Czech Days...

We were actually able to attend Czech Days this year in Tabor, S.D. It was a very hot day! Standing on all that asphalt with no breeze certainly did not help things. We watched the kiddie parade. Benjamin told us he was so excited to see kittys not realizing this was a kid (kiddie) parade but luckily for us the parade was full of kids, kittens, cats, puppies, and dogs so both kids had a good time watching the parade. Unfortunately, there was no candy being passed out but that was okay! Benjamin and Ada had to take flat Benjamin and Ada along too. We (I) had to get a kolache because it was Czech Days. I am still not impressed with kolaches. They seem so tasteless. Give me kuchen any day!

Benjamin and Ada love cotton candy. I can't blame them--I do too! Dave can take it or leave it. The only person that Benjamin was willing to share his cotton candy with was flat Benjamin. That lucky little guy!

Benjamin went on a few rides and loved them of course but he could only take the heat for so long till he finally sat down and said "I want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house".

Here Dave is enjoying his time in the beer garden with flat Benjamin and flat Ada. We had limited cash, no ATM, and we had out-of-town checks so let's just say we had to be very creative how we spent our $ 20. We ate dinner, got cotton candy, Dave got a beer, Benjamin went on three rides, and Ada went on one ride. I think we did pretty good!

Ada is enjoying a few rare pieces of cotton candy that we were able to snitch away from Benjamin!

A father/son moment. Benjamin idolizes his dad and always wants to make his dad happy and to be with his dad. Plus, I think he was working on his dad to let him go on more rides! Ada, on the other hand, would prefer to watch Benjamin on the rides. She does not like Merry-Go-Round but spotted a ride that she wanted to go on. An elephant car ride. So we bought her a ticket and then she freaked out. She would only go on the ride with me. For whatever reason, that ride made me sick. I thought I was going to lose it on the ride and all the ride did was go in a circle on a track. It had a tiny hill of about 6 inches but it was too much for me.

Ada...

is hamming it up for the camera!!

Our Hedge Project...

For those of you who have never seen our place or what are hedges looked like here goes. We have hedges that go all the way around our property (sides and back but not in the front). Here is a picture of what some of our near 8 feet tall hedges look like. You can tell that they are misshaped as they look like a V and are supposed to look like an A. Dave loves our hedges as it is our living fence and really isolates us from the neighbors (you feel like you are out in the woods) and reduces a ton of noise, etc.

I convinced Dave to let me cut down some test pilot hedges to see how the rejuvenational method would work. He told me in no uncertain terms that I could only cut down 6-8 hedges in the back of the house. Well, I did that back in April. Every day since I cut them down he would run out to check to see if there was any growth. Here is how far I cut them back. I cut them down to 2-3 inches from the ground/root stalk to rejuvenate a healthy shrub.

As we were nearing June our hedges were still brown but had a few random green leaves here an there and looked like the bottom was trying to come back. I quick visit with Dr. John Ball, SD State Forester and he confirmed that our hedges were winter killed and injured and gave me/us two options. Cut them down now (had to be done the first week in June--no later) in hopes of rejuvenating them or wait till next spring and see what over winters and then cut them down to 2-3 inches. Basically, we needed to cut them down and we needed to decided when we were going to do it as there was no guarantee that they would come back either way. We decided to go for broke that weekend and cut down all the hedges. We did leave the small patch that came back--basically because we were sick of cutting hedges and hauling branches! Let's just say with all the hedges being cut down around our place we are left feeling totally exposed.

Here is a picture that we took about a month ago showing the sprouting hedges. We or I should say Dave has already trimmed the hedges once this summer. You get two sprouts for every one cut you make and our plan is to shape the hedges into a healthy A hedge where you have green growth/tissue all the way to the bottom and not as much hedge towards the tops. Our hedges are about 2 1/2 to 3 feet already and need to be cut back again. We, I mean Dave needs to cut them again but all this rain that we have had lately has really put a damper on his hedge trimming opportunity. FYI, we have had all but one hedge come back but you know for as big as our hedges were it could have been dead last year and we may have just missed it.

Family Photos by Sweeter Images...

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My friend, Wendy Sweeter, has started her own photography business so we decided to have her take our family photos. Since Dave and I have been married for 5 years I requested a few extra photos (sorry, we did not do anything racy - as I have included all photos taken in the slide show) and Wendy exceeded my expectations! The photos turned out great and we had a good time. Ada wasn't too into the whole photo taking session but for those of you that know us, know that Ada has never really been into the photo taking thing.

I highly recommend Wendy as a photographer. Back in her amateur days (5 years ago) she was our personal photographer for our wedding. She capture all aspects of our wedding day from the behind the scenes action shots to guests to the posed shots. They also turned out great and I cherish them very much. If you would like to get a hold of Wendy you can email her at mailto:sweeterimages@yahoo.com or by telephone at (605) 695-9819. Thanks Wendy for a great session! We are looking forward to another one!

Best Friends...

Benjamin is a very lucky little boy. His best friend Quinn lives one house away from us. He gets to see her every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at daycare as her mom is his daycare provider. Then they will each snarf their supper so they can go outside and play with each other. Quinn loves Benjamin and Ada's sandbox while Benjamin loves riding bikes with Quinn. These two are pretty inseparable! He even calls her Quinnie the Queenie and she lets him! I did not think that 3 year olds (whoops, I guess Quinn is 4 now) had this much attachment to one another. It's a good thing that we get along so well with Dani and Travis (Quinn's parents) because we have spent many bike rides, walks, and sandbox time together. The weather has just recently turned nice so I am thinking we will be also spending some pool time together. Both Benjamin and Quinn will be in the same preschool class this fall. I don't know about you but this sure sounds like trouble to me!

S is for Salamander

Since Benjamin is 3 years old he can participate in a few "sprouts" classes at the outdoor campus in Sioux Falls, S.D. The class he went to was called "S is for Salamander". It was a pretty good class. This was the first time other than his daycare (where he is used to 5 or 6 others kids at most at his daycare) that he was immersed in a group setting with other kids his age. Let's just say he was an extremely shy kid! He walked into the room with me, took one look around at all the other kids, parents, and instructor and turned the other way and walked right back out. I convinced him to come back into the room but he did not leave my side. Making the salamander magnet caught his attention and then he was in his element. I could have left the building and he would never have known! He enjoyed the class and still talks about it and is so excited for going back to class in July. He tells me that he will not be a shy boy next time. Only time will tell.

Ada and Dave had a daddy and daughter day planned for while Benjamin and I were at class but the rain ended up changing their plans. They were able to hang out in the building for a while and then went out to the van to watch a movie and have a snack. I have always said that Ada's favorite time is snack time. Here is Ada, flat Ada, mommy at the outdoor campus museum. What is flat Ada/Benjamin? At daycare they made their friends to take on their summer outings. We are supposed to take pictures of them so they can look back on their summer adventure and have fun reliving the memories.

Dewey, I mean Louie...

Every time that Uncle Craig came to work on the walkway he brought along his dog Louie. I always ask what kind of dog he is but for the life of me I never remember. What I do know is this dog doesn't shed his hair so Craig and Steph have to give Louie a haircut. If you can't tell from the pictures, Benjamin and Ada enjoyed every moment that they had with Louie. Yes, they missed hanging out with Grandpa and Uncle Craig but they both miss Louie. They were always so excited to see Louie. They always had to pet him, hug him, take him for a walk, etc. Ada likes to call Louie "Dewey" and whenever Louie would hear Ada call his name he would get excited and a little scared. Ada is a hugger when she wants to be and she didn't like letting Louie go!