Fun fall weekend!

We had a lot planned this weekend and it was all really fun! Saturday was forecasted to be gloomy, rainy and chilly, which it was, so we went to a free family movie at the Mall of America with one of Emily's friends, Eloisa. We saw Horton Hears a Who. It was a cute movie and Emily did surprisingly well! She even got her first taste of popcorn, which she loved!

Movie time with friend, Eloisa!

We also had a chance to meet my friend Ben's and his wife Sara's newborn twins. They are a couple of cute newborns and thy make a great little family of four!

The weather was perfectly fall-like on Sunday so we spent the morning at Minnetonka Orchards. We met our friends Stefanie and Josh and their girls, Abby and Evelyn there. We made the same trip last year and it was just as fun this year! Here's to a fall tradition!!

The girls had fun spending time together (note the matching shirts, unplanned!)...

We even went for a train ride

And got our faces painted

Abby was a pro at the slide, apparently Emily was not :)

We took a hayride up the big hill instead of hiking it like we did last year!

And of course had a fun music session before lunch

Hope you had a great fall weekend as well!

"I love you mommy"

Emily has now said "I love you mommy" three times without being prompted.  The first time was Saturday night (Sept. 14) when we were in Brainerd right before bed.  The other two have been as I'm tucking her in at night.  It's the sweetest thing I've ever heard and melts my heart!

Taking a nap in her pack and play.
Looks like she won't fit for too much longer!

Busy September!

September has come and (just about) gone and we've been busy!  School started and is going well for Emily and I.  We have been staying busy by visiting great grandma and grandpa Harrison in Brainerd as well as in town adventures.

Emily's first time baking with dad!

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Park time with grandma

Lovin her drum set!

Abby <3

Swimming lessons and guitar playing!

Fun uncle Johnnie!

River Rats ski show

Hope you all had a great month too!

Dancing Queen!

Emily loves the song "spin around" by the Fresh Beat Band!

Weekend in Brainerd

We had a lovely weekend in Brainerd visiting Patrick's grandparents!  It was a cool, rainy weekend for the most part but we had just enough nice weather to visit the small town of Nisswa to do some tourist shopping!  We enjoyed visiting with the "GGs", relaxing and soaking in the scenery!

Cold morning at the lake!

Morning walk with grandpa

Post Office shot with Grandma!

The girl likes trains

Our Family

With the GGs

Getting drawing lessons from "baba"

We're already looking forward to our next visit!!

Back to Reality

Well, summer has come to an end and that means it's back to work for me.  I do realize how lucky I am to have a large chunk of time off every summer, especially now that Emily's around, but that doesn't make it any easier.  This year I started a new position at Highland Park Middle School and I'm very excited to get it started.  (The sooner we get started, the closer we are to MEA break, winter break and so on, right?? :) )

I have loved my time with Emily this summer and we wrapped it up with a trip to Pathfinder Village where our friends Jeremy and Matt have a place.  We had a great time enjoying good food, company, weather and relaxing before the rush of the school year starts.

Happy fall!