A trip to the zoo and a dinner cruise

On day 3 of my parents visit, Joacim and I had a very special surprise planned for the evening.  We didn't have anything planned for the day, though, so we decided to head to Como Zoo (along with half of the Twin Cities, but I guess that's what you get for going the day after Labor Day :)

Izzy LOVES Bri....this was taken at the beginning of the day

We brought Jimmy John's for lunch....notice that their hairstyles are also the same :)

This was taken at the end of the day.  Notice the fact that she's no longer smiling.

pretty little lilly pads

She DID start to smile again after Grandpa suggested ice cream.  We found this cute place called Java Train nearby.

So, our surprise for the evening's activity was a dinner cruise on Lake Minnetonka.  We had heard about Al and Alma's from some friends of ours that raved about it, so after checking out the website, we signed all of us up.  We didn't tell Izzy either (5-year olds aren't always the greatest at keeping secrets, you know)

Izzy and Bri staked out their spot on the boat right away...a nice, big cushion at the back

Grandma and Grandpa wanted a pic together..pretty cute!

I love this little girl so much...sometimes I just want to nibble on her cheek!

I think she spent a majority of the trip rolling around this cushion...Grandpa came over and tickled her a bit

Auntie Bri is a great caregiver to Izzy

This is our "captain".  Young enough to be my child.  

A family portrait that Izzy half-participated in

The waitress told us that, if we ask nicely, the captain would let Izzy and Bri drive the boat

sisters ;)

our own little family portait (thanks Bri!!)

This is the boat we took

I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone that comes and visits us.  Anyone want to come up to the Great North?????  ;)

4th of July

We did nothing during the day on the 4th of July.  It was too warm to do much of anything, so we hung out during the day, grilled some steaks for dinner, and then headed over to Lake Ann Park in Chanhassen to watch fireworks.  I really wanted to be able to park our cars and watch the fireworks somewhere near them, and we were lucky enough to do just that.  It kinda reminded of when I was a kid and we'd watch fireworks as a big family in Wolcott :), and I loved it!

A visit from Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Bri

More visitors!!!  We're very lucky to have so many people willing to come and see us :)  This time it was Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Bri.  As soon as they got here, the girls went straight for the pool ;)

Sadly, the pool didn't end up surviving the jumps by the girls, but they enjoyed it while it lasted ;)

Sledding :)

There were lots of things we could've done while my parents were here, but we decided to do some sledding.  The day before we had gone to the Chaska community center pool (no photos from there...sorry) so we needed some cold-weather activities.

Grandma and Grandpa had to go to Eden Prarie to buy Bri some snowpants, so we passed the time by doing some painting.

 And then we went to the hill....

Genius idea on Joacim's part to put the rope on

I pulled Izzy up this hill.  I thought my lungs might explode.

When we got to the top, Izzy got scared and didn't want to go  anymore, so Bri and I headed down

I wish someone would've gotten a video of it, but this picture that my dad took is all we have.  It was SOOOOO FUN...and FAST!

Then Bri went back up the hill again (no idea how she did that..must be those lungs that are only 14 years old) and her and Joacim headed down...everything was going fine

Until this point

and it kept getting funnier

until they finally came to a stop

 This hill, while exhilarating, was exhausting, so we decided to head home and sled on some more manageable slopes :)

Izzy's MUCH happier here

 but they had to break through the reeds surrounding the pond behind the house

Izzy was always ready for the next run

then she went with Grandma...love this photo because, even from this distance, you can see how much fun she's having!

and then with Grandpa

into the reeds

another run with Bri and they FINALLY broke through...look at Izzy's hat :)

Pappa and Izzy made it all the way across the pond

I'm so glad we got her these overalls....she LOVES being outside

And then I decided to go down with Izzy

Can I just say that I'm an AWFUL sled driver?  In all the times that I've gone down this hill, I only made it to the pond ONCE so far....

Auntie Bri and Grandpa headed down hear the end

This was SUCH a fantastic day.  This is EMBRACING Minnesota winters!