Up North in Crosslake, MN

This past weekend I took the kids to my grandparents cabin for 3 days. Josh had to work-he's quite buys there these days, so I decided to head up there since my parents would also be there. Dad flew my mom and their dog, Olive up to Brainard and were picked up by my grandparents. I drove the 4 hours up but it wasn't bad with the DVD player. It was an exhausting few days but worth it, I think:)

Highlights from trip:

-Nat fell off the dock

-Colin hit 3 cars in one stroke playing minigolf

-Ryan caught 4 sunnies, Colin got 1 northern

-We had ice cream cones with surprise jellybeans at the bottom

Ryan Update

With summer comes outdoor activites-right? Well, Ryan, having the luck he has, ended up falling off the pool later and breaking his wrist! Another July with a cast. Last year was his ankle. Luckily neither break was bad. He was only in a cast this time for 2 weeks. However, two days earlier, he got his full set of braces on! Can you imagine a 6 year old with braces?! He had a bad underbite that was compromising his permanent teeth so we really had no choice but to see the orthodontist. Thankfully the pain was only about 2 days and now he doesn't even notice them. (And he likes to pick the color rubberbands!) He choose red, green and blue this time. Now with summer school over and the cast off he can really enjoy the last month of summer vacation!

Beach Time!

This month I got the chance to bring the kids to the Lake Elmo Park Reserve and meet my friend Karen there with her 3 little boys. It was such a fun time! All the kids were so good and haveing so much fun. Even us mommies got to relax a bit! This is a man made lake only about 4 ft deep at the most, with lots of lifegaurds and big umbrellas.

The Farley's

Yeah! The Farley's came for a visit from North Carolina! It was so nice to see Jen, Joel, Tyler and Maddie. It was like they never left us.

Banana Split

With summer well underway, I asked Ryan what he wanted to accomplish this year. He said he'd like to get a banana split from the DQ. So, the next day after swimming lessons, we all went and got our favorite treats and brought our neighbor, Brooke. Ryan was so full he could not finish his banana split but he really enjoyed it. At least I could make this small dream come true!

Train Travel

I took the boys on a 16 hour train trip to visit our dear friends, the Linders, in MONTANA! What a destination spot you are probably thinking?! It was so relaxing and wonderful to see them. And, we got an extra day to spend with them because I made reservations to come home on the wrong day. Josh was a bit upset but it worked out in the end. He and Natalie got some quality time.

Mr. Hockey

Ryan has just completed his third year of hockey! We get so many compliments on what a good little skater he is but we don't let it go to his head. A good friend has an awesome camera and caught this shot of Ryan. I've got to get that camera. Maybe for Mother's Day??????