Blauggie

Random fun stuff!

Halloween (2 zombies = low motivation on our part)

Buddies wearing coordinating shirts!

And lastly....earrings!!

And a hyper-vigilant 8-year-old's ear-cleaning schedule!!

Tales of a First Grade Lainey

Lainey's teacher uploads pictures and projects onto an app every few days so we can see some of the fun stuff she gets to do in first grade!

 

Happy birthday to Icy!

This old girl turned 15 yesterday! We celebrated with cake (for the humans).

Officially toothless!

Also - it's officially cold! High of 37 today!

State Fair and Back to School

A little late, but here is a wrap-up of our trip to the State Fair, and the kids' (and my!) first day of school.

Camping, take 2

Two years ago, we attempted a weekend of tent camping at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, with unfortunate results:

After taking a year off, we decided to try again. This time I reserved one of their handy camper cabins, which is basically a room with bunkbeds. But it was rain-proof and mosquito-proof (not to mention had electricity!).

Here's what it looked like (cute, huh?):

It was perfect, and we had a great time. A much, much better time than last time, when we were run out of town by mosquitos and rain.

Here's what we did:

Fishing (Daddy caught 3, kids caught 0).

Wildlife bingo.

A climb to the top of the lookout tower (for 3 of the 5 members of our family)

Campires (this one started by Sebby - on purpose).

And hot dogs and beans over the fire.

We also stopped at Happy's for dinner on the way up. Sebastian had to jump to reach the face hole, with mixed results.

 

Check out this story Sebastian wrote!

Click here:

He wrote it on this cool website called Storybird, where kids can choose awesome art work to add to their story. The story is published to the internet and people can comment on it, and he can comment on other stories. He's been having a lot of fun with it, and I am beyond impressed at what he's been coming up with!

Summer fun - July wrap-up

We've had an exciting, very outdoorsy July!

After our fun at Grandma S's cabin, all three kids had a whole week of day camp. The girls went to YMCA Day Camp Guy Robinson, and Sebastian did Extreme Fishing Camp at Fish Lake.

Here are the ladies waiting for their bus on the first day (so clean and shiny!)

And on the last day (when parents got to come and visit)

Here's Sebastian on his last day of fishing camp, when parents go to come and try the fish that the kids had caught and cooked up

That same week was the Maple Grove Days parade, which is a family favorite (and especially an Eliza-favorite). This year, however, we came precariously close to not going because of a violent storm. But, the city didn't cancel their plans for the parade and neither did we! 

This year was extra special because Sebastian got to walk in the parade (and throw candy) with Derek and the Lions Club! He especially liked it when he spotted his buddies in the crowd. He would walk over to them and let them pick their candy from his bucket.

This is my favorite pic from that night - Daddy throwing candy to an eager Eliza

Then the Maple Grove Days carnival!

The following weekend, we met up with Grampy and Grandma Sue in La Crosse, WI for some more fun!

And Lainey caught her first fish!

 

Last but not least, on Monday we checked out a beach near our house at the recommendation of another family, and a little while after we got there, that family showed up! So the girls had a great beach day with their buddies (who happen to also be 6 and 8-year-old sisters).

Then, two of Sebastian's classmates showed up and their dad offered Sebastian a ride on their boat, so he got his first ever tubing experience!