The trouble with being a parent is that by the time you are experienced, you are unemployed. ~Author Unknown

It just doesn't seem to me that we moved to Montana all that long ago. We were there a year and a half. It was great up there and my kids got a fabulous education. But now here I am--seeing my kids. When we got to MT my kids were 1 and 3. They were little, both still toddlers, one in diapers and one mostly potty trained. Now I have a five year old who can read, write and tell you all the oceans and layers of the earth and that there are 9 planets except that Pluto is not really a planet so there are only 8. Zoey is looking very forward to being 4 and she has grown so much that she will feel like a four year old. She is extremely creative, can climb on anything and according to her daycare providers she will be an engineer someday. None of my children are in diapers (an occasional pull up at night), we chucked all the sippies when we moved. I miss my babies and usually joke with them that they can't grow more until they have my permission. But at least they are growing into fabulous little people that I am so terribly proud of. I find it very difficult to think of Zoey as being 3 and not treating her as though she she is still a baby. Both of my children are very independant. Where does the time go. From 1 and 3 straight (soon to be) 4 and 6--I think I missed something!

Gone fishin', be back at dark-thirty!

It has been just over a month since I quit my job. It is still hard to believe that I did that. But here I am spending some much needed time with family and friends and of course my children. They are so stinkin' worn out. We are constantly going and they play so hard. Some days are tough, but we are having a great summer.

Currenly we are in St. Louis MO. Wentzville actually. It was a bit of a challenge to get here as the flooding in Iowa closed some of the roads I would have liked to take to get here. We did pass much damage and I hope that everyone recovers as best they can from something like that. The pictures above are the kids riding the carousel at the St. Louis Zoo. Zoey said she liked being in the Circus and wants to ride on it forever. The Zoo is free and it is so big that we did not get to see everything while we were there.

Here we are at Dad's pond-- feeding the fish.

Now its time to catch them!

We went to the Butterfly House. It was amazing to see all the butterflies and have them flying all around you. Isaac is learning how to take pictures and so far butterflies have been his favorite to capture.

Just remember, if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off. ~Author Unknown

The night before I left for the Cities, we got more rain. Imagine that. We got about 4 1/2 inches in a very short amount of time and I am pretty sure most of that was in my Grandpa's basement. I had never really been through a flood before. Heard about most of them. Remember our basement was wet once, but actually watching the water rise where I had never seen it before was an interesting experience. Luckily the basement, the ditch and the roads all emptied themselves by the morning. As I drove, the roads were dirty with large piles of dirt and debris where the water had come up over the road. Some of the gravel roads were closed.

I made it safely to St. Paul and spent time visiting with college friends. It was good to see them and meet their children that I had not seen yet. I took the kids to the Mall of America. I enjoyed going back their more than I thought. We went to Underwater World and the kids liked it so much we went through twice. They have changed Camp Snoopy to Nickelodeon Universe or something like that. So we walked through there. Not to ride the rides, but to see if we could find Sponge Bob. We did! He was with Patrick Star of course and we got our pictures taken with them. And wouldn't you know it but the Avatar was there too! So we met him and had our pictures taken with him. After all that excitement we had to stop for some Superman ice cream in a sugar cone. The kids were great! I had such a fun time with them.

Today we went to the Como Zoo. Another day of total excitement for the kids to see all of their favorite animals and of course treats and rides.

Luckily my cold is starting to go away. As tomorrow we start our journey to St. Louis. It may be hot down there and we may encounter some flooding on the way there, but I think it will be a very exciting week. I haven't been there for quite some time.

The chicken came first - God would look silly sitting on an egg. ~Author Unknown

I have been sick for the second time since I left Montana! What a pain. But today the weather was beautiful. Such a treat since most days have been furociously windy or rainy followed by tornados and floods. I had wanted to go to Adams Dairy Days, but with no electricity and tornado watches I stayed away. We did make it to the parade. It was almost better than Halloween to get free candy. Plus all the kids helped eachother out which was nice to see. The rain stayed away until just as the parade ended.

Chris was in town for a couple of days! The time was short. OOH too short. But he hadn't been back to MN for two years so there was many things to pack into those two days. We had some family gatherings and family round of paintball. Things were a little unorganized so I did not participate, but watched the kids instead. The guys all came back with horrible welts covering their bodies and Chris got hit in the head. Yes, he was wearing protective gear, but it still gave him a nice lump on the side of his head.

I always thought a yard was three feet, then I started mowing the lawn. ~C.E. Cowman

I don't really mow the lawn. But after the intense rain we have been having in MN the smell of fresh cut grass sure does smell good!

My kids are having the most delightful time. It is summer for my kids. Swimsuits, waterfights, no school, playing at the park. They are getting so worn out as they just don't want to miss out on a thing. They are bonding with family and just plain having a blast. How come it seems that we wait for summer to start and then before we know it we have all our time scrunched up to fit as much in as we possibly can and in the blink of an eye it is all over? I am still hoping to plan more, but I am very surprized at how fast our time has already gone.