Lydia B-Day, Girls Outing, and Handprints in Cement

Lydia had another birthday party with her friends this year at her Grandma Renee's house.  This is her opening her presents.
We took the girls to the Lindstrom park.  They were playing house on the playground equipment.
We poured the front porch cement and decided to get the girls handprints in there.  Here's Lydia and Chad getting full of cement.
Ava thought it was pretty cool to get into the cement after being told to stay away from it all day.  
Here are the two prints.  Mom found a nail and wrote their names and the date in underneath.  

Como Zoo and Osceola

Jacquie and I took the girls to the Como Zoo.  The girls had a blast looking at all the animals and having a picnic.  Afterwards we rode the Merry Go Round.  We didn't know what to expect, but the girls had a blast.  Ava did not want to get off at the end.  Next time!

Lydia and Ava are standing in front of a white goat. (in the background)
Another day outing lead us girls to Osceola.  We picniced in a park and then headed over to the waterfall.  This picture was taken before our long walk down the stairs.
Lydia and Ava standing in front of the waterfall.  They thought this was pretty cool and this year decided that they were old enough to go venture  closer.  We walked down and they went underneath and walked in the water.  It was really loud!

Drain Field Is In!!!!!!!

We have not forgotten about our blog, we've just been on summer vacation!!!!! God Bless Summer Vacation!!! sorry...The drain field is indeed installed and looks great. We are currently working on growing grass to stop the erosion madness. SAVE OUR DIRT!
The wire is being run, the heating/air stuff is looking good, we have a lot of electrical boxes and light switches-more than planned, and a ton of little stuff is getting checked off every day. We are pretty close to an electrical inspection and then a framing inspection. I'm trying very hard to pick out "the" cabinets to go in the house. So many options and colors... We did however decide upon a stain color for our trim and windows. Summer Oak was the color of choice and the windows are almost all stained!

Lydia's Birthday

Jacquie & I took the girls out on a surprise adventure day for Lydia's birthday. We at lunch at Mc Donalds, went bowling and played in the arcade, then stopped at the DQ to pick up the cake for the evenings festivities and of course had a treat while we were there.

Ava was so excited to get so many pins down! She was really getting into this bowling thing.
Lydia and Ellie were resting between turns.
They're so cute! I can't believe she's seven!!!

Bike Riding

I haven't updated in a while, so I had a few pictures. The girls were starting to get crabby and restless, so mom packed up the car and we headed to the bike trail. We parked at the new library/Washington County building. The trail is easily accessible fro the parking lot but the trail is not at all shaded in this area. We got our wiggles out!

Cute Pics of the Girls

Ava is in a serious pose. She takes swinging very seriously. Her hair is growing in nicely!
I was having fun taking pictures while they were swinging. I think my memory card is having issues. Her head looks a little detached.
Lydia was in her modeling mood. She had me taking pictures of her all over the swing set and from all angles.
This was a very cute picture. Darn technology!
I can't believe my baby is done with first grade! I'm not ready for second grade.

Garage, Front Porch, and Erosion

The house with the garage and the front porch.
Chad and my dad have been working very hard on getting the framing finished. This is the front porch.

The porch is almost finished. The concrete should be poured this weekend and another beam is on it's way to replace the horizontal board that's there right now.
We have a garage! The service door is on the left. Two windows on the back and we added a window on the right due to having an extra. That story has already been told.

It's not the grand canyon, but it's close! Thankfully the house is fine, but fill needs some help. We have spots like this all around the foundation. On a positive note, the yard down below has never been so even!