Comfy?!

We all have our favorite ways to get comfy for a good rest.  Which of Teresa's recent sleeping positions would you prefer...

The bear in the face...

... or stuck in a corner??!! 

Live Action

While pictures are cute, sometimes it is fun to see some live action too.  So here are a few random videos of Timothy and Teresa.

Teresa when she just learned to crawl in mid July.  She is now a speedy little crawler and likes to pull herself up on everything (that will have to be the next video!)

Jumping, one of Timothy's favorite pastime's!  In this video he was camping with Troy at Itasca.

Timothy on his new bike with training wheels!

Vacation #2

We were blessed to have a second week of vacation this summer.  We spent a few days visiting my family and then journeyed on to Wisconsin to stay with my aunt and explore Madison.

On the way down to the cities, we stopped at the Fargo Children's Museum.  It is small, but a good size for Timothy.  Teresa even got to enjoy a bit of play this time.  We all enjoyed a picnic lunch before hitting the road again.  Timothy picked the kid sized tables to sit at!

While staying with my parents we had a cousins day.  Three of the four cousins were around most of the day.  We had a potty party for Timothy and his 'twin cousin' Broder.  (They are both 3 and have recently said goodbye to diapers.)  The party consisted of a special snack, some candles to blow out and a few gifts thanks to Grandma Rebecca and Auntie Lisa.  (I provided the catchy song 'Goodbye Diapers'!) 

One afternoon, Troy and I took the kids to an indoor playground near my parents house. (Even though it was sunny and nice out we justified the indoor fun as a special vacation activity!)   Timothy had been there when he was two, but enjoyed it a whole lot more on this visit.  And he didn't even need his daddy to follow behind him and help him climb.  Troy was happy about this, although I think he secretly wanted to go down the really big twirly slide!

Teresa enjoyed the stay at my parents due to the vast number of stairs in their house!  During our vacation she mastered the art of climbing.  She probably could have gone up and down all day if we let her.  (Well actually, she still needs some work on the down part!)

Our time in Madison had us busy with many family friendly activities.  Our first morning was spent at the zoo.  Troy, Timothy, and Teresa took spin on the zoo train.  Timothy and I rode the merry-go-round and fed the goats.  And we saw lots of animals.

After a picnic lunch we headed to a nearby lake for some swimming.  Both Timothy and Teresa had fun splashing around in the water.  It was warm and sunny and we could have stayed much longer than we did.  We feared sun burn and worn out kiddos.

After the beach we went to Ella's Deli for an afternoon ice cream.  I had gone to this restaurant when I was young and visiting my grandparents and aunt.  It is a very busy place for the senses.  There are mechanical toys everywhere inside and a merry-go-round outside.   We ordered a peanut butter banana split to share.  It was delicious!  Surprisingly, Timothy was more focused on the merry-go-round than on the ice cream.  We let him go for a spin before we left.  This was an amazing day of family fun.  Unfortunately the reality of skipping afternoon naps hit hard around the dinner hour.  Troy and I vowed to honor nap time in the coming days.

Our second day brought a trip to Cave of the Mounds.  We took an hour long tour of a cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites.  It might have been a bit over Timothy's interest level.  Although, upon returning home, he and Troy were playing 'cave' and Timothy was repeating much of what we learned from the tour guide.  I guess he took in more than we knew!

Our third day was museum day.  We visited the Geology museum on the UW campus.  It was a tiny place, but the attraction for us was dinosaur bones!  Timothy has long wanted to see dinosaur bones.  He thought this was great--especially the T-rex skull.  Even Teresa was interested in what she saw. (Notice her pointing.)

We also went to the Madison Children's Museum.  It was a lot of fun for Timothy.  Like most kids museums it was a very busy place and when we left, it was nice to have some quiet again!

We also enjoyed some down time at my aunt's house.  Above Timothy is relaxing in his favorite chair.  We played many games of Bible memory match, visited local playgrounds, and watched the Brewers with my Aunt.

We even remembered to snap a family picture while we were there. 

And one last picture of my two favorite kiddos posing for pictures at grandma and grandpa's house.

Now we are back home, but we have lots of great memories.  Timothy was even showing off a printout of vacation pictures to his friend today.  :-)

Post cards...

Yes, it is another update!  I really should be blogging about our recent vacation to Madison, but that is more work and I am tired tonight.  We were back to normal life after 10 days of vacation and that led to a few tears today.  Add to that a later picnic dinner and pushing back bedtimes to watch some of the Calvary softball game and it adds up to one full day.  All that to say the vacation blog will come at a later date!

On to the states...Timothy has 29 states so far.  There are a few duplicates but that's okay.  Any postcard is received with much joy!  He usually asks to check the mailbox at 9 or 10 am.  Our mail doesn't come until 3 or 4 pm.  (Lots of anticipation!)

The Midwest and western states have had a strong showing, but we are missing most of the east (all those little states out there!) 

