Long time no see....

Well, they're kind of out of order, but I figured the important thing was to get them posted (before Lorna kills me!!!!!!).

We've had an eventful last two months. June turned 2!!!! Yeah June! We had a nice little family gathering at the house and June was majorly spoiled by her grandparents and aunt (as usual).

At the beginning of July, Jeff, June and I took a little family vacation in the RV(thanks Carl & Lorna!) to Door County, WI. It was unseasonably cold (go figure), but we still managed to have a fun time. We stayed two of our nights at Jellystone Park, which June enjoyed very much! We'll have to go back. She got to see lots of animals, feed goats, skip rocks, have an ice cream or two, and ride on a ferry.

Last weekend the three of us drove down to southern Minnesota to see some of Jeff's and June's cousins. There is a picture of June with some of her younger cousins, whom I hope she has a chance to see more of in the future.

Sunny Weekend 2

Riding the lawn tractor with Grandpa.

Recovering from our fall (all smiles)

The turtle looks really annoyed huh?

A tete-a-tete with Mr. Turtle.

More pictures from this weekend.

June with the Turtle at Como Zoo. There was kind of a line of people waiting to have their picture taken, so we had to make it fast. That little thing was super hot too from the sun! Hopefully we didn't burn her little buns! Maybe that's what they're discussing?

We went to my Dad and Dianne's after Como and tried out the new rope swing he put up for June. It worked great, that's not why we fell off, I'm just that graceful. We're OK, no injuries. It's like 1 foot of the ground. She also got to ride the lawn tractor with my Dad. After they were done, she hopped back on and turned the key and shifted (don't worry it won't turn on unless you are also pressing down the break, which she can not do.....yet). So she's pretty observant, especially about how things work. Jeff always points that out about her.

Sunny Weekend

June checking out a duck at Como.


Giving the carousel horse a try.

WOW!

Stylish sunglasses my Mom bought her on Saturday.

Hailing a cab.

I had a really fun time with June this weekend. Saturday we met my Mom and Charlie for lunch and then walked around the Arbor Lakes Shopping area for a while.

Learned two things about June that day.

1) She loves generic 80's rock. Seriously. We were having lunch and the restaurant was playing something like generic Motley Crew and June started rocking out and banging her head. Scary.

2) June can be fooled into eating her food if you serve it h'or dourve style with a toothpick. I've decided to carry extra toothpicks with me now, for emergencies.

On Sunday, June and I went with Dawn to Como Park. We had a picnic and went to look at the flowers and plants at the conservatory. We also tried to ride the old 1912 carousel. We were fine until the thing started moving, then June got scared and wanted to get down. We ended up standing next to our horse to finish the ride. We'll go later in the summer and give it another try.

Out and about

A couple of fun pictures from the last week or two.

June and Jeff enjoying the sprinkler on our first 90 degree day. (Please pardon the dandelion graveyard)

June hanging out in in her tutu at Grandma and Grandpa Montzka's house.

And my favorite, the screen window shot. I was standing at he kitchen sink and June and Jeff were checking on me. Luckily she stayed there long enough for me to grab the camera.

Weird.

Fun With New Camera!

Story time under the apple tree.

Beautiful (more wind please)

"Ha, Ha, Ha, It's so funny when you wedge me into a tree Auntie Gayle"

Pretty Girl.


Woo Hoo!

Life is good.

We had a fun week with June AND the new camera. It is just so nice to take pictures now.

Dad and Dianne's apple tree was in full bloom, which was so beautiful to see. Grandpa Hyde hung out with June on Saturday, while Gayle and I had kind of a girls day. Manicure and movie. We decided it should definitely be a monthly thing (I "accidentally" typed weekly first, go figure)

Mother's Day (New Camera!)

Enjoying the view.

Trying to talk Archie out of jumping.
(I just noticed, Rosie is seriously close to the edge! Don't do it Rosie! We love you!)

Enjoying the fruits of her labor! (Thanks Auntie Gayle)

I had a great Mother's Day this year! We went to my mom's and had lunch and made cupcakes with Auntie Gayle.
Then we went out to Carl and Lorna's and had a nice dinner.
I love being June's mom, I'm so proud of her. How did I get so lucky?
I got a new camera for Mother's Day (probably should be for Birthday and Christmas too), so I was excited to take some pictures of June! I love how crisp everything is! Big improvement wouldn't you say? I have to thank my friend Mia for recommending the camera and lens, I wouldn't have thought to do it if she hadn't set such a great example!
Thank you for the camera Jeff!

Easter

June and Gavin after the big hunt (June needs a nap)

Colouring eggs with Daddy

The finished product

Action shot

Well, I think June is sold on the whole Easter idea.

She loved the candy, the eggs, the baskets, the hunt.

This was her first real candy encounter, so needless to say, any other food is way down on the totem pole now!

