Summer Weekend Warriors - August Recap

Well, I haven't been very good about keeping up during the month of August, but for good reason! It's been very busy, and every weekend we've been on the road. We've truly kept up the "Weekend Warrior" mentality through this last month of summer. So I'm going to be realistic about this and not try to recap every weekend individually. So here's our August in a nutshell...

The weekend of August 4th, we welcomed Daddy home from his week-long fishing trip to Canada on Friday night. Saturday was his birthday, but we left him behind to play in a softball tournament, and went to Le Center, MN to celebrate our niece E's 2nd birthday.

The birthday girl.

All 4 cousins in one place - this rarely  happens!

All 3 of my brothers and I in the same place - I don't remember the last time this happened!

Saturday was Daddy's birthday, but we couldn't all get back together to celebrate that day, so we took him out to eat on Sunday.  We were happy to have our daddy home, and just enjoyed the day all together.

The weekend of August 11th we were in Okoboji, IA for a family reunion. This is an annual event, but a little different this year because we spent a long weekend instead of an entire week. This worked out really well because everyone was there at the same time, instead of people coming at different points in the week. It was a good turnout and we had lots of fun catching up with family and seeing how big all the kids have gotten.

We made the trip to Arnold's Park.

The big change this year was that Lucy was all over the rides!

Lots of cousins to play with!

The weekend of August 18th, we made a quick daytrip down to Hospers, IA for our nephew E's 3rd birthday. It was a lot of driving for one day, but we were feeling like we needed a little home time after being gone the previous weekend.  We left a little earlier than needed so we could take our time and stop at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store near Jordan, MN. All in all a great trip, and Lucy even got to ride a 4-wheeler for the first time. We were very tired the next day and stayed in our pajamas well into the afternoon. :)

No, we did not buy this...but who can pass up a photo opp with a sucker nearly the size of your head?!

Birthday boy!

We got to see Uncle Justin (and Lynn!) three weekends in a row! Unheard of!

The last weekend of August brought Lucy and I to Des Moines for our annual get-together with some of my high school/college girlfriends and their kids. We had grand plans for a picnic in the park and some boat rides, but it rained all day long. Amy and Matt were kind enough to open up their home so we could eat, chat, and let the kids run around. It is always great to see everyone and it's amazing to see how much the kids have grown from year to year. No new kids this year, but our group continues to expand, as Kristy is expecting Baby #3! Next year will be even better and we hope to have everyone there, as we were missing Dana and her family this time.

Best attempt! 8 of the 9 present would consent (some grudgingly) to be photographed.

We got some quality time with our friends S and J, thanks for the hospitality!

So, yeah. That was August! There were plenty of other activities to fill our weekdays too, and it's safe to say we're all a little exhausted and looking forward to having a long weekend coming up.

Shoo

Lastnight (or shall I say this morning), at around 12:30AM when I had been snug in my bed sleeping for about an hour and a half, I was startled awake by shrieking from the bedroom down the hall. This was a little more frantic than "I peed in my bed" so I hopped out of bed and semi-sprinted (as well as one can at that time of night) to Lucy's room.

There she was, sitting on the foot of the bed, sobbing. I'm thinking night terrors, maybe she fell out of bed. "Oh honey," I said, "what's the matter?"

"There's a fly in here!"

Oh, lord. And as if on cue, the bugger swooped right by her head and she ran out into the hallway. She sat on the floor and demanded through her tears, "get it!"

So I trucked to the recycle bin to find something with which to attack, since no Target in the west metro seems to carry a fly swatter. I ended up with an empty box of Shore Lunch, which I folded in half and headed back to the bedroom.

Let me tell you something, trying to swat a fly in the wee hours of the morning without your contacts in is not easy. Not easy at all. I had to squint to even see the thing, and as I was following it with  my eyes, waiting for it to land, it would seem to disappear into thin air. It landed on the window sill and I swore I got it. I was even looking for it on the floor, but then saw it buzz past me. Another time it landed on the slightly open accordion closet door, in the uneven seam that makes it almost impossible to hit. Of course that didn't matter anyway, because I totally missed it.  I was swatting and flailing the air, and growing more frustrated by the second.

Just as I was wondering how on earth I was going to hit this thing, it flew out of the room. This of course prompted Lucy to run back in, and we shut the door. As we lay in her bed, she kept her blanket around her head so only her sad little eyes were peeking out. She was still relatively terrified. We talked about how when we leave the lamp on, if there is a fly in the house, it will want to come and be by the light. So I got her to agree to turn the lamp off, and turn on the ladybug nightlight instead. She took her arms away from her blanket only to place them around my neck and hang on for dear life until she fell asleep.

Oh, my baby. Although I'm damn tired, I'd battle flies to the end of the earth for you.