The Great MN Get Together

Our first stop at the fair was the "Miracles of Life" barn--which is one of my and the kids favorites, and one of Jon's least favorites. This little calf was born the morning before, and was so cute.

After this we made our way to the food building where we had our favorite State Fair food: Cheese Curds. These are a necessity when you go to the fair with Jon--he is a cheese curd connoisseur, and will only get the ones from the food building. All others, are strictly imitation.
We then tried some fried pickles, which were ok--but didn't compare to the curds.

Here we are in the Creative Activities building, which is another of my fav's. Hayden picked up the Obama sign at the DFL booth where I was looking to pick up a few buttons, but AS ALWAYS, they were already out. Argh...that really bummed us out. The same thing happened to us in the last election. Anyways, he loved that sign and walked around the fair holding it up over his head (as shown above) saying "Vote for Change"--it was pretty funny. No one wanted to tell off a kid. We were secretly and quietly very proud!! :)

Here are Erica and I on the carousel ride by Machinery Hill--which, if you can believe it, is Jon's favorite place at the fair. Erica kept saying, "Mommy, I ride on the bunny round and round" and when it stopped, she looked at me and said, "I do again?"

After a few rides, we stopped for a Pronto Pup--and a bit further down the road we found the Tiny Tim mini doughnuts, so sat in the shade and enjoyed our insanely sugary doughnuts and a large cup of cold Root Beer. Below the kids are holding up their sticky little hands for the camera.

Our last stop before heading out was for my State Fair weakness: A Bavarian Pretzel with cheese. Delectable........ even on an already full stomach! As we got to our exit we caught a glimpse of the crowd. Wow, what craziness!!

Erica enjoying the view from my shoulders--looking exhausted.

We are home now, the kids are napping soundly, and I don't think we will need to eat again until 8pm or so!!!!!!!!!

Isle O Dreams -- July 2008

Well, our favorite week of the year has come and gone, and amidst the chaos of moving, I am finally getting a chance to update the blog with some highlights from our vacation.

This year was no different than any other year, in the respect that we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of rest and relaxation. Nana Sharpe allowed us to sleep in every single morning--god bless her--and occasionally we even snuck a nap in when they kids laid down in the afternoon.

We also enjoyed MUCH time in the sun & water:

A family trip into Buck Lake (a small adjoining lake) on our floaties

Some action packed tubing, which both kids LOVED!!

Erica cuddling with mom and dad on the boat

Fishing was a huge hit again this year--

Dad and E with a sunfish

Jon with a nice large mouth Bass

and Mom and H with a measly perch...go figure!! :)

Here are Hayden and Papa returning from a successful trip out fishing one morning. They caught so much on their mornings out that we enjoyed fish for dinner many nights.

Some Wildlife observed:

A Great Blue Heron hanging out on our dock

A mama Loon and her baby

...and a HUGE dragonfly H & Papa found in the boat. He wasn't even hurt, and he let H hold him and check him out for quite a while before he flew off.

Major Breakthroughs that are news-worthy:

1.) Tammie learned to wake board FINALLY (and made Jon so proud)

2.) Hayden learned to cast his fishing pole--

3.) Erica learned to jump into the pool all by herself--

And finally a few shots of the Sharpe family, as this is the real reason why we love & cherish our week at Isle O Dreams so much:

Girls Rule!!
(we've got the guys out numbered 5:3)

The Sharpe Family
July 2008

A Little Sprinkler Action....

After nap today Hayden decided it was a good day to run through the sprinkler. I have to admit, with the hot, humid air it sounded pretty good to me, as well. Here are Hayden and Erica sharing a squeeze before the action began!!

Below is video of Hayden thoroughly enjoying himself, and speeding through both sprinklers.

This video below makes me giggle--(does that make me a bad mom?) Watch as Erica gets too close to the water and it sprays her right in the face, and then the sad moments that follow....

Oh the joys of summer!! : )

Our New Neighbors

Last Sunday our friends Dee and Mark (whose home we are buying in August) hosted a "Meet and Greet the Neighbors" ice cream social for us at our new home-to-be. It was the neatest, most thoughtful thing I could've imagined. Meeting the families in our new neighborhood was amazing, and if we weren't excited about moving before (which we were)....we definitely are now!!

Hayden and Erica are still talking about all of their new friends, and quite frankly-- so are Jonathan and I!

Thanks Mark and Dee for the wonderful day! We cannot thank you enough!!

It's Official--We are Moving!!

We have been thinking about moving out of our little home in Richfield for quite some time now, but up until now the timing was just not right. Is the timing ever right? Probably not, but this time around it all just sort of "fell in our laps" so we didn't have much time to contemplate it! I keep comparing this process to a pregnancy--"you're just better off not knowing what you're getting yourself into, cause you might not ever do it if you knew how hard it was going to be."

