Hugo Elementary...Meet and Greet

Tonight we headed to Hugo Elementary School to find Rowan's classroom and meet her teacher, Mrs. Briggs. She got to find her seat, coat hook, bathrooms, water fountains, and distribute her supplies to the right spots.

National dog day

And Gizmo joined us at the park again today to play. He wishes he could run around, but he isn't allowed off his leash at the park. Oh well. He is fine soaking up his surroundings.

bikes and corn

Just another sunny day complete with a bike ride to the park while walking the dog.

And a little corn for dinner too. Kids eat it like it is going out of style.

Super Eddie

It's normal to wear your Super cape in your underwear, right? For Eddie it is. Especially with goofy poses for the camera too!

MN State Fair...and super Eddie.

Today we braved the crowd at the state fair. So worth it. We parked in someone's grass to save a few dollars and a long walk. Then we ate ourselves fat, did several rides, ate some more. Eddie napped. Rowan got her face painted. Did a little people watching, ate some more. Then headed home.

Rides...

Snapshot of the food, but isn't everything we ate for sure.

Uncle Mitch in MN

The one person we have here in MN is Uncle Mitch. So he came to visit us today, see our new house, take a nap, eat 2 meals, watch television. You know, what college age brothers do apparently. Nice to see him, he has been in London for school for the last 6 weeks.

Como Park Zoo

Today the kids and I ventured to the Como Park Zoo in Roseville. It is a 'donation' zoo, smaller than Milwaukee Zoo but bigger than Madison Zoo. So sort of inbetween as far as size. But they had a Sparky show that was quite popular. We waited longer securing our seats than the show actually lasted but the kids enjoyed it. The zoo actually has a whole amusement part to it to complete with rides and games, but we just looked and didn't partake because we are heading to the State fair this weekend, so they will get plenty of that there.

After the zoo we tried to stop at Target to get Rowan's school supplies, but Eddie fell asleep in the car. So we put Gizmo's blanket to use and he slept through the entire Target trip as well. Oh toddler life.

 

8 years and growing...

Today Ed and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary...not in the usual way due to no babysitter, but we wouldn't change it for the world.

Homemade pizza with the kids and Cherry Berry for dessert. Ed got me flowers and a bottle or wine. I splurged a bit and bought him the Sonos wireless speaker/bridge he has mentioned an interest in. It isn't often that I have ideas that might surprise him, so I have to take advantage. Love you hun, here's to many more years of wedded bliss.  

Weekend in WI...

We were in the car and on the road just after noon today to head to WI for Aunt Julie's shower we were holding at Nana's house. We got there just in time to grill some dinner, have a fire and a bath with our cousins. So fun.

 

Then us adults ladies got to decorating for the shower for tomorrow afternoon.

Saturday morning we were all up and ready to get the shower rolling. Guests arrived around 1230pm. We served lunch and cupcakes, played a telestrations inspired shower game, opened gifts, visited and had a blast.

After the shower we played yard games and had a few adult beverages while the children played.

Me and my sister in laws!

A few weekend tidbits to highlight the fun.

 

Wouldn't be a shower for Dusty and Julie without Monty!

And then Rowan and Eddie got ahold of my camera and took a few pictures below. Not to bad, even got Aunt Julie's baby bump in the bottom right.

After an afternoon of fun, pizza for dinner. It was an early bedtime after our long fun day. Sunday morning we had breakfast and then were on our way home for the 5 hour trek.

We're baaack...

Kids ask to go to the park everyday...it is nice to ride our bikes there and get out and play. But I think they will be bored with this park before we know it.

out and about

Today we took a day off of unpacking and organizing and found the park in the next neighborhood. Was nice to get some fresh air and burn some energy.

 

We also headed to District Center and Normandy Park to get the kids registered for school. So they kids got to try out 2 different playgrounds in one day. Rough life.

Finally...

So glad to see them actually show up today. Sad that we lost a whole day of unpacking because of it. But oh well. 3.5 truck loads later, all of our stuff has been delivered. Only one hole in the basement wall and a few touch ups. Many things to claim that were damaged or broken at some point in this move though. We spent the day telling the men where to put what. Unpacking boxes when I could, especially wardrobe boxes.

The kitchen was the worst part. Washing all the dishes was torture. But felt so good to get the kitchen clear of boxes. Tomorrow is another day of unpacking.

