Mall Of America

My Mom and brother, Jeremy, got in town today. First stop....Mall Of America!!!The Lego store was pretty impressive

4th of July Weekend

We had a fun forth of July weekend. Grandpa VandenAkker had meetings in Minneapolis so it was fun to hang out with him Thursday evening.

On Saturday, Cole participated in the Minneman Triathlon at Lake George Regional Park in Oak Grove. He did such a great job finishing in 1:20. I was so happy to see him finish in one piece...no separated shoulder or other injuries. :)

The Shoppes at Arbor Lakes

Shiner

Cole and I went to his company's dinner party tonight at the Guthrie Theater. While we were there, Jaxon had his first run-in with a baseball bat. He was playing with some friends and walked into a swing by a little three year old. It was bound to happen sooner or later. We were just glad it wasn't any worse. It makes for a nice shiner.

Day 2
Here we are at the Guthrie. It had a great view of the Mississippi.

Summertime

It has finally started to warm up enough to go swimming. Every morning Jaxon will ask if we can go play in the "cold wa wa." He loves the pool.

2 Months

I can't believe Grant is already 2 1/2 months old. He is getting so big. We had his two month appointment a couple weeks ago and he weighed 12 lbs 15 oz - 75% in weight, 50% in height and head. I think he has put on a couple pounds since his appointment. He is already out of his 0 - 6 month clothes and wearing 6 - 12. He is such a great baby. He has recently started sleeping 8 hours a night and I can not tell you how nice it is to sleep again. It has been so much fun watching Jaxon interact with him. He loves to make him smile and laugh. Whenever Grant is crying Jaxon will continually tell me that he needs his "bobba" or run over and stick his binkie in his mouth. I don't know if the crying just bothers him or if he sincerely wants to help take care of him. Either way I find it cute. My favorite phrase that Jaxon has been saying lately when Grant cries is "I'm coming baby." He repeats it over and over until we pick him up.

These pictures of him in the bumbo crack me up.

Happy Birthday Cole

We had a fun birthday celebration with our neighbors and Cole's brother Jason tonight.
Jaxon was so excited to blow out the candles.

Cole's favorite yellow cake with coolwhip layers and a chocolate buttercream frosting - YUM!

Janessa, Julia, Denise, and me

Kayla, Jaxon, and Matheus

Zoo

We have been in Minneapolis a week now and are really enjoying it so far. The weather has been great. I was expecting it to be hot and humid, but have been pleasantly surprised with the great temperatures we have been receiving. After one week I feel comfortable driving and know my way around. The freeways here are similar to home. There are so many fun parks and dedicated biking/running paths away from the busy streets that take you around lakes and in the woods. It is a really pretty city and I have been so impressed with how family friendly it is.

We took a trip to the Como Zoo today with a few friends that live in our same complex and are coworkers with Cole.
(this picture of Jaxon is priceless - as you can tell he was really excited to be in it)
The train was the highlight of the trip for Jaxon