San Francisco Days 1 & 2

We arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon. After checking into our hotel we hopped on a bus and went to the Giants game. We were anticipating a chilly game, but it wasn't chilly, it was damn cold. We made it through 5 innings and went back to our hotel.
Wednesday we spent exploring Fishermans Wharf .

It was such a cool area. So much to do and see and great people watching! But our favorite thing was on Pier 39, the sea lions. They were so much fun to watch, I could have stood there for hours. Some were sleeping, some were playing, some were fighting and a lot were barking.
Just look at this mama and her baby. Isn't that adorable?!?!

Another cool thing we saw was the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien. It is a Liberty Ship from WWII and it was so interesting to be able to go inside and climb around. We spent a lot of time exploring the ship.
Rosie the Riveter and Captain Jeff
We checked out Ghirardelli Square and ate some chocolate.
We also went to see Lombard Street. That was pretty cool, I was glad we were walking instead of driving though. Besides being the crookedest street in the world, it was also very pretty. It is landscaped with tons of beautiful flowers and shrubs.

Jeff's Spidey Sense kicked in on one street, but he didn't make it too far up the wall. Which is OK, because I'm guessing coming down would have been rather painful.
We had dinner that night at a great restaurant on the Wharf and ate some awesome seafood. (We had eaten seafood for lunch too.) Yum!! We had a very fun day exploring.

Sunday's Festivities

Sunday we all gathered at the Lodge to celebrate Mom & Ty's birthdays and Fathers Day. Grandma Bowerman learned the finer points of playing air hockey.

Aidyn and McKayla had a blast on the tire swing. I think they may have worn out Ty's arms.

Everyone got to sign Justin's cast.

Justin, Sean & Aidyn relaxing at the lodge...
Bailey began her week-long farm dog lifestyle. Dad said she put on about 3 million miles while she was there. She sniffed every square inch of land she could find. She also killed every baby rabbit within a 1 mile radius. She's quite the hunter!
And Aidyn gave Jeff a ride on the trike. You'd think he'd be able to handle it himself, but I guess he needed the help of a 5 year old.

We had a very fun weekend and it was great to get to see everyone!

The trip begins...

When we left last weekend, we headed for ND to help my brother Ty celebrate his upcoming 40th birthday. We stopped in Fargo so Sean could show us his Barbie bike riding abilities.

Then we headed to Bismarck to surprise Ty with a special birthday day for him to enjoy. This basically means he was forced to spend the day with Troy & I. I know, how thrilling.
Kaitlyn handed out fashion advice to the little ones.

After lunch Troy & I took Ty out for a day of adventure. First we stopped at the Harley-Davidson store so my brothers could dream. Then we drove across the bridge 3 times. (Troy was driving and had no idea where he was going...) Finally we got to the go-karts and took a spin around the track.
The funniest part of the go-karts was watching the 3 of us trying to get in and out of the karts. We are not the most flexible or agile group. Luckily, no one broke a hip.
We took in the new Indiana Jones movie and then took Ty out for a very special dinner. As you can tell from the picture, he was all smiles!
It was a very fun day, Ty may have thought it was as boring as could be, but he didn't show it. What a trooper! His actual birthday is coming up on June 19th so there will be more celebrating to come. Happy Birthday Ty, love you!

We're back!

We just got back from a 10 day trip to ND and then on to San Francisco to celebrate our 10 year Anniversary. I've got lots of pictures to share, more than you'll probably want to see, but you can just skip over the boring ones. But for now, I am exhausted and I am going to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I can start updating. See you soon!

Bible School

The kids have had bible school this past week at church. Here is Aidyn with her friend Lydia.
This is as good as a picture that I could get of Nolan. His teacher said he seemed to enjoy himself, but you couldn't tell it from the look on his face each day.

Hippie Chick

Yesterday Aidyn had an end of school party at her friend Maddie's house. The festivities included Tie-Dying. (A very brave mother was in charge of that party!) Aidyn brought a tank top and a pillow case to do. She is thrilled with the results.

