At the car wash having some fun...

 Sat., Aug. 10th we had a wonderful day at home beginning with building our own car wash indoors & out!  Yep, we lined up all our vehicles and made our own make shift car wash; I had a blast! 

Here's me putting them through the dryer...

Late morning we even set-up a car wash outside and Hudson, Mommy & I washed the van!  It was a big, dirty job but needed to be done and we were soaked once done.  Here's Hudson getting his "work hat & clothes" on, ready to take care of the van outside...

That evening the Hansen's came over for dinner and we were going to have a bonfire but it rained!  We should have known it was going to rain especially since we washed the van earlier...there goes all our hard work!  We still had fun though and even had a great time with the Hansen's on Sunday after church for some Cincinnati Chili lunch!  First time for us and that's when you put chili on-top of noodles.  It was delicious.

 

On the 12th Hudson said, "mine" for the first time and on the 13th he even said "grandpa" to Grandpa Scott when we were catching up on the phone!  We even got a report on the 15th that Hudson's helping more & more picking up toys & assisting his teachers at daycare...keeps on growing!  On Sat., Aug. 17th Daddy & I got to go to our friends Lee & Aly's (*she's also one of our former teachers) weddings in Albert Lea.  Hudson started with a cough and didn't nap well so he had to stay back with Mom.  I think everyone was bummed.  Had a wonderful time at the wedding and even got to play with some of my daycare friends!  On the 18th we finally got our bonfire night with the Hansen's and we ate s'mores!  We were blessed with beautiful weather all weekend; it was hard to say goodbye to the outdoors & our weekend, and hello to Monday & daycare/work.

 

On the 21st Hudson came down with a temp of 102 and bronchitis again.  The good news after more tests and x-rays he didn't have strep or pneumonia or any of the other things he's had before so hopefully after some fun neb treatments he'll be on the mend soon!  With his recent surgery they still want to keep a close eye & monitor but heading in right direction for now.

 

This past weekend we got to have a special play date & lunch with the Sutcliffe's, I love my new buddy Max!  We also got to go to the movie I've been waiting what seems like forever...Planes!

Saturday afternoon we went to Planes at Albert Lea & even had special snacks at Applebee's.  The movie was a lot of fun and all I could talk about afterwards was how we need to see it again soon!  Sunday we just hung out after church and stayed pretty low key.

 

This week we started off at DC painting and Hudson & I even got to do some painting projects together.  We're working on mixing primary colors together to get secondary colors & here's my work of art...

& Hudson's beautiful butterfly...

We also started this week off with some fun at home...on Monday, the 26th Daddy taught me out to "shave"...yep, got my own "shaving cream" and "razor" & all!

Here's me giggling through my first couple of swipes! 

Here I am getting some pointers from Daddy and he even added more "shaving cream"...I think Daddy was having just as much fun putting the shaving cream on me as I was trying to get it off!

Up next....a family vacation to Des Moines, IA, over Labor Day weekend and we can't wait.  Grandma/pa Sergeant won tickets to Adventureland we're going to use and hopefully also see the Blank Park Zoo...here's hoping it's not too hot.  Hope you have a fun & safe Labor Day weekend too.

XOXO, Hayden & Hudson

A Trip to AZ & Water Week!

Early July 26th Mom & Dad with the Oswald's headed to Sioux Falls, SD to fly out to Phoenix, AZ.  They got to see Uncle Jared in Sioux Falls (we were jealous) and had a great time.  They flew out to see the Olson's & meet baby Cameron who was born July 2nd.  On Sat., July 27th they celebrated Cameron's baptism and he did great, not making a peep!  Here's Cameron with his Mom, Erin, Dad, Nate and big bro, Tyler, watching as he receives his first blessing:

Beautiful baby Cameron!

Here's our Mom holding baby Cameron with Reece Oswald.  Mom & Reece are honored to be Cameron's Godparents: 

Here's the whole gang:  Erin's Dad, Grandpa Larry & his friend Pat, Dad & Mom, Cameron, Nate, Tyler, Erin, Anna & Reece: 

After the baptism everyone enjoyed a wonderful breakfast & presents!  I wish I could have been there to help open.  Then had a relaxing day of shopping, pool time & a pre-birthday party/dinner for Erin! 

On Sun., July 28th Dad & Mom celebrated their 9 year anniversary (8-14) a little early with a sunrise hot air balloon ride!  Yep, they had to leave the hotel at 4:30 a.m. but it was well worth it!  Here's Mom & Dad pre-ride as Patrick, their Captain, is filling up the balloon: 

Dad & Mom said the adventure was like floating on a cloud or like floating in Glenda the Good Witch's bubble in Wizard of Oz.  You seem motionless as just going with the wind so only 5-6 mph.  They got up to about 1 mile in the air but usually stayed around 400 feet.  As you can see from the scenery below there were about 5 other balloons that took off with them & flew through the AZ Sonoran desert.  Here they are about to take off:

Fueling the balloon; there were 4 burners: 

The beautiful Sonoran desert & their shadow: 

Two of the other balloons following some of the same currents:

Sunrise in the desert:

Their Captain, Patrick, has been flying for 23 years and was awesome.  He even dipped them down, brought them back up & landed on a street!  They both said they'd go again in a heartbeat. 

