Zoo

My Aunt Annette (only 9 years older than me) and Cousin Christian (only 5 years old) came to visit. We went with Nonny to the MN Zoo. Kai and Christian became fast friends-- in fact, Kai had so much fun that he took a 4 + hour nap!!

National Night Out

Every year, our block has a great big party for National Night Out! We have 10 kids on the block, all under the age of 5! We had a bike parade, a puppet show, and yummy food!

More from the cabin...

Lounging on the deck...

Doing some hard labor....

Playing with his Momo...

More July Cabin Photos

Kai loves the cabin. Here he is doing his favorite things.
Watering some plants...

Driving the boat....

Swimming in the freezing water...

Playing.... in what has been voted as the "Most Beautiful Sandbox View"

Happiness

Ok, seriously, I know this photo can be seen as some as symbolic of his umm...life to come-- but, get your heads out of the gutter, people!

1st Hair Cut

Oh...he didn't like it at first.

But, then, well, he decided it was maybe sort've fun.

Then, by the end, he was loving the blow dryer and razor. But, wondering about those lovely curls-- where did they all go?

July 4th

Memories from the summer-- here we are at Elm Creek Preserve. This is where I went swimming with my brother as a kid...

Then, we headed to downtown Minneapolis for the July 4th festivities. Kai loved the bridge.

The original Nonny

We spread my grandma, Nonny's, ashes this weekend in Roberts, WI. It was her wish to be spread over her mother's grave, so she could be close to her mother. Her mother died when my mom was only 8 months and she missed her so....

My Uncle Bill, Aunt Leslie, and cousins Kyle (plus girlfriend, Maryanne) and Andrew came for the weekend. We had a nice ceremony and then spread Nonny's ashes. We still miss her so much. I miss watching her love and tend to Kai. Kai took his turn and spread her ashes with the help of his Uncle Joey. After visiting the graveyard, we toured Roberts and saw my great-grandparents home, my Nonny's home, and various other relatives. It was such a meaningful day.

Do you hear that?

Kai's favorite new thing is to point to his ear when he hears a noise-- a garbage truck, an airplane, the tractors at the cabin next to our cabin in Ely putting in a new septic system. We feel glad to know that Kai can hear-- I guess we don't need to worry about a hearing test.

Cabin

We were up at the cabin again-- this time with Nonny (the new one, my mom!) and Momo (Molly Cooney). We had such a great time-- Kai is madly in love with Nonny (nahnah) and Momo. In fact, for some reason, he kept pointing to his elbow and saying, "bo" when he wanted his momo. He also loved Molly's dog-- Tundra. Both Molly and my Mom took such great care of Kai- it was truly a vacation for me. It has been almost a week now since we've been home and Kai still says, "Momo" and "Nahnah" several times a day. I'm pretty sure if he could say more than 10 words, he would mention that he is getting bored with me....

Rabbits and Motorcycles

Kai has two favorite things: motorcycles and rabbits.

If you want to make this boy happy (and hear him squeal in delight), show him a motorcycle. If you want to become his most favorite person, chase down a motorcycle and help him touch the shiny parts. If you want to become his queen or king for the day, after looking at motorcycles, help him find a bunny rabbit to chase.

Yes, that's all he needs-- for pure happiness. It's a good reminder to me that life isn't always about the big things to make us happy.

Happy Family

CABIN!

Here we are up at the cabin in June-- at the waterfall...it was just breathtaking. This is about 10 minutes from our lake.
Nana and Pops made Kai a new sandbox-- it was an instant hit!

"Hey, do I look good up at the lake, or what?"

Words

Kai received a surprise the other day- a special package arrived with a rocking chair from his Grandma and Grandpa Zimsen in Washington. This rocking chair has seen a lot of love in the past and Kai is adding to it.

He also is adding these words (not signs, but actual words)to his vocabulary:

• Mama
• Dada
• Ca (for car)
• Tru (for truck or train)
• No (just started..)
• Yuck
• Hot
• Nahna (for both his Nonny and Nana)
• Pa (for Pops)
• Wawa (for water)
  

Wine Tasting

We started a new tradition with the Hanhan family--going to the Alexis Bailey Winery in Hastings, MN for wine tasting! We had a great time-- drinking some fantastic wine, eating yummy cheese, and hanging out with the kids and playing.Joe-- always goofing around with the little ones...
Sarah (Paar) and Molly with the boys....

All of the girls!
Ella and Kai checking out Kai's favorite-- a CAR!

Best Friends

It's July! Kai has been in the water almost every day. Every day we have the same routine:

Kai wakes up in the morning and signs that he wants to go outside (or sometimes he signs that he wants to say good morning to the cat), he then goes down the stairs, opens up the door, and heads straight to the backyard.

Finally, he shrieks in delight when he sees the hose and the fun begins...we spend a lot of time watering plants, getting wet, taking off clothes, running around naked (Kai, not me), changing into a swim suit, taking it off (being in clothes in the summer is not a lot of fun), swimming in our kiddy pool, playing in the sprinkler, going head first down our slide into our pool, playing in the wading pools and finally the best-- hanging out at the beach!

His favorite friends to do all this with is Mr. Soren and Ms. Helen. Our neighbors have been teasing us about Kai being naked all of the time. We are just fine with that-- we assure them he does have clothes but we will save them for the winter! Plus, check it out-- both Helen and Soren don't mind getting a little naked either!

Pool Party

Kai and Soren upset that our summer pool party was coming to an end!