Yep we're still southern

We're sitting around talking to Jim about Lolo's preschool orientation and the different kids who will be in her class. Willem will be there, her good friends Shannon & Caitlin will be in her class, and yes, so will Jack. Then I mentioned a little boy named Roan. Norah heard that and got excited "Boat! Boat!" She thought we changed the subject and were talking about rowing. LOL!

A few more birthday pictures

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We had a "surprise" birthday party for Jim tonight. The girls picked out the party theme and balloon for Jim. Lolo helped me make his birthday cake this afternoon....a nice summery trifle. Just to show how much our lives have changed....Jim's birthday party is attended by Lolo and Norah's best buddies...Willem & Michael....and we all wore party hats :-)

More fair pictures

I don't know why the photos' colors in the butterfly house turned out so odd. The girls were in there sharing pretzels with the butterflies.
In the last picture, you can see that Norah is winding down. I caught her rubbing her eyes. But she toughed it out and didn't nap until after we got home from a late lunch (and then she napped for over 2 hours).

Pictures

And no, they're not from PoPo.



It's been a busy week here in Minnesota. The girls' new nanny, Nancy, has started helping us out. Ashley was a tough nanny to follow, but we're optomistic about Nanny Nancy (we've been making a distinction for the kids about Nanny Nancy as opposed to Eileen & Julia's mom, Nancy). Nanny Nancy took the girls to the children's museum yesterday. Norah was beyond exhausted after running around with so many kids a good part of the day. And today, we took the girls to the State Fair...a visit to see all the baby animals in the "birthing" center, then a ride on the carousel, snacking on donuts and pretzels (see Norah in the photo abovewith a mini-donut just like the dinosaur with the newspaper in it's mouth...and note that we're back to regular food....no caviar on this expedition), a visit to the butterfly house, another ride....and then onward to Lolo's preschool orientation. After orientation, we went to our favorite "noodle" restaurant near Lolo's school. And then Norah & I took afternoon naps, while Nancy and inexhaustable Lolo hit the playground. Whew.
Tomorrow is birthday party prep day. We're going to be preparing for Jim's party on saturday. We're hoping that he'll be home in time for his party (he's on call)....although Lolo has shown that she's fully capable of blowing out the candles of someone else's cake, opening other people's birthday presents, and then later boxing them out of playing with their own presents.

Back home

We're back home. Got in last night in time for a late dinner and an even later bedtime for the girls. They're both a little cranky today.
A little bit of disappointing news....I forgot to reinsert my memory card into the camera for the trip to Michigan so we didn't get any pictures. Bummer. We now have to depend on getting some pictures forwarded from PoPo.

The girls' palate

I almost forgot to mention....the girls got their first taste of caviar this evening. Major miscalculation. Norah kept asking for "more! more!" Lolo couldn't get enough either. Who would have thought?!

Update from Michigan

The girls have had a blast with PoPo in Michigan the past couple of days. We've been swimming most afternoons. Lolo is her usual mermaid-self. Her strokes and kicks are slowly becoming more refined. It's amazing to see her progress. Norah, who has been on the sidelines watching swim classes for almost 2 years, is now intently hurling her body into the pool without any fear. It makes for a challenging afternoon; as once I got a little distracted with Lolo, and almost didn't catch Norah. Norah has also learned to blow bubbles in the water and loves to "float" on her back (with a little help from mom/dad). I suspect that Norah will be swimming quicker than Lolo - because she wants to do everything Lolo does and has no concept of any limitations.
We're flying back home tomorrow. Pictures to follow.

Quick trip

FYI - The girls and I are heading out to Michigan to see PoPo tomorrow. Jim will be joining us over the weekend. We'll be back on sunday.

Who needs a whoopin?

