Last Days of Summer---The Minnesota Zoo

Dolphin Show

Taylor, Isaac, Hailey, Olivia, & Carter

The last full week of summer has arrived; Hailey starts school next week and Taylor the week after that. We hadn't been to the Minnesota Zoo for years since living so close to the Como Zoo. Carter was adorable and quietly stared intensely at the animals. Taylor did a lot of wondering and loved all of the tunnels within the exhibit. Hailey expressed all of her facts that she learned at zoo camp and impressed us all.
A moose sighting.

African Safari

My Loves

Carter and his new "big boy" hair cut
Hailey in her "zoo camp" t-shirt. She loved zoo camp this week!

Taylor gets some pretty crazy hair with the humidity

Angelic???

The past couple of days have been really rainy and gloomy resulting in some serious cabin fever at my house; frightening.

Angelic Children

This picture is taken at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Notice how Carter loves to hold fingers when he has his pipe in. Too cute.
Carter is always spoiled by his loving sisters.

All reading in the dining room while I am making dinner; a rare but awesome occurrence.

My vacuumers!

Fun with Clay Camp

Hailey and Olivia took a "Fun with Clay" camp last week and loved it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because Hailey's first love has always been crafts. They made: honey pot, fairy house, candy dish, fish plate, a pinch bowl, and a taco fish. All are on display in our home and very precious.

Water Park of America

A couple of weeks ago Auntie Julie and cousin Brittany came for a visit and we decided to take an overnight trip to the Water Park of America; a five minute trip! I can not say enough about how awesome the hotel and water park is for both adults and children. Hailey probably enjoyed it the most braving all of the slides and surfing. I wish I had my camera for the show when Hailey, Mike, Brittany, and Julie all surfed--it was a good show. Carter and Taylor were good little troopers taking it all in and accepting the fact that the family raft included them despite their fear and apprehension. Needless to say, we were all exhausted after the over-night, but plan on making another trip there sometime soon.

Twins Game

This past weekend Brad, Pam, Cassie, Jacob, Madison, Wil, & Gin visited us for a fun packed weekend at the Miedema Motel. Saturday night's entertainment was the Twins game; the Twins lost but the best entertainment was watching the kids.

Carter was a monster at the game and sat only when being fed sugar and caffeine resulting in an exponential growth of energy.

The girls favorite part of the game was the cotton candy even though it didn't last very long. I tried to make a "one hand" rule hoping to keep some of the mess confined to one hand, but all was lost--Thank goodness for Carter's wipes.

Biking with Grandma

Last week Grandma Miedema visited us for what was planned to be just one night but turned into three. We went to Minnehaha Falls and were really disappointed that currently the water is so low that there were not any "falls" to see so we then opted for the family bike--very hard work! The kids had a great time with Grandma and I was able to sneak away on multiple occasions for errands and other fun stuff.