I can do it!

Audrey is very independant these days, one thing she says that just cracks us up is "I do it my own body." She says this when she wants to put on her own shoes, get herself dressed, buckle herself into her booster seat, it's absolutely hilarious. "I do it my own body." Where did she possibly come up with that, I am pretty sure Brent and I do not say that.

Potty Training 101

Dare I say that I miss diapers? Wow, I didn't realize how easy it was when Audrey wore diapers all the time. I know potty training is exactly what is says, training. Audrey does so well, but lately has been wanting to go potty seriously like every 15-20 minutes, which her daycare teachers have said may mean she is trying to figure out the pooping on the potty thing. We went out to eat the other night with Heidi and Lucy and we went to the bathroom four times. Basically our entire day is spent at home going to the bathroom, ha. It seems every time we head out to the park these days she decides to poop her pants at the park, makes for an uncomfortable ride home. I finally brought extra pants and underwear with us last night and of course it came in handy, you thought it was hard changing a dirty diaper at the park, how about dirty underwear and pants. Not fun. I totally miss the easy diaper days, but I know things will get better. I am glad we invested in the special couch cleaner when we purchased our couch a few years ago. It has come in handy twice in the last couple weeks.

Duluth

We just returned from a trip to Duluth. It was a great couple of days spent at the Edge Waterpark hotel with Brent's parents and then Curt, Christine, and Sebastian joined us over the weekend. Duluth is such a great city to spend time in. We loved spending time at the waterpark with Audrey. She wanted to go swimming all the time.

We visited the Duluth Zoo which we had never been to before. It was great going on a weekday, no crowd at all. Audrey loved all the animals and still talks about the bears and monkeys she saw. One day we hopped on the trail on the lake and walked to Canal Park, which was about a 7 mile trip both ways. We stopped at the rose garden and walked around and then had lunch at Amazing Grace, a fun little hippy cafe.

The weather was really nice and we had a great view of the lake from our hotel. We tried out some great places to eat for supper, GB Schnieders, Fitgers, and of course, Annies Mexican Restaurant, we go there every time we visit Duluth. Audrey had no accidents the entire trip, we made plenty of potty breaks and checked out the bathroom at almost every place we visited, sometimes more than once:) Audrey was pretty much a Grandma's girl the whole time in Duluth. Grandma dressed her, did her hair, took her to the potty, pushed her in her stroller, it was somewhat of an obsession. I think Grandma needed a break after the vacation, ha. We had a great time, but it was great to get home and get back to our routine.






Putting together her princess puzzle that Grandpa and Grandma brought.

Checking out an incredibly huge dog.

Hanging out at the rose garden.

Having lunch at the Amazing Grace cafe.

Showing her barbie the lions.

What a great pictures, too bad I am looking at someone else.

Walking back to the hotel from Fitgers Brewhouse.

Audrey helping Seb play with his cement truck.

Seb enjoying some mum mums.

We stopped at Spirit Mountain on the way out of town and Brent took a ride on the Timber Twister. It's a rollar coaster that you ride in an individual sled. It runs year round, I kind of want to check it out in the winter too.

Very relaxed watching Shrek on the ride home. Vacation is done.

It Happens!

Audrey spent a couple hours with Grandpa and Grandma Wood last night and she had an accident and peed her pants and Grandpa said something along the lines that it was okay and not to worry about it and Audrey just said, "It happens." This morning I dropped the container of yogurt on the floor and it went everywhere and Audrey just came over and said, "It happens." It is hilarious how many things she just picks up on and goes with. This is definately a fun age.

Look who is sporting underwear!

Brainerd

We just returned from a vacation to Brainerd with my parents. We stayed in a cabin at Sullivan's Resort on North Long Lake. It was so relaxing and I am pretty sure we all enjoyed it. We enjoyed our days hanging out at the pool with Audrey and listening to her ever growing vocabulary. She kept us entertained the entire time, she is learning so many words and is able to hold a conversation with us, which is really fun and hilarious at times. She has started the stage of "why" and "What's that Mama, What's that Daddy, What's that Grandma." She asks many, many questions. She is curious about everything.

The weather was nice, it rained a couple days, but other than that it was cooler outside, so we were glad their was an indoor pool. We went to Paul Bunyan Land where Audrey was scared of pretty much everything, she rode the train but that was all. She hated the talking Paul Bunyan. My mom, Audrey and I went to Nisswa shopping one day and my dad and Brent stayed behind where Brent learned to play cribbage. We enjoyed a bike ride from Merrifield to Nisswa on the Paul Bunyan Trail and then my dad and Brent checked out the go karts at Billy Bones.

We went out for supper at Iven's on the Water, and felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. We felt a bit underdressed and the host kept saying he would see what he could do to get us in but they had so many reservations that night. The restaurant was not very full and never was the whole time we were there. Oh well, we enjoyed our time there, but I worried the whole time about Audrey pulling the white table cloth right off the table. Not a good place for toddlers, ha.

Two big steps on our vacation was Audrey and the potty and letting go of our uppies (pacifiers). She is doing fabulous going potty. We had to stop a couple times on our trip there and back for Audrey to go potty at a gas station, even while swimming at the pool Audrey would have to get out to hit up the potty. We brought an entire box of diapers on the trip and used about 10 of them. We are so excited for her and so is she. She gets such a smile on her face when she goes on the potty. We are ready for pull ups now! She says she doesn't want to wear big girl underwear, but someday. Audrey has always called her pacifier her "uppie". I was getting sick of her having all the time when I know she isn't allowed to have them at daycare. So, we took them away from her during the day and she has an uppie box they go in and she can have them for naps and night time. It has gone really well and I think that might be why her vocabulary has shot through the roof lately.

We had such a fun week, but it's so nice to be home and in our own beds. Audrey was such a good traveler. She slept great and napped great.






This shows you how incredibly scary Paul Bunyan is for a two year old.

Riding the train at Paul Bunyan Land.

Trying on hats at the Paul Bunyan store.

Me showing Audrey how fun the slide in the lake is.

Audrey like helping Brent build a castle, she actually likes him to build it and then she can step on it.

Heading back to the cabin after swimming.

The hail during the day is stormed.

Reading with Daddy.

Fish face

Audrey cruising around on her trike. We brought everything.

Audrey spent tons of her time texting her BFF!

Grandma making a pie over the fire.

Audrey after she enjoyed the cherry pie Grandma made:)

Audrey making her own omelette in a bag.

Audrey worn out from riding in the trailer to Nisswa.

Enjoying some chocolate truffles from the Chocolate Ox in Nisswa.

Brent racing at Billy Bones Raceway

Grandpa racing.