Home Sweet Home

We survived ... our first official family vacation!! The entire family is ready to go back next year; however, we will only be joining them for a few days (as mommy is planning a trip to Sesame Place next summer too)!! It was a good time despite the rain and being stuck in a small cabin with two slightly bored 2 year olds just antsy to get outside. Sleeping with the mattress in the living room was a huge improvement for mommy's sleep and next time we will be getting the girls their own room separate from us.

Just as an aside, the girls' speech has dramatically picked up over this past week. They are adding new words every day and today Miss Madison even hooked together a couple of two and three word sentences ... mommy and daddy are so proud!!!

Now, I must get to bed and get some Benadryl on these bug bites before I scratch my skin completely off ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

The Fish Grandpa Caught

This muskie was caught and then released on Nest Lake in Spicer, Minnesota, by Grandpa on our family vacation this past week. Uncle Kory is holding the fish in the picture and Grandpa is next to him. The fish measured 48 inches in length and weighed approximately 30-40 pounds:

Family Vacation - Day 6 - Some Sun - Some Rain

Today was another good day with pretty cooperative weather for the most part although we did get a little rain and wind. We played on the beach and went out for another boat ride with grandma, grandpa and the cousins.

We got to see these amazing birds take off and fly right over our boat and I just happened to have my camera out and ready:

Here is grandma and Cousin Kaylynn:

Cousin Joshua:

Cousin Alexia:

Grandma and her grand-daughters:

Grandma, Grandpa and all the grandchildren:

I do not yet have a picture of it, but grandpa caught a 48" Muskie fishing this evening. I will post the picture when I receive it from grandma after they return home on Saturday.

Finally, a beautiful sunset to end the day and our trip as we will be heading home tomorrow morning ... I think I hear Alyssa cheering in the background!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Family Vacation - Day 5 - Some Sun!!!

Well, although we did get some rain yet again today, we also got some sun. We took the girls for a walk around the resort, played at the playground, had some fun on the beach and went out on the boat for another fun ride!! Needless to say, much happier girls now that they can be outdoors!!

Playing at the beach:

Great-Grandma M (Granny M) watching the girls playing on the beach from the deck above:

Some of the family heading out for a fishing trip:

The girls on a boat ride:

Helping Grandpa drive the boat:

All in all, today was a really fun day for us and the girls. We are, however, only staying one more day and will be leaving one day earlier than the rest of the family. Basically mommy hasn't gotten any sleep with the girls in the same room (although amazingly daddy has absolutely no trouble not hearing anything all night long). We are moving our mattress to the living room tonight and hoping that it goes a little better in separate rooms. Also, poor Miss Alyssa has been ready to go home for a number of days. She constantly points out the door and wants to go for a "ride" in Maggie (our name for the Dodge Magnum we drive). Daddy thought it was cute, but he now believes me that she just really wants to go home. A week is a long time to be away from home at almost 2 years of age and four nights without sleep is way to much for mommy to handle.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another nice day, so we are hoping for more beach time and another ride on the boat!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Family Vacation - Day 4 - Raindrops Keep Falling On Our Heads

Well, it is Tuesday, day 4, of our family vacation at the lake and also represents day four of rain. We have once again packed up the girls and headed to Willmar in an attempt to get them out of the cabin living room and away from the TV. Today we decided to check out a Swedish speciality store in the downtown area as well as the local mall (which is hardly worthy of holding the title of "mall" anymore). The girls did well and we made our now daily stop by Caribou Coffee before heading back to the resort.

The rain stopped for a bit and we decided to play in the sand on the beach and even had our very first taste of a "Push-Up" (an orange sherbet ice cream treat)!

We also played with the gigantic bubble maker for a while:

Tomorrow it is supposed to be better out and we are hoping to spend some time on the beach and go out on the boat for another ride!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Family Vacation - Day 3 - It's Raining Again

Well ... Day three and more rain and, yes, it is expected to continue for the entire day. The girls have cabin fever in a big way and we are already running low on Kleenex (oh yeah, Alyssa brought a really great head cold with her on vacation ... fun, fun, fun). We are once again heading into Willmar. Today we managed to shop at Target, Walmart, Cub, the local Dollar Store (for cheap attention diversions for the girls) and Caribou Coffee (of course). We also hit the local Best Buy and bought the "Happy Feet" DVD and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" DVD ... we are already getting bored with the assortment we brought along with us.

The rest of the gang have been out fishing again and here are a couple shots of a few of the happy fisherwomen ... First is Aunt Carrie and Cousin Kaylynn:

Oh yeah, Alexia (directly above) was once again the big winner in the fish lotto here in Spicer.