Often times, Jim will play with the girls and ask "Who needs a whoppin'?" The girls will just scream with glee as he proceeds to "squash" them. Yesterday, I'm watching the girls play together when Lolo asks spontaneously "Who needs a whoppin'?" Norah responds immediately by raising her hand and saying "ME!" Lolo proceeds to squash her....both girls end up collapsed on the couch bellylaughing.

Norah's first two word "sentence"

Jim's daughter, Norah, has started stringing two words together. When she's in a jam or needing attention, she will call out in a single breath "MamaDaddyLolo!" as if it's just one long word for "help!" So technically, I don't count that as her first two+ word string.
Norah surprised us last night during bathtime by announcing (after a rather large air disturbance) "Mine! Poot!" And proudly added to the announcement with a point in the appropriate direction and a big joyous fit of giggles.

Where has the week gone?!

Goodness, where has the week gone?! In a blink of an eye, it's friday evening. The weather has been glorious. We've been playing hard outside every day. Norah is making a valiant attempt at switching over to one nap...though it hasn't been without it's difficulties...especially, as we approach 5 pm.
As for highlights...we went to the playground with Willem & Michael on wednesday, hit the playground again on Thursday with Jacqueline & her sister, Natalie, and then today, Lolo swam for 3 hours with Jacqueline & Natalie (Norah had a mommy afternoon and then visited with the girls). By 5:30 pm, Norah was having a hard time keeping her eyes open...and both girls were down for the count by 6:30pm. Whoa. I'm a little concerned about how early they will be awake tomorrow morning.

Some photos from summer camp

It seems our Lolo is growing up so fast...a little too fast for my taste. A couple of photos from summer camp. Friday will be her last day.

Norah's new obsession

Ever since our trip to North Dakota, Norah has developed this borderline obsession for motocycles....Harleys in particular. Everytime she sees one, she excitedly points and yells out "bike! bike!" I'm a mildly concerned about our budding rebel.

Back to our schedule

We're trying our best to get back on our regular schedule. Lolo went back to summer camp today. Moved upstairs to the big kids' classroom (in preparation for the fall).

And the big news of the day? Norah got her first hair trim. Yep. 21 months and she finally gets a trim. Notice I didn't say full out haircut. Just one little snip to get a couple of hairs out of her eyes. Also note the sticker on Norah...Lolo was opening a party favor from Michael's party and stuck this sticker on Norah...."Warning : Choking Hazard - Small Parts" I don't know why this cracked me up so much, but for some reason, the sticker seemed appropriately stuck on our Nor.

Our host student

As some of you may know, we recently had the opportunity to host a fantastic graduate student, Xiaofei Wang, from China through China Outreach Ministries. Given the many blessings we have received in our lives, we were eager to share the blessings we've received and hopefully were able to show Xiaofei the love of Christ. In actuality, as so often happens when we open our hearts to the Lord, we received so much more than we were able to give.

Photos courtesy of Xiaofei.

Michael's birthday party

We made it back in time for Norah's friend, Michael's birthday party on sunday afternoon. (You'll remember, Lolo claims Willem as her friend and they both say that Michael is Norah's friend....although Michael desperately wants to be Lolo's friend).

Anyway, Norah had to take a nap during much of the festivities...these photos are courtesy of Michael's mom & dad. I missed the birthday cake part...apparently, our Lolo thought she ought to be blowing out candles. And then, Lolo and Willem took charge of Michael's birthday present...It's only now that I've got two little ones of my own do I realize that being the younger sibling is really tough at times.

One last stop before home

Of course, we couldn't head home without one last memorable stop....to the Prairie Chicken Capital of Minnesota...I bet you didn't know there was such a place did you? Anyway, the girls had a nice picnic dinner there next to the chicken and they got to burn off some energy before they crashed for the evening. Lolo also insisted upon a closer look at the chicken with her binoculars ;-)

Ashley & Nick's wedding

Suffice it to say, Ashley and Nick's wedding was quite elegant...despite our Lolo's enthusiastic overhand throws of flower petals down the aisle (and periodically throughout the ceremony)....I guess I should be thankful that she reserved the buckethead-look for after the ceremony. Ashley was a beautiful bride and Lolo kept commenting with complete admiration on how sparkly Ashley's dress was. Sadly, we couldn't stay for the reception and festivities afterwards....Norah approached meltdown during the ceremony and we thought it was best to head home.

