July 4th

"Steering" the pontoon....

Getting in the floaty thing. Ooh! This is going to be FUN!!

Down, down, down. Do you think I was going in there? It was freezing!

Oh, darn. Not as much fun as we had hoped. Maybe Cole

is a wimp like me when it comes to cold water!

Uncle Todd....

Unfortunately, Ryan was too busy at work to take the 4th off. Bummer! But Cole and I went to the Thorps' cabin in Birchwood, Wisconsin anyway with Jim and Kathy, Scott and Mikala, and Todd and Stephanie. Almost everyone from Kathy's family was able to make it. After a day of fun and sun, we drove back to Duluth to watch the fireworks from the boat in the marina. Somehow, I didn't end up getting any pictures of Cole watching the fireworks for the first time...what kind of mom am I? He did, in fact, stay awake late enough to see the fireworks, and loved them!

North Carolina Trip: June 13-17

Here we are riding great-grandpa's tractor. It is like 60 years old. Cole wouldn't

ride it unless he was sitting on my lap, so I had to drive the thing! It had been awhile!

"BUBBLES!!"

This puppy bubble maker is battery-powered. How lazy are we?!?!

Back when I was a kid, we had to actually BLOW our bubbles.

Cole and Great-Grandma King...

(Notice my 3rd grade perm picture in the background?)

Four generations....

The cows..."BOOO!"

Cole and Great-Grandpa King

All tuckered out on the flight home.

In June we went to North Carolina to visit my grandparents. They hadn't met Cole yet because it is getting harder for them to travel long distances as they get older. They didn't exactly know we were coming. My parents were there visiting, and left to "go have lunch with cousin Kathy" (wink, wink). They actually drove to the Charlotte airport to pick us up. My grandparents were so surprised! We stayed for about four days. Cole loved riding the tractor and seeing the cows and pigs. It was a great trip!

Sharrow Family Pictures

Yesterday we had photographer Jim Forneris out to our house to take Sharrow family pictures in our backyard while everyone is in town. Todd and Stephanie are in town for the summer, and Scott and Mikala are here for the week. We got some great pictures, including some that may become Scott and Mikala's engagement pictures!

Library Fun

On Tuesday Cole and I met Nora and the kids at the public library. The kids were more interested in playing on the slide than in reading books, but Nora and I enjoyed the time to visit, so we didn't really care. What a daredevil Cole is becoming! I am getting nervous! I spiked up Cole's hair that day....isn't it cute???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA IVERSON!!

Sail Away

Cole is a monkey. A climbing machine.

We could not keep him off the steps up to the cockpit.

Last Sunday we went up to the Knife River and sailed back to Duluth with Grandpa and Grandma Sharrow and Uncle Todd and Steph. We had a delicious breakfast. It was a little chilly, and it started to rain at one point, but we still had a great time!

We will post pics from our North Carolina trip soon! Our camera died and we forgot our charger, so Grandpa and Grandma Iverson are sending us a CD of their pictures. Cole got to visit the farm and see that cows and pigs and ride on the tractor!

Baby Einstein

Of course we are certain that Cole is a child prodigy and will be reading by age 2... well, not for lack of trying! Here are some cute pics reading with Daddy.

Cole can now perform on cue the sounds for the following animals: cow ("boo!" He might be confusing "cow" with "ghost"), monkey, fish, puppy, duck, owl, and sheep.

Mission (almost) Accomplished!!

This past weekend we re-roofed our house. And when I say "we," I really mean Ryan, Todd, Josh, Jim, and Dustin. Despite several difficult encounters with inept Menards employees, all materials were finally accounted for, and the project began.

Old roof is off!

Almost done with the house! They finished the house at about 10:30 pm Saturday night with the help of headlamps and spotlights.

Cole is such a great "helper."

House is finished!!!!

I'm not sure whether I dare mention that we ran out of shingles while doing the garage on Sunday, so there are tarps temporarily protecting the un-shingled portion. We aren't able to put our finger on how we miscalculated the number of shingles we would need, but we do know that Menards can't get our special order shingle color in until June 24. So, we wait. With a sweet blue tarp on our garage roof. But the house is done, so that is huge!!! THANK YOU to all who helped with the roof and/or landscaping projects at our house this weekend: Josh, Todd, Jim, Dustin, Bren, Kathy, Steph, and Phyllis! We could never have accomplished all of this without your help!

Friday (the 13th, no less) we leave for North Carolina to visit my grandparents. We shall return on Tuesday. The flight with a 16-month-old should be interesting.... I am guessing much more challenging than with the 7-month-old who slept all the way to New Jersey in September....