Wordless Wednesday

Happy Father's Day!

We went to Grandpa's house today to celebrate Father's Day. Other dads there were Bob, Brian, Patrick, and Jeff. We all went in together and bought Grandpa a custom hand made rod and reel. (thanks Mike!) Twylla made ham, cheese potatoes, 3 kinds of veggie side dishes and orange jello. We played Bunco, croquet and cards, and the kids played in the kiddy pool, caught butterflies, played ball and colored with sidewalk chalk. The ONLY ONE NOT THERE WAS EMILY. Afterward we had cake and ice cream. yum. Dean would not sit for pics with us so we are going to photoshop him in with his pink butterfly net...

My Beautiful Brave Girls

The Top 10 Reasons I want to go to Namibia!!!!

Photos courtesy of Emily the Explorer and her trusty sidekicks Stefan and Hannah.

My Big Baby Girl is Back..hey la de la...

Hannah flew home from Cape Town today (and boy, are her arms tired! Ha) Bob, Luke, Sophie and I surprised her at the airport. First we stopped at Post Road to see the planes, then we drove to Fort Snelling to see a Delta flight come in. We zoomed over to the airport and waited for Hannah. After watching at the security checkpoint staircase, we spotted her at the Baggage Claim. Luke went flying for her, but Sophie was a little unsure.
Other than the missed connection in Atlanta and the ATM eating her debit card on the eve of her return, the trip was a success! To make up for NOT WRITING THE ENTIRE TIME SHE WAS GONE! she chatted away on the ride home. Talk of skydiving, bungy jumping, safaris, hiking, petting crocodiles, volunteering for Habitat, lions, hiking, sneaking into a national park after hours to see rock art, petting and teasing! timber wolves, sand dunes, fabulous exotic accommodations, curious rhinos, and did I mention hiking? When we came home Bob fried up a 1/2 pound of bacon for her-one of her requests for "must haves" when she got home- and she downed it with milk right out of the carton. She is now sleeping it off. Nathan, Jake, Luke and Sophie made her a "welcome home" sign at Molly's and she almost cried when she saw it hanging on the garage door. She said it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her. How sad is that? So much for my mother-of-the-year-award!

THIS ,THAT,and the OTHER THING

I'll start with the "other" thing. Daisy graduated from school last week. She was partaking in a class of Danielle's where junior high school kids taught dogs how to run an agility course. She loved the class and was very well behaved during the graduation. She even got to show off some tricks. Of course, the non-stop "treats" had something to do with it.
Zach also graduated this week from Como Park Senior High. He graduated with honors (denoted by his black and gold tassels around his neck) and also with a silver tassel for his volunteerism. I think it would be helpful to hand out "treats" to some of this ill behaved audience as well. I thought I'd feel relieved to have the last kid through "childhood", but I am feeling anxious about college now. Then it will be jobs, family,etc. A mother's work is never done!
The kids were over today. It was a beautiful day, and Gramps took them to the park in the morning. In the afternoon we played outside. Luke was intrigued by my new gnome, and Sophie has too much monkey in her to sit on her little garden bench like a lady. We ended the day with a walk to Grandma Carol's house to visit. She is doing well and has been out a few times since she came home.
I am having surgery on my torn rotator cuff on the 22nd. I started having trouble with it in January,and have since had Xays, and an MRI to confirm it. I have been going to Physical Therapy for a month, but the therapy made me start narcotics due to the pain, and added no new mobility or strength. I am now "tighter" in that joint than I was when I started and the surgeon and I decided enough is enough. They were kind enough to remind me that shoulder surgery is the most painful of the joint surgeries. Whoo Hooo. Bring it on!