Cabin Trips/Tough Mudder

A lot to update! One piece of big news is that Dan has started a NEW job. He had been at his other employment since college graduation. His job title is Controls Engineer.

 The first week at the new job has been going smoothly and we're excited for what's in store. He needed some new challenges. I'm so proud of how long he stuck with his first job, and for getting this new opportunity!

 Earlier in July we were able to take a full week away, which included the Long Lake cabin (by Cotton, MN), my parent's cabin on Lake Ojibway (by Ely, MN), and finally one night in Duluth. We had off and on good weather, horrible bugs, and fun family time!
Here are the cabin pics...

The cousins on July 4th (Dane, Peter, Will, Sofia, Madeline, and Josephine)

Independence Day Feast

Grandma Peterson

Staying up late for fireworks! (The first year we let them!)

Madeline, Deb, Dane, and Lara on a kayak ride

Madeline, Josie, and Sofia (they look pretty threatening with those water balloons, huh?)

Ahhhh, this is the life! (Now at Lake Ojibway) (J, W, S, M)

Grandpa and I took Sofia and Josie on a canoe ride

Josie and Sofia posing with their paddles!

Another cabin feast

Madeline, Josie, and Sofia LOVE dessert

(and each other)

Will just hanging out

And a couple from Duluth...

Dan and his mom on Lake Superior. Nice salmon!

Fun day at Lester Park in Duluth (Josie, Sofia, Madeline, Peter, Dane, Anna, and Elsa)

Picnic at Lester Park

Bugs bring kids together

Madeline was excited to try a lime because she saw how much her cousins Dane and Peter loved them.

A HOT day in Duluth, cooling off in Lake Superior

Even Will got in Lake Superior!

And he got used to it pretty quickly!

Leah's oldest (Anna) with my youngest (Will)

This past spring Dan and some of his guy relatives decided to do the Tough Mudder. This is no 5k. Not even your typical mud run with a couple obstacles. It is an intense 10+ mile "challenge" with at least 20 obstacles (the organizers don't call it a race because it's not timed and it's supposed to be a team pursuit) and I brought all the kids to go watch. A lot of Dan's family/extended family were able to go spectate also (luckily, for me, as it would've been hard to handle all the kids alone in that environment!)

       It was pretty intense to even spectate. A couple of the people in our group had maps and we all tried to get to the obstacles to see our guys do them, but with all of our strollers we could only see a handful. We did push the Bob strollers through a corn field (with only a really rough path) and up and down a lot of hills. The girls and Will did really well. The girls were really quiet and subdued... quietly observing. I know if we didn't have the strollers, the girls wouldn't have been able to/willing to run around as much as we did. (Thanks, Lara for bringing your two strollers!)


 Here are some pics of these crazy dudes. These pics are all from Dan's dad...

Pete, Dan, and Charlie pre-Tough Mudder.

The team! (Pre-Tough Mudder, obviously- still clean)

Clean shoes

Lara and I liked this sign, so we had our kids pose by it :)

Early in the challenge, already muddy.

Rinsed off the mud in ICE COLD water

Getting over some logs

MUDDY!

MUDDIER! (ewwww look at Dan's teeth!)

Dan and Pete enjoying the post-challenge beer!

They all finished!

Yeah, Will was probably wondering what is going on. Not our normal routine!

The muddy shoes after Tough Mudder

This was the 3rd to last obstacle... We were watching others for a long time waiting for our guys. So many men and women needed help getting up the half pipe. I was curious how our guys would do because it was after all that running and who knows if they could tap into that energy... See for yourselves how they did!

The day after the Tough Mudder, Dan didn't mind staying back during nap while Lara and I went shopping. Hmmm wonder why!

Josie has started drawing people. Here is her rudimentary self portrait- love it!

This was a LONG post. Phew! I can't believe the summer is half over basically! I'm looking forward to the rest of the summer- we have an Apostle Island trip, a couple weddings, and lots of outside play! Have a great week, everyone!

Will just his happy self

Happy 6 Months, Will!

A half a year ago today, Will came into this world. It's cliché to say this, but it goes by much too quickly. Will is presumably our last baby and I'm soaking it all in! I brought him to his 6 month appointment this past Friday and he weighed in at 18 lbs 11 oz (75 percentile) and only 25 percentile for height. His eczema is still the only health issue. Click Here are all his 6 month pics I took.

Will is 6 Months!

Here's what he's up to at 6 months...

