This 2 day trip was sponsored by.......

This is the best I could do with these pictures as most to all of them were taken while I was driving and not even realizing what was around us until I would have to circle back for the shot. And Simon thought we went to the zoo.........

Guess the city we just spent 2 days in..... Yep that is right folks the home of Laverne and Shirley. Totally last minute Simon had a meeting in Milwaukee and since we hadn't seen him in 2 weeks we decided to tag along. And while Simon and I have been married for 9 years, together fora million....feels like it today (smiley face, really...) he never ceases to catch me off guard. For example while we were driving down the streets of Milwaukee I told him that I wanted to find a street that looked like Laverne and Shirley's and make the girls get out and pose a picture while skipping and he is all...... Who is Laverne and Shirley? Seriously!?! What? I mean, how can I be married to a guy that doesn't have a clue who Laverne and Shirley are. I mean.... I was even Laverne for Halloween in college. Do I have to rethink this over a million times?

So, tons happened in the 2 days we were gone..... Got to visit with some great family, stay at a completely not child appropriate swanky place (while we had the kids), went to yet another zoo, and children's museum and swam on the 23rd floor of the hotel overlooking the lake. Tons of pictures to go through great footage promises of more posts......

Let me leave you with this thought, the drive home that should have taken 4.5 hours........TOOK US 8 HOURS! 8 HOURS!

The girls handled it so much better than we did, and therefore I am off to drink a Miller in honor of Laverne.

Swimming with Jack

Today we went to Kelly's house to play with Jack and Isabelle. Ruthie really got into the slip and slide as Kelly has a good hill in her backyard. Also she let the kids get in the back of the dump truck and ride down the hill. I managed to throw Lulu down the slip and slide once but didn't get any pics.

Somewhat overkill with the swimming but really..... In 95* heat and 100% humidity what else is ther to do.

**Also, couldn't help but start to call Jack.... Jack-Jack as Leslie calls her friends son whom I don't even know. Scary how we know so much about all our friends lives through these updates!

Ruthie the daredevil

Lulu not so sure

Crazy picture.... Jack, check out the dog. I didn't even know the dog jumped over the slide until I downloaded the pictures.

Swimming

Here are some quick pics of the girls for Simon to see of them swimming.

The girls can hardly wait to see their Daddy soon!

Lulu - "Dude" - One step at a time.

One of the many things that I love about my little Lulu is how cautious she is about everything. Whenever in a new situation she is very quiet and takes it all in. She takes a while to warm up and she wants everything on her own time. No matter how much you coax, encourage or whatever, she is going to do it is Lulu terms.

Swimming with Grandpa and Uncle Kevin (my brother) was no exception. Initailly she doesn't even talk, she hides behind my legs. The more you just let her do things by herself the easier it is for everyone..... I don't even think I need to tell you but I will, that while all of this is going on, I look over and little miss gymnast is hanging upside down by a rope and swinging like tarzan, playing like she owns the pool.

While everyone was talking and doing their thing I look over and Lulu has climbed the slide and went down by herself. All the celebratory "Way To GO's" and high fives would normally encourage any other little one. No, she takes that as a cue to not do it again. She manages to play for a little while longer until they turned on all the sprinklers and waterfall's, at which point I had to scrape her off the wall, help her out of cardiac arrest and then go to the locker room and change our clothes and head home. Too much excitement for one day.

The swimmer's with Unlce Kevin.

Swimming with a Duck

We went swimming the other night at my mom's pool and Ruthie had the fabulous opportunity to swim with a duck. First of all it was 92* so not quite sure why no one was swimming except a 3 year old and a duck.

Lulu would not swim and hung out on the side of the pool.