Wedding in Bismarck

We finally make it into Bismarck for Ashley & Nick's wedding. Lolo is beside herself with excitement about finally getting to wear her princess-flower-girl dress and sparkly shoes. Our girl does spectacularly well.

More to come later. I've got to get Norah up from her nap and then pick up Lolo from summer camp.

North Unit - TRNP

After packing up from Medora, we headed on to the North Unit of the park. Lolo was not happy about leaving Medora...the real reason? She didn't want to leave the playground and pool. The North Unit was even more desolate than the South Unit (if one can believe that). The scenary was stunning...we even managed to spot a couple of big horn sheep....but of course, the girls were far more interested in playing with rocks and digging in dirt.

Dakota Dinosaur Museum

On our way back from the hike, Norah fell asleep in the car. Not wanting to wake her, we decided to drive on and visit the Dakota Dinosaur Museum. We thought it would be mostly for kids, but actually, Jim and I found it quite educational and entertaining as well. Norah and Lolo really enjoyed a dark room with black lights to show glow-in-the-dark rocks...actually, they most liked the fact that their stickers glowed in the dark.

Entry way to the Petrified Forest

In order to access the hike, we had to drive on a rutted dirt road (which Jim loved having the opportunity to jack the car up and go "off road" in our family wagon) and then crawl through this little "gate" to access the trail. Perfect for Norah and Lolo, but Dad needed a bit of "help" getting through :-)

Petrified forest

Here are some actual photos of the petrified forest. The girls really enjoyed messing with the "rocks".

Petrified Forest

On our final day in the South Unit, we took a hike out to see a petrified forest....the girls did a fantastic job of hiking out. (OK Lolo did a fantastic job of hiking. We only carried her back to the car....although Norah needed a ride both ways). I never really thought prairie grassland would be so interesting...I still can't get over how quiet it was and what a nice sound the wind makes through the grass. The girls discovered sagebrush and were enchanted with the smell. And of course, there was a lot of rock hunting and keeping a sharp eye out for buffalo ;-)

More to come tomorrow

I'll try to find some time tomorrow to post more...our cable service has been down and reliability has been a bit of an issue.

Highlight for the girls

So what do you suppose was the highlight of the day for the girls? Yep. You guess it. Time in the motel swimming pool and an evening romp at the playground (which I have to say, Medora has probably one of the most spectacular playgrounds we've been to yet)....I'm sure none of you are surprised to learn that Norah spent a good part of her evening on the swings.
550+ miles of driving to swim in a frigid outdoor motel swimming pool and play on a town playground. Life changes when you have kids.

TRNP Pics Part 3

Here are the girls on sandstone slabs which protected the underlying sediments from erosion so they now rest on pedestals (rain pillars or hoodoos). Very different from the Utah hoodoos but no less visually interesting.

More TRNP Pictures

Wish you all could have joined us. The views went on for miles. We felt as though we could see forever. There's nothing like taking a short walk out and hearing nothing but the wind blowing through the tall grass.

North Dakota - Part 3

We finally made it to Medora late in the evening....a full 12+ hours later...yes, I know, it's technically supposed to be an 8.5 hour trip, but with our adventures along the way, it took a little longer. When the girls dragged us out of bed at a ridiculously early hour, we had breakfast and ventured into our first day in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Absolutely stunning. The most amazing part was how few people seem to be visiting the park with us...Jim and I vividly remember hiking in the Smokies and how crowded it has become over the years. This was such a treat. (Reminiscient of visiting Isle Royale last year....but in a way, almost more desolate...although Isle Royale seems much harder to get to than TRNP).