Summer time, fun time!

Well, it's September and fall is coming on strong and without warning. We have had a fun filled summer. We have been going to the park regularly after day care and eating frozen treats. Miles keeps growing and I am going to have to get him all new pants for the fall because all his old ones are too short. Alice is adding more and more words to her vocabulary. Like "Minnie Mouse," "cheese"...she loves cheese, and "puppy". They are also starting to fight like siblings. Alice will swipe a toy from Miles, Miles will chase her and grab it back from her, then the crying on both parts begins.

I'd never steal my brother's toys. I love him too much.

Siblings!

We made our big trip to Florida in July and Miles had his first trip to Disney World. We went to the Hollywood Studios park and stayed at the Art of Animation resort. We had a magical time. Miles was amazed at the giant statues of the Lion King characters and The Little Mermaid characters that were along the walk way at the hotel. We had breakfast with the Disney Junior characters and the highlight was Jake!

Handy Manny and our Handy Man.

Can you see the excitement in his eyes? Either that or too much syrup on his Mickey Mouse waffles.

JAKE!

Sophia was really sweet.

Miles LOVED meeting Mater and Lightning McQueen! He was a little disappointed that we met all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters except Donald. Well, maybe next time little guy.

Off to the races.

I think he was so amazed that this was a life sized Lightening McQueen.

Goofy doing the Hot Dog dance for us.

Pluto! He looks kind of like our dog Hayduke.

Jake again, we got to meet him twice. Miles gave him a very long (maybe a little too long) hug.

Mickey was amazed at how tall Aaron is. Taller than Goofy?

Minnie had her own private dressing room.

Aaron got to test out a speeder.

We watched Darth Vader battle some padawans.

Fun on the film canister slide in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play yard.

Army guy. Aaron didn't think there was a real person in this costume.

Ending a fun day with a Mickey Mouse cupcake. Delicious!

Oh Eric! This was just one of the statues at our hotel. This was one of the smaller ones.

Alice spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Kross at the hotel. They played at the pool and took naps. It was a great day for them.

We then spent some time at Grandma and Grandpas house and Aaron and I went down to Delray Beach for my 20th High School Reunion. It was a fun party. I got to see and talk to a lot of people I hadn't seen in years. I wish it was longer. It felt like I needed more time to catch up with some people and there were old friends I didn't get a chance to talk to. Although, I did get to spend some quality time with a few good friends. Nicole who I have known since elementary school and Michelle who is always fun to reunite with.

Me and Coey. Love her.

All Jennifers in this Picture. We all graduated High School together.

We spent the rest of our Florida vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's house and went to the pool and the beach. Outdoor fun in the sun!

Alice having fun in the sand at the beach. Her first ocean beach experience.

Miles helping Grandma pick her prize pineapple.

The rest of our summer has been filled with spending as much time outside as possible. In North Dakota you need to soak up every minute of sunshine and warm weather because it doesn't last long. One of the things I realize I took for granted growing up in Florida. We have been going to the library a lot too and discovering new books. Although we have a ton of books in our home library, it is always fun to check out the different ones they have there.
We have been seeing lots of friend this summer too. We went to Fargo to celebrate our friend Justine's birthday. All our friends were there and we were excited to see how big Malory is getting. Before the party the Moms went garage sale shopping while the Dads took care of the little ones.

Alice and me with Malory and Justine. We couldn't get Alice to get her finger out of her nose.

After the birthday party we met up with out friends the Chouinards and went to a Red Hawks game. Aaron says "no more snow cones!" for the kids! WHAT! Ok, we will see if he can enforce that. Apparently Alice held on to her flavored ice chunk and it dripped all over his lap getting everyone all sticky. Well isn't that what baseball games are all about?

The next day the Chouinards stopped in Jamestown on their way back to Bismarck. We showed them the fun at the Buffalo and Frontier Village.

Matt, Michelle, Madeline, and Max

Hey Miles, let's roll down this hill!

We decided not to start preschool with Miles just yet. We thought we would give him another year to mature a little more. Since I have half days with him I am going to start working with him more on learning activities. I subscribed to the ABC Mouse program for a year. If anyone has experience with that let me know how you like it, or any other program.

