Weekend fun!

I think I'm beginning to realize that summer is almost over and there are too many things left that I want to do with our weekends and there aren't that many weekends left! So this weekend, we kept busy! Saturday Steve went to work for a couple hours and then I went to work for a couple hours and after Presley's nap we had dinner at Jethro's in Altoona before we headed to the horse races! Since it's not 100 degrees outside, we can finally enjoy some outdoor activities!
I love her little profile!


Sunday we headed to the Blank Park Zoo for a couple hours. It was busy and Presley was not all that into it. She never once wanted out of her stroller but she liked the monkeys and giraffes.

She was not impressed with the petting zoo and she was scared of the dinosaur exhibit! But can you blame her? I figured she likes Dinosaur Train and Barney...they are dinosaurs! I guess to a 2 year old, they are not quite the same!

We are still hoping to take her to the Omaha Zoo soon, maybe it won't be as busy and she'll want to be more interactive! Of course, Adventureland and the Iowa State Fair are still on my calendar too....if we can find some free days before football season starts! LOL!

So grown up!

What happened to my baby?
Where did she go? Who is the tiny, little person?

And she's wearing high heels already? (of two different pairs of shoes, of course!)

Ran, ran, random

- We bought Presley a big girl bed! We should get it in the next week or two, but now we need to find bedding for it! It is hard to find bedding that isn't too young or too old! As I've said before, no offense Disney princesses, but Presley just isn't that into you!
We'll see how the transition from crib to bed goes, but she did good in Spirit Lake when she napped in our bed and today at daycare she took a nap in a bed too. Bed time might be rough but we have a baby gate that might help keep her contained! (pictures of her room, will follow in the coming weeks!)
- We are still in the process of finishing our basement. We haven't really done much since March, but over the last couple weeks we've been working on the last couple things. We have Lowes coming out to measure for carpet soon and by football season we might have a room Steve can hibernate in every weekend thru December! (pictures will follow soon also)
- Of course, Steve says he can't watch football on our crappy old TV's, yeah well he might have to suffer for a while. We have our old, big 42 inch, a 25 inch and a 13 inch TV all sitting in our basement not being used...there is no need for another TV! (anyone want to buy a cheap television?) Plus, we have P's bedroom, new windows and Dominican Republic trip that need to be paid for first! :) Oh yeah and a fridge that is conveniently leaking water all over the inside.
- When we were at Walmart in Spirit Lake somehow we mentioned to the cashier that we were from Des Moines. And she casually stated that being in Okoboji was better than being in Des Moines, we agreed b/c Hello! We are on vacation, so of course it is better! Then she stated b/c Des Moines has a lot of crime?! Come again? I didn't really know what to say to that, is that really what other people from different towns in Iowa think of Des Moines? So Steve stated "Well, not the part of town we are from!" I think maybe that girl needs to get out more often.
- Steve's next job at work is remodeling the morgue at Broadlawns hospital. Interesting!
- There is a lot of talk about the debt ceiling. I'm not sure what this is or how we fix it. I know alot of people blame Obama, but I'm not really sure we can pin all this on him but I really don't know anything about politics. I did vote for Mitt Romney in the phone survey that I rec'd the other day, I think he is republican so my mom probably likes him. Steve thinks he has a cool name, but I pick my race horses at Prairie Meadows by how much I like their names and I'm not sure I should be choosing my president and race horses with the same criteria! LOL!

30 months

Yes, our little monster is (almost) 2 1/2 years old! If you ask her how old she is, she'll even tell you 'two half'.

