Boys, Boys, Boys

We did have a very busy, fun time here with Dylan and Trevor. Mike just got back early this evening from bringing the boys back home-about a 13 hour round trip, which makes for a long day. He has been having some troubles with one of his "big" toes, which was problematic when stuck in traffic on the way back, having to hold in the cluth. All in all, the trip went well though.

We went to Abby's parents' farm in Wisconsin for dinner Sunday night. Dylan and Trevor enjoy visiting their farm when they are down to visit. Trevor especially enjoys finding chicken eggs and seeing the animals. Mike's toe was getting very sore and so he was soaking it in a foot bath, complete with bubbles. As you can see in the above picture, Lucy also was enjoying the foot bath, splashing in it and standing on it. We brought it home and she has continued to enjoy getting in it (when it's not full of water).

Mike has introduced almost every kid that has come to visit to "RBI Baseball" on our original Nintendo, yes, that's right, not any fancy game system, just a Nintendo. Dylan and Trevor enjoyed playing the game, as did Mike. Lucy thought she would join the boys too as you can see above. She preferred to bite on the controllers more. The boys were extremely patient with her and proved to be excellent big brothers. Their mom does daycare in their home so they are very familiar with young children. Lucy seemed to adore them also.

Trevor turns 11 on July 8 so we had a pizza party to celebrate. One of Trevor's favorite food is cheese pizza-like father, like son. So we had pizza, breadsticks, watermelon, and soda for dinner. We definitely ate our fair share of watermelon over the past few days. Lucy and Trevor were the biggest fans. The party was complete with a chocolate cake, his favorite. It was nice to be able to celebrate with him.

Mike and the boys went on two big hiking adventures. One was to the top of Barn Bluff, which overlooks the Missisissippi River and the valley. It is some spectacular scenery and good exercise to get to the top. Dylan and Trevor posed for a picture at the top (above). You can see the marina we keep our boat at in the background. They also had an interesting hike up Memorial Hill, right behind our house. They even found a cave up there. They also were busy playing baseball at the park. This was very fun for them but not good on Mike's toe. We are not sure what exactly is wrong with his toe but he needs to take it easy and ice it frequently.

As you can see, Dylan has grown to be quite tall, at the age of 12 years old (he will be 13 in September). He is taller than his dad already, who is 5' 10". They are both tall boys.

On the 4th of July, Mike took Dylan, Trevor, and a friend's son, Isaac, to a Twins game. The boys were very excited to go, outfitted in their new Twins shirts that Grandma Mary bought for them. The were disappointed that batting practice was canceled, however, due to the previous night's 16 inning game. While at the game, they saw Mike's brother Alex, who was at the game with his dad. They also were able to watch the fireworks from our boat. Lucy did not wake up with the booming fireworks, which was a relief.

Tomorrow Mike is going to meet with someone from the Minnesota School of Barbering in Minneapolis about potentially attending there in the near future. He has done a lot of research into being a Barber and it looks to be promising. We will keep you posted on the outcome. He also will be going to another baseball game tomorrow-the Twins and the Yankees. His friend, Andy, got some free tickets and had some extra. So that should be a fun time. But a really busy day for him. He also has a meeting at the Workforce Center. Lucy's Grandma Sue is coming over to watch her in the morning while we are gone. That should be fun for Lucy and Grandma-hopefully.

We are enjoying the last couple days of Lucy being 10 months old. She will be 11 months on Thursday!! Seems hard to believe. We are trying to stay in the present moment with her development to be sure to enjoy it all as it comes. This is not always easy, however.

Have a good week everyone.