I mentioned a few posts ago that Mike went up to Minnesota to run a marathon. It’s always been a goal of Mike’s to run a marathon but also to run a specific marathon he grew up near which is the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth. Of course, he had no intention of trying to win it or anything but just wanted the opportunity to finish it. Although Annie kept asking all week if was going to try to win a trophy. His overall time was 4 hours and 32 minutes. His friend, Buddy, also ran the race with him. Buddy has been a buddy (ha) of Mike’s for about 15 years and was Mike’s best man in our wedding.

Crossing the finish line.

How can my girls be deathly afraid of gnats, spiders, and mosquitoes but love finding and adopting earth worms? ISH!

Somehow I convinced myself that this new town we live in produced perfect weather all summer after the beautiful summer we had last year. I rarely, if ever, had to run the air conditioner, and there was only a handful of humid days. The locals tried to convince me that last summer was not the norm, but I would hear nothing of it. As I sit here in my air conditioned home with the thermostat cranked almost as low as it can go and with the sultry, 90+ degree weather since the weekend, I’m starting to believe that I was a little deluded last summer.

Mike was so excited to see that some of his radishes were ready for picking. The girls were super ecstatic, too, and insisted on trying some. They weren’t too thrilled when the taste didn’t match their enthusiasm. Hopefully, there will be more vegetables to pick soon.

The Jake Hawley Crew came out for a quick visit this weekend. As part of their time here they wanted to hit up the Milwaukee Zoo. Mike was actually back in Minnesota running the Grandma’s Marathon, so it was just me and the girls here. We met up with them at the zoo yesterday. The girls and I hadn’t had the opportunity to see the zoo yet, so we were very excited about the adventure. The Milwaukee Zoo is actually a nicely equipped zoo, and Jake even commented that he thought it was better than the Minneapolis Zoo. After zoo time we headed back to our house. Jake, Stephanie, and Dylan had plans to attend a Phish concert nearby, so the girls and I got to hang out with Maya for the evening. Maya is finally at that age where she loves playing with other kids, so all 3 girls stayed busy until bedtime. The kids got to scamper about with each other for a couple of hours this morning as well. It was a nice visit, and I’m glad we had Jake and Stephanie on our turf. Have a look-see at a few zoo pictures.

Look at how close this cheetah got to us. I’m sure all he was thinking was, “SNACKTIME!”

Doesn’t he look cute enough to cuddle with?

Fierce leopard (he’s actually yawning).

Peacock in a tree. The peacocks were free to roam around the park.

This peacock felt compelled to show off his plumage to the concrete wall.

The kids got along so well with each other. Mimi hasn’t stopped talking about Dylan since he left.

We had our own little zoo in the backyard this afternoon. Mike spotted this garter snake while out in the yard and demanded that we all come outside to see him even though I had just put the girls down for their nap. He’s actually pretty long–about 2 feet. Annie declared, “He thinks he’s famous!”

While Jake and Stephanie were here we had the girls sleep in their sleeping bags on our bedroom floor. The girls love doing that so much, and they asked if they could nap in them today. Of course, I had to put them in separate rooms or else it would have been party time for the girls. Each girl had their lovey sleep in a sleeping bag as well (the storage bags for the sleeping bags). Mimi has her horsy, and Annie has her red bear.

The dog sometimes naps in with Mimi and sleeps under her bunk bed.

Mike has a new toy. An AR-15. He bought the various parts and then put it together himself. He’s very proud of it. Not sure why he needs such a scary-looking gun, but he apparently has a bunch of buddies that are also fairly new owners of the same gun. Peer pressure, I suppose.

The girls were invited to a neighbor’s birthday party this past weekend. As part of the festivities the kids were supposed to wear costumes. Can you guess what Annie and Mimi wanted to dress up as? That’s right, princesses. I can’t blame them since we’ve got plenty of princess gear from which to choose.

And wouldn’t you know it, all the other little girls at the party also decided to come as princesses.

Mike also decided to join in on the fun and wore one of his jumpsuits, an ascot, and his aviator sunglasses. Unfortunately, the people at this particular party didn’t seem to grasp Mike’s uniqueness. He got a lot of inquisitive looks, and one guy asked him if he was supposed to be a sailboat captian. Poor Mike, nobody will ever understand his “vision” (including his own wife).

