Joel’s Pickleball Tournament
Joel played in a pickleball tournament over Memorial Day weekend. The format was Men’s Doubles on Saturday and then Mixed Doubles on Monday. He took off around 10:15am on Saturday for his tournament and we headed down to watch the bracket play after Miles’ nap.
The kids did pretty well for most of it. They had fun running around and dancing on the stage to the music. Hailey ended up knocking one of the tables over and it landed on one of her fingers with a very loud bang. Thankfully it sounded a lot scarier than it actually was.
Joel and his partner ended up getting third place, which was great since they didn’t really ever play together! They had some close matches. Joel’s dad ended up being there for the last match Joel played in. Miles spotted him first and was yelling “bappa!” over and over. I just assumed he saw and older guy and thought it was a grandpa.. but it was actually Dan. Miles was SO excited. It was so helpful to have that second set of hands there to keep the kids contained.
On Monday, Joel played in the Mixed Doubles tournament. This division didn’t start until 3pm, so we were able to be there from the start. We headed down right when Miles woke up from his nap – he napped hard (we had played all morning). Joel’s parents came as well and it was so great having them there. They helped with the kids so much. I’m sure they would have loved to watch Joel play more.. but I was so thankful to actually get to see him play a little bit and get to snag some pictures of him. Hailey was adorable, yelling very loudly at the fence “GO DADDY! GO DADDY! GO DADDY!”. Dan had to come over and tell her she had to be a little quieter since she was distracting them.
Joel and his partner did really well in the pool play and won the first few in the bracket play. I took the kiddos home before he finished up playing to get them ready for bed since it was getting late. The tournament was great this year! Last year it was outside, so being inside this year was nice since we didn’t have to worry about the weather (This is the post from last year when he played in the tournament). It was almost in the 90s this year, so it would have been really hot to watch.
Outdoor Fun
We’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors enjoying the weather. It’s been pretty warm!
- We have made it over to the Shoreview Community Center with one of Hailey’s daycare friends
- The kiddos have loved going in and out of our house into the backyard (and the front yard… ugh), they love the swingset we have in the backyard – because of this freedom they think we have, I bought some child lock things from the sliding glass door that work really well. I also bought some for the front door and garage door that I need to install
- The kids love the Lion Park with the “going swing”, we went there over Memorial Day weekend – Joel took them there by himself also
- When we were there, there was a huge family picnic going on with lots of teenagers. At one point, a family with a dog came to the park and the dog did his business and left some poop right on the steps to the playground. It got smeared everywhere on those steps and smelled pretty bad.. While Joel was swinging with Hailey, a few teenage girls were talking loudly (as teenagers do) and said it smelled like dog sh*t. Of course, Hailey decides to repeat that since she doesn’t know what that means.. Crazy how fast these kids pick up on phrases they hear!
- Hailey has been loving playing on her bike! She has gotten the hang of it pretty well! She does hit the brakes pretty often and get a little frustrated when she abruptly stops. We got the little bike out for Miles to play with and he seems pretty content hanging out on that, he loves to wear his helmet
- Over Memorial Day weekend, we got to go over to a friends house and play with all their water toys in the backyard. The kids had a BLAST. I think that there was just so much to do that they didn’t even get a chance to argue with each other! They were so exhausted from the weekend, Miles slept in on Tuesday until 6:45 – that’s a record! He has NEVER slept in that late!
“Gardening”
We had a call with our financial advisor on Friday and with all of the discussion about interests rates and what not, it was a kick in the pants that we are not going to be moving… for a long time. I decided I would finally start making the house look a little better on the outside now that we have been in it for almost 4 years and the kids are a little more manageable.
I placed an order and Lowes for 15 bags of mulch (thinking that would take care of the whole house… hah!) I also bought pavers to do some stuff in the backyard under our deck and under the playset. I got to edging and mulching and cutting down branches. And I did not get anywhere near done…
I used all 15 bags of mulch on just the one side of the house. I cut down so many branches that I need to take to compost. We also had a mole service come to set up traps for the moles, voles, chipmunks, and gophers in our yards.. they caught one mole and one gopher this week. To catch the voles, they do have poison traps setting out. Sad story: our neighbor found a bunny nest in their front yard. I found one of the baby bunnies in our front yard while mulching… not far from one of the vole poison traps. See that open garage door in the picture below? When I came out into the garage a while later, that baby bunny was almost dead on the steps leading into the house of our garage…. Joel had to take care of that, and he is about as brave as I am at those things, we were both about in tears.
Other Stuff
Hailey loves using the camera, just like her mommy.
We had Miles second birthday part at Dan and Sheri’s house. By birthday party, it was dinner and cupcakes after daycare with balloons. (Miles two year old post)
Miles had his two year old check up. He passed everything and seemed healthy. He got a couple vaccines including a covid booster. They gave him a pinwheel for a distraction for the vaccines and he loved that!
Running is going well I think! I’m no where near where I used to be but I feel like I’m finally giving myself the grace to be okay with that. We are only a few weeks away from Grandma’s half and getting to do that with Joel! My lower back has been bugging me, which has caused a little bit of chaos throughout my whole leg… trying to get that feeling better. I did the Mayhem challenge at Orange Theory and completed the 5 of 7 days for the week to get the t-shirt and sticker!
I’ve been doing my nails still and enjoying it! It feels like a fun challenge to try to get a little better each time. I also did my mom’s nails while she was here and a running club friend’s nails. I got to hang out with Joel’s mom the other night too and gossip and she used some of my nail stuff to do her nails too! It’s so fun!
Are the doggies adorable?!?!
I took Hailey and Miles to Target to get groceries and shoes for them… I got them each a cake pop and me a much needed latte. While in the grocery aisle, Miles bumped my arm as I was finally taking a sip of my latte and the drink fell and spilled all over the floor. I found a worker and he was so nice – he told me it happens all the time, made me feel like I wasn’t a jerk, and helped clean it up. He told me to go back to Starbucks and they would even remake it for me. I went back to Starbucks, they were soooo nice, and they remade it for me.
I finish getting groceries and we head over to the shoes. We are trying on shoes, Miles is being cranky. I put him back in the cart and am trying on some shoes for Hailey. Miles looks at me, picks my latte up out of my cart… and THROW IT ON THE CARPETED FLOOR. Before I had even taken a drink out of it. Oh. my . gosh…. I strapped him into that seat so he couldn’t get out, and we went to check out so we could leave – with both of them screaming because they wanted to play with toys. I had a full cart of groceries though that I was not about to abandon. Get to the checkout line… Hailey has to potty. Of course. I ask one of the managers if I could leave the cart with her while I bring the kids to the bathroom, she is a saint and asks if she can start checking me out while we’re in there. I get the kids in the bathroom, Hailey gets to the toilet.. looks at it, looks at me.. “I don’t have to potty”. BAH!!! Go pay for groceries.. and I decide I am going to get myself a latte for the ride home… where Miles cannot reach it. The cashier was the same one who filled up my drink twice already. She refused to let me pay for it even though I told her it was my fault it got spilled the second time. These kids….