

Madi was not going to miss out, later on she dressed up as the bride!
Check out that cheesy grin!

A Day At The "Club!"

So after church on this fine Sunday the Anderson's and the Johnson's headed off to the Clear Lake Golf Course for a good old game of golf.

I was very unsure how much golf I would get to play since we took our young ins......

this okay though, because it was the first time I have golfed in two summers.....

I am no Tiger Woods, let me tell you!

The Johnson's...minis Mom, of course!

The Anderson's.......They came to play!



We had a good time and the girls were pretty good. Madi was getting pretty restless by about hole six, so my golf game came to an end. Believe me it was already in the crapper so I loved the excuse to stop. The girls and I then rode the cart the rest of the way out. This is something I use to do when I went golfing with Lowell and Mark, I would just ride in the cart and keep the beer cool or maybe drink it, I forget! Oh that was a long, long, long time ago!

Could these two look anymore alike!

Bret is a good golfer, he & Beck golfed all nine with the big dogs!

I am not sure who had the best score of the day, but everyone had fun!

Kacy and Dad getting ready to "T" it up!

Trey and Hope in charge of the Anderson cart. Trey has quite a swing himself, he hits golf ball in the backyard, and they finally had to get a big net because he was hitting them over to our house.....yes he hits the ball farther than me!

Watch out Dad she is going to want to golf with you boys too!

The Lake-Take 2!

Yeah it was back to the lake this Thursday (and Mom brought a charged camera.). LT called and said they were make an impromptu track out to her parents and asked if we would join her. The weather was perfect so after an early lunch with Dad we hoped in the van and headed to Wyoming.

Madi, Ella and Kacy loving life at the beach.

Madi really does like it, it is just that in every picture she is squinting in the sun.

Swimsuit model anyone?

And every picture I took of Ella she has her mouth open in....

Do think she gets that from her Mom or her Dad?

Sweet Baby Kailey......Is she not beautiful!

Water girl......Kacy loves a beach or a pool.

In fact after we got home we headed to Uncle Darrel's pool with

the Anderson's later that night.

Too much swim for Mom, but the kids love it.

Swimming with the fishes. Kacy even said that before we left that we were going to the lake to swim with the fishes. The last time we were there they were feeding the fish off of the dock leftover bread from lunch.

Sand and water......

this is the good life for a 3 year old, almost 2 year old and a 17 month old!

Thanks Laurie, we had a great day with you and your girls!

Bret is done with baseball and ready to come next time.

Who Doesn't Love A Parade!

On Sunday we got the chance to enjoy the parade in Arkdale.

This was our third parade in just as many weeks.

I am not sure if we will get all the candy eaten up or

if we will have to hand it back out at Halloween.

Papa put his old Allis in the parade, he even won a trophy!

Bret with a front row view to catch candy!

Goddaughter Macey was in the parade with her 4-H float.

Her shovel was full of candy...not the usual items you would expect in it at a parade!

Kacy kind of looks pissed off, but I am pretty sure she was not.

I think the fire trucks may have gone by at this time.
She really does not like that noise....or maybe Maria was stealing her candy.

Mike and Maria........way to hitter again Mike!

Madi also looks pissed, but o-cont rare...her mouth is full of candy!



Another picture of Ken and Kyler Bork....it was Kyler's 10th Birthday!

Nana's Garden

While Mark was golfing in Hayward this weekend, the kids and I headed to Arkdale. We packed up and left Friday night about 4:30. We hit Arkdale about 8PM. I had packed a supper so we only stopped once for a potty and snack break. The girls stayed awake the whole time, which I would have thought would have made for a good nights sleep, but I was wrong!!!

Kacy had trouble about 3:30AM and then Madi at 4:30. Madi was so wide awake at this time, she running up and down the hall.....the only one sleeping in the house was Bret in the basement. Saturday night all the adults wanted to sleep in Bret's bed so he could deal with the blonde bombers...he did not agree.

Saturday we went the Dave and Jane Grabarski's to celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary. They have recently built a new home so we were excited to see it. I have heard lots about it. It was gorgeous, they have some wonderful windows with a great view of the homestead. The kids had a great time playing with third cousins and the second cousins also had a great time catching up. I had not seen Brian and Steve in some time, and you never know what you are in for with those two around. Later on that night I met them up in Arkdale for Rec Days. I had a fun time catting with lots of people I have not seen in some time.

Sunday morning the sun finally came out and we had a little warmth as well. The girls finally got to get out in Grandma's garden. They really love to make tracks in the garden and pick things......sometime it does not matter if it is ripe or not! The girls had a blast in the garden before the parade, and Bret enjoyed heading up to Rec Days to watch Micheal's team play ball...that is more his speed rather than gardening.

We All Scream For Ice Cream!

Okay check out the faces on these ice cream girls! Saturday it was hot & sunny.

Hope was over and the girls were playing out in the backyard and in the swimming pool...personally that water in the pool was not that warm but they did not seem to care. Bret had a break in his ball tournament so he and Grandma Ruthie had gone to DQ for lunch, then they brought back ice cream for the girls.

Madi got her own cone and as you can see from the pictures, she really went to town on it. Thank goodness she was already naked for the pool because she had ice cream everywhere.

I can still eat it with my hands!


Someone should have told me about this stuff before!

Kacy shared her Strawberry Sundae with Hope.

The also added the raspberries they had picked earlier that day from our backyard.

Ah the life of an 18 month old.....it is too bad we did not have green grass in the background. It would have made for a much nicer picture.

Take Me Out To The Old Ball Game!

It was a gorgeous Saturday for baseball. This was the weekend of Bret's St Croix Falls Tournament. You could not have asked for a nicer day. The sun was warm with nice breeze.

Bret's team has done some struggling all season, but they do have their highs once in a while. Today they played three game and did manage to win one.

Bret plays pitcher and second base. Today he got hit by a ball while playing second in the first game at 8:30. He may have been a little groggy, that is pretty early for those boys in the summer. It has been hard to catch his games this season. This was the first Mark was able to make it to, he actually did work until 2:30 so he saw the last games. The girls and I come over to the home games, but it is hard to catch much of the game when you are trying to chase down a little girl who thinks it is super fun to run in the road. Even the swat on the bum does not stop her. I looked at Mark after chasing her down and said, "Do you see why I don't see much of the game?" Between that and Kacy in the stinky porta-potty, I am amazed I see any. Yes Kacy likes to pee in those things (can we have a consecutive ew) and I seem to make anywhere from to two to four trips there a night. I am not sure that she goes that much all day. Lucky me!

Getting the sign........

The wind up.........

And the pitch!

Batter Bret.