I went to pick up one of those green alien men left over from our alien party and realized this particular one was actually taped to the paper under it. After reading it I couldn’t help but snap a picture of it. Apparently, Annie was trying to explain the meaning of love. She clarified for me that the flower (the dead one taped to the right of the alien) represents “love” and the alien represents “not love” since aliens are bad.

Mike was on the phone the other day with a local friend when they started talking about the series of books he’s reading about alien vampires. This provoked further conversations about other, more serious alien books and movies. It was decided by the end of the phone call that we should have an alien-themed party. And an alien-themed party we had on Friday night. Fortunately, our new friends from church somewhat get Mike’s humor and idiosyncrasies and didn’t bat an eyelash at Mike’s party plans. Each couple brought along alien-themed dishes. At the end of the night we watched “Fire in the Sky”. Apparently, it’s based on a true story. This now confirms Mike’s suspicions.

We treated everyone to an entree of spaghetti and space balls.

Another dish we contributed was alien soup. However, it was forgotten and didn’t get eaten until dessert the next night.

Alien autopsy strawberries.

Alien bread.

The prize for the evening. The maker of this cake went all out. When I questioned that the icing should’ve been more green I was corrected by the “fact” that alien skin has more of a grey tone. My mistake.

The alien decorations: alien creatures, little green martians, yellow slime, glow sticks, and green and black streamers. We went all out.

The wives minus one who arrived later.

The girls are now home from school and keeping me on my toes. Annie wants to be constantly doing something fun. Today we set up a job chart for the girls where they earn stickers for tasks and get rewarded after so many stickers. They (mostly Annie) are very excited about it and are constantly asking what job they can do. I wonder how long that novelty will last.

Yesterday the girls attended a costume birthday party. I’ve got pictures and will more about it tomorrow.

I used to pride myself on how I had a husband who was not that interested in sports which meant he was unlikely to want to sit to down watch a game of any sport on t.v. Yes, we do attend the occasional Super Bowl party or will go to friends’ homes to “watch” a certain football game, but Mike and I really don’t get involved. This all changed today. One of Mike’s loyal friends called to inform him that the Foosball Masters Tournament was being televised on the Versus channel. I have to admit that I had never heard of this channel before and was equally dumbfounded to discover that we have this channel. Mike intended to go out to do some yard work this afternoon. Instead here he is watching “the game” on t.v. and forgoing all other responsibilities.

In other news, this weekend we finally started on one of our outdoor goals of re-doing the front landscaping at our house. The previous owners let it go by the wayside, and most of the foliage is either dead or dying or just plain ugly. The former homeowners also decided to plant a spruce tree about 2 feet away from a corner of our house. Go figure that it started growing into the house. Didn’t anyone warn them that those things get really big or where was their commonsense?

Here is Mike in the process of cutting it down.

TIMBER!! And good riddance.

Unfortunately, sacrifices had to be made when the tree was cut down. Let us mourn these poor, unborn baby robins:( Let’s be honest though, Lucy would have eaten them the first chance she got. That’s what she did last year this time.

Mike also decided to put the dutch oven to use. No, he didn’t trap me under the covers after he farted. Not this time anyway. He actually cooked something in the dutch oven. Two things actually. Friday night we had some chicken, rice, cream of mushroom soup concoction for dinner. On Saturday morning Mike made us peach cobbler for breakfast. Both dishes we very tasty and filling.

Here’s a look at the peach cobbler, half eaten.

I will say that cooking in the dutch oven takes a long time and is a lot of clean-up and maintenance afterward.

Some of you have already had the pleasure of seeing (and even riding) the dirt bug. Mike came home with this gem after his trip to SD. It was a “gift” from Matt’s dad. I personally think Matt’s dad was relieved to be rid of it. The dirt bug has been a source of entertainment for all our neighbors and friends. Who am I to take away that kind of fun?

Annie never turns down a ride with Daddy.

Could Mimi be any more excited?

Mr. Cool and his ride.

Mike finally got me to take it for a quick spin.

