Butterflies

After eating at Perkins last Thursday night we bought the girls tatoos out of the vending machine they have there (it's better than some other piece of junk!) They were .50ea but are actually pretty nice. Keira has the purple one and Sydney has the blue/green one. Sydney has mentioned that she wants a real one someday!

Train Set Fun

Shannon bought the girls a 200 pc train set for Christmas last year.
It's been set up a few times this year but inevitably gets knocked down in our messy basement.
Here is a shot of it newly setup again by Shannon at Sydney's request.
I found Sydney downstairs on Friday morning at 7:00am when she was supposed to be getting ready for school and she couldn't be located in her room. That explains the nightgown! I'm glad that she is excited to play with what is stereotypically a boy's toy.

Minnesota Twins Pennant Chase

Wow! Carrie and I just watched the Twins come from behind to win the final game of the series against the White Sox. This 10-inning, walk-off win put the Twins 1/2 game in front of the Central Division with only three games to play. After watching the Twins' defense fall apart in the fourth inning on some unlucky breaks, it was even more impressive to watch this team come back and win. Way to go, guys!

We are going to see them play the Kansas City Royals tomorrow and hopefully they can keep the winning streak alive. Although the Twins have the edge, they still need to play near-perfect baseball this weekend in order to continue playing in October. GO TWINS!!

No matter what happens this weekend though, the 2008 Minnesota Twins have arguably been this year's most exciting - and surprising - team in baseball. If the Twins make the playoffs, Carrie and the girls may yet become baseball fans!

Nickelodean Universe

We took the girls to the newly updated Nickelodean Universe at the Mall of America last weekend. Many of the rides stayed the same as the old Camp Snoopy but with the names changed to reflect the Nick characters such as Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer and The BackYardigans. See me and the girls in the balloon ride (pretty tame). I also took Keira on the "Big Rigs". Sydney did a big kid ride - the "Splatomaster". The ride goes straight up a pole to the ceiling and then drops down quickly before going back up again to drop to different levels. It made me sick just to watch it so I let Shannon do that one. I did later go on the swings with Sydney. My swing went backwards in circles and so I was quite nauseous for the next hour. I guess that means I'm getting old! The girls had a great time.

Our architect

Keira did a good job building a really tall tower.
When the blocks would get too tall and fall down she would laugh!!

Mamma Mia

I went to this movie last Thursday night with 7 women. We went to the new CineMagic theatre by the Burnsville mall. I was invited by my Mother in-law so it was not my movie choice. Keep in mind that I do love ABBA and have ABBA Gold on my ipod but I'm not too sure about movies that are musicals. I loved it! I alternated between laughing at the somewhat ridiculous scenes and crying (tears coming out of my eyes) but more out of amazement at how well the actors did with the songs. Meryl Streep is great and it doesn't hurt that Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are in it. Christine Baranski was my favorite though - (she played Cybill Shepherd's often drunk friend MaryAnn on Cybill). It's amazing the range of talents some of these actors have. Now I wish I would have seen the play out in Manhattan last summer.

Children Around the World

Each September Sydney and Keira's Daycare center does a program where they study children in other countries. The first couple of pictures are of Keira's class the "Deer Room". They studied Ireland this year. Keira and her friend Allison were the only two kids jumping and waving their ribbons as instructed. The boys behind them were sort of standing around looking confused...
In Sydney's class of school-agers aka the "Frog Room", they studied Iceland. Their teacher Tom did a game show approach where he would ask questions on Iceland such as capital city, year founded, and main industry. The kids would then raise their hands and answer into the microphone. Other countries showcased were Bangladesh, Malaysia and Columbia. All of the classes did a great job! Grandma and Grandpa Wacek even came up this time to watch.

Softball

Monday night while the Vikings were losing to the

Packers Shannon got some shots of the girls hitting

off the tee in our front yard. Neither one has shown

too much interest in playing ball yet but it's a start.

Guitar Hero

We bought a Wii along with the Guitar Hero III bundle on May 16th and life hasn't been the same since. It was all my idea... Derek at my office brought in his X-box 360 and GH back in March on a Friday night. I know, accountants are kinda lame. A couple of rookie staff went out for a few cases of beer and the fun began. We do this once during tax season, usually after the 3/15 corporate deadline. They set me up on Easy with Cherry Pie by Warrant and after I learned that you had to strum when the dots appeared I caught on quickly. I did quite well for a beginner. From that point on I had dreams about the game and thought about how I could play it again. I started mentioning it to Shannon. He had never played as he felt embarassed to play the one time he had been exposed to it. Fast forward almost 4 months and I am on the 7th set list on Hard. For those of you who have played you know this no simple task. Shannon is almost as far as I am through his own persistance. The game is addictive although I only play about 1-2x per week now. I'll update as time goes on.

The Renaissance Festival 2008

We took the girls to the Renaissance Festival on August 30th "The Legend Becomes You"

The Prince and Princess swing!

Inside the Secret Garden

On the bridge in the Secret Garden

A quick elephant ride - this was kind of fun.

Sydney was insistent that we ride one!

Camping in Cannon Falls

We went down to the Cannon Falls Campground the weekend of August 23-24. This has become an annual tradition for the Waldrop family. Jerry and Ardi bring the motorhome down so we have many comforts at close range but our family toughs it out in a large Columbia tent. This year was Keira's first time not in her Pack-n-Play. Both girls stayed up late 11:00pm or so but then crashed for the night. We spent the weekend playing on the playground equipment, freezing in the pool and riding bikes - as you can see, Sydney is now riding her bike without training wheels!! I think I actually managed to read an entire magazine cover to cover.

1st day of Kindergarten

I dropped Sydney off at the bus stop this morning. My little girl is growing up! We both did fine although Keira was sad as Sydney got on the bus and left us.

The neighbor girl/friend Gina (a second grader) took Sydney under her wing.

1st canoe trip

We took the kids on a short canoe trip to Thomas Lake in Eagan on August 17th. Sydney has been in the canoe a couple of times but it was Keira's first time on the water. Both girls sat on the bottom of the canoe in the middle and were really good. The water was really weedy but it was still fun to get out and see some nature.