For those of you with connections here are the places we still need:
Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, Nebraska, Wyoming, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware.

We don't have Georgia either, but I think we have it covered. (Any luck finding post cards Krista!?)

So that's our update.  Thanks again for everyone who has helped out.  It's been a lot of fun!

Through the eyes of a 3 1/2 year old!

Timothy saw a friend taking pictures tonight, so he asked to try out our camera. Here are a few of his first pictures.

A nice picture of mommy

A self-photo!

His car Finn.

A close up of the chair.

The chair again--he was set on getting a picture of this!

Post card project

Our post card project has been lots of fun.  (Timothy is trying to get a post card from every state.)  I think we have cards from 18 or 19 states now.  Timothy is very aware of when the mail arrives now and he frequently asks to go check the mailbox.  We checked out books on the 50 states and we read about each one when he gets a new card.  This has definitely been a highlight of our summer fun projects!

The growing collection.

A happy boy.

Listening to God

We were driving to Coldstone for a treat after dinner and Troy and I were discussing ideas for his kid's time at church this Sunday.  We were talking about listening for God and how to explain the "still, small voice" passage to kids.  I mentioned the idea of listening for the sound of bubbles popping and that sometimes God is that quiet.

In the backseat, Timothy was taking this all in.  As we pulled into the parking lot, he whispered to us that we should be quiet because God is quiet like bubbles popping.  He told us to listen for God.  As we got out of the car he said we could talk again.  I asked if he had heard God.  He said he had...God said to go eat ice cream!  We obeyed!

Cabin Vacation

We just returned from a wonderful week at a lake cabin in Minnesota.  Some very generous church members allowed us use of their cabin and pontoon .  We were not quite sure what it would be like, and how the kids would like it, but it was a great time.  On our last day we were really wishing we did not have to come home.

The weather was beautiful--hot and sunny most of the days. The cabin was well shaded so we stayed cool enough and the heat made swimming an enjoyable thing. We had a mix of staying around the cabin and having a few days with outings to surrounding towns.

Our first boat ride.

We went boating almost every day.  A few days we did  a morning boat ride and swim and several evenings we went out after dinner too.  Troy and Timothy swam.  We tried putting Teresa in, but it was hard for Troy to hold her and stay afloat in the deep water.  And she disliked her life vest with a passion!  So the girls played on the boat while the boys braved the cool waters!  Timothy loved that he could swim without daddy's help!

Not so happy about the life vest!

In the afternoons I often took Timothy down to the dock to play.  Troy and Teresa hung out in the cabin and did lots of rolling around on the floor.

One afternoon we drove into the town of Bagley.  We toured a county history museum that had several old buildings to look in.  Timothy liked the schoolhouse.  He wanted to play school.  We had a quick lesson of ABC and numbers since the museum was soon to close.  We stopped at a playground before having a pizza dinner.  We ended the evening by sharing a strawberry sundae at Dairyland.  (Teresa tried a taste of ice cream but seemed put off by the cold.)

Another day we drove to Bemidji.  We stopped by a coffee shop (guess who suggested that stop!?) and then went to see Paul Bunyan and Babe.  We stopped by a friend of Troy's for lunch and nap time.  Then we headed to a science museum.  Timothy got to hold a bunny, and pet a rabbit and snake among many other things.

Enjoying the rocks at the headwaters.

Since MN cooperated and resolved their government shutdown, Itasca State Park was open on our last day of vacation.  We visited the headwaters of the Mississippi.  Timothy loved playing on the rock bridge there.  He probably could have played all day if we let him!  We had a picnic lunch and tried some biking during nap time.  Both kids slept, but it was really hot and hilly.  I was worn out and I didn't even have to pull the bike trailer.  After biking we headed to the beach and Teresa got to experience her first taste of a lake shore.  It was a pretty rocky beach and she kept wanting to crawl on the hard rocks.  Ouch!  But she loved splashing in the water.  Timothy loved the water too.

Swimming!!

For a treat on our last night, we drove back to Bagley for another stop at Dairyland.  If you wonder what Timothy is doing in the picture, he told us he was going to make a face.  I think it was his "can we just eat already" face!

It was really a fun family trip.  Troy and I both enjoyed some time doing things of our choice too.  I had time to read and scrapbook and Troy was able to rest and read and go running.  We'd love to make another trip to the cabin again.  We will see what next summer brings.  For now, we have many happy memories!

Getting messy!

If you measure how good a day is by how messy one gets...I think Teresa had a great day!  We played outside this afternoon and she decided to crawl repeatedly on the concrete driveway.  But not just anywhere on the driveway...back and forth through the chalk game I had drawn for Timothy.  But at least the orange chalk all over her legs matched her dress, right!?

Then at dinner Teresa did a great job eating.  Feeding herself is still very much a developing skill.  She often won't touch food that she likes.  But tonight she fed herself pasta and tomato sauce and peaches and a bit of left over birthday cupcakes.  I know it doesn't look like it, but some actually did go in her mouth!