Well July was certainly a month of company. Not only did Karyn come for a visit (HERE), but so did Jeff and Shawna! We had so much fun. This was our first time meeting Shauna in person (well, everyone except Ken) which was so exciting.

First off… Shawna’s a wizard at doing hair… and Trinity loved it, Echo also got her hair done. 

We had a few planned outings. First off… the long delayed trip to Fort Snelling. So much to see on a beautiful day. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The other big trip was all the way to Wisconsin and Ren in the Glen. It was the kids’ first renaissance festival. Much more affordable than the bigger on Ken and I go to yearly, but just as much fun. Shawna did Trinity’s hair for her and I lent her one of my sari skirts.

Echo pulled out all the stops with her fairy wings.

We had a blast.

Grandpa Mike sent each of the kids some money to spend. Trust me those purchases were VERY carefully considered! I do believe we will try and go again!

Unicorn fairy!

The rest of our visit was spent just enjoying everyone’s company. We ate out, ate in, drank a little, went all out with a late night booze fest. It was amazing. I cannot wait until they visit again. Shawna even came to a R.I.P.P.E.D class with me!!! Talk about adventurous! Who knows, maybe before too long we can return the favour and visit them back home? Fingers crossed!

BW3!

January 18-19

Ken’s training is easier and easier to deal with at the kids settle into the idea of longer periods of time without Daddy at easy reach. We kept busy with school and just general hanging out.

Zander working on his money counting skills

The 18th marked the end of of the first week of training. I don’t think Ken learned much but he did not feel it was time wasting. For us, Friday was our last projected nice day… so my plan was – SEND THEM OUTSIDE!!!!

Chilly but fun

Of course we still had other things to do – spelling tests… dinosaurs… Emanuel made his own tally of what we have covered to date.

Herbivore, Carnivore… and both

We also rolled hotdogs in crescent rolls to make lunch with Nana! The kids loved it!

Making lunch with Nana

We finished our evening with a dance party… being restrained is NOT the way of our kids!!

Some post dance quiet time

On the 19th we had our last full day with Karyn… and with Ken and Bree’s help we made it a busy and fun one! We hit Mall of America on a rather busy day and shopped our hearts out.

At the mall

Add in lunch at an Italian restaurant when we first got into the mall.

Ken’s sausage

And supper at BW3’s and we had great food, great company and some AWESOME deals.

WINGS

Us

I can truly say my Christmas money is well gone and spent. At MOA I got EVERYTHING I purchased ON SALE. Including my most unexpected purchase – a dress from an amazing store called Bettie Page! Bree and I are totally going back to play around and buy dresses later in the year. So much gorgeous!

I am not sure when I will do a model of it to take a picture of but I LOVE the shape of this dress!

We stopped in at a real hat store, perused the books at Barnes and Noble and tried on bras at Victoria’s Secret. I picked up a set of headphones from Typo for a mere 10.00. I love the look of the buds but they really do hurt my ears.

Old school

So our very last day together with Karyn was pretty much kid free… we got out, about and around. I am so glad that we did!

Hello

So many escalators !!