Summer Catch up Part 1

I realized I forgot about pictures and fun stuff from our summer.  Way back in January, Brian reserved a campground at an awesome site right on the water. We were set to go, but I had to be on the East Coast for work that weekend.  So, Brian took the kids camping and I spent the weekend in NYC. They had a good time but there were some unfortunate circumstances. That week was when the Canadian wildfires were especially bad so the air quality was terrible. They should have been able to see beautiful views, but there was so much smoke that they couldn't. It was also unseasonably cold, so it was about 20 degrees cooler than expected. The craziest part of the trip has to do with some unwanted visitors. Apparently the campground was full of raccoons (eek!) and one of them came right up to the picnic table in daylight and stole an entire bag of trail mix. Just walked off with it.
They still had a good time with all of the other kids on the trip, but after hearing these stories I wasn't as disappointed about missing it.

What is that water in the sky?

Last Sunday we got our first day of real rain in over 4 months. Of course we had a cul-de-saq party planned for that day so we had to improvise so we hosted it in our garage (one of the benefits of an always clean & organized garage!)  Every single neighbor came so we had over 20 people! It turned out great. The kids loved going in and out of the rain and you'd think they'd never seen it with how excited they were to put on their rain boots and jump in the puddles. They provided the entertainment for everyone by being superheroes in the rain! Hopefully they are still this excited about it months from now when it becomes the norm, day after day, after day...

Lost (but not missing) Tooth!

It was a big milestone for Cameron on Friday as he lost his first tooth! The tooth had been incredibly loose for about a week, but it was still hanging on. Before bed on Thursday night it was literally sideways, but still attached enough that it hurt to pull on it. But when Cameron woke up Friday morning the tooth was already out and in his mouth. He came walking into our room and was so proud of himself, it was adorable! I checked my sources (the blog) and sure enough Addy lost her first tooth at almost this exact same age.
Lucky for us the tooth fairy came and followed our instructions by letting us keep this first tooth since it's such a milestone.
Side note- Cameron had a very funny conversation with Brian about how incorrect it is to say that he has a lost or missing tooth because he actually knows exactly where it is. It's not missing at all.  It's in an envelope in his room. Smart kid.

First Day of School

A week ago the kids had their first day of school and were so excited. Addy was thrilled to find out that she has some good friends in her 2nd grade class and Cameron has some of his favorite friends in his Pre-K class. Their teachers seem great and although we are sad to see summer end, it's always exciting to start a new school year and get back to our routine. Brian especially considering he didn't get a day off all summer long!

Wisconsin Part 2, Chapter 3

The day before it was time to head back my sister hosted the whole family at her place. Tons of people came and we tried to relive the olympics from a few years back. It was a perfect day so it was a good time for the kids to play in the lake. I think they were probably in there for at least 6 hours! It was great to see all the cousins and family and a perfect summer day at the lake!

Wisconsin Part 2, Chapter 2

No trip to Wisconsin is complete without a visit with Grandma Ruby. She and Sally came to the cabin to hang out with us. I never cease to be amazed by my grandma and she is less than 3 months away from turning 100 and she is still as sharp as ever. The whole fam hung out at the cabin, it wasn't the warmest of days but we still made the most of it. Cameron loved hanging with the "boys" (and Syd) and we got to meet Keri & Brian's foreign exchange student Jan (yawn) who is Lennard's cousin from Germany!

Wisconsin Part 2, Chapter 1

Phase 2 our our trip meant it was time to head to the lake and to see Papa & Kathy's newly remodeled cabin. Of course the weather wasn't perfect every day, but we made the most of it and it didn't seem to effect the kids at all. They were in the water for hours. It's amazing how much fun they can have jumping off the dock, over and over and over again. We also had a great time fishing (the kids will have to learn from their Papa, not their dad), going on the boat, kayaks and paddle-boards. They also enjoyed trying to "bait the bear" but didn't have any luck. When we weren't outside, the kids were busy practicing a song with Papa on the guitar. It was adorable to hear them sing but now I absolutely cannot get the song out of my head.