Fun at the Fair

As you know, we Barlows (well at least Kylie and me) LOVE the fair! So, of course, we had to take as many trips as we could squeeze in. We only made it two times this year, which doesn't even come close to my normal fair schedule, but we had lots of fun both times! We got to hang out with Sari, Witten, Helen, Rebecca and Ellasen the first time, and Jon was able to join us for our second trip! We checked out all the animals including the horses, cows, rabbits, sheep and all the baby animals in the Miracle of Birth Center. Kylie even gently petted a chick, duckling and piglet! Another high light was walking through the exhibition hall looking at all of Grandma King's prize winning foods that we get to eat on a regular basis! She even won Grand Champion on her world famous buns! They have always been grand champion buns to me, but it's nice that Olmsted County acknowledged it too! :) We also enjoyed A LOT of fair food like cheese curds, mini donuts and milk shakes! And although Kylie is not quite big enough for the rides, we enjoyed watching Ellasen on the carousel and trucks! It was so much fun and we can't wait to go back again someday!

 This was in the Miracle of Birth Center. 

Kylie was standing on the fence watching the chicks and ducklings!

This mama had 19 piglets...That's a lot of babies!

I can barely take care of one at a time! :)

 Kylie and Jacob both liked the bunnies the best!

Jacob pointed at one and Kylie said, "Nanee."

Kylie sat like a big girl at the picnic table and ate her lunch!

It's Official!

 Kylie is 20 months and finally walking!

 Being sweet by giving Glo-weem a hug!

 And here she is showing off her new skills! YAY!

Kylie is walking! She has been taking unassisted steps since May, but has always preferred crawling. But a couple of weeks ago, she started to spend more and more time on her feet until finally she is exclusively walking! I hear all of the time that it just gets harder when they start walking, but we are loving it. I guess when you wait soooo long for something, it really is sweeter when it actually happens! We are so proud of our Kylie Girl!

Celebrations

July has truly been a month of celebrations...The 4th of July, baby showers, birthday parties, and more! For the 4th we spent some time in Stewie hanging out in the heat! We had lunch at the park and watched the parade from my cousin's house. My mom and dad were in the parade again...It's always fun to see them come down the street in a horse and carriage!

 Kylie enjoyed the sand table and toys more than the parade.

Maybe next year she will understand about all the candy!

 Mr. Mayor and the First Lady of Stewartville!

The following weekend, we celebrated Witten and Kinsley's 3rd birthdays. Witt turned three on June 24th, but he was in Baltimore at the time. Kinsley turns three on August 13th, but she will be living in Charlotte, NC by then, so their parents thought it would be fun to have a combo party on a date in the middle! There was a water table, play set, and pinata for the kids...Kylie loved every second of it! Jon and I enjoyed the company of our many friends!

 Kylie swinging at the pinata.

Kylie and her friends playing at the water table.

L to R: Kinsley, Annabelle, Caleb, Helen, Kylie

The same weekend, some of the girls also hosted a baby shower for our friend Melissa. I think it might have been our greatest baby shower yet! :) Mel is having a girl, and we used her nursery colors and theme for the shower...It was all gray and pink and shabby chic! Super cute!

Mel's Shower: Catherine, Me, Mel, Rebecca, Sari, and Anne

Finally, this last weekend was another weekend full of parties and showers...But it was all about the Pink Stars this time! On Saturday morning we celebrated Ruthie's upcoming nuptials with a bridal shower. We talked about old memories, played some creative games and ate some delicious food. On Saturday night, we gave Ruth a mini-Pink bachelorette party since many of us could not make the big one in Las Vegas. We ate at The Loop and hung out at Kathy's Rooftop. It was low-key but really fun to chat and catch up!

Then on Sunday, we had a baby shower for Kristin "Ginny" Halda at my house. It was so fun to spoil Kris and baby boy Halda! I loved every second of my Pink Star weekend. I miss the Pinks and we don't get together nearly enough!

