livin' summer to the fullest!

I know, I know- it has been FOREVER since our last post! –BUT, the good part is we have been enjoying our summer weekends so much that by Sunday night, we’ve been wiped out!

So what have we been up too? Well, probably the most exciting event was Jaxson’s ROCK STAR birthday party!! We celebrated his 5th birthday with music, guitars, microphones and LOTS AND LOTS of dancing! I really can’t believe that we have a FIVE year old! Jaxson has really matured into a smart, animated, funny, sweet and enduring little boy. He is always so willing to help when needed while also be very independent. He pays very close attention to details and points out things when they aren’t quite right. Jaxson will be going to preschool for one more year at St. David’s Center before starting kindergarten next year. He is very excited to start tomorrow, especially because he knows and loves his teacher! What a great way for him to start the year.




A few weeks ago we had our annual canning weekend with Chris and Kristin. We canned and canned and canned!! Salsa, Pickles and Tomato Sauce! We are very excited to enjoy all our hard work- all year long!

A Minnesota summer would not be the same without the Minnesota State Fair! We went opening day, not really by choice, but because it was the only day that Presten could get off work. However, it was a beautiful, cool day. We woke up bright and early to arrive before the crowds. The kids keep telling me how much they want to go back! I can’t really blame them- food, rides and animals- it doesn’t get more fun than that!

The last weekend in August we went to the Minnesota Zoo with four of my girlfriends from college. (we missed you Erin(:( ). It is amazing how all of our families have grown, but we are still able to pick right up where we left off. I think we need to make this an annual event to ensure all our little ones grow up knowing one another.

The new Bear addition to the MN Zoo is super cool! We were getting ready to leave and Jaxson said, "I want to see bears ONE more time!" And we were glad he did- we watched these two bears wrestle with other for a good half hour!

This is how close the bears are to you!

The MN zoo also added a splash pad and the kids SPLASHED AWAY!!

My handsome boy!

After the day at the MN Zoo, we headed downtown for the first pre-season Vikings game. YES- it was a marathon day! With a nap in the van on the way over, the kids were rearing to go for the game! The most exciting part of the game was that we got to sit on the field! It was SO cool! The players from both teams were just steps away from us. This was Vada’s first game- hopefully she doesn’t think that every game we get to sit down there! She had fun- eating popcorn and hopping up on the ledge to see the players.

This bucket was gone when we left at half time!

Still smiling after a 12 hour day!

As many of you know, Presten has been working 6 days a week for the last 3 months or so. We are not complaining, but it has been a lot for him- AND for me:). So amidst all the craziness Presten planned a little one night get-a-way for us! On Saturday night Chris and Kristin watched – Jaxson, Vada and Lexi so we could have a night out. We went to the House of Comedy at the Mall of America . It was the funniest show – EVER! We laughed and laughed and laughed, for an entire 90 minutes! We will defiantly be going back! Then we stayed at the Hyatt in Bloomington. It was the best night sleep I had in a very long time. Thank you Chris and Kristin for being the most loving, selfless, genuine and fun friends that we could ask for. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. The kids had so much fun- cooking, baking and swinging and just being crazy!

And now the rest of the weekend has been spent cooking and freezing breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the school year. We have muffins, pancakes, hot pockets, enchiladas, penne pasta, barbeques, taco meat and cookies! No need to be stressed out about meals- at least this month- I think we are ready!

Tomorrow morning should be very interesting…. As many of you know, Vada had her open house at school on Friday and it didn’t go so hot. As soon as we got in the classroom she started screaming that she did not want to go to school. Vada is a pretty difficult child, mainly because she is so independent and strong willed. She has a VERY difficult time sharing, she is obsessive about washing her hands or using ‘germ juice’, she colors on herself almost every time she has a writing utensil, she loves getting into things that are behind closed cupboards and she gets carsick- A LOT, to name a few. She has a lot of quirkiness to her and I hope that the teachers can figure out :). Despite all the challenges- she is one of the funniest girls I know- we laugh and laugh at her! She loves to help- ALL the time, she really cares about her brother and hates being separated from him, she always says ‘thank you’ and she loves playing kitchen and babies. We love our little turkey butt!

Presten is gearing up for the Northshore Marathon this next Saturday!! We are heading up to Duluth on Thursday to have a long weekend together with the kids! We have some neighbors and my sister a few of her friends coming up to skate too. I decided to take a knee this year – because my knees are literally killing me! :) Maybe next year, but this year we are excited to have the kids watch daddy cross the finish line! It will be a fun experience for me to be on the other side of the race- as a spectator.

We have had such a fun summer that we have decided to have it extend all the way through September! With a trip to Ludlow’s on Lake Vermillion coming up too!

We hope that you have all had an AMAZING summer! We are looking forward to best Minnesota season- FALL!

