Summer happenings

With summer here and Emily at daycare only 2 days a week, we're trying to make the most of our time together.

We've been working on our landscaping.  We've never really decided what to do with our 2 large planters in the front of our house but I think we finally figured it out.  Thanks to Patrick's mom, Val, we now have perennial Stella de Oro lilly plants as our base and accented the planters with purple wave petunias.  Top off the soil with a nice, dark mulch and voila:

We know it doesn't look like much but if you saw it before, you would appreciate how much it has changed.  I neglected to take a before picture : (

The dogs love to bark out of the windows at just about everything, you name it!  In order to see out of the windows they have to jump up to see out of them.  So needless to say, they have worn away the finish on a few of our window frames over the five years we've been here.  I took it upon myself to sand and stain the frames.  This brought the window frames back to their original splendor.  Again, something that doesn't look like much but knowing the condition they were in, Patrick and I are very happy with the results.

Patrick and I invested in a bike trailer so that we can take family rides and Emily and I can use it during the day.  She seemed excited about it before we were on the first ride but during the ride just sat and looked around, not much expression so we're not sure exactly how she feels about it but it worked great for us!

Emily and I have been visiting lots of what Minnesota has to offer and have been enjoying the nice weather.  I think it's safe to say that Emily loves water, so we finally made it to a splash pad in Minnehaha Park.  Since I was in the water and didn't want my phone to end up there too, I only got a couple of pictures but Emily enjoyed the water and watching all the big kids running around in it.

We also made it to a splash pad and beach in Blaine with my mom.  Emily was fearless, which is kind of scary.  She walked out into the water up to her chest refusing to hold my hand.  She wants to do everything herself lately.

Last weekend we headed up to Duluth for the day to participate in the wedding celebration of one of Patrick's cousins.  It was a great day.  We visited the Superior Zoo before the ceremony and Emily danced the day away on the dance floor.  The dance floor was definitely dominated by the many kids there since it was an afternoon wedding.

This summer also marked Emily's first visit to the Mill City Farmer's Market.  We're lucky enough to live within a few miles of downtown so we were able to ride our bikes there.  We enjoyed a coffee, croissant and cookie while overlooking the Mississippi River and Stone Arch Bridge.  It was a great morning!

Pre-Ride

Post-Ride

Chocolate Croissant Face

My brother Pat is also staying here a few nights a week to cut down on his commute to work.  Welcome to our crazy home Pat!

Happy Fourth of July!
The Harrisons

Keepin cool

Our new purchase this summer was a water table.  We thought it would be a good way to stay cool and, luckily, Emily loves it!  We have spent time every day splashing and playing with it.  I think Emily's favorite activity is making handprints on the patio with her wet hand (thanks to grandma Barb for that fun trick!).

Sammy soon realized that he could grab a quick drink from the water table and Emily thought it was a pretty good idea too : )

Hope you're all keeping cool too!
The Harrisons

All Talk

Emily and I have been enjoying the nice weather this week!  We went to Woodlake Nature Center in Richfield, the MN Zoo and have been having lots of fun with the water table in the backyard.

At the MN Zoo, we got to the farm area where they have a pen area with goats.  You can go inside and pet and feed them if you want.  The whole walk up to the pen Emily was repeating "goat" and saying "Baaa".  She was so excited to see the goats.  She is all talk, however.  When we got in to the pen to pet the goats all she would do was lean way over and barely touch one before running away.  When goats walked toward her, she quickly turned and came running to her mama.  As soon as the goats were gone though she would turn and yell gibberish at them.

Chasing goats

Checking in for reassurance

Posing with the goats

My view of Emily staying safe from the goats

They also have giraffe feeding which we'll have to try next time Patrick is there with us!

We had a great morning at the zoo and even ran into the Kocur boys who we got to eat lunch with and run around with a bit.

The weather has been great...Happy summer all!
the Harrison

Teach them young!

Mowing the lawn isn't a big deal since we have such a small yard.  Eventually, though, we would like to move and have a larger yard.  I imagine that I will not like cutting the grass in a big yard.  So we're teaching Emily to love it at a young age!

Hope you're enjoying this wonderful summer weather today too!
The Harrisons

Baby or cat??

Emily loves unraveling the toilet paper.  Consider yourself warned the next time she's at your house!

Fun! (For Emily)

Going back for more

Where'd it go?

Emily is really into hiding things, acting surprised and asking "go??". When we were out running errands today she was hiding a little stuffed bear and revealing it very proudly. All we, as her audience, have to do is act worried about where the object "go" and act surprised and relieved when she reveals it to us. It makes her day (and we get a kick out of it too!)

"Hiding" her bear

The big reveal!

Soooo not impressed

After skipping her nap on Monday, Emily was less than impressed with the park later in the afternoon.