Second 1/2 of June

Yes - life has continued after the vacation! :) Here is the last 1/2 of June in pictures:



Alice was very happy to have Auntie Carrie home from Vegas. Here she is after a trip to the park. (Yes, she dressed herself!)



Beautiful Minnesota summer night. . . Lonny's patio . . . the ice cream man cometh . . and Alice enjoyed her first frozen treat out of a truck!




I will definitely have to do a "Mao" scrapbook . . . this is what Alice calls cats. Here is another outfit that she put together - with matching "Mao" t-shirt and socks. (I guess the teachers at daycare heard about her "Maos" all day long. :)



I knew I'd be spending more time with Alice again this summer - so I finally went and got my own booster seat for my car. I think I found a pretty cool one. . . Alice likes it too!





The Jerome/Olesens and I took in the NE Parade again. Good times - especially GO DIEGO GO on a stick, waving princesses, and flying candy.



Summer school has started. My 2nd Graders are pretty cool. Amy, Becky, and I are having a blast "working" with these kids.



Karly, who stayed with me the last 1/2 of May, is back again while she goes to summer school. It's been cool hanging out with her!



I've been doing more dinners with The Jerome/Olesens - we've taken turns hosting . . yes! I'm even having them over to my place! Alice warms up to the dogs quicker each visit!!




Already have a fun July planned out. . . stay tuned!

Vegas - Day 7 - Goin' Home

Ok - reality is hitting - it's time to go home.

Standing in front of Mom and Dad's house.


Thanks Mom and Dad for being such great hosts!


Both vehicles are loaded up, ready to take off for the airport.


Amy grabbed a front row seat on the airport tram.


The party continued at the gate.

Now we're all home and back to work - but with awesome memories of our first week of summer break!

Vegas - Day 6

Another beautiful day in Vegas, another day at Caesars Pool! Mom came to The Strip with us - but then headed out to do some errands. We enjoyed the hot hot hot day in the sun, in the pool, and taking a lunch break in the air conditioning! Today was a little windier than normal for us - and it showed up on our bellies and lounge chairs as construction debris and sunflower seeds! Note to self - debris sticks to suntan lotion - tan with caution under a construction site!

We headed back to Mom and Dad's about 2pm - where we showered, lounged, and watched more LOST as Mom prepared a yummy lasagna dinner!

Awesome last full day in Vegas - and yes, we finished season 1 of LOST!

Vegas - Day 5

Happy Father's Day!!

Mom and Dad went to church while we lazily showered and got ready for the day. (Most of us took a break from the sun today - as it was to be 110 by noon.)


After church - we all headed out to a local casino (Santa Fe Station) for Father's Day breakfast and some gambling. (The food was good - but the gambling better! I got $25 in "free play" by opening up a player's card - so that was fun!)

The rest of the day was relaxing, staying in the cool house, and watching LOST (I brought season 1 so Becky, Andrea, & Amy can get sucked into Terry's and my addiction!)

Vegas - Day 4

Today was a nice and lazy day. We spent a good chunk of the morning/noon getting some backyard sun. Whilst we layed about, Mom and Dad busily prepared our meal for the day (ribs, corn on the cob, beans, & potato salad)!



We topped of the perfect vacation day with a trip to Freemont Street. (This was our second trip to my dad's casino (Golden Gate) but that was during the day.) We took in the whole experience including:

1. More shrimp cocktail @ Golden Gate


2. Watching the Freemont Experience


3. Searching for souvenirs


4. Posing with "Elvis"


5. Posing with a real Las Vegas Showgirl


6. Posing with Chippendales Dudes (Andrea - if you push his head away - he won't motorboat you!) (No, we did not fork over the $40 to purchase a copy of that photo!)


A good time is being had by all!! :)

Vegas - Day 3

We spent today at the pool at Caesars. Mom got us guest passes - and she enjoyed a massage while we sizzled at the pool.

Highlights from the day:

1. Frozen Grape Lady

2. Watching the construction crane very carefully to make sure it didn't get near us!



3. Getting a tour of mom's office (and Andrea scoring a free pear)!



4. Seeing the Conservatory at Bellagio.





5. Having shrimp cocktail at Golden Gate.





6. Dad's steak dinner at home.

Vegas - Day 2

We started our first morning in Vegas in the sun. We baked outside in the morning sun in my parents' back yard. What a morning! Sun and mountains and friends!