Preschool Graduation

Aidyn's last day of preschool was this morning. Before she left she wanted us to take a family picture to commemorate the day. So here we are...
At the end of class there are a short graduation program. Here is Aidyn's class singing one of their songs.

Aidyn received a certificate from her teacher Ms. Nancy. They asked each child what they wanted to be when they grew up. Aidyn's answer was a Zoo Keeper.

Here is Aidyn with her teacher Ms. Nancy. Nolan will have her as his preschool teacher next year too.

Here are some the girls from class. Lauren, Maddie, Lauren, Emma, Ms. Nancy, Aidyn & Jordan.

Aidyn has really been looking forward to the last day of preschool. Not so much because she'll be done with school, more so because it means she is now a Kindergartner. Only 3 short months until that bus drives away with my little girl on board...heading for Kindergarten. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Check it out!!!

Here is our big girl! She practiced a few times (after being grounded from her bike for 1 week!) and then this morning we went out to try and she just took off!!! She is so proud and excited!

A thing of beauty

I made buns yesterday. You know the kind...stirring giant amounts of flour (16 cups), yeast, sugar, oil, all of the essential food groups...in a huge bowl. Let it rise, punch it down, let it rise, form the buns, let it rise, bake them. It takes me all day to do this. I'm pretty sure when my mom & grandma do this they are done by noon. But me, I take all day. Anyway, towards the end of the bun making I start thinking about the rolls I get to make with this delicious dough. Normally I only make 1 kind, but yesterday I decided on 2. Oh my. Big mistake. Big, delicious, my ass is growing as we speak kind of mistake. I made caramel rolls and sweet rolls. Both turned out very tasty, but the sweet rolls in particular looked really good. As in, I needed to take a picture of them good.

Here is my tasty creation...Now these aren't your run of the mill cinnamon rolls. I make them how my mom makes the. Yes they contain your obligatory butter and cinnamon. But here is the secret ingredient...peanut butter. You slather a generous helping of PB all over that delicious dough before you roll them up. UGH! So. Darn. Good. I think they're better with chunky PB but I only had creamy yesterday. Oh well, I guess I'll inhale them anyway.

Spring Flowers

I had to cut some stems from one of our trees today. They look so pretty this time of year, but they only last a few days. Usually, hurricane force winds blow through and strip every tree of their beautiful flowers. Before that happens I wanted 1 day to enjoy them.

Go Joey Go!!

We are not a racing family. We don't watch racing, we don't go to races...nothing against it, it's just not our thing. So when this happened on Sunday, we were a little surprised. Keep in mind, the only exposure Nolan has had to racing is watching the movie 'Cars'.

I had no idea who Joey was. Apparently, they mentioned his name on TV and Nolan took a liking to him. He knew which car was his and he cheered and cheered and cheered for his guy Joey. Sadly, Joey did not win the race. But he won a new fan and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. (Don't tell that to the sponsors.)

Our 3 Year Old

Nolan's birthday was in February. His neglectful mother just got his pictures taken last week. He did a really good job and thoroughly enjoyed hamming it up for the camera. I didn't order this picture because you can't see his face, but I think it is so cute with those 3 little fingers and a glimpse of that sweet face in the background.

A Mothers Day Tribute

Aidyn gave this to me today after preschool. It is a Mothers Day Tribute to me...I thought it was pretty sweet and she does know me quite well!

Cinco de Mayo

Last night we hosted our annual Cinco de Mayo party. We had about 20 friends over to enjoy Mexican food, drinks and music. We had a great time catching up with everyone and eating mounds of guacamole. We also had our guests bring food and personal care items for the local food shelf and we collected 70 pounds of goods! Thanks everyone!! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Finished!

The kitchen is finished! (With the exception of that darn dishwasher.) Hopefully next week I'll get up some cool before & after comparison pictures. But we are getting ready for our annual Cinco de Mayo party tomorrow night and I've got Mexican food to make! Ole'!