Happy Birthday Starshine!!

Happy 9th Birthday Starshine!! (I had to distort the cake because of super cool candles that spelled her name)

Can you believe she's 9? I sure can't. Wasn't she just:

• learning to walk (oh wait, now she runs faster than me)


• learning to read (yup, she reads more than me now)


• cuddling with me (only if no one's looking)


• Wanting to spend every minute with me (super busy social schedule...)

Man - time flies! It was a rather calm day, because she chose, again, to not have a birthday party. Instead, we will be taking her and her BFF out to dinner and to a U of M soccer game next weekend.

So, her actual birthday was just about opening presents and eating cake (still a great day). She wanted a cool messenger bag, clothes, earrings, and a watch. Wow, she really is a preteen - no toys this year. We ended the day with a delicious plain cheese cake with a toppings bar. Yum!

Oh, and file this under things Grandma L never would have bought me for my birthday...
Clip-in colored hair extensions (I've been told they're all the rage...).

Fun Family Weekend

Last weekend we enjoyed another Minnesota fun family (extended) weekend. We started with a Thursday trip to Waterpark of America. The girls each earned a free ticket from their summer reading program, and we figured it would be nice to water park inside in the summer and not worry about getting sunburned. Unfortunately, M&M Dad made it one and a half times down the water slides before his motion sickness kicked in. We have no idea why the Dramamine didn't work this time. After a few hours of misery, he at least hung out in the regular pool with us, but I have a feeling future trips to the water park will be on a "girls only" day!


Next up was camping at a state park. This was a huge hit last year with the girls (and reasonably tolerated by me because of the camper cabin) so M&M Dad found a new park to enjoy. This site was spectacular because there was not another campsite or at least a 1/2 mile. We had wonderful, peaceful nature, and not loud, boisterous neighbors!


Of course, this also meant that the cabin was a half mile from parking, too! The kids were troopers carrying stuff (and M&M Dad took extra trips), and it was a lot of fun.


Our awesome cabin of solitude...



The kids are totally gaga for bunk beds...


We found a geocache down by the lake... (Too bad M&M Dad also found some wasps while rehiding said geocache - ouch!)


Starshine reading us constellation stories by the campfire after a delicious dinner of pudgie pies and s'mores...

And lots and lots of hiking... (There was a real bathroom 1/2 mile from the cabin, so we were SUPER motivated to go on lots of hikes! The girls were outraged when they found out Dad could just go to the bathroom in the woods instead of using the stinky outhouse!)

The girls also had fun teaching us all of the card games they have learned over the summer. I'd say the only downside was the boatloads of mosquitoes. I have never used so much Off in my life!

We capped of the weekend by taking M&M Dad to the Twins game for his birthday.

The Twins didn't put up much of a fight against the Yankees, but we still had fun and it was a beautiful day. Starshine, though, was shocked at all the people booing at A-Rod and Jeter. Afterwards, we went to his favorite Neopolitan pizza restaurant and then home for homemade ice cream sandwiches - delish!

Happy Birthday Sweetie- yeah, you're just as old as me again!

Work Picnic

Every year my technical community hosts a family picnic, and the kids LOVE IT. And why not - it's all kinds of kid activities, treats - and it's free!

Here Jr. Princess is on the pony rides... she's sporting a hat Dad won at bingo...

Starshine went, but has since determined she is too old for little pony rides. Of course, she was delighted to find that the Cheerios dig as open to 8 and under, and she was not officially 9 yet!

And they both loved the rock wall, especially after watching a lot of repelling on Expedition Impossible this summer.

Jr. Princess was like a little monkey. I'm pretty sure she went higher than her sister (don't tell Starshine that!)

There were also carnival games, super jumps, a gymnastics area, and petting zoo - and I'm sure I'm missing a few. After dinner we enjoyed my favorite - the employee-made ice cream sandwiches using Haagen Dazs ice cream - yum! Then it was off to Bingo, where, after a while of no luck whatsoever, Dad and I both won, and then he won one of the prize drawings. He picked an awesome box of company products that just happened to have everything the kids love.

Jr. Princess loved everything, but I think she was most excited about this cotton candy...


It was a wonderful evening.

Little Leader

We found the nicest note in Starshine's Summer Care folder a few weeks
ago...

"Starshine has been invited to the Leadership team this week because she
is very kind and responsible"

We couldn't agree more! She LOVES her new found responsibilities, which have included judging the sand castle contest, and planning for an upcoming carnival. She's such a good kid!