I always feel like I haven't done enough with my summer ... not enough time outside, not enough fun and memories, not enough house projects, whatever -- it's just not enough. This year felt even more rushed. I'd like to blame it on the endless house construction (future blog post on this topic). But it could also be due to the vacation time I took for vacation bible school and our Colorado vacation -- meaning I took very few days off to relax around home. Too much to do, never enough time I guess.
BUT ... it is nice to look back on some summer fun and realize all the fun things we did do ...
Way back at the beginning of the summer, we went to a Twins game. So cool to take the kids to their first time at the ballpark. I hadn't seen it yet either, so jumped at the chance when I found out Adam, Megan, and Mason were going too.
Super hot day, but the field was gorgeous. Just a perfect day at the park.
Haha, Alex *really* doesn't look happy here. I think he was counting down the minutes until we could go buy cotton candy.
On the way back, both boys were out in the car!
For Father's Day, we took a trip to Grand Marais for the day.
Check out all the lake glass I found!
On the 4th of July, we spent some time with my family at the cabin.
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| my mom, Brookie, Megan, Jeanne and Mason, my dad, and miss Molly |
The kids got to play in the water. It was so much fun I wish they could have done this more!
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| Victoria, Alex, and Eva |
I enjoyed teasing them about bumping into me, and then explaining I needed to "send them out to sea" -- I'd push them out away from shore and ... SOMEHOW ... they kept finding their way back to me LOL.
The kids went with dad to watch the fireworks down by the lake.
We got buckets of fresh strawberries, picked by my lovely mother who knew I was too stressed out to go pick them myself.
And we made jam!
Alex was quite good at mashing the berries:
Mmmm ... is there anything better than strawberry shortcake with fresh berries?
Family came to visit ... and on one visit, Uncle Adam brought a tire and we put up a tire swing!
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| Pre-swing installation: we needed pancakes to fill our tummies! |
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| It was such a lovely sunny day ... everyone wanted to just relax in the grass all morning! |
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| Mason loved Alex's tool box. |
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| Wow, *I* get to ride in the tire swing too?! |
Friends came to visit ... from the Cities, like my dear friend Erika ...
And from California ... the Chunglunds surprised us with a spontaneous evening visit! Thankfully Victoria seems to get over her shyness quicker every year, so that the kids could have a little bit of fun together.
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| Jonah had to chime in on showing off his nails too. |
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| One of my BFFs forever. So lucky to have this girl in my life. |
We hung out with friends in Duluth too ... like Sarah, Alex, and Josiah. One evening at their house, we ate supper together ... only, supper had to be "created" first.
There was a big bright sun from carrots and hummus, flowers made from cheese, white puffy clouds, trees and grass, and dinosaurs and bunnies hopping around.
On another memorable play date with these wonderful people, we first played at Hartley together, then had a picnic lunch down by the mouth of the Lester River on the lake. Not sure if I have pictures of that day together, but it was beautiful and perfect.
We've spent some time with Alex and Annabel:
As usual, one of the most frequent and favorite play partners is Mackenzie, who lives just down the street from us. Check out this picture and video of the three kids with the slip 'n slide.
(While the kids played, Piper and I rested on the porch.)
For perhaps the first time, Victoria had a full afternoon adventure off with her own friends from school.
It was Amara's birthday, so her parents gathered a group to have an entire afternoon in Canal Park.
I'm sure Victoria was in her glory.
I love that she embraces her friendships and had such a good time.
She has wanted to ride these bikes since she first saw them. Lucky girl :).
We went to the air show, which was super fun but also verrry long. I didn't take a ton of pics, but snapped a couple of A-man after he had fallen asleep:
Just so hard to keep your eyes on all those planes!
We spent some time at the hunting shack, mowing the lawn and cleaning out some old junk piles.
Victoria came with me, my dad, and my uncle for one of the lawn mowing days, and she did an excellent job entertaining herself, much of it while using Uncle Roger's four-wheeler as a lounge chair:
She loved the frog Mommy found while mowing!
I always love the wide open spaces there.
One of the trips, we brought two whole families including all the pups, and stayed overnight. Such fun!
We decided it was a good time to bury Hannah's ashes, as we had been planning to. The kids have been collecting rocks to mark her grave.
She's next to our beloved Keyser, my childhood dog.
We did lots of work, but had time to relax too.
Some of us were so tired we couldn't even get up for supper!
Victoria loved hanging out with her cousin and making him giggle in the tent.
Or hanging out on the four wheeler.
One of my favorites ... these three kids ... the future of the hunting shack!
Everyone was sad to leave, but it's always fun to share four wheeler rides:
We had brief chances to relax at home too. I put the hammock under my favorite trees.
A couple times we even read bedtime stories out there.
On another relaxing day at home, Victoria had asked grandpa to come snuggle on the couch and watch movies with her ... awww ...
There's one family member who probably felt she had a little TOO much relaxing at home this summer ...
Yep, this summer Piper needed her *other* ACL repaired. Our vet clinic does a great job, and she's a trooper, but it was still 7-8 weeks of rest. No jumping on furniture or going up and down stairs, so she was confined to a pen in our living room. Sometimes her sister joined her to keep her company:
Not that they didn't have some summer fun too. When it got too hot, they got treated to ice cream!
And before Piper had her surgery, they enjoyed time sleeping on their couch in between squirrel watching.