Anyways, some very close family friends who live in W. Bloomington decided to put their much loved home on the market, and move to a new Condo in St Paul. When they heard that we were looking to move to that area, they called us and invited us over to take a look at their home, and all of the renovations that they have done since we were last there. To make a long story short, We LOVED their home, and they offered it to us for a price we couldn't pass up.

Thus began the process of putting our home in the market--in quick order. This all started in mid-May, and we had our house ready to list by the 9th of June. That was not without craziness, chaos, and a few good disagreements along the way, but we did it--and that is all that matters!!

We were listed on the MLS (and multiple other websites) officially last Wednesday (6/11), had three showings in the following days, which lead to two competing offers by Monday, and on Monday night (6/16) we met with our realtor and accepted the best offer. We couldn't believe it--5 days and multiple offers...in this market--unbelievable!!

So, pending inspection tomorrow.....with an August 22nd closing date--we are moving. After 6 1/2 years here, one dog, two babies, and LOTS of great memories.............

.......Good Bye Richfield, Hello W. Bloomington!!!

(Below are some sneak peeks at our new home:)

The house is situated on a nice, big corner lot.
That is actually the bus stop corner right there, which I love.
W.Bloomington has amazing schools, parks, and great
neighborhoods we are so excited about!

This is obviously the back yard, where we have already started
setting up the swingset, as we weren't leaving that!!

Above is my favorite room of the house, the amazing kitchen.
They just completely renovated the kitchen 1 year ago. There is another set of
pantry cupboards off to the R that aren't pictured.

This is the upstairs family room that is adjoining the kitchen.
And below is the downstairs family room, also newly renovated.
I LOVE the built in entertainment centers!

Not pictured are 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, Dining room, formal living room, garage, and all other spaces that you wouldn't care to see like laundry, etc. The home is 3200 finished square feet, which is twice the square footage of our current home.

So, check your caller ID before answering the phone in August, as it just may be us calling to enlist your help moving Jonathan's garage! :)

School Pictures

I cannot believe how big my babies look in these new school photos.
They do pictures twice a year at Daycare/Preschool, and I always swear that I am not going to buy any, but then I see them, and....well, my heart melts. How can a parent not buy photos of their children--all dressed up and looking so darn cute? These photo companies have us SO figured out!

Erica Rae at 2 years, 3 months

Hayden Jonathan at 4 years, 8 months

Happy 30th Birthday Jonathan!!

For Jonathan's 30th Birthday, I decided to see if I could pull off a surprise party for him, and unbelievably...IT WORKED!!

On the morning of his birthday (May 17th) we let him sleep in until about 9:00, and then I sent the kids to wake him up singing the Happy Birthday song. He came down to the kitchen where we had a hot cup of coffee and caramel rolls right out of the oven waiting for him. I had also helped the kids to make a birthday card for him, and we had a few gifts for him to open, as well.

We worked around the house that day, and then around 5:15 Nana Sharpe arrived to babysit Hayden and Erica. Jon thought that I had a date night planned for the two of us, and knew that we had dinner reservations somewhere at 6pm. We took off and headed toward NE Mpls, and he was so excited when I pulled into the parking lot at the German restaurant, Gastof Zur Gemutlichkeit, as this is one of his favorite places in North East.

What Jonathan didn't know is that I had been working with an event planner at Gastof's for over a month to get a surprise party/dinner all lined up, and 12 of our closest friends were waiting to surprise him. He was surprised alright--as the waitress was bringing us to our table to seat us, all of our friends threw their hands up in the air, and shouted "Surprise" and it actually took Jon a minute to figure out what was going on. He was speechless for a bit, and even got a little red. Mostly he was just so touched that everyone had gotten babysitters, and come to celebrate his birthday with him. He still swears to this day that he had no idea, which is very hard to believe, but so AWESOME that finally I was able to pull the wool over his eyes!! :)

Above is the whole crew--incredibly full on weinerschnitzel and sauerkraut, birthday cake, and HUGE beers. Way top is Jon about to blow out his 30 candles on the cake that Tanya made for him. Below is just a glimpse of the ambiance that you experience while dining at the Gastof's--let's just say it is not a quiet, romantic setting!! (yes, I know it is sideways--can't rotate it unfortunately)

Finally we have the Birthday Boy enjoying a Greenie at Tony Jaro's.....sitting down, I might add (if that gives you any idea of how the night went). It was a great time had by all, but we definitely paid for it in the morning. Let me tell ya, we just can't party like we used to, although we did our best!!

Happy Birthday, Jon--we love you so much and are so proud of the man, husband, and father that you are. You are amazing, and we feel so blessed to have you in our lives. T, H & E