Look Who's Here...

Swimming in the pool.
Constructing with blocks.

Jumping on the trampoline with Aunt Valerie.
Enjoying an Outdoor Tea Party under a tent.

And Drawing pictures!??!?

It's Cole and Carter!!

We are sorry to hear about Grandpa Mansfield's brother, Iron Otter, but we are glad we got a chance to visit and play with our cousins!

Swinging on the OLD Swing Set.

The kids are having fun on their old swing set in the backyard. This swing set has definately seen better days! The playset was old when we bought this house about 6 years ago...we've discussed chucking it and getting something more modern, but we never thought we would be here in this house this long! Oh well, the kids still have fun on it! Until next big pickup in October... :)

Anneli on Presidential Politics and School Work

Okay, I admit, I am a news junky. This morning I was watching the news when Anneli came down stairs. She sat down with me on the couch and watched for a few minutes then said, "Oh man, why do they talk about 'Bama ALL THE TIME?" Three years old and I can't agree with her more!
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Anneli LOVES to do schoolwork! She's so excited to go to Preschool in September. Here she is working on writing her name! Thanks for helping Meme! Way to go "A" for Anneli! :)

Rocky at the Library

Rocky, the New Britain Rock Cat's (AA Affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) mascott paid a visit to our public library this evening to pose for pictures, sign autographs, to read a story and promote summer reading. We ventured over along with Christopher's friend Emmy. At first Anneli didn't want anything to do with him and then by the end she wanted to know if he was going to be at the Libary tomorrow!

Another Wild Weekend!

This weekend was another fun filled weekend. On Saturday, Christopher went to the movies with his good friend Emmy and her mother for Emmy's 6th Birthday. They went to see Space Chimps. He said it was a"good movie". Then they went to his favorite ice cream store Pralines. After that they came back to our house and Emmy played a bit with Christopher & Anneli while Shaun and I chatted with her mom.

After they went home, we went over to Pepe's to go out to dinner with Meme, Pepe, Aunt Val and Johann who was visiting Aunt Val this weekend. We went to Fuji Japanese Steak House and enjoyed their flaming presentation of hibachi. Christopher LOVES how the chef there is super fast with the knifes and that you can see the fire right there in front of you. Anneli on the other hand HATES the place. She was very concerned just driving into the parking lot. It was fun, and yummy. The kids had been there before for my Birthday, but Aunt Val and Johann enjoyed it for the first time.

(The pictures from the dinner are on Shaun's cell phone, I'll upload them soon!)

After dinner Aunt Val and Johann left for the movies and we stayed and played at Meme & Pepe's house. Christopher, Pepe and Shaun were having fun playing football. While playing Christopher had a little accident. He tripped and fell face first on the driveway. Poor kid, his mouth was bleeding, so we first checked his teeth, they were okay. After awhile we noticed that he had a bruised up left eye, left side of his nose, a skuffed up scrape above his mouth that looked like a mustache, and a scraped up, bruised upper lip! Poor guy. The next morning when we got to get ready for church he looked much worse! Poor guy! I think he was pretty excited though to show Aunt Val, Johann and his church friends.

Sunday was busy, busy as usual. We went to church and then came home to eat lunch at Meme & Pepe's house with Aunt Val and Johann. Then the kids talked Pepe, Aunt Val and Johann to go swimming in the pool. The water was FREEZING, but the kids went in and so did everyone else--eventually! They had fun! Thanks for braving the cold temperatures Pepe, Aunt Val and Johann! :)

After swimming a pretty good thunderstorm rolled through for pretty much the entire afternoon/evening. The kids had fun playing with Aunt Val and Johann. Driving them crazy I'm sure, because they were pretty hyper! Thanks guys! We love you!

It was another fun summer weekend! :)

Could You Sleep Like This!?

It appears that Christopher can! :)

No Swimming, No Camp...I"M BORED!!!

This is the first thing I heard from Christopher's mouth yesterday when he woke up and saw that it was raining AGAIN and that swimming lessons and camp would be canceled AGAIN! "I'm bored! What are we going to do!?" UGH! I hate to say it, I thought, fun, fun, fun for me! Here is what we did to keep busy.

We started off the day by returning library books at the public library. I LOVE to read, but I hate to say that I'm not a big fan of the library. I'm not sure why, my mom always took me when I was little, but I'm a HUGE fan of bookstores! Anyways, we went to the library and the kids each picked out 5 books to borrow. They played a little with some toys, we read a few books while we were there and then we headed out into the drenching rain!