It sounds like a sad lawn mower motor. Dirt bug even has a hard time getting up hills and requires Flintstone power.

It was my birthday yesterday. Thanks to all those who either called, mailed, emailed, or facebooked birthday wishes (or cards or presents) to me. Those things really do brighten a Wisconsin girl’s day:) As is our family tradition, we don’t go all out for birthdays or holidays around here. Mike and I tend to be impulsive if we want new things and can never wait until a birthday or holiday to receive those coveted items. Of course, we put together a little something for the girls, but Mike and I usually just go out somewhere nice to eat for our birthdays.

Mike didn’t disappoint last night. His thoughtfulness was quite apparent when he chose a dining establishment for me to celebrate my special day. Upon arrival from work Mike insisted that we had to leave the house by 6pm. I asked where we were going, and he tried to convince me it was McDonald’s. Silly boy! We got in the car a little before 6pm and drove through miles and miles of country, farmland, and back woods. I kept inquiring about our location, but Mike played coy and declared that he didn’t know where we were going and that we’ll just pick a place once we see something decent. After what seemed like forever we arrived at Johnny’s Chophouse in Antioch, IL. I can tell Mike put a lot of thought into his choice because it serves a fine selection of seafood which is my favorite. I quickly decided on lobster for my entree and was completely satisfied (almost too much). For dessert the girls and I shared a chocolate, lava cake with vanilla ice-cream. Mike couldn’t resist the bread pudding. We were all so stuffed by the end of the meal that even Annie was complaining that her belly ached (she’s fine though). Thank you to my beloved husband, Mike, for such a wonderful meal! The only complaint that Mike and I had about the restaurant was the constant Frank Sinatra music in the background. One or two songs from the crooner is tolerable, but all Frank all the time is a bit too much. We figured out that Johnny’s had it set to “Siriusly Sinatra” which is a satellite station dedicated to you know who. Pardon me if I offend anyone who loves Frank, but he just ain’t my thang.

There will be cake tonight. Mike baked it the other night and will frost it with the girls tonight. Shhh, don’t tell the girls that I know because they think it’s a surprise for me. Annie was so confused last night when we didn’t have the cake and kept asking (even this morning) when we were going to celebrate my birthday. She couldn’t believe just going out to dinner would be the only observance of my birth.

I have a hard time posting without pictures. Since we didn’t take any pictures from my birthday festivities, I thought I’d post pictures from last weekend when Mike and a couple of boy scouts pulled the engine out of the jeep.

Having trouble at first.

Almost out.

Look at that progress. Now what are you supposed to do with it?

On Saturday we had a garage sale. A couple from church brought some of their items to sell, too. They have 3 kids, 2 are playworthy for the girls, so that kept the girls busy all day. The day started out dismal and a bit rainy, but by 10am we had good weather and a steady wave of “customers” until after our closing time of 3pm. The girls decided to have their own garage sale on a different part of the lawn. They kept absconding with items from our sale to sell at theirs. When we inspected the items they were “selling” we also noticed that they had prices no higher than $0.10, and that’s including an infant car seat. Thankfully, most garage-salers were keen enough to know not to take the kids seriously.

Overall, the garage sale was a success for us and helped us rid ourselves of a LOT of junk that’s been piling up in the basement. I am planning to sell a few more things on Craigslist such as our non-Mac-compatible HP printer/scanner/fax/copier, an old filing cabinet, a paper shredder (Mike prefers to burn our discarded documents, whoddathunk), a 2nd toddler car seat (we’re saving one for the baby when she finally needs it), and a Hoover Floor Mate left by the previous owners. If you know of anyone in the local area interested in these items, just let us know. How’s that for online exposure?!?

We received some kites from Grandma Minnesota during our visit to MN. The girls have been begging us ever since to fly them. Mike finally had the time to do this with the girls. I would have loved to have been the one to fly the kites with them, but I lack kite-flying know-how. Annie and Mimi were so excited, and each got to fly their own kite.

Difficult to see, but here are both kites in the air.

Mimi with her kite.

Annie with her kite.
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Sorry for the ultra-tilt on the pictures. I guess I got myself into that mode when I was trying to fit both kites into the picture.