Since I last blogged, we all went on a trip to Des Moines with Nana and Papa. Our first day was spent at Blank Park Zoo (after I unsuccessfully tried to get us in free). Both Mina and Charlotte went on camel rides this year. Nana and Papa said that camels are not very comfortable.
We stayed the night at Drury Inn near Jordan Creek. I highly recommend it. We ate supper and breakfast there for free and had a blast. You can see us enjoying some popcorn and watching the closing ceremonies of the summer olympics here.
It was cold the next day, which was just fine by me. We went to Adventureland and had the perfect excuse to avoid the water park. Both girls were tall enough for lots of rides. Mina even went on a couple of roller coasters and survived.
Jon and the girls did a race on the next weekend. It was Jon's first official 5k even though he's been running regularly for about the last year. He ran his 5k in just under 19 minutes. Fast! No wonder I couldn't keep up with him (at all!) when we ran together in college. He's looking forward to more races in the future and placed 2nd in his age group.
The girls loved running on the football field while they waited for their race.
There were only a handful of kids in the fun run, but Mina still took it seriously.
They're off!
Mina ran right through the tunnel, but Charlotte had to stop to pull up her pants. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that! It was hilarious.
Both girls and Jon received medals for their outstanding running abilities. We went and had a fun breakfast at Perkins afterwards and Charlotte pooped in the potty there. I was so proud. Charlotte has continued learning to use the potty since then and is now diaper free. She wears a pull-up to bed at night and uses the potty the rest of the time. Yay!
I just had to share this picture because Charlotte is so cute. Mina spent a bunch of time coloring her new car seat's box with chalk. She got another seat so that Jon could pick her up and bring her to school independently of me. We've survived with two car seats for two kids up until the last month.
I took a few pictures of Mina on her first day of school. She was willing to strike a pose. Funny girl!
There's that sweet smile!
This was the last picture I got to take of Mina before she went into her classroom. Mrs. Vought didn't allow cameras in the actual room. Foiled again.
The girls' bunk bed and dressers came on Mina's first day of school. We surprisingly haven't had any issues with putting them in the same room or moving Charlotte into a big girl bed. Charlotte was ready and Mina is such a good big sister. She taught Charlotte not to come and greet us in the morning until after 7 and also helps her get dressed. It's amazing. We're actually on time when we go places now that Charlotte doesn't sleep in and my life has gotten easier.
I've been a slacker with taking belly pictures, but here's what I looked like three weeks ago. I'm still working out at least three times a week and feeling great. I'm really moody though - poor kids and Jon!
We've been making progress on the nursery. It's almost complete now (and I don't have any pictures of what it looks like currently). The girls love to play in Simon's room. Jon painted the walls and dresser. Nana and Papa wallpapered and painted the accent wall (which hadn't been started yet in this picture).
We've gone to three Cyclones games and happily seen three Cyclones victories. Both girls went along for the first game. It was really hot out and the game was during nap time. I survived and the rest of the family had fun.
Jon and I got to sit on the 45 yard line at Kinnick to watch the Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes. It was really fun. Check out all the angry Hawkeye fans behind us. This picture was snapped with about a minute left in the game and the outcome was decided.
Our local apple orchard installed a brand new, awesome playground this year. I brought the girls there last week and they had a good time. There's a huge jumping pillow that Mina especially loved.
Both girls climbed the tires pretty easily.
Charlotte's favorite thing was the corn box. She spent most of her time there.
Charlotte is getting so big!
Mina asked what this was a picture of after she posed and then thought it was hilarious.
Both girls enjoyed the duck race. Basically you pump water to make plastic ducks move down the pipe. I'd better keep Jon away or he'll pocket one of the ducks (family private joke from his childhood).
Last weekend we brought Mina to the Cyclones game because kickoff wasn't until 7pm. That's too late for Charlotte. Mina got to go onto the field before the game. She thought that was cool. Right before I snapped this picture, multiple people commented on how cute her sweatshirt was. She was basking in their admiration.
She was just awesome during the game. It's fun to have one on one time sometimes. We didn't even have to bring along any entertainment for her. She watched the game and learned some of the rules, then played with the other kids and tickled one of the daddies. She also ate a ton of red licorice.
Soon enough we'll have the nursery all the way done so I'll share pictures of that. Hopefully I'll remember to do another blog entry before Simon arrives! I expect he'll be here in about four weeks. Oh my.
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