We stayed with Auntie Jill and and Uncle Matt and Svea fell in love with Jill. She couldn't get enough of her and is still talking about her today:) We participated in as many 4th of July festivities that we could around long naps with our kids.
The first night we got there we went to a barbecue backyard party at Mike and Erin Jacobsen's house. The Liepitzs', Gilbertsons', and Dukarts' were also there. Mike Jacobsen, Mike Gilbertson, Josh Dukart, Dan, and Karl.
We miss our Bismarck/Good Shepherd friend so much. It's nice to not see
them very often, but when we do we are able to catch right back up and
it feels natural and fun. We both miss having close relationships with
couple friends. We don't have as much of that now.
We love our friends and so appreciate them organizing a get together!
They (Jacobsens') also have this amazing backyard that is perfect for
lounging and letting kids run around and have fun. Tara Dukart, Jess Gilbertson, Me, Erin Jacobsen, and Britt Liepitz.
The next day we visited with Papa and Lynn, Aunt Connie and Uncle Scott and saw their chickens and had lunch and then naps. The next night after our kids slept at odd intervals for 245534 hours we loaded them up and headed to the amusement park to see the Andersons/Bjorks for a quick 45 minutes. It was hard to talk a lot because this little girl wanted to do everything and wasn't afraid of anything:)
Love these two little blue eyed babies. It's so fun that they are only two weeks apart. We get to see them all again this coming weekend!
Svea went on the mini roller coaster (picture above), the tree swings with Laila and Graham, the jumping house, and the Ferris Wheel with Dad. She wanted to do the slide too, but this one was a little bit too steep for our liking. Let's be honest...there was no way I was going down as it was too scary for me. Total lightweight....maybe next year:)
On the actual 4th we got up and got ready for the parade. It down poured at the same moment as the start of it so it started about an hour late. I love this family picture. We got super lucky and had both kids smiling at the same time:)
Daddy and Svea waiting for the parade to start!
Svea, Sophie, Quinn, and Owen patiently waiting for candy!
;
This is the gang two years ago. Lots of changes:)
We played musical chairs while we waited and I have no idea whose chairs we sat in, but she was entertained and had a good time:) Svea enjoyed the parade and especially loves the suckers! We left the parade early and brought our kids back to Jill and Matt's for naps so that we could get out to the river later in the afternoon. I dropped my camera on the grass at the parade and THANKFULLY Jill saw it and picked it up:) The only bad part is we didn't see them until much later right before we were leaving the river. I missed a ton of picture taking opportunities especially because it was Svea and Kieran's first time on the sandbar and Papa and Lynn came too. My dad just had a hip replacement surgery a week earlier and my jaw just about hit the bottom of the river when I saw he had arrived and was ready to get on the pontoon to head over to the sandbar. Pretty crazy, but it was great to have them see their first experience out there. Svea ran with glee everywhere in the sand, but wasn't a huge fan of the water. There was a small pool in the middle of the sandbar where the water is warm and there is no current. Kieran loved feeling the sand and basically kissed it a few times, but melted after about 45 minutes. He had had enough and we brought him back to the house soon after. Thank you to my Dad and Lynn for coming out. It was so good to see you and have that afternoon together with you! I'm sorry I didn't have my camera to get a picture!
When we got back to the house we had to take a picture of the babies too. This is Lydia. She is 6 months old and is my cousin Joe and Andrea's new baby girl. It'll be fun to compare these two in the future.
Auntie Jill and Uncle Matt....such a cute picture:) Jill is just shy of 29 weeks pregnant here with their first baby...a boy! She is so cute pregnant!
Before we left the house Svea requested another golf cart ride with Uncle Scott down the driveway and back!
Back at Jill and Matt's we let Svea stay up until about 10 to watch a few fireworks. Mandan is INSANE when it comes to fireworks and is incredibly loud when it comes to fireworks. I do not know how our kids slept through it, but we do have stock in noise makers. At the beginning of the weekend she was afraid of the the fireworks, but by the end we had played them up and they made her laugh. We were so proud of her while we were there taking good naps and sleeping through the night. She slept on a popazon circular mattress on the floor in the new baby's room and had no issues. Maybe it's because we ran and played so hard everyday too. The next morning we visited Papa and Lynn one more time before heading back to Jamestown. They gave Svea some Clifford books and oh my goodness is she obsessed with them. Dan and I have probably each read them 10 times each and she sleeps with them every night. We had a perfect 4th of July. It felt good to get back to Bismarck/Mandan for it again!