Tonight is going to be hard to top as mom scored us PRIMO seats to Elton John!! (As cameras were not allowed in the theater - I have no photos - however Scandalous Andrea snuck her camera out enough time to capture some shots - so I'm sure she'll force me to post them eventually .. ) :)

Mom (who took off 4 days to hang with us this week!) brought us to the strip where we enjoyed fruity drinks outside of Caesars, some light gambling, a stop at Elton's gift shop, and a few more drinks before entering the show.







Elton was AWESOME! The show was a little on the weird side - but he was a great perfomer! How cool that the show that he probably has done a ton of times - was so lively and fresh - like he was so glad we came!



After the show - we walked around a bit - to let the traffic die down. We checked out the fountains at Bellagio, gambled a teenie bit more, and then headed back to mom and dad's. Fun night!

Vegas Trip - Day 1

Teachers had to report today to submit grades, clean/pack, and check out. This year was the quickest for me as I was ready to leave school at 11:30! (I should plan a trip EVERY year!)

Terry and Amy had lunch with Terry's parents. . . I had lunch with the Jerome/Olesens and met up with Becky and Andrea at Andrea's house. Brad "drove" us to the airport (ok, well I drove . . but it totally helped with my "issues!")

We all met up at the Humphrey Terminal at 2:30pm (flight at 4:15). While Amy, Becky, and Terry checked out the bar - Andrea and I chatted and shared an iced mocha something and watched the carry-ons.

The beginning of the flight was a little bumpy - but other than that - uneventful (= good!)Becky and Andrea watched LOST (uhhh.. tv show about a plane crash. . uh. .) Amy and I watched Ella Enchanted . . Terry read.

We landed in Vegas just a little late - but made our way quickly down to baggage claim. (not before Anxious Andrea got on the tram just before the door closed - and before the other 4 of us could board) - well we were soon reunited - and found mom and dad greeting us at the carousel.





A quick ride to mom and dad's and we had beverages in hand and yummy fajitas in our bellies - ready to start our vacation!

Last Day Of School

This is how we send the kids off each year. The sign that Summer is HERE!

True Colors

I know I'm going to be draggin' tomorrow - but I had to stay up to blog about the AWESOME show I just went to! Today was Valleyfair for 8th grade - beautiful day for it - also long and tiring. Last Friday (at about 2pm) Amy in Anoka asked if I wanted to go with her to this concert after we got back from VFair. After 2 seconds of me figuring out that it was the True Colors show - and that she was presenting me with not only one but THREE free tickets - I knew that I would have enough energy after Valleyfair to head downtown Mpls!!

Yadda yadda yadda . . . Amy got sick - Jaime got sick - Zach had to work - and it was me, Julie, Heidi, and Don. I had to double check the tickets when we got downtown - as NO ONE was in the parking ramp - and NO ONE was in the Target Center. We had the right venue and night AND time. Not a lot of people were there for the first band - The Cliks - which was a bummer for them as The Cliks were AWESOME!!


Next up was Tegan and Sara!!! UGHHHH They were so awesome!! I loved them before - but now that I've seen them live - ughh!! Just freakin' cool! I bought a t-shirt - or should I say - Donnie and Julie bought me a shirt -as I left my check card in my shorts from Valleyfair. (yes, I'm wearing it to school tomorrow!!)

Between each act - Carson Kressley entertained the crowd - and he did a pretty good job of it!!


There was also an intermission in there somewhere - and Rosie O'Donnel was there . . . and pretty darn funny - although Julie is right - she was dressed terribly!! - Carson must have been having heart palpitations just looking at her!!


After the break the B-52's came on . . . .and then . . . .CYNDI!! Wow. She was awesome. She was great! What a performer! This was my first time seeing her in concert - even tho "She's So Unusual" (along with Prince's "Purple Rain") was my first cassette tape!! - I got them for Christmas in 6th grade!



And of course there was a finale with an awesome "True Colors" sing-along!! UGHH!! Great night!!


My pics are as good as can be expected - but I'm posting them anyway - so I can remember the AWESOME night I had for FREE. Thanks for the tickets Amy . . (and Lisa too!)