Our (not-so) peanut:


- knows her first and last name
- will call me Desca (Jessica) if she isn't getting my attention by calling me mommy
- can almost count to 15, usually 12 or 13 will get left out
- knows blue, green, yellow, pink and sometimes orange colors
- is talking SO much more! Of course, most people probably can't understand her but it is fun trying to figure out what she is trying to say! Some of her words :
Ga - Grandma
Pa- Grandpa
Bossy - Boston
Sa - Sam
Haee - Holly
Buoy - birthday
pan pan - pancakes
fipfops - flip flops
wo ruck - work truck
mil a cra - milk and cracker
It's awesome listening to her try to tell you something in sentences, like every morning when she tells Steve to put a shirt on, or when she says 'I do it myself' or 'help please, mommy'.
- loves singing and dancing! And she is very particular on whether she wants you to sing with her or not! She'll say 'Daddy, not sing Barney!' or 'Mommy, quiet!'......she is the boss!
- will now sit and watch a movie! Especially Monsters Inc. or Toy Story 3 and she loves the cartoons Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Super Why. Not that we want her to get in the habit of watching TV, but at least she is learning with some of these cartoons!
- still loves to eat! She is getting a little picky and I wish she would try some new stuff, but I guess I can't complain b/c our chunky monkey seems to eat more food than most kids her age!

She is so fun and such a trooper when we drag her to all the things we like to do. We believe in including her in all sorts of different activities and she does so good! We are hoping in the next 6-12 months, we can sign her up for another waterbabies class and hopefully a tumbling class too! Wish us luck!
Overall, she is happy, healthy, the boss and spoiled rotten! She has a new found liking for her mommy, even though a lot of times it is a love/hate relationship. I'm slightly scared for all of us during her teen years, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself here! HA!

A and P

Presley and her cousin Ava are 3 months apart in age and on vacation they ignored each other until Tuesday night. Then they thought they were pretty funny together. The chased each other, blew bubbles, played frisbee and copied everything the other did! Presley had on her water shoes...so Ava went and got her water shoes. Ava put on her life jacket...so Presley wanted her life jacket! They were pretty cute and funny together! They have the same exact curly hair, except Ava is Miss Blondie!
Laughing at each other

Laughing at Steve (who was trying to get them to smile) while eating the frosting off their cupcakes.
Their crazy, wind-blown hair!

Yeah, I think they'll like each other from now on!

Spirit Lake in 300 degree heat

So we love nice weather on vacation, especially at Spirit Lake when we spend most of our time outside! So when it is over 95 degrees with a heat index of over 100, we did our best to cope. Of course, you would sweat just sitting there in the shade, getting in the water sounded good until you realize that getting in the water was more like a luke, warm bath instead of a nice, cool down.
We could've spent more time in our 400 sq ft cabins, that have a small air conditioner (but at least there was one!) but having it set at 63 degrees still couldn't keep that cabin under 80 degrees during the day...it just couldn't keep up. Plus, these cabins aren't exactly similar to hotel suites. There are ants and flies (and ants trying to carry dead flies back to their homes), dead mosquitos smashed against the walls that have probably been there for years (don't think I'm exaggerating!). The bathroom has a tiny stand up shower and a bath rug that has probably been there longer than those dead mosquitoes (gross!). Really, why take a shower at anytime during the day? The only time you should shower is right before you go to bed b/c the minute you step outside you are covered in sweat, spraying yourself with bug spray or sunscreen and then sitting in front of a campfire (gotta love that smoky smell!).
Despite all of these things (which I'm used to by now), we have a great time! We take it easy and are able to keep ourselves occupied.
Lots of sunscreen (or sunburns) on the beach.

Steve and our nephew Derek had a kite making/flying contest one day. Steve's kite flew a little better. He made it of sticks, string and a garbage bag!

Austin climbing the tree

And as always there was LOTS of fishing! Enough that we had our fish fry on Friday night! Yummy! Sam holding a big fish that was caught.

And Derek with the smallest fish he caught! It's smaller than some of the lures they use!

Beersbee was played on land and in the water. Our nephews Jake and Jordan.

Steve and Jason with matching farmer tans. I tried to tell Jake and Jordan that this picture is their future....them 10 years from now!

We love this week of vacation! So calming, relaxing. You don't keep track of time, we drink too much beer and sleep in! Speaking of sleeping in....Presley slept until at least 9:30 every morning! Score!

July 28th, 2012...already booked for next year!

There's nothing like a sunset!

I think we took pictures of the sunset every night we were on vacation at Spirit Lake, every night was different and every night was beautiful!