Love to all, The Bean’s

Vada's Naptime Adventure this weekend! When we realized what she did, she said "daddy, I tried to do a good job!"

So pretty Vada!

Soaking up the summer!

Is it really August???! Wow, to say this summer has flown by, would be an understatement. I can barely keep up with our schedule. Every week seems to go faster and faster, however we have LOVED every minute of it!

We have done so much over the last few weeks that I am just going to highlight a few of our events!

Every summer we host the Bean Family Barbecue at our house. Here is a picture of all the grand kids with great grandma and grandpa.

A Bean BBQ would never be complete without a good old fashioned water fight!

Very few people went home dry!

Water Limbo!

The first weekend in August we went on our last camping trip with my family. We stayed at a campground in Osseo, WI with my parents, sister Katie and her boyfriend Justin. We had such a great time. The kids were in water heaven, they swam and swam and swam! The campground had a really nice mini golf course.

Jaxson and Vada taking a putting break

Pool Time!

~Pure Joy~

Sliding down the frog tongue!

Still riding in that boat!

Big Jump!

The cabin

Our little tree climber

grandma kisses

Jaxson and grandpa on the wagon ride

Mommy and Vada

Thank you mom and dad for a great weekend!

Today we went tubing down the Rum River! I have not been tubing for years! The kids had so much fun. We are all wiped out and looking forward to bedtime!

Good Night! :0 The Bean's

The Bean's are Buzzzzing!

Are we really approaching mid-July? I am not quite sure how this happened? Wasn't it just the 4th of July...seriously slooow dooown!! However, amidst our busy schedules this summer has by far been the BEST summer we have had in a very long time.

The beginning of July we took a camping trip to Savanna Portage with our friends Stacy and Darrin. The park scenery was absolutely breathtaking- the campground, trails and lakes just nestled in between acres and acres of trees. It was a much needed relaxing weekend. We realized on this trip how much we miss seeing Stacy and Darrin; it was so nice to be able to spend an entire weekend with them.

Jaxson fishing off the pier within the park.

Friday night we went on a nature walk out to the bog. It was a mile long walk and Vada decided that she needed to be carried the entire time! Jaxson was having so much fun searching for wildlife. This is a goofy picture, but I realized is the only one I have of Stacy and Darrin.

Have you heard of St. Camper Claus? Well- if not he does exist! And he came to OUR campsite on Friday night! The kids were very excited to see Toy Story bubble guns ready for them when they woke up on Saturday morning! Apparently St. (insert Holiday) Claus follows Stacy and Darrin around where ever they go!! :):)

I- However, was not so lucky on Saturday morning. I woke up and could tell there is something wrong with my eye- first thinking it was because I was incredibly tired, but soon realized there was more to it. I ran to the van to look in the mirror and found my eye almost swollen shut. WHY oh WHY do spiders, bugs and mosquitoes love me SOOO much?! I was bit sometime during the night and it took about 24 hours for my eye to look 100% normal again. This started out as some camping trip- first I lost my camera (wrote a sob story in the bathroom where I left it and someone returned it), had a little black and white visitor (yes, a skunk) at our campsite digging in our trash and then woke up to find out my eye was swollen shut! ooohhh- it is an adventure camping with the Bean's! At least we know how to laugh!

Saturday Stacy and Darrin took us boating. I was a little worried about Vada's reaction to the boat, but as you can see she was just fine!

Even Lexi loved the boat!


Saturday night we had one big thunderstorm! Jaxson was not having any of it!

We'll be back!

The next highlight of the weekend was getting see our friends Kari and Tom. We met them when we lived in Grand Forks. Tom is in the air force and shorty after we left they were relocated to Hawaii. I cannot believe that five years later they are back living in Minnesota! We had so much fun reminiscing about about life then and how much it has changed. We both have had two babies since then- so crazy.


All the kids having ice cream after Jaxson's baseball game.


Me and Kari!

Wow- that was a lot! :):) I hoping that everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are!!

Have a great week! The Bean's

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

We have BIG news at the Bean house……drum roll please……. Little Miss Vada peed in the potty THREE times this weekend pooped ONCE! I seriously did not think that we were even close to this happening. Apparently I turned over a new leaf this weekend, it is called EXTREME PATIENCE. After many deep breaths, and saying- I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO THIS….(you would think that I was training myself:)) Vada finally peed in her potty! After doing it once she really started to catch on and of course I bribed her with a piece of a Hershey chocolate bar:) We are no where close to being fully potty trained, but it feels good that we finally made it to step one!

Last weekend we had our first camping adventure of the summer! The Bean and Vanderhorst families set up camp at Baker Park (I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love the Three Rivers Park District) on Lake Independence. We camp every summer, but MAN- it is a lot of work! There was probably a couple things that added to this, one- Vada is VERY mobile and two- we brought Lexi for the first time in a couple years. Despite a few more hectic moments, we had a fun-filled time. I am actually surprised that we have not camped there before, we will definitely be going back. It is a big campground with really nice paved trails.



