These are a few of my Favorite Things...

So, it has been a while...I warned all of you through the initial "disclaimer" that posts could become few and far between! We simply have not been home enough to do any blogging! Happily, the things that have kept us away from the computer have been fun and we have been enjoying the last two weeks quite a bit doing some of our favorite things!

I am sure you are not surprised to learn that a lot of our time has been spent at "the" park. It is just a few blocks from our house and is rarely used by many others, so it stays clean and uncrowded...it is quite the find! Collin is very brave on all of the equipment there, and I recently found out that the same bravado has transferred to playgrounds in general when Collin and I had a "double date" with the Hammill family at Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park for an outdoor concert. Although Collin enjoyed dancing to the music and just running around, it was impossible to keep him from the nearby giant playground area the entire evening.

The performer that night was country music star Rockie Lynne (http://www.rockielynne.com/). If any of you are at all familiar with current country music, you will know his songs--even if you don't know his name...I was shocked to hear so many familiar songs and to see the entire park literally packed with people, since I honestly was not familiar with his name at all.

Collin as a cowboy...well, wearing Grandpa Rosenau's cowboy hat at least...

The park was filled with people for the concert and apparently many parents decided to let children of all ages (and behaviors) run wild on the playground...Collin held his own, even with the older kids, and was a complete lil' monkey on the climbing wall area! He is no wall flower, that's for sure! There is a small curved "ladder" type piece to the equipment at "the" playground, and apparently his practice has payed off! He was at the top of this larger plastic climbing wall in no time and with no help! I was not prepared enough to have my camera along that night, so unfortunately I have no pictures...yet. I am sure we will go back as a family sometime this summer and then I will be prepared...although I often find myself hovering in case of a fall in those situations and not exactly worried about managing a camera...I guess Doug may have to play photographer for those pics!

A lot of time has also been spent on golf...UGH!!! Yeah, those of you that know me well can guess how excited that has made me....Apparently the love of golf is being carried down through the Rosenau gene pool because Collin is as addicted as Daddy is...Doug golfs most Thursday evenings in an informal league at a nearby course...and on almost every evening, as well as most weekend mornings and afternoons, Collin golfs right in our front yard...

Talk about golfing in the rough!Yes, one of the words in Collin's increasingly huge vocabulary is "golf"--and he says it loud and proud! Golf also hit closer to home for me this past week when I actually took to the course for a couples "best ball" tournament..again through Doug's informal league. There is no photographic evidence of that, Thank God!, but I guarantee you that I was there and that I played all 9 holes...You can bet that I rarely had the "best ball" though unless using the woman's shot was a requirement of that hole!

A pic of how close Doug got to a "hole in one" while golfing the Poipu Bay course in Hawaii...

A big "Thanks" to Angela for letting me use her clubs, at least sparing me the shame of rentals...People saw your set and thought I had to be exaggerating about not knowing how to golf if I had clubs like that..needless to say, once I got on the course and began to swing people finally believed that I had indeed borrowed them from a friend like I had been telling/warning them all along!

But, the sun was shining, the beer was cold, and most importantly my assigned partner was forgiving (yeah, that's right, some unsuspecting guy got stuck with me) so all in all it could have been worse...In the future, though, I think I'll leave the golf up to the boys of this family...

We also had a family outing to the Anoka County Fair. Again, we are lucky enough to be within walking distance of the fairgrounds, so after a short hike we had a "nutritious" family dinner and then spent the night with Doug's sister, Jenny Butcher, and her family. Her son, our nephew and Godson, Riley was taking part of the Motocross races that night...that in itself sounds impressive to me....Here's the kicker...He is FOUR years old!

Riley & Collin

Typically Riley is a spitfire...I absolutely have believed since he was about 2 years old that he is destined to be a Hollywood stuntman when he grows up, so we were not too shocked to learn he was racing four-wheelers "professionally" so to speak. Although he was not the "hell on wheels" we had anticipated, it was still awesome to watch him. Collin loved all the bikes and four wheelers and cheering for his cousin...He even stayed awake all the way until about 10pm...unheard of for him most days. Clearly even he knew it was a special occasion!

So, I think that is a quick recap of our family during the last couple of weeks...more to come as we travel back to Silver Lake (Doug's home town) this weekend and to Iowa later in the month!