The kids spent most of their days at daycare. As always, this proved to be a happy place for them to make summer memories doing exactly what kids should do ... swinging, making forts in the woods, and playing in the mud. They even painted outside.
Victoria also spent one week doing an outdoor nature camp at Hartley, which she LOVED. In June they both spent a week at Vacation Bible School, where we used a Harry Potter theme to talk about ways to find our strength and be transformed ... and to have super fun magical science and craft projects.
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| making crystals |
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| "Professor Snape" demonstrates liquid ice freezing a tennis ball! |
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| Each kid got traced on large sheets of paper to create a self portrait (I have more of Alex because I was with the preschool class). |
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| The kids made some long "worms" |
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| Alex was shy about playing games but finally agreed and did a great job! |
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| The sorting hat! Alex ended up in Gryffindor JUST LIKE HIS SISTER. Mommy is Ravenclaw. |
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| Making tie dye shirts! |
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| The painted lady portrait from the books. |
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| Victoria made friends with Hazel, who also had gone to Alex's school! |
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| Showing off her spell book |
Somewhere along the way, the kids started asking me to take them on a date night. Victoria's came first, spur of the moment, when she heard LouLou (daycare provider) talking to me about the Glensheen concerts. She decided she wanted us to get Taco Bell, then go listen to music. So we sat outside eating our tacos:
Waited awhile for the gates to open:
And were rewarded with fabulous seats along the lake, where we could watch the boats and listen to the music floating over from the pier.
I can never get enough of A) the lake and B) the music in this city. Perfect evening! Victoria's favorite? This fun floating thing to play on.
Alex's date came a few nights later. Originally he had wanted me to take him biking on the Lakewalk, followed by a malt at the malt shop. Then, the day of the date, he changed it to: "Mom, I want you to take me to a dance with lights and music, in a building. And with food and people dancing." I said -- "like the mother son dance?" and he said, "Yes!" It seemed impossible for me to explain to him that the mother son dance isn't offered all the time. In the end, he asked for BOTH pancakes AND ice cream ... so we settled on Bridgeman's. All that mattered was that this boy was happy.
At the end of the school year, Victoria's class had been asked to create their summer bucket list. Here was hers:
We went on vacation! (Check out all our previous Colorado pictures.) She rode her scooter, especially at the beginning of the summer, and -- DRUMROLL, PLEASE, EVERYONE --- this girl learned to ride her bike with no training wheels! I think this video may be side ways but it shows the first time Matt took her over to the soccer field to try it out.
A few weeks later we all went over again. I watched as Victoria put her foot on the pedal and glided down the grassy hill towards the soccer field, and just kept on riding and riding until she came to a graceful stop. I was amazed: "ok, kiddo, if you can do that, you can also do it on the parking lot!" We lined her up to go down the gentle slope of the church parking lot, and she pedaled all the way to the end and came to a perfect stop. After that, there was no stopping her. By the time we left that night she was also pedaling up the hill. I cheered so loudly, this crazy mom cheer of watching my baby achieve a major life milestone. I wish I had more photos and videos of that day, but I was sorta taking it all in, just in awe.
Victoria also read -- a LOT! Her reading just kept improving over the summer. I took so many videos ... here is a short clip.
Several nights she read herself to sleep.
The one thing we did not get to do is go camping. We had scheduled a mom and daughter camping trip that got rained out :(. Oh well ... mama tried.
My bro and Megan had an awesome dinner party. I sorta love this picture of him and I.
Our friend Saul had a birthday party! It was a Minecraft party and the kids had to go on a big hike to find all the food for their meal.
And there were art projects. Here's Alex and Saul.
We grew a wonderful little garden, and had CSA shares for vegetables, fruit, and bread. I fell in love with snap peas.
And we had enough beans to do some canning.
Victoria got her hair cut! She had been asking to go shorter and shorter, and we finally got it as short as she wanted.
At the end of August, daycare was closed a couple days. I'm so happy we have family nearby. The kiddos spent one day with Auntie Megan and cousin Mason, and one day with Grandma and Grandpa.
Aren't these guys just so darn cute together?
They all brought lunch to Uncle Adam, who was out at the shooting range.
And Auntie Megan spoiled them by taking them out for sundaes!
Whew! Is anyone else tired looking at all these photos? Sometimes we did need to take a rest. Victoria did some knitting, while Piper snoozed next to her:
When we couldn't be with friends and family, we kept up via text. This picture has to be included because CHECK OUT THIS SHIRT! Wonder who would've given him this?!
Speaking of shirts, Uncle Adam got the kids Cloquet PD shirts. Huge hit.
Another big growth moment for Victoria -- in addition to her ear piercing and riding her bike all by herself -- this summer she learned to cook on the stove for the first time. I was pretty impressed, and she was pretty proud.
Also in August, the kids asked to see a demolition derby at the County fair. I was just a little bit nervous when they fell asleep even before we got there, LOL. It's so rare for Vic to sleep in the car any more!
We rode rides, had a few snacks ...
And got our seats for the demolition derby. It was loud and smelly, but they loved it!
We had been meaning to go mini golfing all summer, and in fact Grandma and Grandpa had even tried to take the kids once or twice but got rained out every time. Finally, we had a Saturday where a bunch of us could go!
And, to wrap up August, the kids asked for a "surprise party" for Daddy for his birthday, so we gathered a bunch of people at one of our favorite restaurants and surprised him:
Thank you, Summer 2017, for all the memories.