*Sitting like a pro, but not getting there on his own yet
*Rolling both ways- and loves to sleep on his tummy
*Smiling at everyone who will look at him
*Shrieks of joy!
*Has been introduced to oatmeal, rice cereal, and banana but will have NONE of that!
*Will not drink from a sippy cup or a bottle- I think he's trying to keep me hostage!
*A little babbling here and there (like "A-gah", etc)
*Interested in everything around him and will grab everything in reach (no army crawling to get toys yet)
*Not to be braggy, but he is a wonder-child when it comes to naps/sleeping now. No rocking necessary!

The girls are officially over 3 1/2 years old. Here's what I can say about each girl:

Josephine- She has mastered #2 on the toilet finally- I know not everyone wants to hear about it, but I am proud of her because I wouldn't have pegged her to be the first. (The other two wait for nap or bed time in the diaper.) Josie is still the most likely to be paired off with a sister and not be left out. She still LOVES cats and still tries to get away with wearing a cat shirt everyday (though she doesn't have enough to make that happen).

Miss Josephine

Madeline- She is suddenly wary on the playground and we don't know why! She used to be the most adventurous. She is the best eater overall (though doesn't like take out food as much). She has had a couple of nightmares where she's just screaming. I know some kids who have nightmares or terrors a lot more often, and I can't imagine going through that!

Miss Madeline

Sofia- She's the most likely to push either our buttons or her sister's buttons. She's just a little provoker! She's been in timeouts lately for hitting US and she stubbornly refuses dinner when she feels like it. (Other times she eats like a pro and makes up for it.) I know picky eating is so common, and I'm sorry to my parents for my picky eating when I was little! Karma, huh!?

Miss Sofia

Here are some pics lately...

I just like this pic :)

Dan with all his kids on Father's Day

Leah and I with our boys ♡

Luke and Will

Friends!

Secrets!

Madeline, Josie, and Sofia

Will just hanging out watching the sisters play

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Yay for the 4th coming up!

Summer is Here!

It has been too long since I have had a blog update. I haven't even written about my trip out East with Will! My mom's side of the family had a mini-reunion, so Will and I were able to go over Memorial weekend. I loved seeing my relatives, but we were missing some cousins. The trip was so fun and laid back with only one kid. Will was just a joy to all of my relatives and everyone commented on how happy he was (it is true!) Sadly, my pictures are on my computer at home in Oakdale, so I will share them on the next post.

I am currently in Duluth because A) Dan has a work conference in San Diego and B) one of my best friends, Leah, is in town from Pittsburgh. Leah has three kids (two girls and a new baby boy). Her parents live literally next door to my parents, so we are neighbors once again, if only for a short while. How lucky were we that we could just take a little path and get to a best friend's house in 5 seconds flat?!?  I wish we still lived next door, or even the same state (but we will live in the same state in two years when her husband Mike is done with residency).

Another fun time was last weekend Lara and her two boys stayed at our house since the guys had their annual BWCA fishing trip. It makes all the difference in the world to have another adult around. The cousins got along great, and we had some really fun playground excursions. One of the days we had a disappointing zoo trip. Como zoo was a ZOO and there wasn't even a single parking spot open! The playground suited us just fine (there were tears from the girls but they are easier to reason with now).

The girls do miss their daddy with those fishing and work trips. Sofia said last night "I want to see daddy's face!" Luckily, Facetime keeps us a little more connected. The girls are really shy with Facetime and phones, but they did talk to Dan a little!

I have to share some 3 year-old-isms with you...
*The roads in Duluth are especially bumpy (you Duluthians know what I'm talking about!) The girls said our car was "hiccuping"!
*The girls said they wanted to see pictures on that "big iPod" aka the computer!
*The car is "exercising" (going up big hills).
*They already have a running birthday wishes list: piggy banks and balloons (the mylar kind, of course). That's all they would need I think!
*I asked the girls what they want to do when they grow bigger. All three want to play tennis (grandma, are you working an angle I'm not aware of?! I have been pushing track!!), and all three want to drive a car (OK, I'm getting hives....)

Leah holding her baby Luke and her mom holding Will

Hello, Luke!

Playing at the cousins' house on Dane's birthday (he turned 5!!!)

Will looks pretty pleased in that BWW hat! (Madeline on left, Sofia on right)

The "kid" table.

Our girls at Playfront

Mr. Will

Love baby hands!

Our kids minus Luke

We have a lot of kids...

Elsa and Anna- if they were the same age, you'd think they'd be identical twins

Sofia, Madeline, and Josie (I can't get them to look at the camera, like, ever)

Don't get too excited, kids!

I will be updating soon, because Will is almost 6 months so there will be more stats to share. I'm guessing he will be high on the percentile chart for weight- what a chubster! I hope everyone is having a great summer so far. We are finally getting beautiful weather in Minnesota (even Duluth!) Love summer!