Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Start of Summer


The beginning of summer has been fast and furious.  Here is a quick recap.

Audrey finished up her first year of Little Lambs Preschool.  Here she is with Nora and Mrs. Derby.

What a fantastic year she had at Little Lambs.  She learned and grew a lot!

William had soccer in May at the YMCA.  He enjoyed it!

William wrapped up his Kindergarten year.  Here he is with his sisters on the last day of school.

Proud to be a first grader in the fall!

Now, school's out for summer, it's time to celebrate! (with Grandpa Bob)

We have spent time with family.  
Nora with Great Grandma Iris.

Great Grandma Iris (GGI) with Audrey, Nora, and William.  She looks squished!

 The Husband with William, Nora, Great Grandma Sylvia, Audrey, and Mummi Alice.

The Husband took the kids out for the first canoe ride of the summer.  Martha was sad sad sad to be left home.  She followed on the shore crying, and was there to meet her family on the dock.   

Looks like it was cool out.  Winter jackets are never packed away for summer in Minnesota!

Nora loves worms.  Here she was "taking care of them."

And, we've had lots of worms around because we have done a lot of fishing.

William

Audrey

Nora

Nothing beats coming home from work and catching crappies off the dock!

Nora and her "Perchy."

Grandpa Bob, Nora, and Buzz pointing out something fantastic.

Audrey and Grandpa Bob.

Mimi and her crappie!

Family fishing at sunset.

My trio looks really excited!

We participated in our lake's annual fishing contest again this year.  William won 2nd place in the Children's Division.  

Audrey won the Guppy Award for the smallest fish.  This is not the first time she won this award!!

The award winners!

The kids have been swimming nearly every day.  Swim lessons all last school year has made for some brave and skilled swimmers.



 A little love from Mimi!

Audrey loves to 'shop' in my closet....check out those kicks she's wearing to ride the trike!

How many babies can we fit in a bucket?!

Nora likes speed.  

A rare photo of the children and me.

Nora is so silly!

July 4 was picture perfect!  The weather could not have been better.  We watched the boat parade and our family gathered to have a BBQ.

Auntie, Grant, and the kids.

Looking cool in their shades.  

Alice, Mummi Sylvia (decked out for July 4), and me.

We spent time on the lake July 4.  Nora with Auntie.

Nora jumping in with Grant!

A triple jump!

Audrey and Grant taking a turn.

Audrey has gotten so brave in jumping in and swimming in the middle of the lake. 

We've been having a blast this summer, but we have not been so busy as to miss our beautiful surroundings.  




Can summer last forever?!?


Monday, July 22, 2013

BOYS in the BWCA

(Better late than never, right?!  I am waaay behind on blogging, which means we have been having lots of fun!).

We hardly were unpacked from our Spring Florida trip, and the boys were packing up again to head up to the Boundary Waters with Grandpa Jeff and a few other men for a weekend of fishing.  They were all looking forward to nothing but fishing!

Handsome men.

William believes this is his lucky fishing shirt....you'll be seeing more of it in future pictures!

William's big catch, a 5 pound Walleye!

Some northern action....from the shore.  (Thanks Uncle Eddie, for giving William the big minnows for bait)!

William learned to love to eat fish on this trip.  Now he cannot get enough of it!

Grandpa Jeff is always game for fun!

Until next year's trip....




Tuesday, June 4, 2013

2013 Spring Vacation: Part 3 of 3

The Beach...FINALLY!  This was the part of the vacation the Husband I were most looking forward to.  We decided to try Siesta Key, which is regarded as a 'best beach' in Florida. 

Siesta Beach is known for its powdery white sand.  

Our walk to the beach front.


All 3 kids claim the beach was their favorite part of the vacation!







We made lots of sand castles.

William and the Husband checking out a little crab in its shell.

The Husband is a master collector of seashells and sand dollars.  The sand dollars at Siesta Beach were plentiful.



Love the willingness of strangers to snap a family photo!!

Pretending to be sea turtles....

William had a tooth that was hanging by a thread. He set up chairs so the Sisters could watch Papa pull it out!  Thankfully, the Tooth Fairy was able to find William in Florida!

Big Olaf's ice cream is regarded as the best ice cream in the area, so we had to give it a try.  It didn't disappoint!

Nora gave it 2 thumbs up!

The condo had lovely landscape.  We soaked it all in, knowing we would be returning to cold northern Minnesota soon.  (We came home and still had snow!)

Nora "cooking" at the condo's pool.

Absolutely idyllic!

Audrey dancing at sunset.



We witnessed a breathtaking sunset our last night.  On the walk back to the condo the Husband turned to me and said, "What do you say we pack up and leave tonight to beat the traffic?!"  
To this I replied, "I am married to the right person!"
So we packed up and made the 27 hour drive in 30 hours...home sweet home, and full of wonderful Florida memories!

A GIGANTIC "Thank You" to my parents to took care of our sweet Martha for 2 weeks!