Eli loved his birthday cake about as much as he loved having all of his friends sing him Happy Birthday.
Our talented neighbor made Eli's caterpillar pinata. It was almost too cute to hit. Almost. Sadie would hit the pinata and then laugh hysterically, I wish I would have had the video on.
Finally, Dennis had to step in and give the caterpillar one final whack. Then, all the kids went running.
It's amazing how the people who are in these pictures are the same people that have been in all of Eli's birthday pictures. I guess the parties I throw must not be so bad if they keep coming back!! Seriously, we have made some really great friends here in Columbus and they have helped create many wonderful memories. Thanks to everyone who came to Eli's party, sent gifts from afar, called, or sent silly e-cards. Eli loved every minute of today!
(He has crazy hair in the morning.) Dennis and I got Eli 70 hot wheels cars from ebay for his birthday. Each of them was individually wrapped. I think it was a really good morning for him. He was very upset when we would only let him take five cars to church.
There was plenty of animal touching. Eli even got into it. He likes to keep us on our toes. Here Sadie is petting the baby pigs, neither of them would get near the fattest boar.
I'm surprised that Eli wanted to go on the rides by himself. He's just spent the whole day surprising the heck out of me!
Notice the band-aid on Eli's forehead. It's to cover up the large goose-egg that Eli is currently sporting. He was jumping into the pool on Saturday, slipped and fell. The result is what happens when you hit your head on the side of the pool.
Aunt Talia, Uncle Darren and the gang. Notice how Darren, Dennis and I all have our feet crossed the same way. Aren't we too cute for words?!
Uncle Darren just happens to have an ATV so we gave the kids rides. Slow rides because they weren't wearing helmets.
Eli was more than a little skeptical:
We went to some weird wildlife park outside of Bemidji called 
Uncle Darren loved it too:
You can see why Darren and Sadie became friends fast:
The lake has lots of big lily pads with gorgeous pink flowers. 
Sadie enjoyed swimming:
Eli did some fishing:
The park is apparently 
That's one big log Sadie's sitting on. She thought it was a great place for a rest:
We like to put the kids to work while camping. Here Eli is gathering kindling for the fire:
Eli walking in the lake with grandma:
Eli playing his first game of pinball:
Two of my auntie's were in town visiting. Here's Sadie playing with Auntie Lucy:
Scheels, the local sporting goods store, has a ferris wheel inside of it. Eli wasn't so sure he wanted to go on it, but after hanging out in the store for an hour he decided that he wanted to try it. He and grandma made it around a couple of times before he decided he'd had enough. Luckily, they were the only ones on the ride so they ended the ride for him.
Can you believe that Auntie Mia came all the way from California to see us? She just happened to be home visiting her family at the exact same time that we were home and she just happened to be flying into Fargo. We got to eat dinner with Mia and Nancy, her mom. 
The mall's playland:
Swimming under the deck in the backyard. Here they are seen cleaning rocks. Grandpa is such a slave driver:
Towards the end of our stay Eli was brave enough to put his head under, crawl on his hands in the water, "dive" in, and chase other kids.
A view of the "holler":
Our camp site:
Eli and I spent much of the trip looking for mushrooms. We found a lot of big beautiful perfect mushrooms:.jpg)
Although you can't tell from this picture, this beetle was actually about 2 inches long and it's mate just flew away:
Who wants 