Trevor's 2nds

Well, Trevor has added to his trophy collection and now we have used a trophy display that was given to him for his birthday last year. This actually came about more because one of Gwen's bed rails broke off of her bed and has now made to move her bed so the railing can be used again. When Trevor saw how "cool" Gwen's room had become because she was now sleeping directly under her calendar, he wanted his room changed around as well.

So now Trevor's room has been rearranged as well. His one request was that his bed was also under his calendar. His room now has a large space in the middle, all ready for his sleepovers, so I don't have to keep moving the bed around to make room for the air mattress. I saw that we had still not found a good place, other than the floor, for his trophy display. And now that his room was rearranged, I asked him where he would like it. We found a place, asked my dad to help hang it up, and immediately his 2nd place trophy from baseball went onto it, along with his accumulated golf and talent show trophies.

I would say this year's baseball was a great success. The team ended the season 2nd place in their bracket, although their bracket had the upper 4 teams removed and playing in their own bracket. And I know all the kids, and coaches wanted to win that 1st place game, but it wasn't meant to be that day. I think slowly Trevor is beginning to understand that 2nd place is still ok. Given the fact that not every team made it to the weekend, and not every team got a trophy. The trophy that they got was very nice. He loves to show it off to anyone, even the people that were there to watch him get it, because now he can talk about his growing trophy display.

Last Friday both Trevor and Gwen finished off their golf lessons with their own Junior Tournament. Trevor again took 2nd place in his 5 hole league and again was upset by not taking first, but it seems that 2nd is really in the cards for him this year. Add to these two 2nd places, the fact that he is going into 2nd grade this year, and it may have helped him start to graciously accept not coming in 1st place. He is still very competitive but really has had some good experiences with teammates watching to observe how they react to the news. As parents, we are trying to be supportive and happy at Trevor as long as he is a good sport and tries his best.

Congratulations Trevor on a great baseball and golf season. May you continue to enjoy the sports and have wonderful experiences in the years to come.

First boatride of the season, birthday, wedding #2

Sorry for the lack of effort on trying to get some of these in, but hopefully I'll get through them while giving them their due, or is that do? I don't really know. We were up at the lake on my dad (Papa's) birthday as our first boat ride of the season. The weather had been very warm previously so the lake water was a nice 81 degrees. Everyone except my mom took a jump in the lake, but Trevor was nice enough to splash Bubba so she at least got a taste of the water.

I'm pretty sure the fact that you cannot see your feet or the bottom of the lake confused Gwen a little bit just like it does Trevor. We put her "life jacket" on that she will jump into a pool with, but she wasn't happy to jump into the lake with. I had to catch her the first few times, but after almost losing my contact I had her do it on her own. Really though it was just sitting on the ledge of the boat and sliding in. Trevor was good after the first jump and never did his traditional cannon ball, but maybe that was reserved for the next trip.

So the kids got to take part in their favorite activity with Papa, which is blowing out the candles and opening the cards/birthday presents. I really hope the birthday honorees are ok with how they throw themselves on them and "help" them for these activities. I still have to remind both kids that when they are at their friends' birthday parties, it isn't like our family that lets them blow out their candles and open their presents. It is their time. But thanks to our family for letting them take part!

Anyway, Kevin, Kelsey and Ethan arrived on Friday night and while it rained Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, the kids did get in a little bit of swimming Friday morning and Saturday afternoon before we had to head off.

It was on to wedding number 2 of the year for us which was actually Russ's family friend which I can now affectionately call one of my pseudo-psisters.

We all were invited to the reception but unfortunately Russ was not able to attend because the golf tournament was all out of whack because of the rain the day before. I think it was perfect for the kids because Gwen's favorite part was the dancing and Trevor got to hang out with Derek and Michael, Kyrsten's brother. I didn't have to keep bothering them to sit still, and act polite because they had both had a good nap in the car ride back and made it all the way until 10:30 before coming back home for the night. Tracy was asked to sing before the dance part of the reception and did a wonderful job. Then she danced the night away with the kids there even if she had never met them before. I think everyone had a great night.

So then we get up the next day to run up for a fun shower on Sunday afternoon. It was a pretty packed week! But it was great to be with everyone and say hi and have the kids have as fun of a time as they did.

Next up: baseball weekend!

Atlantic City and the Pseudo-Psisters

Eventually, we will have some pictures to post on facebook, but I think we are a ways off because of how crazy-busy life has become for the next month or so. And I'm not talking about me! I was lucky enough to get to go on a trip out to Atlantic City, NJ with three lovely ladies, two of which were classified as brides, a "moh" and a bridesmaid (me). The schedule was put on mostly by moh, and a quick snapshot is as follows:

We left on a flight Thursday evening flying direct to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the plane was over an hour late because of a weight imbalance with the luggage. Uh...ok. Nice job with that one. We arrived and went out to rent the car to drive around an hour into Atlantic City. Although it was almost 2am by the time we checked into the hotel, it was a great view of the city all lit up. I'm not sure if anyone in our group had ever been to Vegas before, as I know I have not, so I'm guessing it is a similar sight to driving into Vegas with the lights everywhere.

