Grandma Nita Visits

Grandma and Mike came to visit for 9 days.  She brought Drew some gifts.  His favorite was his "Drew" doll that he could dress and undress.  He had fun playing with him.  Mini Drew has been resting near his bed for the last month. 

One day Mike spent some time helping Drew make a hacky sack, and airplanes.  Drew sure did like that time constructing things with Mike.

Grandma did some fishing with Drew too.  They both caught fish one right after the other.  Between them and John, they caught enough to do a fish fry before Grandma and Mike left.

During their visit they were able to see Drew at his t-ball practice.  Drew and his friend Andrew had more fun playing in the sand, than playing t-ball.

Saturday, the 14th, was Grandma's 70th birthday party.  All of the Truesdell boys came over with their children.  One of the highlights was getting all of the kids into the canoe for a paddle.

We even had a pinata for grandma and the kids.

On Father's Day we hung around the house, and captured a photo of John and Drew in their Lutgen Strong t-shirts in support of John's aunt Chris and her fight with stage 4 melanoma.

June Trip

Yep, we are still having fun in June.

Nala and I got out for a hike up Gibraltor Rock, and then had a nice visit with my friend Rachel.

We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma for one whole week.  We did some biking, hiking, and exploring.  Drew did his annual treck up the tower at Blue Mounds State Park.

We celebrated grandpa's b-day on June 3rd.  Drew spent most of the morning wrapping up gifts for grandpa.

We also went to visit the dam in Sauk Praire.  Drew was pretty tired after that but he did have a nice hike up the CC trail at Devil's Lake.  He made it almost to the top barefoot.

On one of the rainy days we went to the Children's Museum in Madison.

After the museum we stopped at the Vilas Zoo.  Drew got to spend some time with Henry the lion.

When we weren't out exploring Drew drove the lawn mower around as much as possible making paths.

On our way out of Blue Mounds we stopped at Ihmer's farm to see his cows, and have a photo taken with Daisy.

We did an over night camping trip at my friend Melissa's house in Burlington.  Charlie helped Drew take down the tent the next day.

On Friday we had a play date with Tami followed up with an afternoon of fun with Drew's friend Ben.  Drew was so tired he fell asleep on Ben's couch. 

Friday night we stayed at Yogi Bear park in Caledonia.  Drew did lots of crafts, and had some fun meeting Yogi Bear and Boo Boo.

Saturday was the annual Pseudofest party at Jamie and Steve's.  The highlight for Drew was wrestling with Jason, and the late night dance party.

When we returned home we spent the afternoon cleaning in preparation of grandma and Mike's 9 day visit.

Recap of May 2014

May was such a busy month!

Drew finished up his ninja class in Forest Lake.  For his first class he wore his ninja turtle pajamas.  He lost interest in the class by the end.  For the time being he isn't going to be a little ninja.

Drew still has lots of fun dressing up.  He saved all of his pirate gear from his friend Ben's 4 year old b-day party.  The parrot from Lucy came in pretty handy for his outfit!

The Wargo Nature Center had a fun class for the preschool kids.  We looked for bugs, did a few art projects, and played outside pretending to be butterflies.  Drew was really happy that I stayed with him!

It rained A LOT in May.  Drew and I had to go to Fleet Farm to buy rain coats.  We decided to take an "Usie" when we got home.

John and Drew started work on the a bathroom project.  Drew had fun using his tools alongside his dad.

Ben sent a Wild Kratt's outfit for Drew to play dress up with at our house.

While Drew and John went to help Grandpa Russell with his garage sale, I stayed back and cleaned the house.  It was a great Mother's Day present!

Drew and I did a little exploring on Mother's Day.  We took a canoe ride over to the YMCA campground, and of course took another "Usie."

Drew had a sports sampler class during the month of May at the YMCA.

Drew also decided to give himself his first haircut.

We did get out to the beach, and Drew was very excited to see a field of dandelions.

This is a piece of driftwood that Drew found in the lake.  He decided that he would use it for his snack breaks.

 Grandma Andrews and Drew made lots of flags when they came to visit in May.

The Espinosa boys came over for a play date and dinner.  Drew and Andrew are getting to be good buddies.

 The training wheels came off and Drew rode off without any trouble....until he tried to stop.  He wasn't quite sure how to stop without the training wheels.  Needless to say, the wheels went back on shortly after.

Drew's friend Viktoria and her mom Becky met us at Fawn Doe Rosa for a fun filled day running away from geese and deer.

Drew had the idea to make a raft, and his dad pulled it off for him.

The first sunset of the season from the pier.

My bleeding heart gift from Drew.

Nala's summer cut.

Carla Ripp's retirement party at Pleasant View Golf.

YMCA Kids Eat Healthy

Last weekend we hit 2 free events in one afternoon.

The YMCA had an Kid's Eat Healthy Expo.  Drew started out the event by making his own chef's hat.

After that he practiced calling 911.  We were impressed that he remembered his street and city name.  He's been practicing memorizing the number of his house.  All day Sunday, Drew and his dad practiced making 911 calls.

