Can anyone really have too many beanies?

So growing up my mom had her own business making and selling dolls. Along with this business she also sold Ty bears, beanies and what not. So basically at the height of the Ty beanie baby craze my mom was receiving beanies by the dozens (literally). Her being such the great mom always allowed me to keep one of each....so here is the result - my husband wondering what the heck he got himself into and my pile of beanies:
Things like a mound of beanies really remind me of just how crazy awesome my mom really was. Honestly, I kind of forgot how much time we spent looking at beanies, collecting them or trying to sell them.. I think the best/worst was probably when McDonalds had the teanie beanies....ugh, I'm surprised that I don't weigh 200+ lbs after how many happy meals we ate. Image going through the drive through and ordering 10 happy meals for 2 people. ...it happened.

A Day with Natalie

Yesterday Natalie and Jeanne came over for a play date. We went to Lake Elmo Park Reserve to play on their massive playground and also took some time to skip rocks into the Lake. What a great day!

Today we had a fairly lazy day. I started the day off by weeding for a couple hours and Brian mowed the lawn. Once that was done we reward our hard work by finally getting a table for our deck. Then our quiet day began...

Brush your pet's teeth!

Brian and I learned a hard lesson...and sadly for Sassy she felt the pain. Today Sassy had her teeth cleaned. I dropped her off at 9:30 am this morning and we picked her up at 4 pm this afternoon. The pictures are kind of gross, but it proves the point of how important it is to brush your pet's teeth either daily or every other day.

...poor Sassy

Before:

After:

Harry Potter Tuesday Night

For the first time I have finally gone to a midnight movie! Tuesday night at 12:01 am I got to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I had great company - three of my nieces + some of their friends. I'd definitely do it again...the only part I'd probably do different is take the day after off. I ended up going straight to work after I dropped everyone off safely. Arriving at work at 3:45 am is for the birds...

St Croix Kayak/Canoe Trip

Today we did a day trip on the St. Croix from Interstate Park to William O'Brien State Park Map Link. I think its about a 15 mile paddle, we put in around 8:45 am and took out around 2:30 pm. Not a bad day of paddling with a few stops here and there to enjoy food and beaches.

We've never taken Sassy along in the kayaks before either, so we knew this would be an interesting adventure. This is also the first time we've had the yaks out on the river - we've mostly just hit up the lakes around our place.

Overall a perfect day of playing on the river! It also gave me a chance to try out my new 'waterproof /dust proof camera'. It's strange to dunk your camera into water when it has some dirt on it.

'The Count'

With a ONE...Ah Ah Ah we present 'The Count'.
I picked up 'The Count' Friday during my day off. We were going to call him 'Linux' but after seeing him I really just couldn't get over how much he reminded me of Dracula - not in personality but in looks. Can you see his fangs?

So far so good with the new boy kitty in the house. We've just got him locked up so he gets used to us and our behaviors before we reveal him to the other animals. Pixel and Neko however seem to be very excited about the boy kitty behind the door. I like to think of The Count as Neko's brother and Pixel's boyfriend; Brian however things this is wrong since Neko and Pixel are sisters...

4th of July

We had a great fourth of July weekend. It started off on Friday. We picked up the girls (Lindsey, Maggie, Abby) on our way up north - stopped at DQ and had some delicious treats. Once at Elwood's house we realized Brian forgot his board shorts - so off to the local Alco we went (its like the only clothing store within 20 minutes of my Dad's house). Once we got home Mike and his oldest 3 boys had arrived. So it was time to head to the lake despite the weather looking like it may rain.

We got out on the lake with Zach, Jonathan and Thomas on the tube. Once on the other side of the lake from the access the boat engine began to smoke. Not to get into too much detail, but after that a long swim across the lake pulling the large boat in the pouring rain followed. Needless to say, my legs are still tired.

Saturday with Mike's boats our of commission we took our out our Uncle Rudy's boat. After giving a few rides to the nieces and nephews the boat dies - out of gas. This time we brought a mobile phone, so we called Elwood and he brought down his boat with 4 gallons of gas. At least day 2 was sunny and help was on its way.

We got back home Saturday night and so we called up Bob and Sandy. We ended up going to the fireworks with in Maplewood instead of driving to Blaine to meet up with two of my brothers. It was a nice relaxing time.

Sunday we took the yaks out and did a nice paddle around Silver Lake. I do not think we'll be going back there any time soon, lots of green/brown sludge not to mention how bad the lake smells.

Browerville Days

Browerville Days was last weekend, Browerville is now officially 125 years old...woo! We enjoyed the turtle races with Natty. She lost but by the end of the day she had became friends with her pet turtle 'Franklin' which at first she just wanted to call 'Turtle'.

Our Trip to Tettagouche

We headed up to Tettegouche State Park for a few days with Sassy. It rained a couple nights and most of one day. I learned to Play Cribbage and skunked Brian - he calls it beginners luck, I think I'm just that good. Here are a few pictures from the trip, as you can see Sassy enjoyed.

Possible New Member to the Fam

So you'd think with 1 dog and 2 cats we'd have enough pets. We think that's debatable. So, right now we are in the process of waiting for another cat, 'Keith'. We met Keith at Petsmart and after thinking about whether or not we wanted him for 2 days we went back to visit him. When we arrived at Petsmart - no Keith. Brian was no say the very lease heartbroken. Come to find out Keith may have been exposed to Feline Leukemia. He'll be tested on July 9th, if everything passes negative and we still feel he's right for us he may just come home with us.

If he does come home with us the name Keith will be out there door...even though it is quite hilarious. So far I think we're on Linux for the name.