Ruth's Bridal Shower: Kristin, Amanda, Ruth, Molly, Me, Kylie

 Kristin's Baby Shower: Me, Amanda, Kris, Molly, and Ruth

It's a crazy summer and a crazy time of life with lots of weddings and babies...so there are several more events/showers/weddings coming up in the next few months! Can't wait to continue the celebrations!

Road Trippin'

Last week, Kylie and I, along with Jon's dad and brother, Tony, and Ingrid, Elias, and Espen piled into an RV for a 40 hour round trip road trip to Virginia. Jon and his mom have tight work schedules, so they flew out and met us in VA for the weekend portion. We went out there to see Jon's younger brother, Greg, present his thesis for his master's degree in Athletic Training.

 Kylie enjoying the ride!

 This was our set up with the kids. 

Doug (our driver) and the RV!

The road trip went better than expected, especially with 3 children under the age of two! The kids were REALLY good, considering they were strapped into their car seats for 10ish hours each day! :) I guess the Barlow kiddos are some laid back people. I should add that we stayed in hotels each night, so that probably helped the mood (Except for Doug, Tony and Espen one of the nights). I can't imagine how we would have slept in there with 4 adults and 3 kids in cribs! I was probably the most high-strung person in the "big truck" but even I maintained my cool for the most part. No one had any huge outbursts, and we all survived to tell the tale!

The actual drive was scenic and beautiful, especially through the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. John Denver's song, "Country Roads" (which is Kylie's favorite song), says it best, "Almost heaven, West Virginia!" :)

 

The Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia.

We spent about 60 hours in Charlottesville, VA where Greg did his master's program at the University of Virginia. The town and college have a lot of cool history behind them. The college was envisioned and designed by Thomas Jefferson! And it's easy to see that the entire place was structured long before most architectural master pieces in Minnesota. While there, we spent time swimming in the hotel, touring the town and college, eating at yummy restaurants including Chick Fil A and The Boathouse, and watching Greg present his thesis and complete his training! I HEARD that Greg did a great job, but I didn't actually get to see it because Kylie was being a pill that day. She needed to be quiet for about 12-15 minutes, but didn't even make it 2 minutes before I had to leave the auditorium with her. She is in this stage where she LOVES to hear herself talk. She says a word, and then repeats that word about 50 times before moving on to the next word. And this continues constantly. Most of the time it's really sweet, but I must say I was really disappointed to miss Greg's presentation. At least, everyone else made it through and got to see it! We are all very proud!

Greg posing for pictures after his thesis presentation!

 This is the pedestrian mall in Charlottesville.

It reminded me of State Street in Madison.

 An old building on campus.

 A door to a dorm room on campus.

 Inside the Rotunda, which was Thomas Jefferson's vision!

 A marble statue of TJ!

 The medical school at UVA.

 

 This is how Tony, Kylie and Elias traversed the campus! 

Who needs a double BOB?!?

After celebrating Greg on Saturday, we took off early Sunday morning for the 20 hour trek back to Minnesota! Again, it went well, but I was happy to be home and back in my own bed!

Summer Fun!

19 months old!

 

Kylie and I are having tons of fun hanging out together this summer. We like to go to the swimming pool, to the park, and for walks in the evening. On rainy days, we like to stay inside and read books, practice walking and climb around.

Playing in the pool!

Swinging at the park on a nice summer day!

One of Kylie's new favorite places to play.

Kylie is 19 months old and still growing like a weed. She had an appointment last week, and she weighed in at 26 pounds and measured 33 inches long. She's learning lots of new words and getting closer (I hope) to real walking...She can take up to about 15 steps unassisted! :) YAY!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer too!

Madison

The Capitol building.

Madison, WI is one of the Barlow family's favorite places. It's where Jon and I went to college, met, fell in love and made lots and LOTS of wonderful memories! And that's where Jon, Kylie and I went this past weekend to celebrate four years of wedded bliss!

