Photos from July

A little Ditty

A little ditty about Jack and Amelia. Two American kids growing up in the heartland. Isn't this photo adorable? Jack's grandma snapped it at the county fair.

My Awesome finds!

This weekend the kids and I headed up to the lake for a relaxing weekend. My mom, Amelia and I went into town to an antique store. You would not believe what I found. The first is a frame painting - an original painting from China. The second item is an Asian inspired table. They both look great in Amelia's room. I got an incredible deal.

Pictures from China

We have really been enjoying the Olympics. When I came home from work for lunch today, Amelia asked if Michael Phelps was going to be on tv tonight. She has become quite a fan. The Olympics are espeically meaningful because they are being held in Amelia's birth country. I posted some pictures of our trip to China. The first two are photos we took in front of venues. The second two are the drum tower where the horrible tragedy happened to a MN family during the Olympics. The last one is a picture taken on Amelia's adoption day. It's been almost two years, can you believe it?

Olympic Fever!

We've been faithfully watching the Olympics at our home. Amelia decided that she was going to be in the Olympics some day. At first she thought she would be a diver but then decided not to because she doesn't want to get her eyes wet. Next she thought she would be a gymnast. She watched the women's prelims and mimicked all of their moves until the balance beam. She then decided that it was too dangerous to do flips on a balance beam and she might fall off. She went back to diving and thought she could handle getting water in her eyes if her mom was her diving partner. I reassured her that she didn't need to be an Olympic athlete if she didn't want to. She said she wants to be in the Olympic some day as long as mommy comes with her. So she is back to gymnastics and our living room floor has been turned into her mini-Olympic venue.

I couldn't get my slideshow to work so here are some random photos from our vacation.

Where have we been?

I gave my cousin Lisa's new husband a bad time about not keeping their blog updated and he reminded me that my blog is still stuck on "tada." We have been super busy this past month. In early July we headed to the Bemidji area and spent some time at a resort. While there, we met up with one of my favorite people in this world, my friend Ingrid, her son, and some of Ingrid's family. After a few days "up north" we headed down to the Taylors Falls area and spent some time on the St Croix. My brother Troy met up with us on our last day of vacation and we spent a peaceful (well - except for when I yelled at Paul for steering us in the wrong direction) 3 hours canoeing down the St Croix.

After vacation we were busy throwing together a small celebration for Amelia's 3rd birthday. Mixed in with all of this were swimming lessons for both of the kids and football camp for Tyler. Then is was on to my cousin Lisa's wedding (which was a beautiful and fun filled affair). We finished off the month at the County Fair, well the kids and I did. Paul was busy at church with day camp, a hog roast and golf outing. Tyler scored big time at the fair and won 8 blue ribbons, one red, one grand champions, 2 reserve grand champions and 2 honorable mentions. Needless to say, this means we will be heading up to the state fair later this month.

Here are some pictures to show you what we've been up to this past month. Enjoy!