Happy 9th Anniversary Mom & Dad; 8 may have been great but 9 will be more than fine! 

After the ride they were treated with French traditional flutes of champagne and scrumptiously  gourmet breakfast by a local James Beard Award winning chef.   

As first time balloonist they toasted with the balloonist prayer:

May the winds welcome you with softness.
May the sun bless you with its warm hands.
May you fly so high and so well that God
joins you in laughter and sets you gently
back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

 

After their flight they visited the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Aviation Museum which was amazing.  The museum was founded to acquire, restore and preserve in flying condition a complete collection of combat aircraft which were flown by all military services of the United States, and selected aircraft of other nations.  You can even pay to fly in some of them!  Unfortunately they didn't have time for a flight but really enjoyed talking with the veterans/pilots and checking out all the aircraft as well as war/military exhibits.  Here's Daddy in the giant hanger museum next to one of his favorite planes! 

In the afternoon the girls went to the movie The Heat while the boys relaxed.  Everyone went out to celebrate Erin's birthday which they followed up with cake / cupcakes!

Here's Tyler eating his first cupcake - cake not so much but frosting, yes please! 

Mom & Dad safely returned Monday afternoon & both picked us up from daycare which was a special treat.  We then made homemade pizza as a family which I even got to cut all the veggies!  Nice to be home again as a family.  Hudson & I had a blast at Grandma & Grandpa Prestegard's with cousins Hannah & Elise and Auntie Jenni.  We played outside, at the shop, ran all over & even held a surprise early birthday party for Hannah (8-5).  Aunt Jenni was amazing with her phone as she helped Hudson & I send Mommy/Daddy photos & a video!  What a fun weekend!

 

The week of July 29th to Aug. 2nd was Water Week in my Explorer Room at DC.  We had fun indoors & out with water themed snacks, songs & activities, including sprinklers & other fun things in which I got to wear my swim trunks!  We learned about water related animals which we painted like these fish and...

...and my frog!  I liked gluing the tongue on the best!

Although Hudson's Tiny Tots room didn't have water week they got to do some fun water type activities too and also made a frog!  They read the book "Frog's Lunch" in which the frog snapped the fly out of the sky!  Here's Hudson's frog masterpiece:

On Aug. 1st we met the Hansen family at the Bricelyn pool after supper in which Hudson & I went down the big slide!  By the end of the evening I was going down the slide all by myself!  On Aug. 2nd we met Mom's friend Michelle & her daughter, Carissa, at Applebee's in Albert Lea.  Afterwards we went to a near by park to play, poor Carissa chased Hudson around, while I got to play on orange excavator or "digger".  The entire time we were at the park I never left it!  I was really bummed when we left but look forward to another visit soon.

 

Daddy was off to the NASCAR races in Des Moines for the weekend so it was just us boys with Mommy.  We had a great time playing outside and bumming around.  This week has been pretty tame too.  On Wed., Aug. 7th I impressed my teachers during outside play by convincing a few of my friends to help me prop one of the cars up, laid some cardboard down, and proceeded to show them how to change the oil.  Seriously!  The teachers thought it was impressive & adorable!

 

The biggest news in our house his week is how Hudson is starting to talk more.  On Aug. 3rd he said "ball" and "Bob" (*we were watching Bob the Builder) and today, Aug. 9th he said "bubbles" and "baaa" for sheep for the first time!  By mid July he was saying "ruff ruff" when he saw a dog (or any animal that he felt looked like a dog like a cat!) and on July 22nd he said "water" for the first time.  Growing leaps & bounds!

 

Yesterday, Aug. 8th after daycare Mommy & I took Hudson to his annual eye exam appointment, eye dilation & all.  He was really brave and we found out his eyes have worsen a bit so even more far-sighted then before.  We got new glasses on order and should be here soon!  Afterwards since I was such a big helper & so good (*we were there for 2 hrs!) we got to go to the tractor store or Farm & Fleet.  Since Hudson's eyes were dilated he had to wear the runners over his eyes while we were out & about...pretty cute:

They must have helped as he didn't even try to take them off.  Today, Aug. 9th we got to see Grandma Judy, meet Daddy, Grandpa & the men for lunch in Frost at Julie's, went to the shop & Frost bin site and even went to the park in Bricelyn after we picked up some sweet corn.  As you probably know dinner was delightful with fresh sweet corn & Grandma Judy made us orange salad!  We ended our day with 4 wheel rides, sandbox/play house/water table time and a long walk.  We're beat!  We had a fun day and can't wait to see what our weekend has in store.

XOXO, Hayden & Hudson