Family at the Buffalo, we have been there lots this summer.

Labor Day weekend we visited Grandpa Sam and Nana at their farm. Aaron got in a dove hunt and we had 2 doves to grill for lunch appetizers. If you have never had a tender cooked dove, you need to, they are wonderful. (Jen also took in as much of the Simpsons Marathon as she could)

At the Buffalo with Grandpa Sam and Nana Linda

Alice eating fresh picked sweet corn at the farm.

 Aaron and I are also celebrated 7 years of marriage on September 2. I love this guy to the end of the earth.

Until next post, we all hope your summers have been just as fun.

Alice turned 1!

Alice and her "Mini Mouse" train. Birthday present from Grandpa Sam.

We have had a big year of changes with our little Alice, who isn't so little anymore. She is loud and bold! I think Aaron will have his work cut out for him with this strong headed little girl. She has learned the word "no" and says "daddy," "mommy," and "ya" like a true North Dakotan.

Our first day with Alice.

The big one year old.

Grandma Kross came from Florida to the Luau

We had a big party to celebrate Alice's first year with friends, cake, bubbles and everything that makes a party a PARTY! Alice DOVE into her giant cupcake that our friend Karla made for her. A lot different than her brother's reaction on his first birthday.

Alice getting into the cake right away.

Miles was a little more timid about the experience.

Karla our cake baker. I can just hear Alice's thoughts in this picture. "Thanks for the cake Karla! Now I want to smear frosting all over your face!"

Alice's friend Sulli and her mom Courtney.

Daycare buddy Nora, Alice and her are about a month apart.

Emma, Ana, Murray and BUBBLES!

This is Alice's original party dress, she got into the spilled bubble solution and decided to taste it. Lots of fun until she got it in her eyes.

I am really happy that our kids have summer birthdays. Having a party in the back yard with water games is really the best way to entertain adults and kids.

Frosting kisses for Nana Linda!

Water table splash fun!

A perfect chair for twins!

I went on a road trip with the coffee girls to see our friends who moved to other states. This was a kid-less weekend and it was well needed. For Justine it was the first time she had been away from her little one over night. We all survived and had a great time!

We made it to Wisconsin! Madison here we come to see Lisa and Melisa.

The kids are growing. Miles will be 3 at the end of July. Although he has told me "I want to be 2 forever!" Haha...that kid.

Miles at 38.5 inches

Alice at 31 inches

We are enjoying our summer. We have had lots of rainy days, but those are getting fewer and fewer. Now we just have to deal with the windy days.

Very windy day at the reservoir. But the sun was out so we wanted to get outside.

Me and Alice.

Grandpa Sam and Nana Linda bought a farm near Chaseley, ND and we have been spending some of our weekends up there with them. We celebrated the 4th of July there and Miles and Nana shot off fireworks.

Grandpa Sam and Alice watching the fireworks. Notice how light it is...this is 9:00 pm up here in NoDak! Seriously you need blackout curtains in your room.

Grammie Julie came for a visit too. Our daycare provider took a vacation for a week and it was perfect timing for Grammie to come visit and take care of her grand kids while Aaron and I could work. Thank goodness for grandparents.

Grammie and Alice having a snack.

One of Grandpa Sam's projects on the farm is taking down an old barn. We went up there one weekend with our friends Andrew and Courtney and their little one Sulli to salvage some wood from the barn. Andrew and Courtney are building a house and plan on using it to make a bar. Aaron and I are going to panel a wall in our kitchen. We are going to use the opportunity to do a small kitchen makeover.

Aaron and Andrew in the loader bucket tearing off the wood.

Alice and Miles on the Power Wheels 4-wheeler at Grandpa's farm.

Hiking makes baby sleepy.

We are headed to Florida next week for a vacation and my 20th high school reunion. I've come a long way since 1994! We are also making a stop at Disney Hollywood Studios and the Disney World Resort "Art of Animation". I wanted to take Miles there for his 3rd birthday. Grandma Kross is coming to watch Alice while Aaron and Miles and I go to the park. I can't wait!

Miles is going to LOVE Disney!