July 4 in Door County

Friday:
We packed up and left for Door County bright and early. Kelsey kept saying "we go on a trip." I felt like we had the entire house with us because the car was so full! It was about 6 1/2 hours of driving to get there. We did make a few stops along the way to help break up the drive for Kelsey. Between naps, books, movies, and snacks, she was such a good traveler. We have not been to Door County in a few years, so we were pretty excited to have the opportunity to see my dad and Chris and enjoy the ease of a vacation. Once we got settled in, we made our way downtown to do a little sight seeing and stop for ice cream.


The rest of the night was settling in and playing with grandma and grandpa.

Saturday:
Today was Matt's 30th birthday! Happy birthday!!! My dad and Matt got up early and went golfing to begin the celebration. When they returned, we took Kelsey swimming. We were the only ones in the pool, so Kelsey and Daddy were able to splash at will.

After their refreshing dip, we went to lunch at the Wild Tomato. We ordered a yummy fire grilled pizza that was absolutely delicious.


Once our tummies were full, we walked main street. The weather was gorgeous. We went into a ton of cute shops, walked by the water, stopped for a Hawaiian shaved ice and took in the scenery. My dad and Chris call it "Door County time" when they are up there because everything is so laid back and there is no hustle and bustle of everyday life. We just went where we wanted, when we wanted to and had very few plans except to relax.


When we got home, we went back to the pool for round #2.

Later that afternoon we grilled out for Mattey's birthday. Our friends Paul and Mary were able to join us too. Kelsey is getting good at singing Happy Birthday and kept telling Matt "Happy Birthday, Daddy" over and over. It was very sweet. We were able to enjoy each other's company for the rest of the evening. We even squeezed in a game of Farkle and the birthday boy won.



Sunday:


We began Sunday morning with breakfast at the White Gull Inn. They recently won a contest on Good Morning America for the Best Breakfast in America. The entree that won was Door County Stuffed Cherry French Toast. No surprise that I had to order and see for myself. In a word- YUM!!! No wonder it won. It was so delicious! Chris's son and daughter-in-law went to breakfast with us because my dad and Chris watched their daughter Stella from Friday night-Sunday morning.

We made our way to Egg Harbor that afternoon for a parade. It was pretty hot outside, so we of course had to eat ice cream while we waited.

We also took a walk down by the water. Funny story: We wanted to get a picture by the water so we took Kelsey out of the stroller, and gave my dad the camera. We were standing on a dock, and just before we took the picture, the stroller started to roll and was about 1 wheel away from landing in the lake. Pretty silly! We did manage to get a great family picture.


The parade finally began and Kelsey really liked it. She was a sweaty mess, but she didn't care.

Toward the end of the parade, she wanted to be put down, so we laid her in the stroller and she fell right to sleep.

That night we went to watch fireworks. Before we left, we tried a few sparklers of our own. Kelsey called them "sparkles."
Once downtown, we found a great spot on the beach to watch them. We had some time, so we did a little more walking around. We even went on a bike ride. It was fun and Kelsey loved it!

Once it was dark, the fireworks began and they were beautiful over the water.

What a great July 4th!

Monday:
We packed up early and left for home. Kelsey was sad to leave Grandma and Grandpa, as were we. We had a wonderful time with them! It was the perfect trip :)

Pics of the Day

Here are just a few pics to make you smile. Dave and Vickie bought a bike helmet for Kelsey and she loves it. When we went outside today she asked right away for her new bike., but meant her helmet. Once we got it on, she did not want to take it off. She kept it on while she rode her bike around the driveway, had to keep it on while we took a wagon ride, and would have kept it on to jump on the trampoline and swing, but we made her take it off.

Here is our garden. It is looking so good! The purple flowers on the top were pretty much dead at one point, but Vickie assured me they would come back and Wah-La! I think we will have beans to pick soon!

Twins Game

We finally made it to Target Field! Mattey and I went to watch the Twins vs. Tigers game on Monday with Matt and Stacey. It is quite the place. We have heard so much about, seen pictures from others and watched plenty of games on TV, but nothing compares to actually seeing it. My first thought was how did they fit this enormous stadium into that spot? It seems like it should have always been there due to how it just flows with the rest of all the big buildings.

We got there early so we couild walk around and check the place out before the game. There is just so much to see and take in. I really liked how there were so many places to constantly be overlooking the field.

Our seats were really good! We even had a foul ball hit toward us. There was a cute little boy in front of us celebrating his birthday with his dad, brother and friend. The one little guy had the ball in his glove, but the dad knocked it out in trying to catch it, too. It then was in Matt's hand, but landed behind us. Quite entertaining! What a fun experience! I hope we get to go back soon!

I Think We Are On To Something!

We have officially started potty training! It kind of happened by mistake, but we'll see where it goes. Kelsey had gone potty for me one time on the toilet last week, so we knew she was capable of going. Then on Sunday, she went twice! So, we got her a potty sticker chart and an M&M treat bowl to help get her motivated. She doesn't ask us to go yet, but we have been having her try when she wakes up, before nap, after nap, etc. She gets excited when she goes, probably because Mommy and Daddy hoot and holler so much! Even Grandma and Grandpa spoiled her by taking her to the park, getting her ice cream, and buying her a doll! We will keep you updated on the status of how this goes! Hopefully if all goes well, we will be out of diapers by the end of summer......

Baseball Tournament

Matt coached in a baseball tournament this weekend. On Saturday, Kelsey and I went along to cheer on his team. We went over a little early and had lunch at the mall before doing a little shopping. Then, we were off to the field. It was a really muggy day, so I had hoped we could sit and watch the game from the shade. Kelsey had a different plan called "Chase me all around, Mommy!" She was on the go from the minute I got her out of the car seat. She ran all over and Mommy just followed her around. I was able to peek at the game every now and then ;) It was nice to at least be in the same place and get to hang out for awhile around the game.

Medford Parade

On Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa picked up Kelsey and I(Matt was at a baseball tournament) and we went to the Medford Parade. We were a little leary as to whether we should go because the weather forecast called for storms. But we decided to brave it out. Since I teach in Medford, I was able to see some of my students which always makes me smile :) Kelsey did pretty good while we were there. Once the parade got started, she was pretty intrigued. We got swarmed with so much candy, she didn't know what to do with it all. The rain held off for most of the parade, although it did lightning the whole time. The Ginskeys were in the parade, so Kelsey was excited to see her cousins.



Thanks for taking us along, Grandma and Grandpa.

Pool Party

We finally got around to setting up Kelsey's pool. Between the rainy days and being gone, we finally got it done. Kelsey was really excited as Matt filled it up with air and seemed so intrigued as to how it was actually going to turn into a pool. We filled it with water in the early morning because we wanted the water to be warm by the afternoon. We decked Kelsey out in her swimsuit and lathered her up good with sunscreen. The poor girl has my pale white skin, so we bought her a swim shirt for outdoor swimming to help keep her from burning. We had all the pieces in place, except the water had not warmed up like we had hoped. Kelsey was a little timid to get in, so Daddy came to the rescue and got in with her. She seemed to slowly warm up to the idea, although she was not fond of sitting. She preferred to stand up and would pride herself in squatting down just enough so her little bum touched the water and then would stand right back up. She would also tell Matt "I stand right here" to let him know she was quite content with her choice. When we all came in, we were happy to find that Kelsey did not burn! YAY! What a fun summer afternoon :)