3 days in Nebraska for Erik's Family Reunion

Erik, Holly, Aunt RoseLee, and Myles - Sunday morning just before we left for home

A very sweaty Myles eating some ice cream

Holly and Myles playing at the Topil family reunion

Holly playing at the reunion - she loved those toys! Thanks to who ever brought them!

A bunch of the kids calm down for a moment to watch 5 minutes of a video. It was a nice try.

Topil family catching up!

Erik hanging out with Doug Topil - Indy is asking Erik to transform Myles's toy.

Group of family enjoying time together!

The cutest picture of Erik and Holly ever!

Uncle Bob's Vineyards behind his house.

Myles at the Lincoln zoo - he is petting a millipede! Brave kid!

Mommy and Holly at the zoo - we had fun!

Erik and Myles at the Lincoln Zoo

Myles sitting on a Tortoise statue by the tortoise exhibit. It was really neat!

Holly hanging in her stroller at the Lincoln zoo - it was really hot that day!

Myles sticking his head through a caterpillar

Erik looking beautiful as a butterfly at the Lincoln Zoo - I knew I married up, but who would have thought that he would look so beautiful! :)

Myles climbing on the pretend spider web at the zoo -he had a ton of fun on this!

Myles standing in the giant egg shells at the Lincoln Zoo

We went to Nebraska on Friday morning to attend the Topil Family reunion (which was on Saturday). While it was a long drive, 8 hours, we made several stops to run around and eat lunch. Holly started walking (yippee!) and will take about 2 or 3 steps. On Saturday morning we went to the Lincoln Zoo and had a good time. Lots of neat exhibits! Then everyone took naps before attending the Reunion! Somewhere between 60-70 people attended and it was great to try and catch up with people. Myles had a blast and ran around until he was sweating. Everyone stayed up late, and we finally got back to Bob and RoseLee's house about 9:30 pm. We then came home on Sunday. While it is good to be home, we are sooo happy that we could attend! We hope that we can attend again soon! A HUGE thanks to Bob and RoseLee for letting us crash at your house! It was wonderful to spend time with you!

Holly's Birthday Party BBQ!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Holly, happy birthday to you! Such a big girl at ONE YEAR OLD now!

Mmmmm... cake is yummy! I want it every day!

Holly playing with Preston (our friends son from across the street). They may be future husband and wife, we're still working out the dowery. So far it is 2 goats and one horse. :)

Myles, Nicole, and Mason playing ontop of the playhouse at Holly's party

Holly in her birthday dress and Strawberry Shortcake hat! Cute!

Aunt Erica with many of the kids playing the bean bag toss game!

Chilling at the party

Yes, that is a Cop. No, the party wasn't wild. It's our friend Cory who couldn't miss out even though he was working! Patrick and Dad seem to be having fun!

Erica and fiance Pete are enjoying the party! But it will get better once food is served!

Silvia with little Isabella at the party! Doesn't Isabella look so cute in her party dress!

We had a Strawberry Shortcake theme, complete with cake! It was tastey!

Party table with all the food and cake

On Saturday, July 12th a group of 13 adults and 6 kids celebrated Holly's first birthday! It was so great for everyone to come over to celebrate. We grilled, at lots of food, the kids played while the adults relaxed and hung out. The weather was wonderful! Holly seemed to know the day was for her and had a blast! It was so much fun! (My camera died, but hopefully I'll get some pictures from others and add to this post)

Happy 1st Birthday Holly!!!!!!!!!!!

Holly chewing on a toy car - what a cutie in her birthday shirt!

Holly and Myles sitting on the cute new kids couch that she got for her birthday!

Holly Janel Johnson turned ONE YEAR OLD on Friday, July 11th. We didn't do much that day -the kids spent the day with Grandma while Erik and I had to go to work. Holly wore her birthday shirt all day, and looked cute! We hung out all together as a family that evening. The big celebration came the next day...

Andrea

New Food to eat

Early this July I went with my co-worker, Diane, to try some Indian food at Bombay Bistro. She loves that place and I mentioned that I wanted to try it. Well, we went, and I liked!!!!!!!!! I would recommend going there if you have a chance. We went to the one in downtown Mpls.

Andrea

Myles the Artist!

When we got home on Sunday evening, Myles and I were drawing on his magnadoodle. He made the best looking picture ever! It is a picture of one of his favorite transformers - Bumble Bee. So I had to snap a quick picture of it! I think he has a future in Art!

4th of July with the Family in South Dakota

Happy 4th of July to everyone! We didn't see any fireworks, but I thought this was a nice picture.

Here is the pirate ship that was in the waterpark at the hotel - Myles loved it and swam for a long time!

The pool at Great Grandma's had a hole, but Holly played on it for about 20 minutes! I guess she didn't know that it was supposed to be filled with water! I guess she just knows how to have fun! :)

William and Erik hanging out on the couch

Aunt Hilda and Cousin Andy chatting on Sunday

Myles with Uncle Tim - don't they look chummy?

Myles totally dug hanging out with his Cousin William! They played Transformers, and that is the way to Myles's heart! Thanks William!

Holly, Myles, and Lily playing with toys at Great Grandma's. I think Myles is showing Lily how to transform his toy jet.

Andrea and Stacey - Congrats on the big announcement! Can't wait to meet baby # 3!

Andrea and Grandma Irene - Thanks for everything this weekend!

Myles on the ride home with all his Transformers in his lap - he actually took a nap this way. It was funny!

Holly crashed out about 10 minutes after we hit the road for home - she was soooo tired, but isn't she cute??

We traveled on Friday to Sioux Falls, S.D. to visit with my family at a big picnic. Everyone gathered together on Saturday and enjoyed spending time together. It was great to see so many family members! Myles was super good this weekend, and had a blast playing with his cousin Lily. They kept each other well entertained! On Saturday they ran through the sprinkler together, and then in the late afternoon they swam at the water park. Holly crawled around every where and impressed a few with her new attempts to stand up on her own. She was a little crabby all weekend long. But with all things taken into account, the kids were great! We headed back on Sunday morning, and got home in the afternoon to find our home scorching hot inside - our AC had stopped and the temps got up to 89 degrees! Yuck! By the time we went to bed at 11:00 pm it had cooled down to only 82 degrees - needless to say we were using the fans to keep cool.

Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! God Bless!

Love, Andrea

Fun at the park!

Holly climbing on one of the structures at the park

Myles posing for a picture at the park

The kids don't have daycare today, so I'm at home with them. We are having a blast! This morning we went to the park to play and have a picnic there. Everyone was in a good mood and well behaved. Holly ate some sand - yuck. But quickly figured out that Mommy doesn't want her to do that. Now it's nap time (yeah!) and I'm hoping to get both kids to sleep at the same time. Ah... won't that be nice!

Happy early 4th of July!

Andrea