Day #193- Peppermint Twist

Today we went to lunch and spent the afternoon with our playground friends at The Peppermint Twist. For those of you who live around us, if you've been there you know how fabulous it is, if you haven't- you MUST go! It's a blast :) To those not in MN- it's a 50s style drive in car hop restaurant with a playground. The best part of the playground is an outdoor dance floor with a jukebox that the kids can choose the music. (lots of 50s tunes) Check it out: http://www.thepepperminttwist.com/ It's famous and has been on The Food Channel :)
The kids had SO much fun there today...thus lots of pics :)

C#1 showing us his beary cute smile:


The Girl enjoying her kiddie cone:


The awesome dance floor:


I am a little in love with these captures...SO Boy #1 at this happiest :)



This was my BAD idea of the day....to have 5 kids standing on the top platform for a pic of their shoes...literally 1 second after taking this they ALL fell off and tumbled on top of each other onto the ground resulting in many cries and one bloody scraped leg. Poor C#2 thankfully he's a forgiving soul :) BAD photographer BAD.


If you go there- be sure to get the raspberry shake...it's heaven! :D

Day #192- Hoppin' and Jammin'

Two of Boy #1's favorite things to do- jumping on his bouncy ball and playing piano :) The first one I took from my dining room window- and I'm kinda digging the higher angle.

Day #191- Late Afternoon Light

This evening before dinner the fading sunlight was so lovely in our backyard... the kids are tired of me and my camera- but I stalked them anyways :D They were digging for worms and making a new home for them in the trees. They thought the worms might like a new view. :)

OH- and THANK YOU to whomever mentioned Bloglines on their blog (can't remember who it was...) It's SO SLICK! So much easier to keep up with you fellow bloggers- I love it! :)

Day #190- Garden Gnomes

We planted our 1st real garden this year (previous years we did container garndening) and the kids are obsessed with watering it everyday and watching to see the growth. SADLY something has eaten over 1/2 our garden. 3 rows of beans, a row of sugar snap peas, and a row of cauliflower and broccoli...have all biten the dust to something that ate them down to the soil.
My guess is our area deer and rabbits have discovered our open veggie bar....
The kids however think it's the garden gnomes :)

The picture of The Girl kissing the plant..... back in May when we all went to the garden store to pick our plants and seeds for the garden- The Girl really wanted a pumpkin plant. Me, knowing how much space they need said not this year. She pouted, but that was the end. Or so I thought. When I get home, I unload all the plants and bring them up to our top plateau for the garden spot and discover that SOMEHOW I came home with a pumpkin plant. The Girl gets a huge grin on her face and looks away very guilty like. The little stinker snuck in on our cart! So...we didn't have room for it, but she kept it in the little container it came in and kept watering it.
After 1/2 our garden was ransacked and emptied...we suddenly had room for the beloved plant.
So there it is after she planted it. :)

Oh- and the radish...is the only one that came up. The others never developed into bulbs or something...
A green thumb I have not :)

Day #189- Weed or Flower?

I don't know if this is a weed or a on purpose flower....we have a ton of them in our perennial garden. The previous owners planted everything, so I have no clue. But I like them :)

Day #188- Happy Birthday L-Man!

My g/f's second son turned ONE today and they had a lovely fun party in his honor which my kids had a blast at :)
Love you Leesh!! :)

Day #187b- My New Happiness

WHEW I'm finally got up with posting- I'm so flipping excited as I got a new iMac this week- my 1st ever mac and I LOOOOOVE it - the 24" screen is GLORIOUS! I downloaded a trial version of CS3- man is it SLICK! I've been using CS2 on my PC for a few years now, but wanted to try CS3 to see if it was worth upgrading too. Of course I should know better :) lol I love the RAW converter bridge thing- nice additions from CS2.
The GREAT thing is that I should be SO much more effiecient now that I have a much faster computer. YAY!! :)
If I could insert an animation of Snoopy doing the happy dance I would- because that's how I feel :)
Okay- this is really a stock photo- but it's my explaination to taking so long to post my daily pics. :)
Scroll down to see them all- I added the past 10days of pics :)

Day #187- Boy #1

Boy #1 LOVES to draw....and lately has gotten really quite good for a 4yr old if I say so myself.. this is my FAVORITE from recently- it's his self-portrait and I am going to frame it I love it so :)

Day #186- Beach Day

Day #185- Happy 4th of July!

There are only a few times a year I actually attempt a group pic....and this is one of those times! the 1st two are a true tradition in that we've taken pics on the 4th in that exact spot for the past 4 yrs. :)

Day #184- Barefeet

Something about this photo I just love.... probably because I love little feet, but also because to me it just screams SUMMER :)

Day #183- Little Swimmer

I know this is a noisy bad photo- but today was the 1st day of summer swimming lessons for the trio, and The Girl was nervous...but she LOVED it and I love her expression in this photo.

Day #182- We Surrender

Most days they look like this at some point. What is it about boys and dirt!

Day #181- It's Like Riding a Bike...

I have to preface this with a story..... last May the trio got bikes, and all 3 rode them well right away, but especially The Girl. They rode them everyday, and she in particular LOVED it. Until one day, about 2weeks after we got them, she fell off. It scared her, and she refused to get back on. For over a year. Instead- she's been riding her Razor scooter. TODAY she decided, that it was time to try again, and I was so proud of her! She got on it, and took off...and proved the old saying :)

Day #180- Truck Drivers

A few weeks ago the boys discovered that they could ride their toy dump trucks down our yard....so it's now a favorite activity to have races :) Their dad thinks this is hysterical- so we have it on video and these pics I snapped for him. And he loves them. As do I- Their joy is almost palpable :)

Day #179- Daisies

We have these growing all over our flower garden...and I adore them :)

Day #178- Could she BE any cuter?!

One more from the ever photogenic S :)

Day #177- 3 Chicago Peas :)

Oh how much fun this trio is! They are only 6 days younger than my own 3 Peas and just as spunky :)

Day #176- My Idea of Heaven

Tonight at Ravinia Park in Chicago. I am a HUGE fan- I think this is the 15th or 16th time I've seen them in concert. Ravinia Park is an amazing place.

Day #175- T-Ball Star

One of my g/f's sons- at his 1st T-Ball practice ever. He was SO excited he was practically glowing :) This was after his 1st time at bat- on his way to 1st base :)