Jack and Lilja... buddies

River Park

I love not working for the rest of the summer, there is so much to do around town and now I have the time for it.. Today we met Caroline and her son JT and Melissa and her two girls Maddie and baby Kate at the River park.. A little gem in the middle of bayfield.. The water is the perfect depth for Lilja to play (sort of) safe in and it is pretty clean.. 

JT actually took this picture.. You know why?.. she smiles AT the camera!!

Lilja wanted to lay on top of the Kick board.. this was right before Lilja did a great little turn from on top of it to under it.. I was right there though and pulled her right up.. she did not have a problem with it.. really NO fear in this child!!..

Melissa with new baby Katelyn.. Melissa will take care of Lilja in the fall once a week.. The twogirls, Maddie and Lilja are becoming great friends!! Anb Melissa is just a wonderful mom and friend.. Lilja just loves her and I am lucky Lilja can come and can stay with Melissa in the fall.

JT actually posing for this picture.. he is such a cool little boy and is so sweet to Lilja.. Lilja is in love with JT.. great choice girlie!! 

Caroline took Lilja and JT down the little river.. This weekend a tube will definitely be purchased.. Lilja wanted to go all by herself!! that will involve floaties and a parent around..

JT pulled Lilja a little way.. she was holding on to the rope.. again, no fear!! but as you can see the water is pretty shallow.

All by myself!!

Open gym

This video speaks for it self: :)

The weekend

The weekend started with a busy morningat open gym.. Some of you might recognize it as where Lilja's birthday party was last year (and probably will be this year too). On Friday's the kids have free reign of the place and Lilja took full advantage of everythign there was..

Lilja loved the scooters

and she would "dive" into this "hottub" every time..

However, she had to share the "hottub" with others.. Here they were making "kidsoup" ala the dad on the top of te picture.. Great idea..

She jumped on this trampoline most of the time.. However, she liked it better when I also jumped.. What a work out!!

In the beginning she would hang on these rings and put her legs in the air ANd would swing sooo high.. she amazes me sometimes with her "no fear" attitude.. She saw a little boy do it this way.. and she was not so sure about it..

Lilja got this  dress from my friend Rosie, she LOVED it.. It's blue AND it twirly...We compromised with the little leggings under it..But  I think I  have a girlie girl on my hands!! We went to breakfast and she twirled for anyone that wanted to see her twirl!!

After this busy weekend Lilja is suddenly a little under the weather, but she was not sick enough to chuck some corn!!

the waterslide

It has been pretty hot outside this last week, and the waterslide from Oma has been a huge hit..

visitors

5 brothers have been visiting my beautiful plants.. this night Lilja was still awake.. she was in a pretty silly mood.. One deer's name is now Ladybug Jojo and the other.. well, just listen and you figure that one out ;)

Spud Lake

My great friend Whitney and her two daughters Alexa and Maya invited us to hike to Spud lake today.. the drive is about one hour and the hike is about 1 mile in up hill until you reach a BEATIFUL little lake.. so worth the slow walking with three children.. Lilja started out in the backpack but she eventually wanted to walk and was such a trooper. She walked back almost the whole way. And for those that know Lilja is having a little harder time taking naps and going to sleep.. Today she fell asleep in the car after about 1 minute.. and I KNOW she will sleep tonight soooo good.. YESSSS!!

Maya holding Lilja and Alexa

Our little picnic

What a view.. Lilja started out just putting her feet in the water, but she got pushed over by their dog Anka..( while she was throwing rocks for her).. After that Lilja thought, now that I am wet anyway....

It was pretty cold water, but what a view!!

Lilja always seems to end up like this when water is involved

Anka waiting for rocks to be thrown.. Lilja was laughing so hard!!

Alexa and Lilja really had fun together.. laughing, talking and holding hands.. so cute!

Maya wanted in on the action.. 6 years ago Maya was our flower girl.. wow, how time flies!!..

a special treat.. one of daddy's cookies... she takes such a loooong time to eat it..

5

5 minutes later .. remember how she wanted to give daddy a lick of her cookie??

rain rain come again.. Lilja wants to play!!

pictures form this weekend

some funny pictures from the weekend.. the monsoons are here and the thunderstorms are the loadest ever..first time Lilja is really noticing them.. have to refrain myself from being scared, however yesterday we were sitting on the rocking chairs watching the amazing lightning when the loadest crack ever came.. we ALL jumped up.. Aran even checked to make sure there was not a tree that was on fire.. SCARY!!!

remember almost the same  picture as a year ago??

during the tunder storm I could not find Maggie.. I had kicked her out of Lilja's bed one time before..but  this is just sad..

favorite photos from the photo session with Oma

kisses please!!

It was Lilja's idea to climb the tree..

the three of us..

my favorite!!

The three women..

precious

peeka...

BOO!!

I even look cute in this one.. i know it is not about me... but still a little vain..

precious.

My other favorite!!

and this one,
we had such a great time!! Thanks mom for being such a sport!! LOVE YOU!!

First time to the dentist!!

Start them early right?? so I thought this was the time to get the experience to go to the dentist. WE read books about it and talked to friends about it and today was the day!! Lilja did not seem to be nervous at all ( I am very afraid of the dentist) so here we are ....




in the waiting room. We even put a special  dress on for Dr Jeff.



This is Tamara, she is going to clean Lilja's teeth with an instrument that had a pinguin on it!

They were laughing, because the bib was bigger than Lilja

Lilja really liked the light. In the beginning Lilja did not know to keep her mouth open, but after a while she got it..

I did not realizethey would be using all the normal instruments like they use on us.. wow!! Lilja just kept her mouth open and they could clean her teeth really good. 

And here is Dr Jeff. he told me we are doing a great job brushing Lilja's teeth and that we floss her teeth good too!!

He said: "Her teeth look really healthy, no cavaties and her bite is perfect!! see you in 6 months!!"

Happy 4th!!

Our little Bayfield always goes all out for the 4th.. so much support and American pride in this little tiny town.. always fun to be a part of it. We started out with the Lions Club pancake breakfast before the "famous" parade. I had told Lilja we were going to a parade and she asked what that was.. i told her it was a party for America!!

Finally the parade started after a slow start.. when Lilja saw the firetrucks, she was hooked.. 

silly with daddy

the many faces of Lilja during the parade..

Soooo excited!!

Lilja loves balloon and this lady was supposed to give out balloons.. Lilja.. and daddy were waiting patiently for one.. but they were apparently too tangled up.. Lilja did not understand that one..

The biggest applause was for all our firefighters, as we have been between three fires around us.. They have done an amazing job to keep us safe!! Thanks guys.. and girls!!

After the parade there was a carnival.. we started with a jumpy house, but we were done after that pretty fast.. Leading a crying child home was a sad sight to see. SHE WAS DONE!!!  p.s still sleeping after 2 1/2 hours.. yes, she was done!!