Some of the other events were archery shooting, a bouncy house, and decorating water bottles.

Drew was very concerned with whether or not he was able to do everything at the event.  We didn't tell him that he missed the open swim.

It was a pretty fun day!

Earth Day

Wargo Nature Center in Lino Lakes had their annual Earth Day celebration for the kids.  John and Drew went over in the morning, but Drew was too small to help with the clean up.

We all went back in the afternoon, and Drew had lots of  fun.

The first think he got to do was help the men from Ducks Unlimited make boxes for the Wood Duck.  He help put all the nails in the box.  They had roughly 20 boxes that they were planning on putting up around the nature center and various other places in MN.

After that we went inside and watch a puppet show on how to recycle.  There was lots of singing and dancing.

We came a little late so Drew didn't get to do everything, but he had just enough time to jump in the bouncy house a few times.

Spring Road Trip 2014

I've been off the grid for awhile!  I had to recover from a wonderful 19 day vacation.  It was so much fun. We covered a lot of miles, as you can see from the map above.

Day #1 began on Tuesday, March 11th.  We did the 4 1/2 hour drive to grandpa and grandma's house.  We stopped for a donut along the way at Kwik Trip.

After that we stopped to see baby Addy.  Drew thought she was cute, but didn't like it when she cried.  (Come to think of it, he hasn't asked for a baby brother or sister since that visit).  (:

We spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  Grandma sewed up Silkie so he was already to go on the long road trip.

Day #2 we stopped in Racine and had lunch with Lucy, followed up with a play date at Marissa's house.

Drew had lots of fun playing with Tami and Ezekiel.  The day ended with a overnight at Ben's house.  It's become a tradition for Drew and Ben to do a little shirtless wrestling when they get together.

Day #3 Drew and I drove about 5 hours and stayed at the Ramada Inn, Xenia, OH.  This was our first experience with NO snow since November!  Yeah!

Day #4 we were up early to try and get to Carrie's house before rush hour.  Drew got car sick after a long windy tour through West Virginia.  But, we were thrilled to finally get out our sandals!!  This was at a stop about 2 hours before Wake Forest, NC.

When we arrived at Carrie's I went right to cleaning out the car, and the boys got busy playing!

Day #5 Carrie let us play with the play dough, and got us out to Three Bears.  The boys sure wore themselves out that day.  

The evening was fun filled with zip lining, bike riding, and sme wine drinking by the grown ups.

 

Day #6 we started the next leg of our jaunt to Miami.  We made it to Savannah, Georgia and stayed at a Comfort Inn.  Drew wasn't too comfortable this day, as the long days on the road caught up with his bowels.

Day #7 was another early riser!  We got a great start, but it was a rough drive, as it rained all morning.  By the time we were 2 hours outside of Miami, we were both done with the car!

                                                    

We were thrilled to meet dad at the Trump Resort in Doral, FL.

Boy were we excited to see the awesome pool when we arrived.  Drew had it all to himself.

Day #8 we hung around the resort.  We had fun not driving, relaxing and being silly, while John attended his work conferences.  Drew LOVED the palm trees.

Day #9 we were shuttled to Sunnyside Beach in Miami, with the Scrubbing Bubble hat obtained from John's work conference.

We were taken to another Trump property.  We had fun at the beach and swimming in the pool.

Drew and I did dinner out at the California Grill that evening.  As you can see, he wasn't too thrilled about it.  He would have rather swam in the pool.

Day #10 John wrapped up his conference, and we headed to Cedar Key. FL.

Cedar Key was a sleep little town, with lots of character.  We ate the the Big Deck, with some live acoustic music.

Day #11 took us to Mississippi.  We camped near the town where Elvis was born.  You'll have to look it up, because I don't remember.  It was a nice change of pace, and the night hike was pretty fun.

 Day #12 we arrived at the Welk Resort in Branson, MO, where we 

spent the remainder of our trip.  We had one messy, jammed packed car.

The boys immediately hit the pool.

Day #13 we did lots of lounging and crafting, while we waited for Grandpa and Grandma to arrive.

Day #14 golfing and resort fun!

                                                   

Day # 15 we explored Table Rock Lake, and the fisherie, followed up by a buffet at Grandpa's favorite restaraunt, The Golden Corral.

Day #16 Grandpa and Grandma spent the day with Drew while we had date day/night.  They took Drew to the Golden Corral, and swam, while we did some exploring of downtown Branson, eating, and attending of the show SIX.

(We also tried to visit the dancing fountains, but a loud train whistle scared Drew too much--thankfully a trolley came by, and the free ride made Drew's day much better).

Day #17 we did a family show.  We took Drew to Amazing Pets, and enjoyed our last night at the Resort playing Bingo.  He acquired Superhero the snake at Amazing Pets.

        

Day #18 we hit the road, stopped in Kansas City for some Ribs, and spent the night in Des Moines, Iowa.

Day #19 we visited with grandpa Russell, and picked up Nala.

We were home early in the afternoon.  While we were unpacking Drew fell asleep on the couch.  He was one worn out little guy from all the fun.

Superhero was a little tired too!