We checked into our hotel and talked to a very nice check-in guy who helped us by telling us about some local facts. We were near the edge of the shady sort of town, but there were plenty of ways around. He explained that the bar at the hotel closed at midnight. There was a great diner less than a block away. A wonderful seafood restaurant across the street. How to quickly find our way to the boardwalk, and also a menu for a pizza place that delivered late.

So we all went up to our room and crashed for the night. How sweet is it that we got to sleep in until 10:30 before rolling out of bed? It is an extreme luxury for me! We slowly meandered over to the recommended diner and found that they served breakfast throughout the day as well as other foods for a very cheap price. After getting some food, we wanted to check out the boardwalk. We saw the beach, and although it had a funky odor, it was interesting that there were plenty of people swimming and lifeguards every block or so on the beach. There was also a lot of construction. Although the weather forecast was a bit scary coming into town, we didn't see rain during the day on Friday. It was pretty humid but in the mid-80s was pretty tolerable to me. Our first stop was at the House of Blues restaurant to grab a drink right on the boardwalk tables. We said our cheers and then decided to check out some of the casinos. We were happy to find $1 blackjack seats for everyone and the dealer and one other player were very kind to us. No one lost a ton of money, but no one was ahead a lot either, if I am remembering correctly.

I believe it was at the casino where we were told to check out the beach bar back where we started. So we did. It was very nice as how many places have a bar right on a beach complete with dancing? It was early enough in the afternoon so that it wasn't completely packed so we grabbed a table near the dance floor and before we left some people at the bar remarked that they picked up the front row of tables to make more room for later in the evening. They said they had a huge crowd at night. We left after a couple hours but it sure was nice to sit in the sun with drinks and hoppin' music!

We went back to the hotel to grab some drinks at the bar with an order at the pizza place. We all were ready to go out for the evening so we grabbed a taxi to the Tropicana Quarter which is the Tropicana as a casino attached to a little mall that included shops, a few nightclubs and a karaoke bar. That is where we spent the evening on our way out, in the cab, was the only time during our trip where there was rain. And it was HARD rain. I wonder how the beach bar did that night?

We got back early the next morning and slept late again. Some of us headed out around noon to get breakfast from the cheapo diner and then moh and I headed out to the boardwalk for more casinoing. I stink again. We did the $1 blackjack and I won some of my money back after being down $40 but I still enjoyed being there.

We met the rest of our crew after we walked around a bit and sat at the other beach bar. For a late lunch, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then for the evening we hung out at the casino. Pink bride won over $170 in slots that evening! The rest of us didn't get our money back. So for our closing number, we went to the delicious seafood restaurant across the street from the hotel. Yum Yum.

Unfortunately, we had to wake up at 3am to catch our flight back to Minnesota. We had to get back to Philly and arrived in Minnesota shortly after 8am. I had a nap and just kept on going. Russ had to leave that evening for his trip to Tennessee.

Overall, it was a spectacular trip. Except for the flight delay on the way out, it was wonderful! And us pseudo-psisters are going to have to plan next years trip, perhaps to Chicago? Not likely that we will get to go out on free airfare again. Thanks to everyone for making it such a wonderful event!

July is over before I know it

So with all going on this month, I knew it was going to get away from me. We have already been through the 4th of July, another weekend, and are at the lake for the first chance to be on the lake all year. Too bad the weather was horrible or we had scheduling conflicts until now to be able to get out here.

So short and sweet, our 4th of July was mostly spent at home getting caught up with yardwork, housework, and some "office" work. With the weather finally getting hot, we have been able to be out in the backyard but have found out that all our blow-up toys have holes in them. I'll have to run back and see if I can get some more cheapo things because Gwen can stay outside for a good chunk of time if she has some water to play with.

We did spend a day out at a local winery. It was a beautiful day, and although the drive out and back was a little long, we were able to visit with the great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and owners of the winery. This is the business that I currently do some part-time bookkeeping for, so it was nice to be able to put all my thoughts as real sights.

Trevor had the week of the 4th off from his parks program and he used it to heal from his ankle injury as well as getting better from a summer cold. Prior to the 4th, we had went out to the Mall of America and both kids went on as many rides as they could go on during the afternoon. My cousin and her family were in town and the kids enjoyed having someone to ride on rides with. Gwen was ready to go on any ride that she was tall enough for, and Trevor actually found a ride he is too tall for, so he would go on the crazy-wild Rollercoaster while the little kids went on their bumper cars.

So we have some time at the lake this week, a wedding, a shower, and then the end of the year baseball tournament for Trevor. It is going to be a fast flying month!