We went tobogganing. Not the tobogganing of last year....oh no siree.

No, this is the toboggan of 2010.
Look at that face. She's blissing out.

or....not.

We were at a park near our house where a soccer pitch was built last summer. It has a slight down grade leading to the pitch which proved to be a perfect sledding hill.....for Izzie.

"Get on Daddy! Now push."

"K, that's done. Now get off and pull me back up. And then down again."

"Sweet"

It was above 0 Celsius. Lovely.

That picture makes the hill look really small......it was.

Going for a tour around the soccer pitch.

Mommy's turn. Get to work mommy.

And we're off. Hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

Halloween is All About Recycling!

It's Halloween, and you know what that means....costume buying time. And I will admit that I had a hard time convincing myself that I should buy a new costume since I was pretty certain that we would only make it to a handful of houses before Izzie hit the "walking-and-new-people" wall.

Last year Izzie was a puppy dog and in a spotted snowsuit. Perfect for our chilly northern October weather. So perfect, that we decided to recycle! I knitted up some cow ears and a cow tail, sewed them on and we were in business.

Getting ready.

Cow tights are a must.

Leaving with a make-up-ed nose and refusing to put her hat on.

Getting some help down the stairs.

First house. (Can you see the tail?) She was shy until the candy hit the bottom of her bag. And then.....

All smiles!

She didn't last for long, so we headed home after 20 minutes.

The aftermath. She loooooves Cheezies.

And now she's full of junk food and beans! Way past her bedtime with no end in sight. Hope all of you are having and have had a wonderful Halloween.

Backyard Shenanigans

This morning I looked out our window and, for a very short second, thought I saw a dead body.

In my defense, it was 6 am and I hadn't had my tea yet. Looks like someone had fun last night.

Sunday in the Zoo with Family

W. and E. start off our zoo pictures. E. had just looked over, hence the look on her face.

Phil tells the girls all about donkeys. Well, all he knows about donkeys which is repeating "Donkey" over and over again. The toddlers look amused.

Poppa catches Izzie's attention once again. Donkeys have nothing on him.

Imagine my shock and delight when I saw that the zoo was surrounded by trees. Trees people! I'm in the middle of the North Dakota prairies and there are trees surrounding me! They were cottonwoods, and there was cotton floating all around us. If you look closely at the walkway/ground, you can see some.

W. loves the horses, so naturally we spent a while with them. I don't know what Izzie thought of them, but....
...everyone sure seemed interested. (I love the line of noses in this picture.)

Ducks. Izzie loves ducks. Not as much as she loves parks, but close.

The otter habitat. We got there just as he climbed out of the water. He didn't climb back in, even after I offered to be his life guard. Jerk.

Phil's parents treated all of us to a zoo train ride. I look a little stressed (I can see my pinched mouth from here) because Izzie just saw a park (which was beside the train) and I'm trying to keep her in the train. We had to buy popcorn to keep her satisfied.
Last shot. The cousins on a sewer grate. They climbed up there, but once the cameras were brought out, Izzie changed her mind. Kudos to Poppa for trying to keep her on there. But once she's decided, there's no stopping her.

Well, that is all. I hope you enjoyed our vacation photos as much as we enjoyed our vacation.

Last Saturday

I promised you more pictures and I aim to please.

These are the pictures from the Saturday. We were very busy. Here, there and lots of parks. That's when we realized that Izzie does not like being taken away from parks. But more on that later.

Izzie and W. have fun with their Poppa. Izzie doesn't look too happy that he's on the phone and not paying attention to her....

And just like her mom, when she demands attention and she receives it! But not for the same reasons of course....
The Baby Magnet playing with the girls. This is E. Phil's sister and W.'s mother. I have decided that she is the Baby Magnet. Whenever Izzie was missing, I knew where to look.

This is Johann. (I think that's how it's spelled.) I love this freaking cat.

After spending a while at this park, we decided to sit in the shade. Izzie didn't like that idea. So she ran off.

"Return to me little one!" And she did...and then ran off to the park again.

Her reaction to our attempts to de-park her. Unhappy.

Phil, E. and W. have fun relaxing while Izzie plots her next move. Look at her back, you can see the plotting in her shoulders and in the top of her hat.

Post bath playtime. The girls get attention from a kitty who isn't afraid of them. Izzie is in heaven.
Ah, the fun of vacations. Soon to come are the Sunday photos. After I've done the laundry....

I just vacuumed there!

Today we've been on a major clean up kick. I washed the kitchen walls and baseboards, Phil mowed and raked the lawn, we brought down the furniture from upstairs and then I decided to vacuum.

I wiped around the house. Moving furniture, doing my mom proud with my efficiency. Then I turned around.

There was a freaking dead mouse on the floor.

WTF!! After I shrieked in horror and shock, I thought to myself...but I just vacuumed there.

How did a freaking dead mouse get into the middle of the floor? No cat in sight. (Don't get me started on the fact that there was a mouse in the house and we have TWO cats. Lazy buggers.) Izzie playing contentedly with her toys. Ugh.

I shouted for Phil to come save me, thinking he'd be grossed out just like me. Nope. He ponied up and got rid of the mouse like it was nothing. Sweet. Honey, you take care of the rodents and I'll kill all the spiders.

Camp

This weekend, while my brother R. and his girlfriend K. visited, we went to camp for a family get together. I have been going to our family camp since I was a wee bairn and still love it. This is where I climbed into a milk crate to scream my head off mid-tantrum. It's where my brother and I ran screaming from the dock when we saw a spider as big as a dinner plate, or so we thought at the time. It's where I first dipped my daughter's toes into a lake, and held her as she yelled angrily at me.

I promised to take pictures, and boy did I!

Beautiful day, check
Entertained baby, check.
The board where all of the grandchildren and now great-grandchildren's heights are recorded. The boards with all the aunt's and uncle's heights are in a different area...and very hard to read.
The old swing's last time on the deck. Nana Edie, my Nana, had purchased a new swing. And since there were going to be so many strapping, young men at the party, this was the perfect time to put it together.
My brother's girlfriend K. takes the best pictures. Here she is running off before the party starts.
My brother R. and my cousin J. hanging out at the side of camp.
Ah, cheerios. What would we do without you....
Taking the first walk down to the lake with Izzie. She was there last year, but it was way too cold to swim.
Before, and not impressed already...
After. It was the combination of sand and water that freaked her out. We took her down a few times, and after a while she wasn't that upset. She still didn't really enjoy it though.
Getting used to sand.....and the pine cones.

Some of the family relaxing before dinner. Everyone came in waves. This was the first.
Ah, the fabled swing. R. and my uncle R. are putting it together like the manly men they are. My cousin H. is trying to get Izzie to point to her nose.

She doesn't know about this. But that dress is really cute.
And then it came off. See that large bit of paint missing from the door. Yeah, she took that off too.

She likes to strut.

Ah, camp. I hope we'll be able to go out there a few more times this year. If for nothing else, so Izzie can get used to the lake.