Random August Happenings!

Here are a few random tidbits from the end of August happenings...

 This girl is growing up so much!  I can't believe it!!  She wanted me to take this picture with Katie (the doll) because they were hair twinsies.  LOL

Jay and I celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary!  This is the solo picture I have from the day - what in the world?!?!  We were at Granite City and Jay got the beer flight! Cheers to us!

These are the cards we received - do you see the difference?  The first envelope is from Jay's parents - addressed to "Jay & Sara" and the second envelope is from my mom - addressed to "Sara & Jay" HA!

And in case you haven't heard - Lay's has a new chip - Crispy Taco.  Go buy them right now.  They are so delicious!!  Like eating a taco.  For real.  And, trust me, I eat a lot of tacos.  These are legit good.  You're welcome.

Summer Staycation

This summer, instead of taking a trip, we decided to do a staycation around the Twin Cities.  We took a few days to enjoy time together and make memories at some of the local fun spots!  The weather ended up being pretty rainy, but we still were able to find some fun things to do!  

Day 1 - Mall of America!!

American Girl store - we spent a LOT of time roaming the store. 

Ella found lots of things to add to her Christmas wish list!!

LEGO store - someone built the Cinderella Castle  - it was so cool!!

Disney Store - Ella loves the magic mirror

We lunched at Shake Shack.  Overall, I was disappointed.  Not my favorite burger.

The fries were delicious though!

The 700 pounds of yarn decorating one of the areas of the mall made the perfect backdrop for the obligatory family selfie!!

Highlight of the trip - Build-A-Bear store.  None of us have ever been.  Both Jay and I were surprised at how much fun it was!  I think we both secretly wanted to build our own too!!  Ella had a fun time and of course she chose the Shopkins Bear!!

Day 2 - Tim Horton's Donuts and Como Zoo

 We made a trip to the new Tim Horton's Donuts.  I think we all prefer Dunkin' Donuts, but it was fun to check it out - notice that Ella's American Girl doll made the trip with us

LOL!

It rained all morning and into the early afternoon, but it started to clear, so we headed to Como Zoo!

 We watched Sparky the sea lion get a snack!

 Saw the tiger (duh - Farmington Tiger here!)

 Watched the baby giraffe with its mama (CUTE!)

 Tested our span against that of the gorilla!

And took some selfies! 

We also went across the way and played a game of mini golf which was so fun! 

So much fun that I forgot to take any pictures! LOL!

Day 3 - this was a wash out day - we were supposed to go to ValleyFair but it rained all day!  Boo!  So, we watched the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie in the middle of the day!

 Some sort of throne/chair that Ella built to watch the movie on

PM - Vikings preseason football mean we should celebrate with some Vikings cupcakes!  YUM!

That wraps up the Staycation 2017.  It's HARD to do a staycation.  The temptations to do laundry, wash dishes, check emails etc. are all right in front of us each day. I think going out of town is easier to put aside all of the everyday regular life stuff and fully engage in vacation mode!

Dakota County Fair 2017

In early August, we made a trip to the Dakota County Fair!  We had a good time checking out the animal barns and eating some fair foods!

I didn't take as many pictures as I thought!  But, that night we also attended the donkey races in the Grandstands!  That was crazy to watch!  Let's just say donkeys were not huge fans of transporting the people!

Ella also tested her game skills at a few of the game booths!

And we walked through this year's gardens, which had a Dr. Seuss theme!

 

BOOM!  Selfie!  HAHAHA

The weekend we got new carpet

Oh Hi September!  Not sure how that blog break happened again, but it did.  The weekend of Ella's dance camp, we also got new carpets installed.  That was something!!  It was a lot of boxing up stuff and moving it out to the garage or into the basement. And the install took the entire Saturday - the ENTIRE day.  I didn't plan for us to be blocked out of the house the entire day.  The installers worked simultaneously upstairs and downstairs, so the rooms AND BATHROOMS were blocked all day.  Made for an interesting day!!

Some pictures of the before....

The pictures were not capturing how brown the old carpets were, but I promise

they were really brown!!

Also, our bathrooms became storage closets for installation day! LOL!

Now the after pictures....

We love it and makes the home so much brighter!