A great day for a picnic!

The July photos in the July-Aug 2011 album feature two events: the annual BBQ Days parade in town and a fantastic day at one of our favorite parks. The BBQ Days parade is always a big hit, esp the bands (check out the video of Alex jamming!). And at Lake Minnetonka Regional Park, we had a blast playing on the playground and playing games and grilling a tasty picnic dinner.

Take me out to the ballgame!

June continued to be a busy month in the Vandermark household, starting with a week after Z&A’s graduation. It started with a Saturday trip to Target Field for the Accenture Family Social at the Twins game. It was a little ironic being at an Accenture-paid event, given that I was no longer employed by them since I had started a new job at UnitedHealth Group the week before, but you gotta love a free day of family fun!

The following day, we celebrated Joe’s birthday, highlighted with a special cake he requested – a cream cheese pound cake with strawberry sauce – and a wonderful day spent together as a family.

From there it was all about sports – Zach and Alex started their very first swim lessons (such water babies, they are!) and their first season of full tee-ball. They of course loved every bit of it!

Check out the photos in the May-June album!

The end of the week finished with a Father’s Day weekend trip to the MN Zoo (it really was a BUSY week!), but those pictures will be in the next batch uploaded.

In the new July – Aug 2009 album (seriously, how is it that July is almost over already???), there are some pictures and video clips from the tee-ball part of Preschool Sports.  The videos are pretty funny – it’s complete chaos (I think even more than soccer was, if that’s possible) and it’s obvious we need to teach Zach and Alex about how the bases work in the sport.

Zach, Daddy and Alex

Also in the album are pictures from shooting “booms” on the 4th with Robert and Kwo Ue, a mini-golf and go-cart outing with Grandma Pat and Papa Bob, and a parade and carnival at BBQ Days, the town festival.

Zach and Alex were really excited to play sports this summer, joining a Preschool Sports program where they get to play a little bit of soccer and a little bit of tee-ball.  They had soccer the first couple weeks and just loved it.  They both looked really good and had a blast doing it.  They were just non-stop all over the place (not a huge surprise, knowing them).  The tee-ball portion started this week, and again, they had a ton of fun.   I think they’re especially proud to be out playing baseball just like their big brother.

Speaking of big brother and baseball, Cole’s baseball team had a great regular season, finishing first in their league!  The playoffs are this week, and they won their first playoff game tonight!  Yeah, Cole!

In totally separate news, both Zach and Alex are finally potty trained.  Yeah! No more diapers!!  Zach was finally motivated to do it once he realized that he had to use the potty if he wanted to go to preschool in the fall.  It’s funny what motivates kids sometimes, but hey, whatever works!

New photos on the site include pictures from our camping trip, all three boys playing their sports, a fun afternoon playing with squirt guns at Grandma Pat and Papa Bob’s, and more.  Check them out in the May – June 2009 photo album.