Minnesota Trip!

FINALLY!  I am sitting down to update this thing!  I have no idea where the month of August went...and that it's already half way through September.  All I know is that it's been a great and busy summer.  Parker was a flower girl in our friend's wedding, I went to Las Vegas, New York and Atlanta for work and Aaron has done a ton of fishing.  All in all a great summer!  I'll wrap it up with a trip Parker and I took to Minnesota for 10 days.  I had to go to Atlanta for work during the middle of it so Parker got to spend some quality time with both Grandmas and Grandpas!

On the flights there, Parker was a champ.  Granted our flight left Eugene at 5:30am...so she slept for the majority of the first leg!

 And once we were in Denver on our layover she became obsessed with the moving floors!

 Once we got to Alexandria, we spent some time on the boat- standard!  Parker loved "driving" the boat with Papa Rick and swimming with her second cousin Colten. 

 Over at Olsen's she had a blast digging in the dirt, playing with all the puppies and "kitty Julie" and following around her cousins Sunny and Skyler.

 Seriously...she LOVES "puppy Kai" (oh...and Papa Al too!).

Uncle Aric, Cousins Skyler and Sunny and all the puppies...Kia, Lena and Willow.

 Meanwhile, back in Eugene...Aaron was on his 10 day "stay-cation" which involved a lot of fishing (not to mention he did do a ton of cleaning, canning and fish smoking!).

 But alas, all good things must come to an end and before we knew it, it was time to say good bye and go on another airplane ride back to OR. 

But we got to play on more moving floors...

And be silly on the airplane!  

The Oregon Country Fair

It was that time of the year again!  This year was different for us as Parker was with us the entire weekend.  She had a blast and so did we!  We saw so many new parts of the fair we normally wouldn't because she was with.  It was a great experience for all of us!  Before the real fun could begin there was some last minute work to be done, which Parker loved to help with!

 A new addition to camp was the parachute!  It created a great camp vibe.

At night we decked out Parker's stoller, walked around looking at all the lights and listened to some good music.  Parker loved it!!

There are entire loops of the fair dedicated to kids.  Needless to say we spend a lot of time there.  This was a musical wall that Parker and Aaron really enjoyed.

The last day of the fair Parker got her face painted as a kitty, per her request!  

The closing music act was amazing!  We were all loving it, dancing around, looking at all the fun larger-than-life puppets...

 But then the large sun puppet got a little too close for Parker's comfort...

...and she clung to Aaron and needed her pacie asap!  But over all, it was  great year at the OCF!

The Month of July in a Nut Shell!

I have no idea where the time has gone...and that I haven't posted on here in a month!  So here goes our month of July in a nut shell!

My mom came out and stayed a week over the 4th.  She had a ton of one-on-one Parker time and vice-versa.  

 

Nana Sue bought a new pool, which Parker loves!

 We spent a day at Cottage Grove Lake.  Aaron brought the boat out, it was a great relaxing day!  

Complete with a nap for Parker and Grandma...

 

The Haircut

Aaron finally said he had enough and had our friend Bryan come over and shave his hair.  It looks great!  Not sure what Parker thought was going on though...

The First Outting on the Boat!

Well, we bought a drift boat.  Needless to say Aaron is in heaven.  He has been out on it a few times, Parker and I have been out once.  There will be more trips to come once Parker realizes that we can't go swimming all the time or just get off the boat.  But she did have a blast looking for fish!

 

A Little Bit of This and That...

The Oregon Country Fair is a few weeks away, which means Aaron and the posse have started working out there washing and hanging signs.  Parker and I have gone out to hang out and camp a couple times.  She's going to have so much fun out there this year!

And for fun...just a few random pics from this past month.  Parker is obsessed with what she calls "Happy Bear".  She will hide behind him like this (see pic) and say "uh-oooh!" until you respond with "oh no, where's Parker?!"

Eventually she tires of that game and decides to play on her computer...

Summer is not complete with out a pass to the pool down the street! 

The Little Lady Turns Two...

This past Sunday was Parker's 2nd birthday, so we threw her a little bash!  We had about 7 of her little friends over plus a bunch of the typical crew.  We ate, played with chalk, hula hoops, bean bags and just had a good time!  Parker did great sharing all her toys with the other kids- at first I could tell she was a little overwhelmed.  She kept asking if everything was still hers and looked a little worried!  But over all, a great time was had.

The morning started off with a little "Beauty and the Beast" and some snuggling with Orange.

 Then the party!

 Parker's friend Wesley...isn't he adorable?!

 She was sooo excited to eat her cupcake!

 Adelyn and Parker aka the green skinny jeans posse

Parker and Cameron were having a blast playing "school bus"!

 Opening all her presents...

 We asked her to close her eyes so we could bring her new bike out and this is how she did it...she kept peeking though!

 Her new Strider balance bike!

 The next day Grandma & Grandpa Rick sent some presents including what has now been named Happy Bear...which now is Parker's new best friend!

 Having a tea party with Happy Bear.

 Once again watching a little bit of Beauty and the Beast but this time with her new BFF.