Redwood County Fair 2011

 It is FAIR time!  Redwood County Fair that is. It was hot and sweaty as always.

 We enjoyed looking at the animals: cows, goats, piggies, sheep, geese, bunnies, chickens, and ducks.

 Then came the rides which is a big hit with Gracie and Zach.

Gracie even got to do bumper cars with Marty this year, Zach was to short.

 They are having a whale of a good time!

 Front row on the gator roller coaster in the picture below.

 Then some good fair food:
corn dogs for the kids and pork sandwiches for Marty and I.

Ice cream for everyone.

July 4th Fun

 Our 4th of July celebrations were pretty tame. Just us hanging by the pool. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine. Marty worked in the morning so after kids woke up from their nap we put on the suits and headed to the pool.

32 weeks

 

The highlight of the day was we got to use our new patio set for the first time.

We had just put it together the day before.

 We were enjoying ourselves so much we decided to eat supper outside too and make it a real '4th of July' picnic day.

 To top it off, Ice Cream Cones for a bedtime treat!

Swimming

 Well, the weather has finally warmed up here in MN so we are able to enjoy our pool.

Gracie and Zach are quite the swimmers.  We put on the arm floaties and they just go like crazy.

It is so much fun to watch them have fun.

 Marty often plays 'shark' with them, which really gets them going.

They love to jump all by themselves, head under and everything.



Potty Trained!

I think we have our Zachy potty-trained at 2 yrs and 9 mo old!!!

He has been in Micky Mouse underwear now for about 2 weeks.

We are so proud of him.

Good Job Buddy!

This is weird we have been buying diapers and wipes for over 4 yrs.

Just think we get a 2 month break and then right back at it!

Storm Damage

Last Friday, July 1, 2011around 5pm the surrounding area of where we live experienced a destroying storm.  I don't think anyone really knows if it was a tornado or not, but it sure did similar damage as a tornado would. Fortunately for us no damage was done to our house, sheds, or barns. Around our house we just had some branches down. At the farm we had a lot of tree damage. Some of these trees are probably 100+ year old Maples that were just beautiful once... now not so much.

 Again we are so blessed that all our structural buildings went untouched, but some people in the area had much more damage. In a neighboring town, Belview, a tree fell on a nursing home and they needed to evacuate the residents to other places.

 Some people were without power for several days. I think the town of Redwood Falls went 2 days or so without power, some in the rural areas went 4-5 days! We again did pretty good and just have 5 or 6 hours. No person was hurt that I know of but I know some houses were. Please say prayers for all these people.

San Diego Trip

June 22 I flew to San Diego, CA to attend the American Diabetes Association 71st Scientific Sessions Conference. This is the first big conference I have attended so I was a little nervous about the whole deal (Being 31 weeks pregnant, traveling by myself probably added to the anxiety!).  Fortunately everything turned out wonderfully though. My flight went good, my drive from the airport to the hotel went good, and finding my way around the downtown San Diego Convention Center went well too.  This Convention Center was probably the biggest place I have been to for a conference. I think it was like 1/2 a mile long, so between walking the mile from my hotel to the Conventions Center every morning and then all the walking during the day from room to room between symposiums... my back and feet were quite sore by the end of the day.

This is the view from my hotel. This is looking out to San Diego Bay.

This is yours truly, being kinda silly.

I think the pregnancy is starting to swell my face a little.

This is one of the symposium rooms and below is a picture of the outside of the Convention Center.

 The conference was attended by 17,000 people from all around the world. I learned a few new things, but overall I was amazed at how passionate all these researchers and scientists are about trying to discover a cure or better treatment for diabetes.  And then in the same breath I am saddened that so many people have been researching this disease for so long, and yet we still don't have a cure, a vaccine, or even an easy treatment for patients that have this lifelong disease.  I am just fortunate that I am in the position that I can provide some assistance and help people with diabetes and hopefully to assist in preventing some of the terrible complications that can arise from diabetes.

Then came the VERY BEST part of the trip.  This was visiting my dear friend Jina and her family. Jina, her husband, and three adorable children live just slightly north of San Diego. 

The conference wrapped up on Tuesday around noon, so I then headed to Jina's home. She was able to get off work early so her and I got to spend the afternoon together because her kids were still at daycare.

We enjoyed a nice meal of Sushi and then a fabulous time getting a pedicure. We even went for the deluxe, relaxing pedicure version. We had fun. Jina and I were college roommates, so it was almost like old times.

 

Then the next day Jina, her 3 adorable kids and I headed to the beach.

It was overcast to begin with then the sun came out beautifully. We had a great time playing in the sand and water and soaking up that wonderful California SUN!

 Thursday we hung at Jina's house at her pool in the AM.  Again a great time.

 Then for the evening Jina and I went out to eat.  We had great meals of salmon and rice and then we figured since Jina is still nursing her baby and I am pregnant we were 100% entitled to the dessert below....

IT WAS SO GOOD!  It was also huge. We weren't even able to finish.

Then the second best part of the trip... coming home to my own little munchkins.

I sure missed them. I think they missed me to.

They are holding up there gifts which were snow globes and San Diego postcards with animals on them.

(It doesn't take much to make them happy!)