I never understood what the point of Hollow Easter Bunnies was. Hollow? What a let down.

But as a parent, you look at it completely differently! Thank goodness for hollow bunnies! Who needs a solid chocolate bunny in addition to all of that other candy?

Jeff and I had to sneak candy away from her as it is! No, you always had only 3 jelly beans in your basket June, you're crazy.

We did an egg hunt over at my Dad's on Saturday morning and then we did a second at my Mom's on Easter. June really understood the concept of finding them, which was cool. She had so many eggs, she was dragging her basket along behind her! Every once in a while, she'd lose an egg from her basket, and turn around and see it, thinking "Cool, another one!"

She didn't like her dress or shoes much, she kicked and screamed and rolled around on the ground. I suppose we all feel like that some days.......

Gale Wood Farm

A couple of weekends ago I took June to see the Farm Babies at a farm near our house.

Unfortunately, we were a wee bit early and there were no babies yet, just some VERY prego pigs and sheep.

Two big pigs lying there, panting, looking about ready to pop! I feel your pain ladies!

So no pictures of the pigs, out of respect. Interesting bit of info, they build special crate/beds for the pigs to keep them from rolling over and squashing their babies!

June did enjoy the chickens, they let her pet one, and she got to feed the sheep.

Another bit of info, sheep don't have bottom teeth, which they told me after my question about potential bite on little soft June hands! Don't worry lady, just let her feed the stupid sheep!

It was a gorgeous day, before the weather turned sour on us again. They had a maple grove where you can drink sap fresh out of the tree. We didn't try that, maybe next time.

Yeah Spring!

Who needs directions?

Jeff and June put together a little closet storage system last week. June was so eager and happy to help, Jeff and I considered taking it apart that night, just so we could do it again the next day with her. It went pretty well, but she kept wanting to climb in and on the silly thing, which was unfortunately not built to handle even her petite little frame.

I never really saw it until now, but it kind of looks like she's the missing 5th Beatle or something with that hair. At least it's long enough for some pigtails now!

Oh June......

We had a fun week, an unexpected snowfall, an unexpected self-motivated potty training attempt (she just started pulling her pants down and wanted to go sit on the toilet. She wanted to walk around the house with her pants around her ankles, must be because she sees Dad do it.

Netflix anyone?) And hanging with her friend Gavin yesterday. She followed him around all afternoon, trying to do everything he did. That's our girl!

AZ 2009

Jeff, June and I really enjoyed our short (much too short) trip to AZ this year to see Boppa and Bama.

I hate to say it, but I think Ginger was the highlight of the trip for June. She still talks about Ginger, although I'd be willing to bet that Ginger does NOT feel the same way! She's probably never slept so well, after all of the running from June.

The weather was beautiful and June got to play outside without 50 layers on! We went to an Olive Mill, where they grow, harvest and process olives. It was very pretty and the food was great. We always get to do such fun things while we're down there! Thanks Guys!

A few pictures of June, on the borrowed tri-cycle from a neighbor (can't quite reach the pedals, but truly understood the potential for fun), throwing rocks (not at anyone, besides AZ has a LOT of rocks), hiding behind an olive tree and trying to not have a horrible cactus story to tell one day with Dad.

Catch up

Just a few cute pictures of June from the last couple of weeks.

She helped Gayle and I make rice krispie bars one weekend. She really enjoyed making (and eating) them. We did it the old school way with REAL marshmallows, which is probably how most people do it anyway, but the creamy stuff in the jar is easier to work with I think, not that marshmallows are hard...the jar stuff is just easier to spread out I think. Maybe not, maybe I'm just that bad at baking. If rice krispie bars is baking....OK, I'm just being neurotic.

Anyway, it was fun. I had to hide them afterward, she kept going to the counter and pointing up at them.

Another photo is June helping Grandpa Hyde lower her crib mattress. The last setting.....next stop big girl bed. She's actually been pretty good about not climbing out of her crib. We've only caught her once, balancing on her belly on the railing. It was scary...for me, not her. She seemed to think it was quite fun. That's when I put in a call to my dad, Jeff was out of town and I didn't want to run the risk of waiting for him to get back before we lowered the mattress. And I couldn't do it, I'm a girl.

It was a good excuse to have Grandpa over anyway. (This was actually Rice Krispie day too)

The other photo is June this morning. She made herself a little picnic in the bathroom (gross, I know). She grabbed her blanket and laid it out, all by herself, and then grabbed her cheerios and milk and sat down with Rosie, while I dried my hair and did my face.

I have another picture of her, on my phone, sitting at the toilet like a table with her little stool, eating her cheerios. It was so bizarre, I only had time to grab my phone and take a picture.

I have to find other ways to occupy her time in the morning I guess. I just think it's cool that she wants to hang out with me. I'm sure that will soon pass. Tear.