Summer 2011

I bet you all thought I've given up on the Quale Family blog, right? No, I'm been meaning to update all summer long. It just never happened. I guess that goes to show you we had a very full and very fun summer. So, in order to catch up and hopefully start with a clean slate in time for school to start, I've put this slide show together of the highlights of the summer.

The slide show starts with Lily's first Dance recital. She did one ballet and one tap song. She did great and knew the dances very well! The next big thing was sports camp. Lily did a 4 day camp with one of her good friends from preschool. It included soccer, T-ball, and basketball (yeah!). No pressure:) She really enjoyed it and I have to say...she has quite a good shot! It was a great way to expose her to a couple of sports to see what she likes.

I took the girls up to Kidstock in Maple Grove. It was a all day kids festival with live bands, face painting, activities, etc. They had various arts and crafts to try and even musical instruments to try out. they had a lot of fun and of course the cotton candy is always a bonus:)

We've had a lot of projects going on with the house after we had a flood and water issues in our basement. The first project was to re-grade the yard and re-do the landscaping. That was quite entertaining for the girls to watch. After that was completed we had a new deck put on since we had to remove the old one so they could re-grade. It's something we would have eventually done anyway. It was frustrating not having the deck for a while so wow did we love it when the new one was done. Before we moved the patio furniture up, the girls spent hours riding bikes on the deck. I almost didn't want to put anything on it. We've really enjoyed it this summer.

My mom and I took the girls to the Science Museum for the first time and boy did they have fun! They were SO excited to see the dinosaurs. I think Lily's favorite thing was looking in the microscopes (apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and Audrey loved the little red car (pictures above) as well as the dinosaurs. I can't believe we did take them earlier!

Our original 4th of July plans were to head to the cabin for a long weekend. That all changed when a tornado went through on that Friday night. Thankfully the cabin was not hit, but the shed had a tree on it and the driveway had close to 20 large trees across it. Absolutely amazing that the cabin is standing. The woods will never look the same. There are huge clearings in the thick woods so the trip up the driveway is totally different. Anyway, since the cabin was not an option (no way to get to the cabin and no power), we went to visit Papa on Sunday. The girls got to fish and play in the pool. They even roasted marshmallows for the first time (although they prefer them uncooked). Monday we drove straight from New London to my parents house. The girls had a ton of fun in the kiddie pool with the hose. It was a water-filled, giggle-filled, and lemonade-filled day. Even though it was plan B it turned out great!

Next up was Lily's 5th birthday! Thankfully, it fell on a Tuesday so we were able to have little family celebration with Dave. We spent the day at the Mall of America and did Nickelodeon Universe, Moose Mountain golf, and the Sea Life Aquarium. It was one of my favorite days with the four of us. The girls had an absolute blast! It's nice that they are older and can do so much more and can last a whole day without naps. The other HUGE thing with this day is that Audrey kept her underwear dry the whole time and use the public bathrooms with no problem. This was the first big outing for her being potty trained! That weekend we had Lily's My Little Pony-themed birthday party. Thankfully the rain clouds parted and we were able to do the pool/sprinkler party we had hoped for. I can't believe my little girl is 5!

My mom and I took the girls to Como Town/Zoo for a day too. Now that Audrey is old enough both the girls got to do tons of rides. Of course we will had to visit the animals so it was a full, but very fun day.

In August, we finally got a chance to get up the cabin sadly for the one and only time. The girls really enjoyed fishing, swimming, and kayaking with Grandma. Lily discovered the game Hotels which we used to play when I was a kid ALL the time. Thankfully Grandma was willing to play 6-7 straight game with her:)

The next pictures are a few from our Monarch butterfly "farm". We raised 12 Monarchs this summer in Lily's new butterfly house (made by Grandma). It was awesome! We even saw several of them turn into a chrysalis from a caterpillar. The girls named each butterfly and got to hold almost all of them. It was a great learning experience for the girls and also fun to have temporary pets for a few weeks.

A few weeks ago, Lily was complaining her teeth hurt. Well, when I finally asked her to show me which one, I discovered her first loose tooth! I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since she got her teeth really early as a baby. I madly rushed to make her a tooth fairy pillow. She wiggled it almost a week and then one morning just took it out all by herself! She was so excited about the whole thing. She put the tooth in her pillow found 2 shiny quarters the next morning. She insisted the pillow be hung on the outside of her door so the Tooth Fairy's sparkle didn't wake her up:) It's weird to get used to her new smile.

Lastly, is of course our annual trip to the Minnesota State Fair. The girls have been excited about it since we went last year! It did not disappoint. We saw the animals, did the rides, went down the Giant Slide for the first time, went in the butterfly house, and ate lots of yummy food. The new thing we did this year was the Little Farm Hands. They got an apron and pail and collected corn, fed "animals", planted seeds, rode tractors, and went to market. It was a hit with them and we will surely do it next year. This was the first year we went to the Fair without a stroller for the girls. They did very well although I think got a bit tired by the end. What a fun way to end the Summer!

I'm sure I missed things, but you get the idea of our Summer. It has been busy and fun, but we are all looking forward to Lily starting Kindergarten and Audrey starting a new ECFE class. It will be an adjustment but all very exciting!