WOW! Summer is half over!

Hello Family and Friends! It has been a busy couple of months since the last update, so here we go!

We are getting ready to start an addition onto our house. With the need for Lucas to move out of our bedroom, we decided to do a two bedroom addition on the east side (right in the picture below) of our house. It is going to be an 18x20 addition with one of the bedrooms being about 10x15 and the other being about 10x12. There will be a hallway coming off our current kitchen/family room area. They were to break ground this past Friday, but we got between 5 and 7 inches of rain in five hours. Our rain gauge quit measuring at 4 inches and it rained hard for at least another hour after that.

Our contractor has removed the siding from the east side of the house and has measured for the trusses. The addition will be flush with the front of the house and go back 18 feet, or to just in front of the window in the picture.

Last weekend, July 8-10th, we headed to the Cities. Lucas had a follow up appointment for his thumb and everything is going outstandingly. They will want to see him in a year again. He will not have movement of his top joint, but he can still use it like a lever. He has been using it a lot and has adjusted well. But then again, he is young enough and doesn't know any differently.

Anyway, on Saturday, our family and my sister Stacy, her husband Dave and their twin daughters Abby and Maddy made the trip out to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. Here is a picture from up on the hill looking out towards the lake across the road.

For those of you that haven't been to the Arboretum and you like plants and landscaping, this is a must see. They have all the different plants broken out by type and their are wide paved trail and little foot paths all over the place. Denise and I would like to do it again, on a cooler day and without Libby and Lucas as the stroller really limited where we could go. Below is one of the foot paths.

Here is Libby and Daddy at one of the resting areas.

And Troy and Denise. Libby didn't want to get completely out of the picture.

Libby, Maddy and Abby looking at all the monies in one of the many ponds and fountains.

Libby loved the waterfall in this picture.

So much so that she had to point it out to all of us!

Libby in the "birds nest" at the entrance of the Arboretum.

Maddy, Libby and Abby in the "birds nest".

The weekend of June 26th, Denise's mom, Rosemary, had all of her brothers and sisters in town for a gathering. On Sunday, we made a trek out to Carlos Creek Winery with them and Libby and I had to have our picture taken in wine cask out front.

On Saturday night, Rosemary and the clan made the trip out to our place for some food and bonfire with Smores.

Libby anxiously awaiting the bonfire to start so she can have her Smores.

The fire pit is about ready to go, much to Libby's liking!

We can fit 18 people on our deck. Just no more than one person try to move at once!

Memorial Day weekend, we made the trip to Rugby, ND, for a Danielson (Denise's maiden name) Family Reunion. It was set up to coincide with Beulah's (Denise's grandma) 90th Birthday. Unfortunately, Beulah was in the hospital in Fargo that weekend, so we made a stop to see her on our way to Rugby. Below, you have Beulah, Curtis (Denise's Dad), Denise, Libby and Lucas.

Here are Libby and Lucas with Great Grandma Beulah. Beulah really enjoyed seeing them and they liked sitting on the bed.

And some random pictures here. Here is Libby helping Lucas eat his Puffs one night!

Libby watching TV (probably Barney) and Lucas tagging along!

So, what does the rest of the summer have in store for us. Well, we have our addition project that hopefully will only take about a month. Our contractor, who also is our next door neighbor, thinks he can pound it out pretty quickly as there is nothing complicated about it. Outside of that, we think we have done most of our running around, so hopefully we can sit back and enjoy the days and nights. Once fall rolls around, we will be busy again with two weddings, a cruise and hockey starting back up. I think we figured it out and between October 1 and December 31, we have three weekends open right now! YIKES!

Well, everyone else enjoy the summer and we will try to keep things a little more updated for those of you that don't have Facebook.

Troy, Denise, Libby and Lucas