West coast

Last weekend I went to Los Angeles for a work conference and was able to get in a lot of fun sightseeing as well. On Friday we went to Manhattan Beach. We had lunch, did some shopping, walked along the beach and the pier and got manicures.

On Saturday we visited Venice Beach and watched the sunset over the ocean.

Sunday was our last day to sight see as we were heading out Monday morning after our conference. We decided to take the bus to Santa Monica to walk the pier, the beach and watch the sunset over the ocean one last time. We followed that up with dinner at a delicious Thai food restaurant and shopping while taking in the street performances.

The weather was beautiful and sightseeing was fun but I was glad to get home to my family :) Thanks for the trip SPPS!

See ya next time, CA!

Windy City visit

Over MEA weekend we packed up the car and headed to Chicago. For the last two years we have made a stop at Wisconsin Dells to break up the drive, spend the night and play in the water.

This year we stayed at the great Wolf Lodge and we all had a great time. It's a perfect family hotel with lots to do for kids. We had lunch at a restaurant remodel train brought us for the food, played at the arcade, went swimming (and on giant water slides!), Trick-or-treating, story time and Emily also got a manicure at the kids before we left in the morning. We will definitely return!

Our visit in Chicago was great. We relaxed and let the kids play on Friday and went to the children's museum and the park on Saturday. To celebrate William's birthday we roasted marshmallows and made Smore's although I think everyone was more excited than the birthday boy - Emily had THREE s'mores! It was also fun to get the babies together, it's fun to have a cousin your same age :) We are looking forward to seeing all of them at Thanksgiving again.

Cousins <3

Six months!

At Aubrey's six month appt, she was weighing in at 18 pounds and measuring 27". She likes to sit, try new foods, make new sounds and play with her sister. Aubrey's vocabulary includes sounds like ma-ma-ma, ga-ga-ga and ba-ba-ba, which I am excited about because Emily didn't say the 'm' sound until she was over a year old!

I can't believe our baby is half way to her first birthday, it's hard to remember life before her and our family without her. We love you baby!!

Runners!

This year Patrick completed the Twin Cities 10 mile run for the third time. Way to go honey, we're all so proud of you! Emily also completed a run this year. She has done the diaper dash, the toddler trot (50 yard dash) and for the first time this year the half mile run. She ran the whole way with a smile on her face, she did great!

We have a sitter!

It's been almost a week now, but Aubrey is officially a sitter. And right about the same time Emily was sitting at her age, too. That doesn't mean that Aubs doesn't take a tumble every now and then, but who doesn't?? :)