Another Beautiful Day

Pete has been having fun outside. But he has to be careful! He had a deer tick on him the other day, and I had one crawling on me too. We don't want Lymes disease, so we are getting daily checks now since we are outside so much.

So far Pete hasn't eaten any bugs, that Mom has noticed!

Happy Memorial Day

I had a very fun Memorial Day. We went to the mall! I got to ride the escalator, and run all over while Mommy went shopping and bought lots of clothes. We all had fun! Except I'm not sure if Dad's idea of fun is chasing me around everywhere, but he got Taco Bell out of it, so it was worth it for him too! We woke up this morning to thunderstorms, which lead to the lesson of lightening and thunder ("thunder loud"). And it was foggy and dreary for the whole day, so it was perfect for getting some shopping done. We even saw my friend Caitlin at the mall too. She is 2, just like me. So we got to run around together. Then we came home and I took my 4 hour nap, which seems to be the trend lately. I must be growing. Dad came and woke me up at 6, and Mom had dinner ready, chicken and mashed potatoes.

I said "Tastes good!", as soon as I dug in. It made it much more fun eating my potatoes with my digger utensils the Hoekmans gave me for Christmas. I specifically asked Mom for my digger fork- it works perfectly with mashed potatoes.

"Vroom, vroom!"

Peter went down for a little nap at 7, so Mom and Dad went outside and did a little loop around the neighborhood. For those of you that don't live in Duluth, you might wonder why we have jackets and winter hats on. Well that is because it was the lovely temperature of 45 degrees outside. Nothing says the start of summer like a day in the 40's. I hope all you city folk down in Minneapolis enjoyed your 88 degree weather!

Running down this little street stream was fun!

I still love puddles!

Cuddling With Daddy

Peter was in a happy mood today, and ended his day playing for a bit with Daddy.

Mowing the Lawn

I got the mower going to help Dad with the first mow of the season.

I was a little weary of the loud lawn mower, so I kept my distance aways back from Dad.
Pete chilled out in the swing on the apple tree while me and Dad did the hard work. But Pete says it is hard work to look so cute all the time!

My Second Second Birthday Party

Since I cut my birthday party short by taking a nap, I got to have a second 2nd birthday party at Grandpa Gerard's house today, Sunday. I opened the gifts that Uncle Mike and Grandma and Grandpa got me. They were great! I actually got a power drill!
Then Grandpa took me on a tractor ride. He even let me steer! I was concentrating so hard driving the tractor that I couldn't smile for the picture.

Then Peter and Dad joined us and I got to drive some more!

Meanwhile, Mom was cutting rhubarb and looked at the giant leaves, and thought maybe she could make a cabbage patch baby out of Pete, since people have commented on him looking like one! So poor Peter was subjected to the 60 degree, cloudy day in nothing but his diaper. What parents will put their kids through just to get a good picture...!!

The kitty came by to distract Peter, and he liked it.

Mom likes her little cabbage patch baby!

Happy Birthday To ME!

It is my birthday today! I am 2 years old! In preparation for my big party, held on Saturday at Grandpa Radzak's house, Peter and Mom baked a cake on Friday for me. Peter didn't understand that he's supposed to eat the cake, not the cake box!



Mom and Pete decorated the house before me and Dad arrived after staying overnight at Grandpa Gerards on Friday.

Pete had fun helping Mom and Grandma get ready for my big party.

Auntie Shelly came to my party! I was so happy to see her!

Sometimes you just have to take a second to scratch an itch, even if you have an audience.

Peter with Mommy, having a fun time at the party.

The Hoekmans join the party!

Mom and Pete welcome everyone.

I invented a fun game to torture my cousins with. The sliding train!

And I'm the leader!

Hannah was trying to escape from a photo shot, but Dad got her!

Peter and Grandpa Gerard say "Hello" after not seeing each other for a couple weeks.

As food was being prepared, we dragged out the Legos and Jack helped me build a huge castle.

...Peter still saying "Hello" to Grandpa. I think he really missed him!

Peter was pretty excited to see Uncle Mike too!

So not even half way into my party, I put myself down for a nap. But I made Great Grandpa Sundstrom lay down with me. It was short lived though. I was up in no time squealing and running around again. I was still very tired though, which led to my present opening meltdown, which I will explain later.

Mom made me a Curious George cake! The only thing is that it didn't really look like George, but it did look like a monkey, so close enough for me!

We had brats and hot dogs and lots of yummy side dishes to eat. After we ate, I opened a few presents. When I opened the lawnmower from Aunt Shelly and Uncle Trevor, I lost all interest in the other unopened presents and wanted to play with the mower right away. Which led to a big tantrum when Mom took it away from me. But then she let me play with it downstairs, but I was being so disobedient even then, that they had to put me down for a nap right away. That I did not complain about because I was so tired. So I am very sorry to everyone who brought me wonderful gifts, but was too grumpy and tired to thank. I really do like all the presents, which now I have already brought out and played with now that I am home again.

After my nap, most everyone was gone except Aunt Shelly and of course Grandpa and Grandma and Mom and Dad. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon so we went for a stroll around the loop and found lots of puddles to jump in!

This is a big one!

Grandma and Grandpa got me a life preserver so now I can go on the dock and be safe. I got to feed the fish for my first time. I wanted to touch them, but just couldn't reach for enough into the water.

Heading back up to the house- tags still on the preserver.

Great Grandpa and Grandma came back to the house after shopping in Minneapolis. It was good to have more people back to the party, because we still needed to have cake!

Peter, getting kisses from Grandma.

It finally was time to blow out my candle! I actually had to be forced to sit still, but once they lit the candle, I was totally into it!

Get ready, set...

...Blow!!!

And I'm 2 years old!