Enjoying the Long Weekend

Talk about another whirlwind weekend! Sometimes I feel like the Tazmanian Devil with all that's packed into our schedules, but I have no one to blame but me. Certainly there's nothing to complain about b/c we get to spend time with our family and friends and have a great time!

I skipped out of work Friday afternoon and headed to the Great MN Get Together, the State Fair, with my cousins, Van and Nam. For those of you unfamiliar with this great tradition, the Great MN Get Together amounts to thousands and thousands of people getting together in a two-week time frame to indulge in all things on a stick, deep fried, etc. What a great time we had shoving food in our faces. I think we started with a Papa Pup (a footlong pronto pup) and followed it up with cheese curds, leprechaun legs (think green beens fried in onion ring batter - quite scrumptious), a fudge puppy (waffle smothered in chocolate, whipped cream and sprinkles - mmmm), corn, fries, mini donuts...Yes, it was definitely a great day for me - oh how I love to eat! We did take a break from the gluttony of it all and had some fun on the Midway. I haven't really ever played midway games aside from skee ball. My favorite was wack-a-mole and...I won!! I was a fierce competitor and took home the gold 3 out of the 4 games played. Keira now has additional toys (she never needed in the first place) to play with.

After Keira went to bed that night I joined Mai at Elsie's to celebrate her 27th birthday (Happy Birthday again Mai Tai!). I put my bowling skills to the test in an effort to preserve the pride of my peeps, i.e. we bowled white against Asians (or yellow - how not PC is that?) and we came up victorious. Whoo hoo - once again, the fierce competitor in me was relentless. Ha ha. I bowled a 131 - not bad with an 8 lbs ball if you ask me. Afterwards the gang enjoyed a little Karaoke. It was fun listening to everyone. One of these days I'll work up the nerve and subject a roomful of strangers to me singing, a.k.a. the dying cat performance.

Here's the birthday girl (striking a pose, as always) with her friends, Stacy and Jess. And, that's my brother-in-law, Steve, poking his head in the background.

Once I got home (way past my bedtime) I had to pack up my stuff and finish packing up stuff for Keira. Sat morning we loaded up the car, dropped Keira off at Linh's and took off to hang out with John and Stacey at their cabin on Prairie Lake in WI. It was terrifice! Once again, in the 24 hours we were there, we packed in a lot of activity including a round of golf (9 holes - I drove the cart and had a terrific time...can I say SWASS?! Ha ha. I'll leave it at that. Later we took the boat out and went out on the lake, docked at a local restaurant and had dinner. We finished the evening around a roaring fire (great work boys!) and some fireworks. John almost lit himself on fire, but in the end, he escaped it. Whew! We woke up in the morning, played a fierce round of badminton where we talked and laughed about things that would make most people blush, had some delicious breakfast (how I love breakfast) and were on our way. Thanks so much for a great time Stacey and John!! We can't wait to visit again and remember to send me the pictures you took so I can post some more later. :-)

Here's the awesome view from the cabin - so calming...

Getting ready to take off and tear up the course - Stacey, John and it looks like Mark jumped into the picture too

Check out this gorgeous sunset we caught on our way back to the cabin

We closed out the long weekend today by picking up my dad and heading up to hang out with Linh, Steve and Mai. Linh's taking off for a month-long recruiting tour this month so I wanted to spend some time with her and let Keira hang with her auntie some more. Have a great time Linh and we can't wait to hear about your travels!!

Speaking of Keira she was such a good girl. She was in good spirits Saturday at Linh and Steve's and then continued to do well when Mai took her down to my Dad's where she and my Dad took care of her while Mark and I were in WI. Apparently she took lengthy naps and slept until 6:00am!! Wow! I think we need to drop her off more often - hee hee.

Goofing off at dinner

Another great weekend and another long post. Thanks for stopping by and I hope all of you had a terrific holiday weekend as well. Much love to Steve and Lynnea in their journeys to recover to good health!

Always Check the Hamper

New lesson when dealing with kids...If your kid takes off their shoes and you can't find them, remember to check the hamper. This is where we ended up finding Keira's shoes yesterday evening after we realized they weren't on her feet before heading off to daycare. She gets more and more creative every day!

Funny Girl

A few things Keira did this evening had me cracking up...First, she was climbing up on top of some of the furniture so I said, "No, no, no Keira!" She turned around and mimicked, "No, no no," and started laughing. Clearly we know who's in charge!

Secondly, she bent her arms and started flapping them like a chicken. When I made the bawk, bawk noise, she mimicked that - it was hilarious to see her bawking and flapping like a chicken!!!

Finally, I took it all one step further and started singing and doing the dance gestures for the chicken song...ya know, the one that goes, "I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck..." She totally tried copying me - so much fun!

Yes, this has been quite a funny day!