1st Day Of School.

My baby (sniff, sniff)....

She was ready to go!! She was very excited and went in just great. She was so cute when I was taking her pictures, she always made a concious effort to have her kitty lunch box facing the camera. Can't wait to hear how her day went. I did fine, too (just so you know). I didn't cry until Diana Frisbie came up to me and put her arm around me and said, "We'll take good care of her!" Waaaaa!!!!

This picture is worth a thousand words. One of these kids is excited...the other....not so much. Plus, he didn't want to have his picture taken, that's why there's only one of him. It was a morning of picking your battle. Once he got to school and got enveloped into his crowd of boys, he was fine.

And this guy got off on his bus this morning, bright and early. It's his first year taking the bus and I guess no matter how old they get I still always have this comfort thing of liking to see them actually walk into the building and knowing they're there. So, I had to get some reassurance by texting him to make sure he got on the bus and that it went Ok. After waiting patiently for a reply from him we asked if he was ignoring us and we got a "Yep!" reponse. So, all is well and normal on that end! Now, I need to figure out what to do in this quiet empty house.

Last Day of Minnesota Fun.

Time for croquet.

I have a confession to make.....

....I let my boys play with guns. Evidently that's just what you do in Minnesota. Oh, C'mon...they're just BB guns. Guess what my boys want for Christmas this year?

Need For Speed.

Lily was loving the go-carts this year for the first time. She was happy being a passenger in the bigger cars.
And then she tore it up in her little Skittles car. She was quite thrilled as that is her favorite candy. She took her job very seriously and was a little disappointed that the kiddie track was too narrow to pass other cars. I sensed a little bit of competitiveness there....I don't know where she gets that.

First, you should direct your attention to Noah's hair. That was some major wind turbulence. Secondly, notice they are giving each other a congratulatory high five. (Look who came in second!) I did happen to notice that each time they tried to get passed by "you-know-who", Papa's hand reached out to jerk the wheel at just the right time. They made a pretty good team.

...and here were the losers. I mean, the second place car.

Go-carting brings everyone together! Even those who get highly annoyed with each other! (See above.) Beckett loved the little carousel. This is the same little carousel that drained my coin purse 4 years ago, when Lily was having catastrophic meltdowns when her time on it ran out. She was a little more understanding this year! We also conquered the 6 man bicycle. These 2 got the front primo seats. Notice they have no pedals, they got to just sit back and enjoy the ride. I don't know why Lily is giving us the "stinker face" in all of these pics. It was an adventure that's for sure. Joe and I were in front for the first leg of our trip. Joe was driver and braker. I was next to him with a "fake wheel". I realized, after discovering the hand brake really didn't work all that well and faced with some decent highspeed downhills, that I apparently have some control issues as I continually tried to steer with my "fake" wheel. This was of course highly entertaining to my husband. The good news is I lived to tell about it and I did it all in a skirt, people!
And to top it all off, we had an excellent "bell ringer" He was very efficient at his job.

We caught 0 fish.

Alex 2010.

Ok. I'll be honest. Every summer, we contemplate an anual trip up to Alexandria, MN and we both kind of hem and haw and say, "What will we do up there? It's so far away, and what if we get bored? What if the kids get bored?" Then, we get up there and in about 10 minutes we realize why we continue to come up here year after year. Its called RELAXATION, folks. And we all don't do it enough.

Here is Lily having her 'Titanic Moment' at the front of the boat.

OK, I feel as though I need to explain this one. I know he's hot. I know you're all jealous. Just wanted to make sure you all know he was not wearing a basket on his head. He found it in the back of a closet at his Grandparent's house and I'm guessing it's from 197_? I started to protest when he put it on, then he said, "We're on vacation! Nobody knows us here." Ok. He's right. Let the man have his hat. I think this picture says so much, I will let it speak for itself. Think "parental guidance vs. teenage independence." There were Oreos on the boat. And crackers. And there was relaxation to be had, even for those with limitless energy. So, apparently the water was really cold. Joe jumped in first and came up screaming several octaves higher. Not to be outdone, the 14 year old went next and came up utterly stunned into speechlessness. Now THAT doesn't happen often. This boy loved it and didn't phase him a bit. Just gave him another excuse to scream. This little one didn't like it at first, but everyone else was doing it.
And wisdom apparently doesn't necessarily come with age. This guy did quite an impressive jump into the freezing waters below. I eased myself into the water and stayed in for a bit. I think the cold helped me in getting distraced enough not to think about what kinds of creatures were swimming in the 50 feet of water below me. Sorry....no pics of me in a swimsuit.