a sunday in the summer...

on sunday the withers family packed up a picnic and headed to st. paul to the zoo. It was a lovely day (no humidity - finally!). We started our day at the zoo, followed by a ride on the Cafesjian's Carousel. Afterwards we had a picnic before heading to Como Park for some rides. After a short trip in the vehicle, we decided to catch a ride on the Excelsior Trolley. It was so cool! I wish everyday could be like a "sunday in the summer"...What a great day! cool shades...

this is the "before" shot...i couldn't help but laugh (sophia's face is the best!)

hanging out at the "sparky the seal" show...

sophia LOVES giraffes!

livia and daddy

ready to ride on the carousel

all of the carousel horses are made of wood and were carved in 1914

(later they were restored in 1988)

having some fun at como town!

clang, clang, clang went the trolley...

a fun way to end our lovely day!

little mermaids...

livia and sophia began swimming lessons last week. They have had lessons for two weeks and will finish on Friday evening. Livia is in Level 2 and Sophia is in Little Swimmers. Livia is able to swim by herself, while Sophia still needs an adult with her for each lesson (Bobby and I have been alternating).

Both girls have been having a BLAST! I think we are going to need to hit some more pools before the end of the summer, since both my girls have turned into little mermaids! ready to swim at "carlson pool"...
livia was excited to see that her friend, Bryn, was also in Level 2 with her!

so proud that she is able to swim without help!

lovin' the water :)

livia's class is by the edge and sophia's class is right next to her in the middle of the pool (livia is third from the left)

ready to jump in...

there she goes!

did you know...

lucky you! you just stumbled upon the 1st installment of the withers family blog "did you know" edition. i bet you will learn something new as you browse through and look at our pictures... enjoy! did you know that livia was going to be named elias if we had a boy and sophia was going to be named gabe?
did you know that every three years something "big" has happened in the withers family? bobby and i got engaged after three years of dating and then three years later we got married. three years after that livia was born and then three years later, sophia was born...hmmm, i wonder what will happen this year? did you know that livia was going to be named evelyn ruth? we changed her name because one of bobby's co-workers had a little girl 2 months before livia was born and named her evelyn ruth (bobby swore that he never told them our name choices....what do you think?).

did you know that there is a park named "centennial lakes" behind chuck e. cheese in edina? we found this awesome park with mini golf, paddle boats, croquet, lawn bowling, and even ice skating in the winter!

did you know that sophia has a birthmark on the back of her head under her hairline?

did you know that this fawn was trying to eat sophia's shirt, pants, and my hair?

did you know that livia loves animals so much that one day she claims that she will be a zookeeper?

did you know that a maze 'n farmyard has the largest permanent maze in minnesota?

did you know that livia's horse was named snowflake?

did you know that sophia's horse was named buttercup?

did you know that a maze 'n farmyard has a brand new addition called the "bounce barn"? this inflatable slide was 21 feet high.

did you know that the girls had a fun time at a maze 'n farmyard?

fun on the fourth of july...

the withers families celebrated the fourth of july in elk river with the sederholm family. It was a lovely day with fabulous weather, food, and family! God Bless America (and family)...sophia and livia with cousins, kaytlin and elana (and their neighbor friend)
my goofballs!

sophia and livia with grandma nancy (looking so color coordinated for the fourth!)

this was the first day the sederholms brought out their new waterslide...
here we go!

that was fun and cold!

some chocolate fountain for snack...

MMmmm....

museum fun with the mordorskis...

last friday we met up with our good friends, paul and laurie and their adorable son, owen, at the children's museum. Initially we had plans to play at the Lake Rebecca playset, but with the weather being UNGODLY hot, we decided to move things indoors. Boy, we are glad we did because we all had a great time!

Thanks, Mordorski Family :) livia by the....are those snowflakes???
am i not "turtly" enough for ya?


"turtle, turtle, turtle!"

owen having a great time playing in the water...

sophia loved the grocery store

paging dr. withers...

gotta love that face!

up north (day 5)...

on the last day of our trip "up north" we woke up and swam for the last time at the lodge. bobby and i decided to hit the tube slide together, but with some consequences. I guess we were a little heavy for the slide so when we got to the bottom it propelled us forward and off our tube. Bobby shot forward and hit my shoulder. He ended up with a bloody lip and two holes to show for it. Other than that, we were pretty lucky to escape our whole trip with just some bug bites and sore muscles! it was a memorable vacation for the withers and woods families :)

ready to swim for one last time on vacation!

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on the way back home, we decided to stop at the pine grove zoo in little falls...it is the best "little" zoo, but it was 100 degrees with 100% humidity.

good thing it was "little" walking...

livia in front of the wolves (one of her new favorite animals)
baby prairie dog...one of my favorite animals.
how can you not love that little guy?

so cute!

sophia in front of the baby and mama prairie dogs...

beautiful (and hot) tiger...we were thinking that the water looked pretty good to us, too! just ask my mom the lengths she went through to find something to drink that was cold at the zoo (hee hee).