Love Lake Life

The next leg of our trip was spent at the lake and we were happy to have the water to keep us cool. Before arriving we stopped to visit my Grandma at her new place. She looks great at 98 and we had a wonderful time catching up. The kids were spoiled with the toy basket and it was a lot of fun chatting with her. Since Sydney recently got her license (gasp!) my Grandma told the story about how her father had her start driving at 13 and when it was time for her to get her license she mailed 25 cents to Madison, WI and received a license in the mail! Things have changed just a bit since then.

After that we headed to my sister's and watched the Jack, Syd and Papa water ski, rode the jet ski's and Cameron & Addy jumped off the dock about a million times. It was a perfectly relaxing afternoon, minus the run-in with the "river shark." The kids had finally come in from the lake and were eating dinner when I noticed that Cameron had blood on his foot and leg. I was looking for the scratch when on the bottom of his foot I saw something I knew I didn't want to be the one to deal with. So I called my brother over and he pulled a leech off of Cameron's foot. But since it is my brother he had to embellish a bit so he made up a story about Cameron getting bit by a river shark. I don't think Cameron really knew what to think of it (although he was very brave during the whole ordeal) and after Tad telling his hundredth story about river sharks Cameron finally asked "are river sharks real?" We assured him they were not but the legacy stuck and the rest of the trip had a lot of references to Cameron's incredibly brave encounter with the rare river shark and Izzy yelling "Daddy, the bleech got me, the bleech got me!"

Pickleball & Margaritaville

On Sunday my brother offered to host the gathering of about 20 people at his house that turned into all day pickleball tournament. His driveway was the ideal court and we had so much fun playing even in the heat. There are various teams who claim to be winners, but according to Cameron the champions were Uncle Brian and Uncle Tad (who I don't think ever even played together). Also the kids had a great time getting rides on the 4 wheeler and stayed cool with a water balloon fight.
Later that night we hung out at Margaritaville which is the fire pit & bar area in the woods between my brother house and my dad's. The fireflies down in the woods were truly magical. I have never seen that many before and the kids couldn't believe it. We enjoyed the fire as long as we could before we got eaten by mosquitos. Oh Minnesota summers!

We're Baaack!

We are back from our hot 'n humid trip to the midwest. It was our first July trip in a very long time and it was super fun and super HOT! We had a great time and saw tons of family. We split the trip into several legs and you can bet there will be multiple posts highlighting each of them. All in all, I would say this was one of our most fun trips yet and by far the easiest. The kids are older and easier to travel with, we didn't have to lug car seats, we didn't have to rent a car (thanks again Dad!) and we had plenty of people to help entertain the kids. It was extremely relaxing for both Brian and I. Just a few of my favorite moments were: our newly discovered obsession with pickle ball (proven by an 8 hour tournament), visiting my Grandma Ruby and continuing to be amazed by her memory at 98, watching multiple lightening storms, seeing Addy and Cameron dote on their baby cousin Etta and multiple magical evenings with fireflies (something we don't get to experience!)

The trip started by going to visit Brian's college friend Joe & his wife Amy who we hadn't seen in 4 years (since the week we moved to our current house!) So much had changed since then, including the addition of baby Maisie who is already a year and a half. We had a wonderful time with them and got to meet Maisie and see their house and awesome backyard and enjoy an incredible dinner. The kids loved feeding the ducks and finding frogs (or are they toads?) and finding leaves to throw in the fire. It was a great transition into vacation mode.

Like Father Like Son

Last week Addy had VBS so Cameron was spending every morning with Brian. He really does love to copy whatever Brian is doing and Brian has gotten very good at using this to his advantage. Cameron will help unload the dishwasher, do the laundry and here is proof of him helping Brian dust and garden!

Sounds like a fun morning and reminds me how lucky I am.

Neighborhood Kids

We continue to be so lucky to have so many great families in the area and we are hanging out with them on a regular basis. Last week I went to a girls night at one of the houses and Brian hung out with the dads and the kids! Everyone had a great time but I think the ladies got the better end of the bargain!

Good Night Moon...Good Night Cameron

I think everyone knows by now that it is never easy getting Cameron to go to sleep. He uses every trick in the book to procrastinate and delay the process. Well tonight Brian and I were very busy doing other things so we just weren't able to go in and check on him over and over like we usually do. Eventually he gave up on waiting for us and fell asleep in the doorway. 

Future Librarian?

Last week was a big week for Addy as she got to get her very own library card from the library. The librarian made a big deal out of it which was very cute and Addy took it very seriously. It makes sense because this was always in her future.

6 years ago....

to now....

And a million books in between!

Camping!

We went camping last weekend with an old coworker of mine and his family and we had such a great time! I was nervous because it was supposed to be cold and rainy but it was much nicer than expected and we had a blast. The kids all got along great (Addy held her own as the only girl!) and we enjoyed the beach, going on hikes, flying kites, watching the kids fight over the lone scooter, and of course spending hours and hours by the campfire. We went to the same campsite last year but there was a burn ban so we couldn't have a campfire and it was a totally different experience going with another family and having a campfire. The kids absolutely loved it and we are trying to squeeze in another camping trip before summer is over and I'm trying to forget about the raccoon scare...

Happy Fourth!

We had a lazy and relaxing 4th of July weekend. We met our friends down at the parade and the kids got a ton of candy and enjoyed watching the floats. Brian took Addy to the fireworks show which she loved and Cameron enjoyed them on TV. The kids have been staying up much later during the summer which means they are actually sleeping in each morning. This means Brian and I are getting a lot more sleep too! Going back to work is harder after each weekend because I'm actually able to stay in bed later than 7 am. It's a nice new stage though, I'm definitely not complaining.

Summer Fun

It's been one full week of summer vacation and Brian has officially been making the most of it. Every day he's been sending me a photo with an update of their fun. In addition to the highlights below they went camping in the backyard, swimming at the pool and build new stuff with new legos they bought at the lego store. The biggest sign that it's summer instead of school time? The kids are finally sleeping in each morning, this morning they got up at 8:30 and 9:15! That has never happened before.

 Cameron got a new summer hair cut from Daddy!

 Gotta take advantage of the fact they both like doing homework still!

 A birthday party at Pump It Up

 Serious soccer Cameron

Riding the carousel at the zoo

Cameron's soccer class each week

And a highlight for me was on Wednesday, Brian brought the kids downtown and we met Erin who was in town from San Diego. We had a great time hanging out and it was such a treat to see her!