We did have a break in the rain long enough to use the swings in the play area today and grandpa took us out for the girls first boat ride (but it was again raining and mommy didn't bring her camera to capture the "first" official boat ride) ... bad mommy. Here are a couple pictures of the girls enjoying the swings though:

Keep you fingers crossed for a break in the rain tomorrow ... please ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Family Vacation - Day 2 - Rain, Rain, Go Away

Well, it rained all the way here and into the night and it is still raining today ... Peter and I took the girls into Willmar for a few hours this morning (really to get coffee from Caribou) and pick up a few non-essentials. The above picture is of our two cabins. The one in the front of the picture (the two story) is housing Granny, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Kory, Uncle Clayton, Cousins Joshua, Kaylynn and Alexia. The one further back is a two bedroom with grandma and grandpa in one and Peter, me and the girls in the other. Madison woke up at 4:00 a.m. and stood at the end of the bed in her pack-n-play and held mommy's toe for about a half an hour ... needless to say, we were up for the day ... Lord help me ...

We also rented a large pontoon boat for the week and most of the family has been out fishing and watching Alexia (age 8) catch 14 sunfish and the rest were empty handed ... kind of funny.

Did I mention it was still raining ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

"Griswald" Family Vacation ... Let the Fun Begin!

We are off this afternoon for a week at two cabins on Nest Lake in Spicer, Minnesota. This is not only our official first "family vacation" for the four of us, but also the first "family vacation" including the girls' grandma, grandpa, great-grandma M, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Kory, Uncle Clayton and cousins Joshua, Kaylynn and Alexia ... this ought to be a good one!! Wish us luck!!

Oh yeah ... did I mention, it has been the driest summer in Minnesota in years and go figure it is raining ... and it is supposed to rain all week ... wish me extra luck with two almost 2 year olds (well three if we count daddy), in a three room cabin for a week ... sounds like paradise to me!!

Love & Hugs -
Amy

Our first of eight 2nd Year Mollars ...

has arrived and it belongs to Miss Madison!!! Way to go Madison ... only seven more of these babies to cut here in our house ... bring on the Children's Tylenol ...

Love & Hugs -
Amy

Fun in the Sun ... Really ...

Well, despite the un-excited faces on the kiddos in the above picture, they really were enjoying their wagon ride with Christian at a cookout we attended at a friend's place in Mankato this past weekend. It was scorching heat and high humidity that day, but the kids did their best to stay cool and have fun.

Christian was nice enough to share his new table with the girls while they had a snack and some cold water. After an early supper of hot dogs from the grill, the girls and I headed back home. It was a nice afternoon, despite the heat, and it was nice to see a few old friends from back in high school.

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Trying Out Our New Swimming Suits!!

Well after an two hour whirlwind at Target, Walmart, Lowes & Home Depot to try and find a new umbrella for our patio set (which we didn't by the way) ... we decided to hit the pool once we got home and cool off a bit from the 90+ degree heat wave. So as the oh so intelligent clerk mentioned yesterday ... what do you think ... do they "look like twins" in their new swimming suits??!!

Below is a "crash" landing Madison took down the slide into her sister and the aftermath is the second picture ... looks like fun to me!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Watching the Airplanes / Visting Daddy's Work

We decided to take the girls to "Daddy's Work" and see the airplanes ... well as much as we could as since 9/11 things have changed and the observation deck at the airport is no longer open to the public, unless you are a ticketed passenger. So, we went to the one and only temporary parking lot across from one of the runways, grabbed a blanket, iced coffees for mommy and daddy and strawberry creme smoothies for the girls and parked ourselves on the hill and watched the big planes take off and land for about 40 minutes. The girls were pretty excited to see the planes taking off and landing ... that is until a 757 took off and the engine noise scared Alyssa a bit which then, of course, set her sister into a sympathy cry just to participate in her sister's agony ... gotta love the "sympathy" cries the twins give each other.

After the airport, we hit the mall and got the girls brand new Stride Rites ... man their feet are growing like weeds!!! We also purchased four extra swimming suits (two for each girl - matching of course) for our upcoming vacation to the lake cabin with our family. We figured one swimsuit a piece wasn't enough for seven days without a washing machine. The clerk who was checking the girls and I out commented "Oh, cute, are they going to be twins when they go swimming?" I was like ... ummm ... "Well, they are twins" ... enough said!!!

Finally, it was past supper time, so we opted to stop by BW3 for some buffalo wings before heading home to bed. The girls had a good time simply taking their crayons out of the box and putting them back in ... over and over and over again.

It was a good day and it was fun to have daddy back home!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

I-35 Bridge Collapse

Our thoughts and prayers are with the many people who have died, were injured and are still missing and to those who are selflessly working to locate them ...

Amy, Peter, Alyssa & Madison