mn zoo, housewarming party, uptown art fair

another summer weekend is complete. only a few left to go! as much as i love summer, i am sort of getting excited for fall. this year especially, since it's been so hot. we crammed a lot of stuff into this weekend, which means it flew by! thatcher worked at the uptown art fair for a lot of the weekend, so he didn't get to partake in some activities with azalea and me. friday night was our usual hang out at home, relax with a movie sorta night. 

saturday morning azalea and i met our friends liz, joe, jake, and max at the mn zoo. they have a family membership, which includes a guest pass, so it was free for me! super nice. this is the third time azalea has been to the zoo. each time we go, she enjoys it a little bit more. she was very intrigued by the animals - lots of serious faces from her...taking it all in :) 

she had lots of fun with jake and max. i just love watching them together! 

after the zoo, we all grabbed some lunch and then azalea and i headed home. my parents met us at our house because my mom and i had an appointment to get pedicures. my dad came to watch azalea. my mom got me a gift card for a nail salon for my birthday, so i told her she should come too. i decided to be a little wild with my polish color. i'm usually a pink kinda girl, but instead i chose this...

and i like it!

azalea was supposed to nap while we were gone, but she was a little stinker and refused to go to sleep. that was the latest she's ever gone without napping in one day. haha. luckily i got her to go down when i got home. she ended up sleeping for 2.5 hours! thatcher got home in the late afternoon and we all headed to coon rapids for our friends mollie and dave's housewarming party. these are the same friends i helped move a few weeks ago. it was really fun to see their house all put together. on the way home, we decided to stop at our neighborhood festival down at the park. we ran into lots of neighbors and listened to the band that was playing. azalea didn't know what to make of the loud music, but she cried when it was time to leave, so she must have enjoyed it. :)

this picture makes it look dead there, but there were actually a ton of people. 

sunday azalea and i went to the uptown art fair with my co-worker mandi. it was such a gorgeous day! it was pretty crowded there and to make matters worse, i was dumb and brought our big stroller instead of the umbrella one. so that wasn't fun, but we managed. we ate some more than our fair share of yummy food, checked out the booths, chatted with thatcher, etc. it was mandi's first time going. 

taking a little break in the shade

in the evening, thatcher's family came over for dinner. we grilled up some sandwiches and visited with them. perfect ending to a busy weekend!