Can you believe that it's already July? This summer is flying by and this week we were busy being outside. On Tuesday we went to the University of Minnesota's Arboretum. It was amazing! They have every garden you could imagine (rose gardens, Japanese garden, shrub gardens...) and they had tons of fun stuff for kids. Rachel especially like a huge shrub/tunnel maze they had that led to a lookout tower. 
Who cares about flowers when there are sprinklers to run through?
Justin and Rachel in a tent showing different samples of dyed fabric.
Bridget and Rachel at one of the beautiful fountains. 
Other than waking up to eat one time, this was Ian during the whole trip. He's so good it's a little unbelievable sometimes!
We started the 4th with a church pancake breakfast. They had great games for the kids and facepainting (which was definitely Rachel's favorite). Here she is jumping in front of a big flag.
Rachel loves holding and helping with Ian. She is trying really hard to be soft with him and especially loves it when he's awake.
In the afternoon we got together with some friends and played bocce ball. Rachel and her friend Kara took turns pushing each other on this bike...
and "painting" the wall with sticks. After that, we had dinner and kept Rachel up for fireworks. She was pretty excited and maybe a little too enthusiastic (I guess you'd have to ask the people around us). She kept yelling "boom" and "everyone clap now". Ian was awake the whole time and didn't make a peep.
Rachel continues to crack us up daily. It's good that she's so funny because it offsets the 2-year-old tantrums that she's having lately. Here she is with a "helmet" on her head riding her bike. This week she also proclaimed, "I'm not a child anymore, I'm sixteen years old." For those of you who aren't Little Mermaid fanatics, Ariel says this to her father at one point in that movie (and no, we really don't let her watch it that much - Ariel is just very influential!)
Our exciting news this week is Ian is officially smiling! We couldn't get a full grin for the camera, but it is so much fun to have him interacting more. He's such a cutie!
Here are Rachel and Justin "pretend sleeping" after a busy day at church.
1 comment:
Hey Bridget! I love checking out your blog, and hearing about Rachel, she is so cute. What a fun kid! Hey, I was just wondering how you found info about the arboretum(SP?) at the U. My sister in-law and I are thinking about driving up to go to it. Any info would help a lot. Good to hear you are doing good, see you soon! Kara Mortensen
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