The trip was short and sweet (about 24 hours), but we did all the things we wanted to do. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, unloaded at the hotel, and then headed to our all-time favorite burger joint for some much-needed hamburgers. The restaurant is called Dotty Dumpling's Dowry and if you are ever in Madison and craving a burger, you HAVE to go there! After supper, we headed to the Memorial Union Terrace to enjoy the warm weather and beautiful view of Lake Mendota. Jon and I spent many summer nights hanging out on the terrace with friends...It's one of the best places in Madison. Kylie started to get tired and restless, so we headed back up State Street to our hotel. We kind of meandered on State and stopped in a few shops to look for some fun Badger gear. One of my favorite memories about State Street involves Jon meeting me at my dorm on his bike, and then cruising to his apartment with me riding on his handlebars right down State Street, which is a Madison hot spot. I bet we were quite the site! Eventually, we made it back to the hotel...Kylie surprised me and slept like a champ!!!

Kylie enjoyed the burgers at Dotty Dumpling's as much as we did!

Jon at the Terrace...That's Lake Mendota behind him.

Kylie and I relaxing on the Terrace with the famous Terrace Chairs in the background.

Jon and I hope to own a set of those chairs someday! :)

 The Red Gym.

On Sunday we woke up, got ready, ate the free continental breakfast, packed up and headed out to the Henry Vilas Zoo. This is a free zoo, a little bigger than Oxbow Park, that has some pretty exotic animals including monkeys, lions, giraffes and a polar bear. Kylie loves animals and books about the zoo, so I thought it would be a great time to take her to one. She really seemed to notice the animals, although she thought every one said, "woof woof." I guess we'll keep working on those animal sounds! After the zoo, we drove around campus to check out our old stomping ground. We drove past the lake, the dorms, the classroom buildings and the medical center. At the medical center, Jon wanted to get out and walk around, which we did. We definitely got a little lost, but ended up crossing paths with Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy, and Jon was happy about that! :) Before we left town, we met our friends, Kirsten and Justin, for lunch at the Weary Traveler...It was great to see them and catch up. Sadly, our mini-Madison vacay had to come to end...But it was a fun 24 hours, and we can't wait to go back again!

Rhino.

Two giraffes. 

Pink flamingos!

 The grizzly bear looked right at us! Yikes!

Memorial Day Memories!

Jon, Kylie and I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday, we tried to go to Como Zoo, but as soon as we arrived, the sky opened up and the rain started pouring. So, we went with plan b...We headed to the Mall of America instead. We didn't do too much shopping, but we met up with Jon's parents for an early anniversary lunch at Twin Cities Grille. We had a great time!

Jon was on call on Sunday, and it was smoking hot outside. Kylie and I hit up the swimming pool in the morning...Kylie HATED the cool water, but I am hoping that she will eventually learn to love it. She clung to me the whole time, which was fine, because I didn't have to chase her around. We just sat in the shallow water and watched all the people enjoying themselves. After Kylie's nap, we brought supper to Jon and then headed out to the farm for our Sunday tradition of visiting with the relatives!

My dad riding in the parade!

 Mr. Mayor giving his Memorial Day speech.

On Monday, Kylie and I went down to Stewartville to watch my dad (or "ba-pa") in the parade and give his annual Memorial Day speech (He's the mayor). I thought this year's speech was fantastic as usual, with much emphasis on the reason for the day, remembering our veterans. After the program, we had brunch at my parent's house and visited with many of our friends and relatives. Afterwards, Kylie was exhausted, so we headed back home for her nap. Then, in the evening (after both Jon and Kylie were well rested) we went to a grill-out at a friend's house. Kylie enjoyed crawling around and playing with Annabelle and Halle! It was another great day!

Kylie, Halle, and Annabelle on the swing!

Kylie and Jon eating delicious homemade ice cream!

We had a beautiful, fun weekend and we are so grateful to all the service men and women who have made that possible for us! Thank you, veterans, for all that you have sacrificed for our wonderful country!