Summertime

It's so cliche but this summer went by way.too.fast. It didn't help that I wished half of it away while Scot was gone...so I feel like it didn't really start for us until we were a family again on July 11.

But so it goes and I do feel we made the most of the time we have now that we are staring down Labor Day weekend. So here are some of the highlights:

During our first full weekend together in July, we made our traditional post-deployment B&B visit.
Reunion 1 (May 2006) - Duluth, MN
Reunion 2 (Oct 2008) - Stillwater, MN
Reunion 3 (Jul 2010) - Osceola, WI

While each trip has been amazing, I could really do without this cause for a celebration. The coincidence this time was that it fell on our (12th!) anniversary.

July 18, 1998 vs. July 19, 2010




So, this time we made our temporary residence at the St. Croix River Inn in Osceola, WI which is across the St. Croix River from Taylors Falls. It was a really nice place - our room was very spacious with a 4 season porch overlooking the river. We had our anniversary dinner at a place called Grecco's, which was great - it was a perfect night to sit on the deck, enjoy an amazing meal, great wine, and each other's company.
We were quite adventerous the next day - we headed into Taylor's Falls in the morning to hike, have lunch, and then canoe 8 miles. It was another gorgeous day and we headed out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We lingered in our room both mornings with breakfast delivered to our door. It was just about all we could ask for - a great anniversary and reunion. Huge thanks to Aunt Julie who watched the girls for the 2 nights we were gone.



On July 24 we hosted a "Welcome Back" party for Scot at our house - we had a pretty good turnout for a summer weekend party. It was really nice to have so many friends over to our place!

We attended other parties the next 2 weekends - the first one was a going-away party for friends who were moving back to Michigan after 5 years in the Twin Cities. Jen is in my Book Club & we will really miss her! We had our own send off for her "Book Club Style" a few weeks prior at The Melting Pot. Yum! The following Saturday we went to a party that one of Scot's friends from the Guard had - it was nice to hang out with that crew and put a lot of faces to names that I've heard over the years.

My parents came over for a visit a few weeks ago and we went to a Twins game in the new stadium - it was a great game! They played the White Sox and won 7-6. It was about as action-packed as baseball can get with 23 hits - and Joe Mauer hit his first homerun at Target Field - and we had wonderful weather to boot. My dad also celebrated his 82nd birthday while they were here - crazy!




We have also had the opportunity to get on a few lakes over the past few weeks. My friend Tricia lives on a lake near Cannon Falls - we had a great time despite the gale force winds that were out that day. And just this weekend, we went up to my friend Kelly's cabin in Webster, WI for a day of fun in the sun. Ava had a blast swimming with her buddy Emma and her favorite part hands down was the jet ski! (Well, it was mine and Scot's too - I forgot how much I love those things!) Ava wanted to go faster and faster the entire time. One time we actually fit all 4 of us on the ski...and Reese fell asleep. We had a good laugh about that!







In between all of the organized events, we have been filling our time with our new hobby - biking! We purchased all of the gear we needed in April (right before Scot left) so we were ready to go when he got back in July. Scot and I each got a new bike (neither of us had owned one since just after college) and then we got a tag-along bike for Ava and a carrier for Reese. We are really enjoying getting out on the trails - it's a great way to fit in some outdoor activity with the kids. We mostly bike on the trails around Woodbury, but while they are convenient, they are HILLY. But we are both getting a lot stronger and the nice scenery on the trails generally makes up for complete exhaustion...well, almost. So, one day we drove out to the Gateway trail and logged about 10 miles there. I usually ride with Reese on my bike (though she's on with Scot in these pictures) and Ava rides with Scot.







Phew! That's a lot of activity for 6 weeks! Ava is really looking forward to fall because of 1) preschool, 2) "ballerina school", 3) Julie's wedding and 4) her birthday. Lots of fun stuff coming up!