Emily's Week Off

I took this week off just for the fun of it. Last night we headed down to the hear the weekly "Concert in the Park." On our walk down we happened to meet up with DJ and his mom, Beth, who were also headed to the park. We run into DJ and Beth everywhere (at the pool, at swim lessons, etc.) and so it was a great opportunity for the boys (and moms) to have a play date. They were both in a "rough and tumble mood" and played hard for a full two hours!

They also found a great group of girls to play and dance with!

Is there anything better than little kids dancing? This little boy has some MOVES!

Becky and Evan enjoying the concert.

This morning we met up with Beth and DJ at the playground. They had a blast!

The boys (plus another playmate we met at the playground) on the swing watching the boats go by.

Ready...Set...

...Jump!

Its been a great week so far - and I still have half of my vacation left to go. Hooray!

The new deck

Back in May we started a new project - building a deck on the front of our house. We already have three decks, you say? Well, yes. But we have no central air and spend a lot of time outside. Building a deck on the shady side of the house was much cheaper than installing central air, plus, it is the best view for watching summer storms roll in (a favorite pastime in the Nelson household.) Building this illusive deck proved a bit more work than we initially thought, however. First things first, we had to get the old cement step out.

Step 2: digging a 15x9 foot hole 12 inches deep - we hired out for that...

Strep 3: Hand digging eight 4-foot holes for the concrete footings. This step was not fun. As an active participant hole digger, I can tell you that this was a long and tedious process. Luckily Bruce came over to help us level and pour the footings. We would have had a pretty crooked deck without his help!

Evan helping me rake the pit.

Jonas sporting some shade. It was a scorcher on Saturday! It was well above 90 in the sun and fairly humid.

Becky and Evan admiring the progress.

Now comes the "easy part." Derrick was a trouper and came to help us three days in a row! We would probably still be working on it if it weren't for his help. Poor guy just stopped by to say "hi" and got roped into helping out!

Evan helped out by picking some crab apples (birdy num-nums) off of the front tree with a needle nose pliers.

Hooray! All finished!

The boys enjoying a celebratory cold beer after a long, hot, exhausting weekend.

Next summer we will be adding the walls and attaching it to the house to make it a front porch. I can't wait (well, yes I can, because it is going to be a lot of work.) We are enjoying it as a deck for now. As a fun note, while we were away at the hardware store yesterday picking up more supplies, two older gentleman pulled up at our house and began taking pictures. Derrick was there and started up a conversation with them - it turns out that their father grew up in this house in the 1900's! He worked at RW Pottery as a potter and used to ski to work in the wintertime! Isn't that a riot? I really wish I had been home - we dug up an old piece of pottery while building this deck and it would have been neat to talk with them about it. Just one of the neat things about living in a really old house. :)

Headed to Green Day

Jeremy and I went to the best concert ever last night - Green Day! They have been my all-time favorite band since I was thirteen. I'm not kidding. I have seen then in concert a few times before, and it has always been good - but last night was AWESOME. I am still so exited that I couldn't sleep last night!

We were in the pit and only 15 feet from the stage the entire show - It was the first and only time that I wished I had an iPhone (or at least smuggled my camera into the show.) Luckily, this is the age of the Internet and I can just steal someone else's photos after they post them to Facebook. Out of over 150 song choices they played four of my five favorites - and all are from older albums an non-released tracks. It was nice to see that the band and I have the same taste!

Jeremy's Dad and sister came over to watch Evan. It was a late night for all of us. We got home at 1:30am and this is what we found - Evan asleep on Karla's lap! How cute.

Happy Independence Day! (A day late.)

We started the celebration off at the Eckhoff's with a few games of "Football Bean Bag." I stink at beanbags (as I do with most things that require physical skill and coordination) but the guys all had a great time.

Even Payton jumped in on some of the action (and knocked in a beanbag for his dad's team!)

Despite the sun hiding behind the clouds most of the afternoon, the kids all enjoyed a dip in the pool. The slide was a big hit.

Giddy-up!

Brynn eating some blueberries off of Jennie's delicious Jell-O cake - an annual tradition!

We heard we missed a good fireworks show in RW, but I have to say - the show we got to see in Rochester was pretty spectacular! Four of the Eckhoff's neighbors spent hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of dollars on BIG illegal fireworks, and they were awesome! Below is the view we had from the Eckhoff's deck. The show lasted over an hour!

Evan was not thrilled about the "big booms" and preferred to watch the show from the big picture window inside. This photo is a bit blurry because I am leaning waaaay over the railing to snap this shot with the "night vision" setting on the camera. Big thanks to the Eckhoffs for throwing a great shin-dig! We had a blast (no pun intended.)

Today we headed out to the Zimmerman's to check out their HUGE litter of lab puppies! Their yellow lab had 11 (yes - eleven!) pups. One had to be put down, but the other ten are now four weeks old and sooooo cute! No, we didn't come home with one and have no plans to, either. The one below is Barb's favorite. The dark yellow one is Jeremy's "pick of the litter," whom he named "Chopper."
29 seconds of adorable puppies!

Como Zoo

We packed a lunch and headed out of town for the day. We haven't been to Como Zoo in a long time, so we thought it would be a great idea to go today. Unfortunately, about 3,000 other people thought it was a good day to go to the zoo, too. It took us 40 minutes to find a parking spot - but in the end it was all worth it. We had a lot of fun - I forgot how much they have added on to Como! It was a lot more fun than the MN Zoo, and it was only $5 for all of us to get in! (Plus the $1.50 for the train ride.) Fun and cheap entertainment on a muggy July afternoon.

Mommy and Evan on the choo-choo train. When it ended Evan said "More, pweeeeze!?" but the line was waaay too long, so we promised to come back again another day.

Daddy and Evan posing with a zebra. Evan is pointing at the giraffe off in the distance.

Evan smelling a rose in the conservatory. He really enjoyed the butterfly garden too, and even learned how to say "butterfly!" He is so stinkin' cute!

One of the sea lions showing off.

Evan loved the 250 gallon cichlid tank.

What does a zebra eat? Plastic carrots, apparently.

The "Sparky the Sea Lion" show provided some entertainment. Evan squeezed right in between these two boys. When they gave him a funny look he just garbled something "urwatty-oh!" and laughed. I love two-year-olds!

Standing on Daddy's lap to get a better view of the sea lion show.

Playing with the boats at the kiddie weather station.

"Mommy, Daddy - I'm getting tired. I think its time to go home soon."



On Wednesday Lily came to "babysit" Evan for the afternoon. I took off work early and brought them both to three, yes - 3, playgrounds. They had a blast! At the play groud he chased after her the entire time yelling "Lily! Lily" and when she didn't answer him he started calling her "Honey!" (He does the same thing to Jeremy and I - I guess because we call each other Honey! Ha!)