The land of many bike trails

One thing I love about Minnesota is that they take their parks very seriously. When we first moved here I was always amazed at how people were just always outside. Walking, biking, jogging, playing at the park. It just wasn't quite what I was used to. Then I survived my first Minnesota winter and after being in hibernation for 6 months, I realized, people want to enjoy every waking moment that they can outside, before they have to hibernate again.

The girls love riding in the bike trailer. Except for when Chloe reaches over and pinches Jade, (on accident, of course).

One sunny, Friday afternoon, we went for a bike ride with Dan's cousin and his wife. It was really fun, although, I wasn't pulling the trailer. :)
Taking a break mid-way.
Chloe loves to stand up now. She can pull herself up on almost anything, including underneath a chair, and, much to Jade's dismay, on Jade.
Jade took a spontaneous nap the other day. This hasn't happened since she was about one. She was just watching a video while I laid Chloe down for a nap, and when I came out, she was asleep. It was just one of those busy, play 'til you crash, kind of days.
Dan and I had our first vacation away from the girls last weekend. We went to Wisconsin dells, WI. They have several water parks in the town and we visited two, Chula Vista and Noah's Ark (the largest in the US). We had such a great time and really owe a huge thank you to our friends the Howells and Charisse Smith, for watching Jade and Chloe. Knowing they were in good hands made it really easy to enjoy ourselves.
We went with Dan's cousin Brandon, his wife, Emilynn, and her sister, Lauren. Here we are, having dinner at a Japanese hibachi grill. Good times. :)

Summer

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've updated! Well, in all honesty, I kind of can. :) We've been trying to squeeze every drop out of this summer since we'll be sticking around for another Minnesota winter. A few pics from July:

This is us, enjoying our 3rd annual trip to Music in Plymouth; an outdoor music concert featuring the Minnesota Orchestra and kickin' fireworks show. Jade, of course, held her ears and faced the other way during the fireworks, but, luckily, did not cry the entire time.

Dan's family came out for a visit. Stef and Kevin came with the girls, from Texas. Mike and Lou came from Idaho. Here is a cousin shot; soon to be outdated because Stef is expecting a little boy this fall. Can't wait!
Of course, we needed a family picture, and it turned out super nice.
We've been hitting the local beaches. Jade loves to play in the water, she's like a fish. She asks me pretty much every day if we can go swimming.
We went on a hike/boat ride with Dan's Aunt and Uncle, and cousins.
Chloe is getting so big!! She is army crawling all over the place and loves to pull herself up on to things. She's getting very strong.

Heartbeat 5000 5k

Saturday I ran a 5k. Dan brought the kids and they played while I ran the race. I ran with a few of my friends from church. Here's a pic a Jade popping bubbles with Corbin.

Running downtown was fun. Running up the bridges was the worst though, they felt like mountains. The finish line was over a portion of the Mississippi River. Here's a picture of me after the race. I couldn't bear to post the one Dan snapped as I crossed the finish line. I look like I'm going to puke, and I felt like it too. I really pushed myself at the end there and it wasn't fun. I hadn't run in over a month prior to the race.
My buddy Rachel was my motivation. Every time I saw her ahead of me she was running, she never stopped to walk. So I had to keep up with her.
This lovely lady next to me is Laura. She's having a baby in October and she totally rocked that 5k, pushing her two boys in a jogging stroller! Um, she's like 6 months pregnant and still skinnier than me. :)
Look at this little cutie!

Minnehaha Falls

The weather here has been so hit and miss lately. I'm really saddened by it, seeing as how we only have a few months out of the year to really enjoy the outdoors. Thursday was probably the best day we've had in a long time. We went to Minnehaha Falls which is in the heart of the metro. It's really a fun, cool park. There's a restaurant, playground, you can rent bike-cars. I don't know the official name.

Jade seems to be thinking, "Get off of me, mom".

Here's a picture from the base of the falls. If you go, know that there isn't a stoller/wheelchair accessible way down (that we saw). We folded up the stollers and carried them (and the girls) down.

It was worth it though, because after following the river down a ways, we came to this awesome wading area! Jade played and played. She was having so much fun, but by the end she was crying because her feet hurt (not to mention she hadn't napped and was exhausted).
She is the cutest thing ever!

Dan's graduation

Dan had his graduation. It was a great graduation but very anti-climatic, because he won't be done with school until August 20th.

Lynn, Ruthanne, Brandon, Emilynn and Harlow were able to come see him graduate. It was nice to have someone to sit with and hold Chloe while I tried to snap pictures.

We had a BBQ at the Randall's house afterward.
Jade's first time running through the sprinklers. I know, you're thinking, she's 3!! She had such a blast and slept like a log that night. :)
Chloe and Harlow! Brandon and Em's little girl.
The cake that Dan's mom got for him.

Jade's last day of preschool

Jade had her last day of preschool last week. She has loved it so much and it has been really good for her. She's always more talkative and engaged with us when she comes home from preschool. I'm so glad that she qualified for free preschool through the school district.

Here's a picture of her class. They sang three songs, The More We Get Together, Like A Butterfly, and some Freeze Dance song.
Jade with her teacher, Mrs. Porter (on the right) and Mrs. Turk, the teacher's assistant (up top).
This is Jade's aide, Ms. Cheryl. She would assist Jade throughout the day. Getting her on and off the bus,helping her with class projects, and helping her stay on task.
Afterward, we went to the park while Dan took a test. The girls had a great time, of course.

Then we went to Mall of America. Jade rode on the carousel with Daddy. :) I love her smile in this picture.

Playing with Grandma

Louann came for a visit. It was bitter-sweet though, Dan's maternal grandpa passed away, so she came for the funeral. It was very nice to have her play with the girls and have her here.

We have several friends here in Minnesota that work for General Mills, so we decided to run in the Run of the Mills 5K. I was expecting that Dan would be able to watch the girls while I ran, but he had an unexpected interview at a hospital in Vegas. So I took the girls in the double jogger. It was a bit worse than I thought it would be. There were many stops to put binkies back in mouths and at one point I took Chloe out and held her and pushed the stroller with the other hand. Really though, my time wasn't awful. Somewhere in the 42 minute range.
Jade ran in the kids race, the Cheerio Chase. She did really well, as in, she kept running to the end. She was running at a leisurely pace. I don't think she gets the idea that she wants to be first. It was so adorable though.

I had to post these two pictures of the girls in their jammies. The first one is of Jade at 4 months old. The second is Chloe, more like, 5 months old.

These pictures have no rhyme or reason, they just couldn't miss out on being put on the blog.

Jade got a train set for her birthday, she seems to like it pretty well.
After a run in with a marker. :) Doesn't every kid have their own version of this picture.