Thank goodness we brought our bikes! Jaxson biked up and down the road by our campsite all day long! He was trying to be cool and do some tricks, which ended with a few band aids, but he was having so much fun! I think he would say the best part of the weekend was when he got to go biking with dad at 10:00 at night and they saw a whole field of fireflies. He has been talking about how AWESOME that was:)


Jaxson caught his FIRST FISH!!! He was so proud!! I think this picture is really funny because Jaxson is all bundled up on the pier because it was pretty windy and chilly, but below we have Vada swimming in her boat. She had been looking forward to swimming in her boat for weeks. I am pretty sure that she was the ONLY person in the whole lake because it was defiantly not a water day. She didn't care, she was going swimming!! She was having so much fun playing in Vadaland- bouncing up and down in the water, wind blowing- oh it makes me laugh!

Two little Monsters snuggled up by the fire!

On our way home from Baker Park on Sunday we stopped off to grab some lunch at the Peppermint Twist (drive-in) in Delano. They have AMAZING burgers! They were even featured on the Food Network for their food. If you are ever in that area, I would definitely check them out! They have great shakes and malts too!

Peppermint Twist in Delano, MN

Well a Summer would not be complete without going strawberry picking! I took Jaxson and Vada picking with me this year. I have to say I was extremely worried that Vada was going to have a huge melt down and start running through the strawberry fields. Luckily, there were just a few moments of fussiness, the rest was filled with juicy strawberries and red mustaches. Typically I avoid any situation that could possibly create unneeded stress to my life. Unfortunately, Vada has the tendency to do this a lot…. But apparently, I am finding my mom skills which include- bravery, endurance and a place of tranquility. I have to equip myself with these before taking Vada out on any adventures. These skills have to be intentional or else we all end-up having huge meltdowns. ….I think we are making progress!

Jaxson was my all-star strawberry picker! He was finding strawberry jackpots all over the place!:)

"These strawberries are good, mom!"

All our hard work!

This afternoon we attended the Bean Family Reunion. It was really good to see Presten’s grandma Jo and Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Greg. Presten really enjoys seeing them so we hoping to stay in closer contact with them over the next year.

Presten's Aunt Sheryl, Grandma Jo and Uncle Greg at the Bean Family Reunion

Well- off to enjoy this gorgeous sunshine today!! WOW, what a great Sunday!

The Bean's

Playin Catch-up!

Picture time!

Mr. Harry Potter!

Mommy and Vada!

Vada's first pig tails!

Jaxson and Daddy at the Jaxson Preschool performance!

Proud Vada in her NEW BIG GIRL BED!

Trying it out!

Well, we may not have a potty trained girl, BUT we do have a little girl that is sleeping in a BIG GIRL bed! Wooohooo! Vada moved into her big girl bed the Friday before Memorial day and we have not had one incident with her getting out of her bed (maybe I should say her room) in the morning or at nap. Actually, she yells for me when she wakes up to come and get her. Presten has been roped into sleeping with her in the middle of the night a couple times. Vada doesn’t always sleep very well, so he used to bring her out to the couch to lay with him, but now he can lay with her in her bed. However, I think the best part about her having a bed is that we can now read her stories with her in her bed. This transition has been incredibly smooth and we are so proud of her!

This weekend Vada also sported her very first set of pigtails! She loves them! She now lets me do her hair EVERY day! She has been completely okay with sitting still long enough for me to get them in- which if you know Vada…is not normal:) We are loving Vada’s complete innocence and her very humorous personality! She talks about candy all the time. :::side story: This morning Vada brought out a small plastic tub to Presten and told him that she needed to go to Halloween to get more candy. Presten said “you do..you need more candy?” Vada said, “Yeah you want to come to Halloween too?” All we could do was laugh at her and say “sure we’ll come:)”

On Saturday we celebrated our close friend Chris’s birthday. While we were there Chris made Jaxson a Harry Potter wand. Jaxson turned on his magic through saying his magic Harry Potter spells to open and close the garage door:) He ABSOLUTELY thinks this wand is not a toy and that it is REAL magic! He is even able to open and close our garage door at home with his spells. It is AMAZING. He has been showing the neighbors and his cousins and everyone is in complete awe. He now needs to study his magic so that he can do more things!

Other than that we are just loving summer! Jaxson has his last day of preschool on Thursday and now he will be at Sarah’s for the summer and then will be back at St. David’s in the Fall. We have been doing a lot of gardening, we made our first trip to the beach, having campfires and now getting ready to prepare our camping gear for a couple camping trips.

Have a great week!! The Bean’s