new shoes

Rose was down to just one pair of shoes (actually sandals) that still fit, so we'd been watching for back-to-school sales to start so we can buy a new pair of "school shoes" (i.e., high quality, multi-purpose sneakers that will hopefully last through the winter). Schuler just started their sale, so we went shoe shopping tonight.

Rose LOVES her new shoes, and was super excited to show off how fast she can run in them.We had so many races around the yard tonight!!

On a side note, I've been talking up the Olympics to her because I've been SOOOO excited to watch together. This morning I was explaining that they have competitions to see who is the fastest swimmer in the world, who is the best gymnast, who can jump the highest, etc., etc., etc.   Then she turned to me and said, "Mommy, I think you would win ALL of those."   Awwwwwww...  :) I'll have to file that one away for when she turns into a surly teenager ;)

road trip photos!

For those of you who have been eager to see pictures from our trip, here's a link to the good pictures that I weeded out from all the bad ones that I also took. :)

http://www.snapfish.com/library/share?w=snapfish_us&c=snapfish&l=en_US#Pe_m8w18EFz6rjFgb9rbiw/SFO/27939816408060/SNAPFISH

If you have troubles with the link, let me know!


I'm still working on creating an actual photo book, and will also print out some 4x6's at some point, but at least you can see some of the hightlights on Snapfish for now! 



P.S. I also did a series of wildflower close-ups, if you're interested in that album:
http://www.snapfish.com/library/share?w=snapfish_us&c=snapfish&l=en_US#Pe_m8w18EFz6rjFgb9rbiw/SFO/27939816611060/SNAPFISH

Rose-isms: outsmarting the grandparents

Last week Rose went to my parents' house while Mike was at a training for work. Of course we all had a fun time (I got a start on sorting through our vacation photos, Mike got to go fishing a few days after work, and Rose apparently LOVED Bay Beach), but Mike and I also missed her like crazy! The house was so quiet without her energy, and it was great to get our little family back together again on Friday.


Once we got back together, it was a lot of fun to hear Rose talk about all the cool things she did with Ninja and PopPop -- between the concerts, the amusement park rides, the dinners with extended family, and "inside out canoeing," I'm surprised she slept at all! 


But my favorite part of her recounting the week's adventures was when she gleefully told me "the rules are different at Ninja and PopPop's!!!" She proceeded to tell me about how she drank milk at every meal (usually we limit it to once per day) and she ate mac&cheese every day (we usually limit it to every other day). She just looked SO proud of herself as she talked about the rules being different.


This totally cracks me up because (a) she clearly noticed the discrepancy right away, and (b) she chose not to say anything until after the fact!!  (She's no dummy!)  


I think I like this combo of just a little bit of mischief with a good dollop of honesty. :)

Before she left, we saw "Finding Dory" in the theatre together.

She was happy to dress up as a "princess ballerina" and dance last night

We're home!

So much unpacking to do, so many dolls to play with....

Full circle

I took a similar photo about 3 hours into our trip (over two weeks ago). Here we are on the last leg toward home...

Change in plans

Mike and I reached our breaking points yesterday - sad to leave glacier, tired after a 9 hour drive, and annoyed with multiple rude people/bad drivers at TR national park.  Well, we went in with the plan to be flexible if needed,  and flexibility was definitely what we needed. After setting up camp, each drinking a little alcohol, and having a short discussion, we quickly came to a consensus and decided to skip our second night at TR. It's a beautiful park, but we needed to be headed home and also needed some creature comforts. So today we drove about 4 hours to fargo and got a hotel for the night. Bliss! A pool, two comfy beds, and only 3.5 more hours till we get home tomorrow!!! A great way to end our epic family vacation.

Overdue update

So it turns out that wifi and cell service are much spottier than I anticipated, and camping also limits my cell charging abilities. Hence I owe you all big apologies for the lack of blog posts! We are all alive and well, and I will instead force you all to look at the bazillion "real" pictures (i.e., from my camera, not my cell phone) I took once I get them sorted out. :) For now, here are some of the views from Rising Sun Motor Inn, where we are spending two nights.  We are all truly, madly, and deeply in love with Glacier National Park!!!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Teddy Roosevelt!