MN Summer Week 3 - Sat & Sun

Sat - spent some time with my parents at "the resort" (what I call their house),
badminton, power wheels, first pontoon ride on Serpent Lake

Jace loves to drive (even squinty-eyed into the sun)!

Sun - Laurie's bday!, spent the day at the lake with the cousins, followed by a Crosslake trip (Ye Old Wharf for cocktails and mocktails and Rafferty's pizza for dinner!)

Mermaid Rylee

The girls got pretty brave on the hotdog this year.  

They loved going fast and tipping over (even more than the boys).  

You go girls!

MN Summer Week 3 - Thurs & Fri

Thurs - wasn't a lake day.  The guys went golfing and Laurie and I watched the kids.  They mostly entertain themselves these days which is soooo nice!  I did get them up and moving with a little GoNoodle dancing at one point (below).  Later we took them uptown for smoothies and ice cream.

Not sure what they are dancing to here, 

but "Pop See Ko" became the theme song for the cousin vacation: 

"Hey Jace?  Hey what?  Are you ready?  For what?  To pop?  Pop what?  Pop See Ko!

My hands are high, my feet are low, and this how I Pop See Ko!"

Fri - lake day/dinner with the cousins

The boys :)

Garbage bag fashions by "Madry"...  

Bravo!

Cousin love  :)

MN Summer Week 3 - Tues & Wed

Jon flew in on Tuesday night (after the kids were in bed), but before that the kids spent the day playing with Megan.  It wasn't quite warm enough to swim, but they did manage some wading and goofing around on Agate.

Wed- First day with Daddy and the cousins on Serpent!  Jace was brave and jumped right in!

Rylee had to think about it a while... lakes are very different than pools!

After dinner, it was hot dog time!  Jace wanted the first ride 

(as long as Daddy (and Nick) went along and Grandpa Chip went v-e-r-y slowly).

Next up: Rylee, Maddie and Nick.

Jace enjoying the boat ride.

Lastly, Nick wanted a wild ride with Uncle Jon.

They went pretty fast and Jon helped them tip it over on a turn.  

Not sure how much Nick enjoyed that last part!

Jace sneak attacking Daddy when he came back in!

Great day on the lake! :)

MN Summer Week 2 (Part 2)

Mon- Max and Meagan were with us for the day.

Max had an idea for a cute picture...

until siblings attacked!

Max and Jace played chess, cards, goofed around outside - I'm not sure Jace has ever laughed that much in one day! :)  Meg came with Rylee to all of her lessons that day.  Luckily, Meg is such a sweetie that she didn't mind.

Rylee had her first horseback riding lesson with my cousin's daughter, Cheyenne.  Ry declared it one of the best three days of her life!  Not sure what ranks as 1 and 2.  Lol!

Riding Cody Boy...

Later, Rylee had her dance/gym. class with Jillian during which she landed several one legged back walkovers and her first ever front walker over!  She did them with ease at the lesson, we think Pat's spirit was there giving her an extra boost.  :)

MN Summer Week 1 (Part 2) & Week 2 (Part 1)

Sun- Father's Day storm

Sunday was the first day we had to sleep in and relax (ahhh).  Then we went to Brd for some fun shopping and lunch at Rafferty's.  Later, we were out sitting on Grandma's hill enjoying the breeze when we heard the tornado warning siren.  We hustled up and got back into the house.  By then, our phones were going off too so we went down into the basement.  We were chillin' in the living room, until our phones went off again.  At about the exact moment, the wind picked up and we watched a tree fall down right in the yard... so we moved to the storage room for the remainder of the storm! We didn't have power, but we had candles and snacks so the kids weren't too worried.

We didn't get hit too bad, just that one tree and a part of another tree... and a crap load of branches. We didn't have power so we drove into town and bought a couple of flashlights.  Luckily, the power came back on in the middle of the night.

Mon- storm cleanup, Rylee's first dance/gymnastics lesson with Jillian

Week 2

Tues - spent the day with Grandpa Chip and Connie

Wed - storyhour at the library (my friend Chelsie and her mom were the readers), dance/gym. for Rylee

Rylee and Jace by Grandma Sandy's memorial plaque (in gold)

Rylee reading while Jace played.  :)

Thurs - Rylee had a very important rite of passage: her first all day garage saling trip with the ladies!

She had a great time even though we didn't find too many treasures. 

*On a sad note, my aunt, Pat, died after a long battle with cancer that afternoon.  She was my dance teacher growing up and I have so many wonderful memories of her and the studio.  I am so thankful that Rylee was able to take lessons from her as well and now continues them with Pat's daughter, Jillian.*

Fri - I can't remember what all we did on Friday, but I know it involved lots of playing outside (almost every day does).  There's so much space to run around, the kids love making obstacle courses, having light saber battles with pool noodles or making up games (our favorite is a combo of field hockey/baseball/dodgeball).  Uncle Howard also came up that night so we had a nice visit over homemade margaritas!

Redneck Rylee is wearing footie pajamas in her cowboy boots 

(both garage sale finds from the day before!)

Sat - last round of planting on Agate Lake, the kids were great helpers again!  We finished right as another round of storms came through so it was a relaxing TV/ game night.

Sun - relaxing morning, quick run to Brd for some errands, the kids spent some time in little cabin 8 (or clubhouse #8 as they usually call it), and a campfire with s'mores  (ahhh!)

Gaga and Papa

We are very blessed to have my parents nearby for part of the year.  They step up and do all the afternoon pickups from school and babysitting (which was a lot since the kids were sick like a gazillion times this year).  It's so nice not to have to leave work early and burn all our vacation on the kid's sick time.  Thank you Mom and Dad!

They also did some overnight babysitting this year so Jon and I could go out late with friends and sleep in.  :)  Here are the cuties with their overnight bags on one such occasion.

Papa also represents the family at all of the little performances at Jace's school.  This one was something multicultural.  All I remember is Jace's class was representing Jamaica.  He's in the middle (with tan shorts).  They sang a Bob Marley song - it was so cute!  Thankfully Papa got it on video for us.

The kids also love going to the park with Gaga and Papa after school.  This was a new one that opened up.  They loved checking out all the new playthings.

As much as the kids see my Mom and Dad, Jon and I rarely get the chance.  Holidays and birthdays are the exception.  We spent a nice day together on Thanksgiving.  I didn't get many photos that day (I'm the worst at taking pictures lately), but I did snap this shot of Jace napping on the couch with his buddy Papa.  

Holiday Shows

This winter, Rylee and I took in several holiday shows.  First up was the Emmy Award winning Christmas Pageant.  (I don't know why this photo won't center).

I used to go to the Christmas Pageant every year, but since I've had the kids, I don't think I've been.  I was really excited to return and to share the experience with Rylee.  You can't take photos during the show, but here is Rylee patiently waiting for it to begin.  It was spectacular as always.  Rylee loved the live animals, the flying angels, and like me, cried during the crucifixion.  

We also went to The Nutcracker Ballet (a smaller high school/college production), but it was still really well done.