Elephant Shower

While the girls and I are staying in Cleveland for a while since Simon is away at school we had to hit our second favorite zoo. The Cleveland zoo is great, tons, tons, tons, more animals than our zoo. They have our Favorite animals there.....ELEPHANTS! Lulu sleeps with an elephant and we have been known to spend so much time in the pachyderm building that I become immune to the horrible smell. This time we totally lucked out. Not only did we get to see them 1o feet away from us but we made it in time for their daily shower! SO MUCH FUN!




We went around the zoo and counted all the many painted frogs, (It is the year of the frog and similar to many cities they have sponsored painted frogs all over the zoo.... Ruthie's favorite) Then on our way out the elephants were outside so we were able to watch them again.









* One of the many awesome parts of being a mom is getting to do such fun stuff all the time. Thank you Simon for all that you do to make this possible, while we know you are so busy with work, school, internship, and travel for work, know that we are so very proud of you, and thankful for all that you do for us to make our Team awesome.


* You are our favorite Wentent.

What girl doesn't want a pink Escalade?

My cousin was so unbelievably awesome when she decided to pay it forward.

When I arrived home with the car, Lulu was so excited that she actually got in the car while it was still in the back of the my car.

Not only does the car have room for 2.... It has a radio with a few pre-programmed songs on it. The girls already have picked out their favorite and if you could only see there heads bee-bopping while they drive down the street. Their is also a radio that you can speak into and your voice is projected through the loud radio, so if they weren't making enough of a commotion as they drive down the street, they can now announce to everyone they are coming.

We don't have sidewalks in our neighborhood so the either have to drive on the driveway or drive on the street (which they do most of the time). We live on a corner that is on a cul-de-sac so there is only a few houses of traffic ever so there is no real concern and everyone knows to look out for the girls. (Note to all the people wanting to comment.....I don't let them in the street unless I am with them. Unless of course, I have had a really bad day, then I let them in the street unattended with our sharpest knives!) My only wish is that when they do get pulled over by the real police for driving a motorized vehicle in the street without an official licence is that I have my camera with me!

Love, love, love the car. Totally always wanted one of these when I was little.

This is Lulu who usually doesn't even use the steering wheel....giving Ruthie whiplash.

Also, totally room for a naked baby in the back.

Slip and Slide

You probably want to turn down the volume or you can hear my annoying laugh.

I thought I was taking a picture and since I was working a new camera looks like I was taking a priceless video.

Balloon Fest

View from our back deck.

My favorite part of living where we do is the annual balloon fest and air show. I always look forward to this time of year as I honestly think that it is the only thing exciting that happens in this town. It is 5 days of balloon launches in the morning and balloon launches at night.

In previous years, when we weren't quite clued into what was going on, there was 1 single balloon heading towards our house. Simon and I had been on the deck having a couple drinks and relaxing after the girls were asleep, when out of the corner of our eyes comes a hot air balloon. This balloon was headed right towards our house. It misses our house by inches and lands in our front yard! Simon helped the guy land it!

Last year, the University of Michigan balloon tried to land in our yard, and Ruthie was singing the buckeye fight song (we have trained her so well) they changed course and landed up the street. Last years pics were amazing.

This year, was not the best if you want me to be honest in my review. It appears that they have changed the course a bit and we are no longer in the drop zone. Total bummer. Again, last year over 7 landed within 500 yards of our house! SO FUN!

This year was still great. I don't know who was more excited me or the girls!

View from our yard looking over our neighbors house.

The air show is awesome too as we live only a few blocks from a local small airport but they bring in the big dogs to fly some awesome stunts and they literally make our windows rattle! So fun.

Camera

Never let your 3 year old take your camera and take pictures. I know this may seem like it is a given, but ever since the poop ritual she has actually been pretty good at taking pictures.

Anyhoo, you will have to patiently wait until I have mastered my mom's camera which she has generously loaned us until we save for a new one. (of course that loaning came with a pretty stern...... "if you let her touch this, I will......."


Really, this post was basically tricking you into reading the poop story again..... It just doesn't stop being funny.

yea, we do have a broken camera but somehow the pain is not so bad after laughing about poop.