The great pumpkin drop

Last year Dave heard about a pumpkin festival in Stillwater and ever since he has been dying to check it out. They had the biggest pumpkins we'd ever seen!


The biggest zucchini we'd ever seen!


Check out the size of that watermelon and the winning pumpkin weighing in at over 1500 pounds!




The highlight of the festival was the dropping of this 1500 pound pumpkin and watching it smash into pieces! I'm not really sure who comes up with this stuff, but it was definitely a first for me.

We topped this day of all things big with gigantic ice cream cones from Nelson's -- famous for their child-sized ice creams that can feed a whole family!


I really don't understand why everything has to be so over-the-top big, but it was fun nonetheless! I think I would be running from that creepy scarecrow thing too if I were four!


Teyah enjoyed the tractor.


But Kyler LOVED the tractor!


Kyler is quite the little talker and always has a lot to say. Today, he pointed out a picture of Santa and said "Pretty cool!" I imagine he was saying something along those lines in this picture too.


I might add that it was in the 80s on this late October day. That never happens here! What a great Minnesota Fall! I am learning to enjoy these Fall days!

First day of school line-up

Miss Ellie started the first grade this year! Ellie is the little fashionista -- always coming up with outfits on her own that feature lots of color, sparkle, and accessories. She does an amazing job with it and has since she was too little to be able to doing it. Such a cutie!


Miss Aubrie's first day of third grade! (Notice the Harry Potter book in hand!). Aubrie was particularly excited about her light up Sketchers, and her I heart music shirt. Both Aubrie and Ellie begged me to paint their nails and curl their hair for the first day! Needless to say, we were busy around our house the night before and the morning of the first day! I was intensely missing Lauren!


Not too much changed this year for these girls because they are in multi-age classrooms, which meant they both continued with the same teacher as last year. Aubrie can't wait for the school musical, of which third graders will get the speaking parts, and Ellie was so excited to be a "buddy" to a kindergartner. Other than that, not much changed.


Miss Teyah's first day of her second year of Joy School. I picked out her dress. Too cute to pass up!


Someday we will get a 'real' smile from this girl.


This is Teyah's Joy School group this year! It's so fun that it worked out to be all girls! These five are so much fun! Don't you love that they all chose dresses to wear their first day of school?

P.S. I just realized I used an annoyingly amount of explanation marks in this post -- but there is just soooo much excitement for these girls with the first day of school that it helps add to all the excitement and emotion of the day! ;)

Summer 2011 highlight movie

Enjoy some of the best memories of our summer.

Our Midwest Paradise

Come with us and we will show you of a magical land.

Here is the view from our hotel in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. This end of summer getaway has become a favorite family tradition. We love this enchanted beach town on the shores of Lake Michigan!

A day before we left, we decided to make a purchase we never thought we'd make in Minnesota --a Boogie Board! Our local sporting goods store manager thought we were crazy when we came in asking for a Boogie Board. "Are you going to Hawaii or something?" But we thought we'd give it a try since the girls enjoyed it so much in California.

After posing for a quick family picture on the beach,

and burying daddy,

the girls hit the "waves!"

While boarding, Teyah got distracted by something floating in the water...

Finding a floating dollar bill was the highlight of this princess's magical vacation until she won something even better...

She was the proud winner of the daily coloring contest at the Blue Harbor Resort! She bested her two older sisters and the rest of the resort. As you can see, she was beyond excited, especially because the prize was a coupon for a free ice cream cone! Her big sisters were quite humbled! But, it was certainly Teyah's turn because Aubrie and Ellie had each won it in past years.


Every year we go to Sheboygan, we find a new treasure or two in the little town. This year, we found a storybook-themed garden called "Bookworm Gardens." The free garden brought to life children's books such as the "Magic School Bus;"

The "Three Little Bears;"

and "Sadoko and The Thousand Paper Cranes." Each garden was so well thought-out, a visual delight, and fun for all of us! They had each of the books laminated in mailboxes that matched the corresponding gardens so you could read the story amongst the setting! There will be a definite return trip here!

We also explored the town's little children's museum.

And the kids enjoyed dressing up on the museum's stage. Kyler was game to dress as knight and Teyah of course the princess.

The kids loved pretending with each other in all of the exhibits.


This children's museum was not commercially-constructed but hand-made, which brought extra charm.

Possibly the best new find was an old-fashioned ice cream shop that recently opened on the pier. Its setting is quaint, and it even has a toy train that circles the top ledge inside the shop!


Since this is the dream vacation, we treated the kids to a gigantic banana split to share -- something none of them have had before! Dave and I chuckled how quickly this massive sunday was downed! Apparently, my kids got my love of ice cream gene! Don't tell anyone that we ate at this ice-cream shop three times in three days!


You could say Kyler was walking on air after all that ice cream!

We purchased another new toy before arriving in Sheboygan. I have some great memories playing on a raft like this on the beach in Florida when I was a kid, so I figured if Daddy could pass the Boogie Boarding memories down, I could pass down the love of the raft. Dave thinks I'm a little crazy, but it was great for the kids when the water was too cold to get in.


The occasional fog adds to the mystique of this place!

All this -- along with the bike riding, American Girl Outlet mall shopping, water sliding/pool swimming, beach soccer kicking, book reading, yummy restaurant eating -- do you understand now why we return here year after year?

Maybe someday we will convince someone to join us in our little piece of heaven? But if not, we will continue to make memories in this town in the middle of the country that nobody expects to be so dreamy.

Carpinteria - Tradition lives on

This year marked the 30th anniversary of Carpinteria for my (Dave's) family. Some of my earliest memories stem from my first year at Carpinteria, such as learning to ride a bike, Boogie Board and smash pennies on the train tracks.


This is a pic of me in 1981


And this is a pic of the kiddies livin' it up in 2011


We had a good crew of kids -- many of my cousin's kids (Krissy's, Josh's, Jenny's, Parker's) were able to join the fun this year. It was fun to see the "Second Generation of Carpinteria kids" learning and loving our traditions growing up.


Traditions such as camping out in a tent (Ellie & Aubrie's first experience that they remember).


Going on bike rides along the coast.


Getting dirty around the campground. At one point, we caught Kyler doing face-down "snow angels" in the campground dirt.



Getting lots of candy at Robitaille's. Teyah couldn't resist giving Krew (Parker's little boy) a smooch on the cheek.


Digging lots of sand castles.


And Boogie Boarding all day long.


Even Ellie and Teyah were brave and joined the Boogie Boarding fun!


I love this Pic of Ellie and her Daddy alongside Livee and her Daddy (Parker)


I couldn't help myself from joining in on the action.


Carpinteria has always been a magical place for me which brings back a flood of good memories every time we go there. I think it is catching on with my kids as well as they often ask when we are going back.