Where to begin??

So much has happened in our lives since the last post.  We had a great visit with Great Grandma Cox, Great Aunt Corey and Connie.  The girls really showed them their personalities.  It was sad to see them leave, but the girls had a great time.

Sabrina was able to participate in another Relay for Life event in Farmington.  Ashlyn and Mommy took her and watched her be recognized as a 2 year survivor and once again she walked the survivor lap.  We hope to be more involved in the future.

We also had the chance to spend some time with some college friends and their families.  The Potvin, O'Connor and Cox families have 7 kids, 1 on the way (not our family) and 4 of those kids are 2.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone and all the kids had a great time together.  We are still trying to hook Sabrina up with Cole (the O'Connor's son).

Jim and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary on July 27.  We were able to go out on an actual date...with NO kids.  We thought that was only in our dreams.  That weekend we went down to Decorah, IA for Nordic Fest.  The kids did great with the car ride and had a blast.  We watched the parade...in the extreme heat (thank you shade), ate at the Pizza Ranch, visited the Whippy Dip, went to Dunning Springs, and walked around town eating lots of Scandinavian foods.  The kids did amazing considering how warm it was.  We can't wait for next year.

Jim and I went down to St. Olaf the next week for a few days of Music teacher fun.  We attended Dialogue, which is a time for vocal music teachers from across the state to gather and discuss anything relevant to our subject.  We also got to hear the All State choirs rehearse...what a sound they all make.  Jim and I were lucky enough to stay downtown Northfield one night at a fabulous little historical hotel...thanks to a babysitting grandparent.

The following week we took our first "official" family vacation.  We left for Wisconsin on Tuesday morning.  We stopped in Wisconsin Dells for one night.  We stayed at a hotel with a fabulous water park.  Ashlyn was a dare devil and went on most of the water slides...she was excited to be tall enough for ALL of them.  Daddy was the brave parent to play on the slides with her.  Mommy stayed with the little girls in the kiddie areas.  The girls all enjoyed the wave pool and the shooting water...they even laughed when Mommy got water dumped on her head...it would have been nice to have a sign poster saying "beware of falling water".  This hotel had family story time at 8 pm...a great way to begin winding down for the evening.  We then left the next morning for Germantown, WI to visit our good friends, the Ouimette family.  They were very nice and let us spend the night for a couple nights.  The kids (all 7 of them) enjoyed jumping on the trampoline, playing on the playset, and of course, spending time together.  We went to Port Washington on Thursday and the kids were able to swim in Lake Michigan...their first time to a "real" beach.  We all enjoyed the sun, water and sand.  Ashlyn loved playing in the small waves and the little girls loved playing in the sand.  We went back to Germantown and enjoyed some s'mores and then baths.  On Friday, we made a quick visit to the Milwaukee Zoo.  Our girls were so excited to see so many monkeys/apes, elephants, giraffe, hippo, penguins and plenty more.  We then headed south for a quick lunch at Culvers with Aunt Sarah and cousins, Mackenzie and Billy.  It was great to see them and it was super nice that they were willing to come up and meet with us from Illinois.  We started home after lunch and stopped in the Dells again...this time for shopping :)  After that we made it as far as LaCrosse before stopping for the night.  That gave us another night in a hotel and then a shorter 2 hour drive in the morning.  We all had a great time and we think we can attempt another vacation in the future.

The Ouimette/Cox kids...Sabrina, Ashlyn, Anya, Olivia, Soren, Aubrie and Kadence

This week will be busy, but it will also be the last week of summer...everyone is back at daycare starting the 22nd.  Jim and I begin teacher workshops that week...here we go again.  Tomorrow I get to hear President Obama speak in Cannon Falls.  Scott had a ticket (since he is a cop in that town) and he asked if I would want to go.  Jim could have gone instead, but he loves me enough to let me have this opportunity.  I look forward to hearing what he has to say and to see this moment in history.