What's next...

So, our stuff was supposed to be delivered this morning by United between 8-9am. So, Ed was at the house by 8am, and the kids and I shortly behind after a stop at Target for a few necessary items.

 

When the clock hit 930am and we hadn't seen or heard from anyone, it was time to follow up. Surprisingly, our Suddath representative didn't know why they weren't there yet so we waited for a call back with information we didn't want to hear. There were service issues and she wasn't sure when they were going to be there or if they would be there today with our stuff. Therefore my attitude surfaced real quick.

 

In the end, our stuff wasn't delivered today, and it would be delivered tomorrow. To make a long story short, we don't know the reason behind not receiving our goods today. I demanded that our food for the day and hotel for night be paid for by United. And gave them a piece of my mind. We scheduled this delivery 3 months ago for a reason. Why were we the people to not receive our stuff? Guess I should have realized last night when the driver didn't contact me like they had in the past, that something wasn't right. But we were busy and it was the last thought on my mind that it wouldn't happen like planned. So out to dinner again and to a different hotel because we had checked out of our previous hotel and they didn't have an adequate room available.

Tonight we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. We all swam before dinner. Was quiet and water was warmer so that was great. Then out to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. And back to hotel to swim one last time hopefully before having a home to sleep in. Only tonight the pool was full of a boys hockey team. So it was a loud and quick swim before heading to bed to dream about our own beds being delivered tomorrow.

Closing was rough...thus the chasers.

Well, the kids swam this morning, we found the bank to get our check for closing, and met Dad for lunch before our 1pm closing. That should have been an hour max. Well, we set a personal record for a 2.5 hour closing. There was just little issues one after another. First they had to check on Ed's name to ensure it was written the same on all documents. Because despite the fact he has 2 middle initials, that doesn't always fit on documents, so some just have one. After that was resolved the builders representative found a charge that didn't seem right, so it took probably an hour to get that figured out and decide who was paying/owing that money. We had issues getting ahold of people at our lenders office so had to stalk and track people down that could get things moving. In the end, all was well, we didn't owe any more money (thankfully), we got the keys and we were on our way.

 

We headed to Home Depot and Costco to get some food and things we needed for the house. Then we went to the house to show the kids and drop everything off. They hadn't been inside the house yet. So we unloaded, chose bedrooms and then were off for dinner.

We went to Roseville Mall to Big Bowl for dinner. Very similar to Stir Crazy in WI. But we tried a family style meal with a Minnesota brew. Much needed after the stress of closing and entertaining the kids.

And the night wouldn't be complete without a Cherry Berry stop. Probably not a good thing to introduce the kids to right away. They have our genes, so they love ice cream.

We made it to MN...

This morning after breakfast, the kid and I hit the road for MN. Was a 3 hour drive and we made it to Pentair in White Bear Lake without stopping. We had to see where Dad has been for the last 8 months without us. Kids tried out his desk and we met a few of his colleagues. Then we took him out for lunch before heading to the hotel to swim of course.

The fish in my life loved the pool. There was a basketball hoop and hot tub. What more could one ask for.

Dells day...

Grandma Pam had to work a few hours this morning...then we headed out for an afternoon of fun.

 

We started downtown Dells, went to Goody Goody Gum Drop, I needed some candy for shower favors for my sister in laws shower in a couple weeks. And the kids just needed a sugar buzz apparently.

 

Then we were off to the Wisconsin Ducks. A fun land and water ride where I managed to be the only person on the entire ride to get a wet butt! Kids may have gotten a little bored but also had some fun. Good thing we got popcorn to entertain us a bit too.

 

Then it was off to Kalahari to meet Grandpa Bill and have some fun in the water. Kids loved it! The weather wasn't the sunniest or warmest, so we spent most of our time in the indoor waterpark, but the kids didn't care. Definitely need to do that again in the future.

The trek to MN starts...in the dells.

Ed left this morning to drive to MN for the first time. He has been flying for the last 8 months, but now we will be living there as of the end of the week. So his car was packed with last minute goods, as well as my truck, and we were all off towards MN.

 

The kids and I got to stop after 1.5 hours and spend a couple nights with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Pam. On Monday afternoon, we got to play a bit, have dinner with Great Grandpa Ron and do a little outlet shopping with Grandma Pam.

 Tomorrow we have a day of fun in the dells.