Baseball With Daddy

So we were baseball groupies and followed the team as they played in La Crosse. My parents were also there for Monday night's game, which was great.












It was a REALLY long game, but the kids did great! Tuesday morning we spent time in the pool and after Eddy left for the ball field, I had a special family to visit. I cared for this girl when I was an RN at Mayo. She was in the hospital for several weeks. Her mom helped me pick the readings for our wedding. When it was time for her to be discharged, we cried as I watched them get into their vehicle....happy she was going home, and said because they touched my life. I hadn't seen them since she was discharged--Summer of 2002!




Tuesday night we went to another game. I didn't have my parents there to help, but the kids were awesome anyway. We had picked out suckers to have earlier in the day.




Piper is figuring out how to wink!




The kids got blue slushies...and their mouths turned VERY blue.




Wednesday after lunch, it was time to go home. Leaving was harder then when Eddy left initially. I think the kids realized that Eddy was going to be gone longer than his usual spring trips (a few days). Luckily, we'll meet him in Eau Claire next week!

A Day Off

Eddy had his first day off since leaving Duluth to coach the Chinooks today! We took advantage of being so close to Wisconsin Dells and went to Noah's Ark Waterpark.

Isaac was pretty timid at first.


Piper on the other hand, jumped right in.


The kids had a lot of fun. It was neat watching them.


This area is at the base of a crazy tube ride. Eddy and I were watching the people on the ride, thinking they were nuts! There were several "kiddie" areas, but this is where they almost had the most fun.


Isaac really liked the lazy river ride.


Piper likes the swing...as long as you didn't push her too high.


A good time was had by all!

Finally!

After 26 days of being apart, I finally was able to bring the kids to see Eddy! We got in the car Saturday morning and met him in Madison. Isaac was SUPER excited! Piper was pretty shy at first, but warmed up after a bit. We met him at the ball park and watched a game.


The kids did great! We cheered for the Chinooks and ate some cotton candy.





By the time the game was over and we got checked in to the hotel, it was really late. It didn't take long for the kids to fall asleep!

A Flood

Seriously. A flood. Our town on a hill flooded today. Never thought that would happen. I was able to download pictures that were online to capture just how much water there was.
This is the Target parking lot,




Down the hill, manhole covers blew off.




This isn't far from Target. It's a car dealership. Can you see the cars for sale?




Here's an arial view of the mall area. The store in the upper right with the light colored roof is Target.




This is the parking lot of the clinic I used to work at. The blue car is a Prius; on of the physicians owns it. The cement wall that you can see the top of is about 4-5 feet tall. Lake Superior is the water on the very left side, mid-picture.




Here's how brown the lake and harbor were after the storm. It's
Usually a beautiful shade of blue.




We are lucky at our house. We had a little seepage in the basement, under the front steps. It's a cement bottom storage area, and we had plastic tubs on the floor. So the only damage was some time on my part, moving stuff out so the floor could dry. Just a half mile away, my best friend's house has several inches of water in the basement. The power, and damage, of the water was unbelievable.

Another Half Marathon!

I ran the Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon for the second time on June 16th! Never thought I'd run ONE half marathon, let alone TWO! Training went well; I had a better base built up, compared to last year. I'm starting to figure out what my food/fluid intake should be prior to, during, and after my runs, which has helped. Eddy was really supportive and helped me get out and run whenever I said I needed to. With his new summer job, it threw my plans off for having him take the kids down to watch me. But the day before the race, my father in law said he would bring them down. Having them there was the best part of the whole race! In the days leading up to race day, there was talk about possible high humidity. I don't run well in humidity, so I changed my goal of beating last year's time, to simply feeling good at the finish line. My best friend and I were pleasantly surprised when we got to the staring line and the temp and humidity were ok. During the race, I tried to pace myself by how I felt, not by how my running app was telling me what my pace was. I was really feeling good, especially when I was hearing "you have run 8 miles at a 8 minute, 52 second pace" in my ear buds. At about 10 1/2, I felt like I should slow down a little, but I guess I didn't slow much, because my pace didn't really change. The kids were at the 11 1/2 mile, so after that I thought about using the rest of the run as a cool down, which helped my psyche (rather than I STILL have a mile and a half left!). I knew a former co-worker was volunteering at the race and would be about 10 feet in front of the finish line, so had planned on looking for her. However, when I came down the last stretch, I saw the finish line timer tick over to read "1:58:00" and I thought, "holy crap, I'm gonna finish under two hours!!". So, my eyes were focused and I tried to speed up. Such a rush of emotions at the end! Not a minute had passed after I finished and my sister called--she and her husband were able to watch the live video stream of the finish line and saw me finish! I broke down in tears, knowing she could see me. After getting my medal and shirt, some food, and my gear, I met up with my father in law and the kids. I'm so grateful that they could be there! On our way to the car, we stopped at DQ and let the kids get an ice cream cone. The race was a good reason to let them have ice cream at 9 in the morning! We also were able to see the elite runners at the 25 mile mark. They are unbelievable! After getting home, we took a couple more pictures, then my father in law took the kids for the weekend so I could go to a wedding in St. Paul!
I took over 10 minutes off last year's time, finishing in 1:58:59!!
My BFF, Courtney and I pre-race




And after the race




So excited to see my kids!








Another bestie who cheered me on (and took a pic of me running)




Grateful for my father in law

Our Baby Is Three!

How is it possible that three years have gone by since she came into our lives? We were so blessed to have Isaac and blessed again to have this smart, beautiful, opinionated, sweet little girl. I know every parent feels this way about their kids, but she is truly amazing. I check on both kids every night before I go to bed. And no matter what kind of day we had, I look at them and am overwhelmed with such love, it almost takes my breath away.


We had a fun day, celebrating her birthday! We started by bringing her to my hair stylist to get her first hair cut! Only about 1/2 an inch was cut, though!





Then we went to pick up princess balloons and cake. She got to pick where to go for lunch and she chose Bridgeman's.


She has been talking about how she's going to blow out her candles, but when the waitress put one on her ice cream sundae, she suddenly got very shy and let Isaac blow them out!


Isaac and I had her open some gifts before she took a nap.





That night we had some friends and my parents over for pizza and cake. We had 9 kids 5 1/2 and younger!





I think she definitely felt the love!

Last Few Days

It was beautiful out on Monday, so we spent most of it outdoors. The neighbor kid came over to partake in the water fun! The kids love playing with him.


Isaac's best bud Ben has a very similar Twins uniform as him!


Today is Piper's last day of being two! How did that happen? Look how big she is!!


The kids and I sat in front of the computer to watch live video of Eddy's game, trying to get a glimpse of him. It was like "Where's Waldo?"!

Time With Cousins

Eddy's sister and family made the long trip from Iowa for visit. While they were here we were able to celebrate Piper and Madilynn's birthday.

We went to the bowling alley...





Back to Madi's house where Bon and Jamie had put together a great Curious George themed party...


It was 85 degrees, so the kids played outside with Papa...


And took an updated cousins picture. Can you tell who needed a nap?!?!


The kids LOVED being with their cousins. I so wished that they lived closer. Makes me realize they need to see their cousins that do live in town.