4th of July weekend

I'm a bit behind on blogging - so this will be the first of three tonight :)

The fourth of July weekend was just fantastic this year! We headed to Osceola, WI for a great weekend with good friends, Sarah, Jim and Briana Alt. After all these years as friends, Sarah and I have started to share a brain. We independently went shopping, in different cities, and both came home with the same sunglasses with coordinating outfits for our girls. So we HAD to take pictures before heading to the Minnesota zoo! I can't wait to do similar pictures of Madeleine and Julia - this was good practice :) Um, and good thing that Briana is so good natured! She took her man-handling like a real trooper. After the photo shoot, on the way to the zoo, I got a picture message from Ted - he had FINALLY bested the lakes of Northern Wisconsin and caught.... a fish! Last time he and Jim had gone fishing, he felt the fish were laughing at him, so we were all thrilled that he and Jim had a successful outing.

At the zoo we were HOT. We met up with Amanda, Eddie, Bryson and Brecken and enjoyed tidal pools, polar bears, big cats and more! It was 90 degrees, and we were on pavement, albeit shaded for the most part. Of course, as usual, our favorite part was the goats. This time we took a horse drawn wagon ride down to the farm area, and then got some group shots before heading home for the day. We wrapped up the weekend with relaxing and watching baseball - how all American! Enjoy the pictures :)