Next up was lunch time, so we flew through the McDonald's drive thru. Okay, we didn't fly, we actually had to wait for like 5 minutes in the grill parking for the kids Chicken McNuggets! I wasn't in a rush, but I did want to get it quickly. I admit, it's not the most healthy of lunches, but it was quick and the kids LOVE it every once in awhile. We then took it home to eat it, so again into the pouring rain we went! Below is what Christopher eats---a 6piece Big Kids meal and then an extra 4 piece! He's our big guy! Even Anneli eats a lot, she can polish off a 6piece Big Kids meal too!





After eating, the kids played together for awhile and then we were off into the damp mist to Meme's house. By the time we got there it was pouring AGAIN! So we ran from the car to the garage into the soaking rain! The kids LOVED it. While visiting, the kids and I played the Lolly Pop Game. It's an old game from 1981! Anneli won, Christopher came in second and I lost. The rest of the day was spent playing at Meme & Pepe's house. Anneli played tea party--of course, and Christopher drew plans for construction and then built what he drew with blocks. Definately Shaun's little engineer! Shaun was the "Building Inspector" when he got home! Super job Christopher, we are so proud of your creativity!! :) Christopher also read a book to us about Pets and then he made up a poll with pictures of everyones favorite animals. I've never gone through so much paper, he's always writing and drawing!!
When Pepe came home, the kids climbed up on his lap and they read a story together before dinner. They LOVE to read! Then it was supper, they got ready for bed, and fell asleep in the car on the way home! What a busy, rainy day! :)

Pioneer Day

I think this poem says it all.

They All Came through in Glory

by Vaughn J. Featherstone

In July’s hot sun

The trek began.

The handcart companies toiled,

With oxen to goad,

And heavy load,

Their faces strong and soiled.

But the trials grew,

The windstorms blew,

Soon came the dreadful foe.

Ice and cold,

Testing young and old,

In whiteness fell the snow.

Frostbite came

And made some lame;

Others never walked again.

Laid to sleep,

In snow knee-deep,

The roughest,

toughest of men.

Food grew scarce,

Life more sparse,

A moment seemed a life.

Yet they lost not faith

While fearing death

Of daughter, son, or wife.

Then from far away

Came help that day,

With men, wagons, and supplies.

And great tears shed,

Over loaves of bread,

While brave rescuers wiped their eyes.

And now as the years

Have dried the tears

Of the pioneer stories we tell,

Let us not forget

The trials they met

Were the bitterest tests of hell.

For their faith proved true,

For me and you,

And they all came through in glory.

The heart doth melt

By the tests they felt,

In the brave pioneer handcart story.

"One Day Getaway!"

Today the kids skipped swimming lessons and Christopher skipped day camp and we escaped with Meme to Lake Compounce, or as Anneli calls it "One Day Getaway!" The kids LOVE the park!! Aunt Val even joined us there after her eye doctor appointment. Since it was sooooo hot and humid, we spent most of the day in the water park. There were tons of kids there from camps across the area, but it wasn't too bad. The kids had a great time and hated to leave--even though we have season passes and can go anytime! I guess we'll be heading back again soon...especially since they were both in bed by 6pm!!!

Christopher, enjoying his super yummy Cotton Candy ice cream.

Anneli enjoying her super yummy ice cream.

Posing for a picture with mom before we leave.

Posing for another picture.

It's time to go home...

After the 5K Road Race...

Here's what happened after Shaun and Val ran their 5K yesterday...

Workin' for the Weekend...

The kids LOVE doing chores at Meme & Pepe's house! According to both Christopher and Anneli, the best part is getting paid! :)

A Dark Jungle Lunch!

On Saturday, Christopher chose where we would go for lunch. He chose Rainforest Cafe, so we drove over the Westfarms in West Hartford for lunch. We were seated within 5 minutes and sat down to our table with a view of the elephants. We ordered our drinks and then suddenly it was dark! The power went out!! They informed us that the whole left side of the mall was out and they hoped it would be back on shortly. They gave us water and we sat there for a few minutes and the power came back on. We got our drinks and ordered our food and the power went out again! We figured our food would be coming shortly so we remained in the restaurant waiting, and waiting...it took awhile, but our food came out--in the dark! The kids thought that was cool. Shaun and I thought it was kind of nice and we got talking about the restuarants where you actually dine in the dark, in cities like London, Paris, and Berlin and even at Opaque in California. I think it would be a rather interesting experience! However, once our food was served, the power came back and we were able to eat our lunch with no more interruptions.

Here is a picture of Christopher & Anneli eating in the dark at Rainforest Cafe!

GE 5K Road Race!!

Today was the GE 5K Road Race right here in our from yard! Seriously, the runners ran right by our house. It was a super fun day! Christopher, Anneli, Shaun and Aunt Valerie all participated. Way to go guys!!!

We will post more details later, but we wanted to post our pictures now!