August Hodgepodge

We started the month with crazy hair day and National Night Out.  Esme and I participated and she was so excited to have her face painted.

I heard a flurry of noise outside my work window one morning and there was a bunny in the window well.  This was not the first time we've had to rescue a bunny, but it is the first time Esme got to help.  We used the pool skimmer to help it out and it ran off.

Esme was worried it would be hungry and wanted to leave some food for it.  We were given a giant zucchini by one of Jimmy's co-workers.  I didn't want it to go to waste so I made a bunch of lemon zucchini bread and one load of chocolate chocolate ship zucchini bread.

After 2.5 weeks with my first stent, I went back on the 21st to have my kidney stones removed.  It was successful and I had a second stent placed for the tube to heal.  Jimmy took the second picture on a Hy-Vee run.  He loves having his own personal grocery "caddie."

This was a pretty epic game of Sorry between Jimmy and Esme.  She had 3 in home and one just outside the safe zone while Jimmy had 3 in the start still.  This is why I teach her that you never get too comfortable, because Jimmy came back and won!

We've had the same coffee pot since we got married in 2009.  It doesn't get heavy use, but was starting to leak so Jimmy got a new one.  You know you married a tech guy when we talks about a new coffee pot for days and it's not even a smart one.  

We haven't given Parker very many set shores, but he does love helping with the garbage and recycling containers.

It's been so hot and steamy lately, but that didn't stop Parker from wanting to be outside constantly.  He was just chilling in the hammock in 90 degrees.  We made a trip to the local park this week as well.

Finally, I got an extra treat on Saturday of hanging out with family.  I was working the gate at the Corcoran tractor pull when Jimmy's cousin's family pulled in.  I was able to sit and chat with them for a while and just catch up.  Now it off to Florida for vacation!

Beyond 100 Parks #110 - Hampshire Park - St. Louis Park, MN

It's been 9 months since we visited a new park, but we found ourselves wanting a change after spending so much time in the pool this summer.  This is our second Hampshire Park, the first being in Golden Valley.

Key Features

This one was plopped in the middle of a neighborhood, but had decent features.  Parker immediately headed to the merry-go-round.

Esme has been really in to monkey bars, but she was a little intimidated by the height of this set.

Esme has a set of these at school.  I showed her how to walk on top of them.  She was taking the tiniest little steps.

Nothing too showy, but a solid 7 swings.

Coremark Metals Picnic

My work hosted a family picnic on Sunday at Elm Creek Park.  Grandpa and Grandma Herrmann were up here to watch our niece, Emma, play softball.  We stopped by to say hi before heading to the picnic.

After a week of steamy weather, it was a gorgeous afternoon.  There were three bounce houses, face painting, and lots of other games.

The kids had lunch earlier, but I enjoyed the burgers, brats, and sides.  Parker and Esme loved the cookie dessert.

Esme even found a new friend to play with.  It was a great afternoon with co-workers.  I work for such a great company.

Perfect Little Birthday - Dinner with Rick

Jimmy and I celebrated 38 and 43 this week.  I'd love to say we did something flashy and wild, but it was much more subdued.  I picked up Leeann Chin one night and got one of the more thought provoking fortunes I've had.

On Saturday we prepared for our dinner guests by making some strawberry sauce and a chocolate cake.

We enjoyed some afternoon pool time.  I asked her what she was doing and she said "just chillin'."

Our pool streak continues as well and reached 91 days.

Our dinner guests were my friend Rick and his new girlfriend, Heidi.  We were having so much fun I forgot to take a picture of our meal.  We had waffles with strawberry sauce, cream cheese frosting, and whipped cream, sausage, and bacon.

We followed it up with one round of Mario kart before they had to leave.

This was Heidi's first time playing, but I think she will be joining us again soon.

The Great Cornerstone Getaway - Part 2

We had another little girl gang running around this year.  They had so much fun playing together.  Pancakes, sausage, and cereal for breakfast.

Followed by a little time of rock painting.

About half the campers headed out after breakfast for the bike ride.  We headed to the beach for our first swim of the day.

The boys tried out the pedal boat.  Best substitute for a bike.  Esme and I did it later too, but no pictures of that.

We took a break for lunch, games, and a little quiet time before heading back to the beach.

Paddleboarding was the new afternoon activity.  Esme struggled a bit, but Parker really figured it out.

We all got a boat ride on Saturday afternoon.  Jeremy took us around the entire perimeter of Stony Lake, it was so relaxing.

Traffic picked up at the beach by the time we returned.  A group played king of the hill on the platform and there was more slides for Parker.

Dinner was a taco buffet.

We closed out official camp activities with campfire worship and a message from Pastor Jeremy.

Here is the video of our weekend activities.

Esme's favorite part was when Jeremy was done talking and we got to have s'mores.

We did one more morning worship that our youth director, John, led.  It's hard to see, but if you make this picture bigger, you can see a boat silhouette.  it was just a gorgeous foggy morning.

Parker snuck away with my phone for a while and took some pretty good pictures.  Here is his first gallary.

We helped clean up after breakfast, grabbed some leftovers, then headed for home.  Jimmy needed a pulled pork pick me up, but we made it.

Such a great weekend together, home we can repeat next year!