Duluth Conference - 2011

August meant another trip up to Duluth for Jamie's legal conference.

But Mallory and Mom still had time to head down to the lake to check out the big boats.

Mallory and her new friend Abby got to take a ride on a train.

And as an added bonus this year, our hotel had s'mores every night.

What better way to work off those s'mores than a late night game of hide and seek.

Big Sister Class

In early August, Mallory took a class at Amma Maternity to learn how to be the best big sister ever.
She got to practice with a real fake baby...

...to learn the proper holding technique (and not to toss the baby around like a football)

She even got to make her very own picture frame for her future little sister (spoiler alert: it's Sophie).

Home Depot Paint Project

Another Saturday morning, another Home Depot project.

Gotta make sure we have our special apron in order to do the project.

This month's activity was painting a new pencil box.

She is very proud of her finished product (purple, of course).

Warrior Dash

In late July, a group of fearless warriors travelled down to Afton Alps for the Warrior Dash, 3.2 hellish miles of obstacles.

She is smiling on the outside, but secretly wondering what went wrong with Daddy's haircut.

Dad sure does look clean right now...

Mallory had a great view of the festivities from Uncle Erik's shoulders.

Show these people to the firehose.

Of course, there was live music at the post-race party, so Mallory got to show off all her dance moves.

Dunk Tank

A muggy July weekend leant itself to a couple things...

1. Some water fun for Mallory, and

2. Poppa Jim in the dunk tank.

Hamel Rodeo

This July we finally made it out to the Hamel Rodeo after seeing signs for it since we moved to Plymouth. We were not dissapointed.

The festivities includes a pony ride...

In between events we even had time for a quick family picture.

And in keeping with the theme, there were plenty of horsey rides from Dad.

BBY Holiday Party

The Held Foursome attend the Best Buy Holiday Party earlier today. There was music, so you know what comes next.

Houseboat

Over the 4th of July weekend, the Helds, Flahertys, and Murrays took to the Mississippi River to spend the weekend on a rented houseboat.

Mal waits patiently while Dad tries to get her fishing pole ready to reel in a muskie.

The top of the boat provided a good view of the Wabasha Bridge.

The family got to spend some quality time floating along the river.

That is, when Mallory wasn't busy driving the boat.

And our little daredevil had plenty of opportunities to jump off the boat into Dad's arms.

Father's Day - Driving Range

For Steve's Father's Day present, he chose for the family to go to the driving range.

Mallory put on her best golfing skirt and even got a special golf visor to match her dad.

Pretty good for a three year old...

One of us was happy with our range session and one of us wasn't. Can you guess which is which?

This time, we stepped it up a notch and took a trip over to the putting green. Nothing but the bottom of the cup.

Mallory even took some time out to give Mom a putting lesson.

Home Depot

It turns out that the local Home Depot hosts kids projects on the first Saturday of each month. Since discovering this, Mallory and Mom have become regulars.

Um, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

That is more like it.

Mallory even got her own Home Depot apron to take home which she now wears when helping on all house projects.

And here she is with her finished toolbox, which also gets brought along on all house projects.

Bath Time

To make bath time at the Held house a little more fun, Mallory has now taken to adding a little bubble bath to the mix.

Of course, what bubble bath would be complete without using the bubbles to make a mustache and beard.

She may have a future as a mall Santa down the road...

As you can see, we are pretty serious about bath time.

Reading Books

One of our favorite bedtime activities is to hunker down into bed and read a few books before (eventually) drifting off to sleep.

Well sometimes Mom and Dad aren't quite good enough for books, so Mallory found an alternative.

This will be good practice for her to read books to her baby brother/sister in November.

Her new sibling will be very lucky to have Mallory as a big sister.

Newman Wedding

Over Memorial Day weekend, the Held's went to the wedding of one of Steve's co-workers, Craig Newman. Mallory has taken quite a liking to Craig over the years, so needless to say she was quite excited to attend the festivities.

It was a lovely afternoon at the Sculpture Garden. Dad and Mal make their way to check out the famous cherry and the spoon.

Mal even got to take a picture with the lucky groom.

Mallory wasn't about to share this piece of cake with Mom. She needed all the energy she could get for...

DANCING!

Dancercise Recital - May 2011

Every Tuesday Mallory has Dancercise at pre-school. Needless to say it is one of her favorite days there. And needless to say we also always have to wear a dress or a skirt that twirls.
Gotta stretch out before the dancing starts.

I mean reallllyyy stretch out.

And practice our million dollar smile.

We aren't quite sure what is happening here, but Mallory seems to be enjoying it.

Gymnastics - May 2011

The end of May meant the end of another gymnastics session. The last class is always a special one. The kids get to go to all the stations and sometimes we get some extra guests to watch.

The beam is one of Mallory's favorites. Good thing we have one in the backyard.

She also shows off her freakish arm strength on the bars.

With a little monkey hang thrown in.

She even got an assist on the high beam from Mom and Poppa Jim.

And she got her year end certificate from Coach Lora, practicing for the gold medal ceremony in 2024.