August 11, 2011

Making Memories

Over the (St. Louis) River and through the woods
to Grandmother's house we go!


Grandma Nancy read bedtime stories...


and Auntie Kim did too!


Grandpa Mike took Jonas on 4 wheeler rides


and we ALL enjoyed being outside!


oh how I wish our hostas grew like this!




Mom and Dad's flower garden


Visiting at the campground - Mark, Jonas & Bruce


Aunt Kathi and Dad


Mark was looking forward to some good old fishing with his brothers!


The catches of the day


Mark's brother Jeff


Mark and his brother Fred


Cousins being silly together!


The winners of the Annual Coney Dog Contest!
Uncle Steve and Jonas tied for FIRST PLACE!
Congratulations, guys



Traveling to Wisconsin


Early Wednesday morning (July 27th around 6:45 am) we flew out of the Augusta, GA
airport on our way to Wisconsin!  We were finally on our way...
We flew into Atlanta and then on the plane again heading for Detroit.


We were prepared with snacks and entertainment!



We had a longer layover in Detroit, so we went exploring! 
Jonas loved the red tram.


and the cool fountain!


The corridor on the way to our concourse was lit and changed colors
as we walked through it.  Very entertaining for a 4 year old ... and his parents!


After our lunch and fun adventure in the Detroit airport...


Jonas slept the whole flight from Detroit, MI to Duluth, MN.
On our way to a wonderful vacation!!

Tunes and Thomas

Recently, Jonas discovered my "MM3" player - otherwise known as my MP3 player.
I went to check on him and found him listening to it while he was playing with his trains.


He was having so much fun...


I love that he loves music as much as we do!  


The majority of the music was Christmas music from last year.


Nothing like Christmas music in July...
That's my son!!


Bruster's

 About a month ago, we went to Bruster's with the Mom's Club.
The kids and moms were able to go in before the shop opened
and make their own ice cream using the big machines!




Jonas and some of the others had fun playing ball before going in.


The kids learned that there were two ice cream machines that they use
to make the delicious goodness!  They were all lined up so
they could take turns pouring cream into the machine.


Jonas loved it!




While the ice cream was freezing, they had tours of the freezer mix-ins


and saw all of the cones!!



and he was very interested in the ice cream cakes.


ice cream is done!





YUM!  Would you like some??





Apple-licious


Jonas' mommy thought he needed dessert...


So she got the ingredients together and he made one.


He loves cooking & baking!


While it was baking... he constructed a few things..
and enjoyed a wonderful personal sized apple crisp.

(He was enjoying it so much - I forgot to take a picture!)


August 9, 2011

Traveling Adventures and Flying Airplanes

On our way home from Knoxville we stopped at some fun places


We all picked out hats at Bass Pro Shops today in Gatlinburg!  :)



Jonas and his Daddy practiced target shooting inside. 
We found the best little airplanes there, too!

On our way home we had dinner (some of us just had dessert)
at a Dairy Queen.  Nothing like ice cream to beat the heat!!


Jonas had fun swimming and playing with his airplane the next day!


Must be time for it's mandatory inspection...  :)


Knoxville

Mark had a meeting to attend in Knoxville, so we decided to make a weekend
out of it, and visit some friends.  Why not have a little fun?!


Our drive to Knoxville, although cloudy, was beautiful!




Our little man wanted to know why the mountains were on fire!  :)



Our "home away from home" was a great place to stay!
Jonas loved running around and it was really a relaxing time.
There was an outdoor pool, basketball court and fitness center
and was surrounded by new shopping centers and
almost every restaurant you could think of.

The room was wonderful too!


Jonas stayed in the front room which had a fold out couch along with a large screen tv,
kitchen and breakfast area!  We had a nice bedroom with an attached bathroom.  If
we hadn't made other plans, we could have cooked here!


After a fun time of dress up at our friend Alana's house, a tour, lunch and great time together,
we headed out to the hotel to meet up with Mark.

We made plans to go to a movie ...


Peek!  Jonas LOVED this chipmunk.


But we went to see Winnie the Pooh and
he loved it too!  He takes after his parents' love for movies.  :)



Cheese!
Funny Face!




We met up with Alana and her family for dinner afterwards.
Mark said that Calhoun's had the BEST BBQ he has had since we moved
down south.  That says a lot since we've tried lots :) 
We had so much fun chatting and enjoying the good food with our friends!

The next day we went to a great church service outside by
the park from the Worlds Fair.


"Koine" was the band that played during the worship service. 
We had never heard them before but it was pretty neat to find out that
they are from Wisconsin!




It was really cute when the kids wanted to walk with Alana's mom.




The kids had SO MUCH fun playing together!
We walked over to the park after we had a nice pizza lunch.










One of the main highlights to this park (for us) was the sprinkler park!!










Sweet Friends - Jonas and Zoe - they had fun chasing
eachother around the fountain for a while.


Oh, and there were baby Birds!


They were SO CUTE he had to sit down and watch them.




Easton not straying from his Momma... but he wants to!


Ryan and Jonas - they missed eachother!



There's always time for some wall-climbing fun!



Can you see he's now Bare-foot?!  Yes, that's our BOY!!


Right to the TOP (and almost over)
He'd like his Daddy to build one for our yard...
can you add that to our wish list?  :)



Veterans Memorial




Back to playtime!  There are a LOT of cool things to play on!



Alana and Mark :)






Goodbye, Knoxville!  We had a fun weekend.