Grandpa & Grandma Frantz' House

Today is our last day at Grandma & Grandpa Frantz' house in IN. Aunt Alyssa stayed here with us last night and woke up ready to play! Before brunch Madeline headed outside with Grandpa. They had a tea party! After brunch Madeline finally got dressed for the day and headed back outside. What beautiful weather! She loves playing with the tricycle Grandpa & Grandma have at their house. We spent most of the day outside and got pretty tuckered out! Before we knew it we were back in our PJ's and getting ready for bed! We can't wait to come back and visit again :-)

Trip to Indiana

Time for our annual trip to Indiana! We go back every year to visit Grandma & Grandpa Frantz and coincide the visit with our Homecoming festivities at Rose-Hulman where we both went to college. After arriving late Thursday night we spent all day Friday at Grandma & Grandpa Frantz'. This morning we went to Matt's best high school friend's from house in Clinton. They have a little boy, Xander who's about 8 months older than Madeline. She had a great time playing with all of his toys and checking out all of the space he has outside to play! After visiting the Scioldo house we headed to Matt's Fraternity house for a family picnic. Aunt Alyssa drove up from Cincinnati and met us there. They always have burgers, hot dogs and a big jumper for the kids! Next we made our way to the Rose-Hulman campus for the football game. They also have a great carnival-type area for the kids to play :-) Madeline got a princess tattoo, a balloon and played some games for great prizes! Then it was back to the Frantz house for the evening while mommy and daddy went out with friends :-)

MN Landscape Arboretum

Today we decided to go to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum with Grandma Judy and Dave. They have so much to see and do!
It's definitely fall - you can tell by all of the pumpkins and gourds :-) They had a building with crafts and a green house and a cool play area outside where everything was made from the surrounding trees... stick tunnels and even a pine cone house! The it was off to the Japanese garden and the beautiful rose gardens... They also had a reflection globe garden - Madeline couldn't figure out why she couldn't move the shiny balls! All of the gardens were so pretty with all kinds of plants, fountains, buildings, insects and streams :-) What a great place to get outside and wear off some energy!!!

Work-Out time?

We recently went down to Grandma Judy's and brought our exercise bike back to the apartment. With the cold of winter coming mommy and daddy need something to keep them active! Madeline doesn't really need anything to keep her active - she runs everywhere, but she wanted to give it a try... We think it'll be a few more years before her feet touch :-)

Reading Books with Dad

Today we took it easy at home. Madeline had a great time playing with dad, reading books and just being goofy in general :-)

Labor Day Bike Ride

Another beautiful day so we decided to spend it outside! Grandma Judy brought her bike up to our place and we hit the trails. First we biked to Lake Calhoun and stopped for a hot dog for lunch. Then we continued on our way.. stopping at a few parks along the way. We went 8+ miles so it was a great way to get out and be active!

Canterbury Park

Just like last year, we headed to Canterbury Park for the Sunday before Labor Day. The weather was gorgeous, so watching the horse races outside was perfect! Madeline loved watching the horses go around and around :-)

State Fair Time!

Today Aunt Melanie drove up and we went to the MN State Fair! First we went to the baby animal barns - always a hit with Madeline :-) Then we walked all over finding everything we could to eat that came On-A-Stick :-) We had all of the following on a stick: Big Fat Bacon, Shrimp, Reuben, Mac 'N Cheese, Homemade Tator Tots, and Porcupine Balls (actually made of wild rice and ground pork) and Pizza! It's great to have a few people sharing so we can taste a lot of different things!!!
Aunt Melanie took Madeline on the carousel again this year....
This year's picture: Last year's picture: Then we finished off the day by getting Fried Cheese Curds - absolutely the best reason to go to the fair! You can bet we'll be back next year :-)

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Uncle Keith sent Madeline a new shirt and today Mommy and Madeline decided to dress up as twins when we went to swimming lessons! Madeline thought it was so fun!
Then it was off to swimming - it was Daddy's turn to take her in the pool: She's getting so good at kicking her feet! Miss Natalie was so proud :-) She can even swim all by herself with the swim noodle!!! She just LOVES swimming :-)