August Recap - Fun Week

The first weekend we were home was mostly fun pool time with Daddy along with some back to school chores.

The next week I was back at school, but the kids got to spend time with Jessica and Diane.  I should really say this is the last thing on my kid's summer bucket list because they love spending time with these two awesome families.

Th first day they were with Jessica and her boys.  She took the kids to Butterfly World - it was Jace's first time there.

The navy blue crew...

Jace must have gotten over his fear of feeding birds - he didn't enjoy when they walked on his arm at Lion Country Safari the last time we were there.

Checking out the butterflies...

Henry adores Rylee - almost too much!

He says her name "Ry-ee, Ry-ee" every two seconds.  Awww!

The temperature in FL has been something akin to the surface of the sun.

Luckily, the kids took several breaks standing in the mist...

...and stopped for a treat.

They went swimming at Jessica's house and then swam again at our house after I picked them up. Like I said, it's HOT!  Jace made pool trick shot videos and Rylee discovered she really could make bubble magic (if you saw my earlier post about bubble time in MN).  

If you're wet, the bubble doesn't break when you touch it.  

So cool!

Tuesday was a Diane and girls day (Diego was there too).  Their big adventure was going downtown to the courthouse since Diane and one of the girls needed to get their passports renewed.  You might think this wouldn't be a grand adventure, but anything with Diane and Diego is fun.  They were rhyming and telling silly stories - and the kids thought the courthouse was interesting too.

The pool at their community wasn't open so they went to the girl's grandparent's house to swim.  My kids loved their pool because it was so deep and there was no shallow end.  :)

On Wednesday, Diane took them to a different pool to meet a group of their homeschool friends.  I don't have any pics, but they had a great time of course!

On Thursday, Diane took them all to a nature center.  They met one of her friends there too.  The boy was going into 3rd grade and Rylee joked that maybe he would be in my class.  He is - small world!

As you can see by the pictures from both Jessica and Diane, Rylee is always helpful.  :)  She will be a good babysitter one of these days!

They enjoyed the nature center, but Jace got a million mosquito bites and it was HOT!  Luckily, they went back to the grandparent's house to swim and cool down.

Friday was a Jessica and boys day.  She took them to the Science Museum.  They met her friend, Shawna, there.  Jace and Oliver are in the same class as her daughter, Brooklyn, so they were so excited to play with her.  

The kids built an epic tower...

not that, this!  :)

My kids are very lucky to have such amazing babysitters - it was another great week!

MN Summer Week 8

Sun - our annual Rafferty's lunch and visit with the Malecha clan.  It's nice that we get to see them at least once a year!

It was a rainy day so Sara picked up my Mom and met the kids and I at the movies to watch Toy Story 4.  There was a bad accident so it was hectic to get there, the seats were picked over so we didn't even get to sit together, and none of us liked the ending!  Oh well.

Mon - Rylee had a makeup golf lesson, then her last dance lesson (it was another great season with Jillian and Rylee loved adding tap into her repertoire).

Afterward, we picked up Jace and went to Victual one last time.  

We took a picture beneath a beautiful new mural.

We couldn't get as close to it, but this was the other new mural that went up this summer - which commemorates that pre-space flight test that took place here in 1957.  (The kids actually sat in the capsule last year at the Depot Museum.)

We decided, obviously very last minute, to make Rylee's golf instructor a gift in honor of his new baby.  We spent the rest of the day/night working on it together.  You can see below how cute it turned out.  :)

Tues - resort play, last golf lesson...

I got to have a drink and visit with Chelsie (Mark and Ted too) during Rylee's golf lesson.  Then we had the Erickson's over for a final campfire.

Wed - Gaga dropped the kids (plus Max) and I off at the fair so we could check off the last of our summer bucket list.  The kids rode rides...

...then we walked around, had lunch, and rode some more rides.  The kids brought their spending money to play over-priced fair games and won cheap stuffed animals.  Then we bought some mini donuts and cotton candy and called Gaga to pick us up.  Fair -check!

When we got home, Papa and I took the kids for their last pontoon swim on Agate.

Thurs - packing and goodbyes

We played outside at the resort and had fun with the slack line and bubbles.  

Rylee was doing bubble magic...

Thank you Gaga and Papa for another incredible MN summer!

Fri - Gaga and Sara (who's always up for a 5 am airport run - gotta love her!) took us to the airport so we could head back to reality.

Bye MN - see you next tour! (*Rhinestone)

*As sad as we were to leave, we were also excited to see Daddy and have his delicious grill pizza as our welcome dinner.  Love you Daddy!

Cedar Crest Part 3 - Sara

Thurs - we had breakfast with Sara in the lodge, then decided to take a trip into DL for some shopping since it wasn't a swimming day. 

We got back in time for games and slushees in the lodge, had dinner in the lodge, played more games and then watched a movie in the cabin.

Fri - breakfast at the lodge, full swimming day (everyone got in the water!), the kids went out on the paddle boards...

It went pretty well until...

...Rylee accidentally bonked Jace in the head with the paddle.  

He still managed to give me a thumbs up through his tears.

Here's some photo art from Rylee:

I

love

C

C

R

We played games and had dinner in the lodge before bingo (we didn't win)...

and then we played more games.  In case you haven't noticed, you gotta loves games if you go on vacation with us.  Luckily, Sara is a game person too!  :)

Sat - we packed up, then had one last breakfast at the lodge before heading home. 

Thanks for coming Sara.  We love you!

Jace summed up vacation like this:  "These are all the things I love about Cedar Crest: the lake, the beach, the lodge, the cabins, the slushee machine, the park... I love everything!  The only thing I don't love about Cedar Crest is leaving."  So true, Jace, so true!