The end of summer.....

Well, Labor Day just passed and I know it signals the end of summer. I am not ready for it... I wanted a few more days at the beach (even though the warmest we ever saw the water was 64 degrees!) - just some hot days that I could remember when it is 5 below in February. But, we did have a great Labor Day with my parents, my sister and my niece. They came in on Thursday and my Dad and I went on a segway tour (early birthday present to him) and had a blast. He had been dreaming of doing that (begging security guards just for 5 minutes on one) for years. It was a lot of fun. First minute was scary but shortly after that we wanted to be going as fast as it would let us. Then on Friday we had a picnic right on the beach at a little park. It was so nice and relaxing. The kids loved it, and then we even followed that up with another bigger park. Jude loves a good park! Saturday we went to the zoo. It is so much fun going with Jude now, because every time we go I can see that he is really noticing and following and understanding the animals. (I don't mean understanding like he can talk to them (i.e. slitherins), but he knows what monkeys and bears are). We got some good Chicago style pizza for dinner and then went shopping. Then we even slipped in a trip to the Apple Holler on Sunday on there way back to MN. The weather was perfect, and we got some really good sour apples! (and apple cider, caramel apple, and apple caramel corn - we'll just say we fought over who would be changing Jude's diaper after that). Then Ryan and I checked out the outlet mall on the way back and stopped at our favorite diner from college - Full Moon! Jude was amazing the whole time. (amazing for an almost 2 year old, of course) Speaking of that... Everyone's favorite Jude moment from the weekend - the large sighs while staring at the ground when he gets mad or upset - shoulders going up and down with each big breath. He will stand there for ever! Believe me, I will take it over some of the tantrums, but it is just so funny (he will look up at you every couple breaths to make sure you are watching him). Literally -he will stand there until you pick him up (or sometimes we are laughing that we will finally get him to laugh with us).