Surprise Daddy!

We celebrated Matt's graduation from his MBA program with a little surprise party that our good friends the Tockman's hosted. Daddy was very surprised and thankful to see friends and family that helped support him through his time in school! Mom and I are great party planners:)

It was great to celebrate this accomplishment with family and friends and James had a great time showing off his crawling skills and entertaining everyone.

Someone sneaked James a little taste of cake ... who's the guilty Grandma? :)

My First Trip to Great Grandma Clark's House

Following our trip to Luverne we trekked across the state and into central Wisconsin 365 miles for a visit to Great Grandma Clark's house in Wisconsin Rapids.

Grandma was happy to have James at her house and he enjoyed exploring things and getting into mischief-he pretended to be an accountant like Grandpa and crawled up to the Milk Chute! But Grandma has a way with things too - James finally mastered eating Cheerios while we were there! They go in your mouth James, not in your ear and not on the floor.

We saw many family members and friend's of the Clarks as we attended a funeral for Aunt Bev.

We visited Great Grandpa Clark's (Harland James Clark) gravesite and had a great time going through pictures with Grandma of Grandpa Mike and Uncle Pat as boys. James sure strikes a resemblance to one of his name sakes and his papa, don't yah think?

Of course we couldn't leave Wisconsin without a visit to the Rudolph cheese factory. James had his first taste of a cheese curd - he wasn't so sure about it, but if he's anything like his Daddy he'll learn to love them.

Buffalo Days in Luverne

We traveled to Luverne MN - home of Buffalo Days - the first weekend in June to relax and catch up with friends and Ma and Pa Weber.

En route to Luverne we stopped to visit our friends Jenny, JJ and Adalynn Lurken in Mankato. They recently moved from the cities and it was a perfect pit stop for James as he was starting to get a little fussy in the back seat. We think he just wanted to chat and drive his own car (with Ady's help)!














We reached Luverne late Friday night and spent the rest of the weekend taking in the parade down main street (with Rob, Liza and Elliot pictured), playing beanbag toss, cribbage and enjoying the Buffalo Days fair outdoors and grilling. The Webers (Barb pictured) were gracious hosts, as always, and we left with full stomachs and much more relaxed than when we arrived.












The boys had a great time just hanging out together and needed to get cleaned up after a long day of rough-housing - James' first road trip was a success.

Memorial Day Weekend Trip to Grandma Betty's!

Dad and I showed off our glasses before we left home to go visit GroBmutter Betty in Excelsior! Great-Grandma and my Dad love speaking German so we call Great-Grandma Betty the "GroBmutter" - Great Grandmother in German.

Here we are enjoying Meatloaf Sandwiches, Celery and great conversation and our fresh lilacs!

It was such beautiful day that I suggested we go out on the deck and enjoy the outdoors! I heard that there were owls here, but I didn't see them today. Then, GroBmutter wanted to show me the trees and Grandpa's old backyard shed so we moved to the best spot on the deck and shot the breeze!

After our visit at the house, I needed a nap so that I'd have the energy to visit the Arboretum! We drove the 3 mile loop and got to see the Uff Da Palace!



We wrapped up the afternoon by getting my favorite school color: Maroon! Thank you GroBmutter for taking us to the Arboretum and for spending your afternoon with my Mom, Dad and I.