Friday, July 09, 2010
Water Fun
After an amazing spring, June decided to be rainy. I think it rained every single day in June. Then, July rolled around and I think summer has finally arrived! We got out the kiddie pool (they barely fit anymore) to cool off on a steamy-hot afternoon.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Strawberry Picking
Berry picking season is short and sweet and we made it point to find time for it this year. The berries were plentiful and we managed to pick 18 pounds of them in 30 minutes.
Eli, as usual, was the taskmaster. He picked and picked and told Sadie, "We can't go until your bucket is full!". He managed to find time to eat a few though too.
Unlike Eli, Sadie had a hard time filling her bucket because there were just too many strawberries to eat.
What did we do with 18 pounds of strawberries? We froze a bunch, but we had strawberry lemonade, strawberry pancakes, strawberry fruit leather, strawberry milkshakes, strawberry salad, strawberry popsicles, and just plain old strawberries. They are Yum-o!
Eli, as usual, was the taskmaster. He picked and picked and told Sadie, "We can't go until your bucket is full!". He managed to find time to eat a few though too.
Unlike Eli, Sadie had a hard time filling her bucket because there were just too many strawberries to eat.
What did we do with 18 pounds of strawberries? We froze a bunch, but we had strawberry lemonade, strawberry pancakes, strawberry fruit leather, strawberry milkshakes, strawberry salad, strawberry popsicles, and just plain old strawberries. They are Yum-o!
Monday, July 05, 2010
Happy Birthday America!
We had a very eventful Fourth of July here in Bemidji. My parents came for the weekend to help us celebrate.
We attended the very political and highly commercialized parade with my brother Darren, Talia (with soon to be niece) and Reid.
Reid devoured his sandwich:
I've never been to a parade where the kids get more than 5 or 6 pieces of candy. Well, I guess in Bemidji you can get the motherload. We came home with a gallon sized bag full of tootsie rolls, lollipops, laffy taffy, pencils, stickers, rubber duckies, balls, icee-pops, etc.
After the parade, we walked down to the carnival:
We went home, rested up, ate some hotdogs and prepared for the fireworks over the water. Eli took the pictures:
Sparklers!
We attended the very political and highly commercialized parade with my brother Darren, Talia (with soon to be niece) and Reid.
Reid devoured his sandwich:I've never been to a parade where the kids get more than 5 or 6 pieces of candy. Well, I guess in Bemidji you can get the motherload. We came home with a gallon sized bag full of tootsie rolls, lollipops, laffy taffy, pencils, stickers, rubber duckies, balls, icee-pops, etc.After the parade, we walked down to the carnival:We went home, rested up, ate some hotdogs and prepared for the fireworks over the water. Eli took the pictures:Sparklers!
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Summer Soccer
In the spring, Sadie and Eli both played soccer. They were on the same team and played with the 2s, 3s, and 4s. I know it seems crazy to have 2 year olds and 4 year olds on the same team, but usually 5 minutes into it the 2 year olds have wandered off the field and just the "bigger" kids were left. Mind you, they never actually played soccer, they just did silly games that may or may not include the soccer ball. 
Skip to summer soccer... There are no 2s and 3s so we put Eli on the 4s team only to find out that they still don't play soccer they only do silly games and drills. Eli was not happy. He refused to play and said, "I just want to play 'real' soccer." So, we moved him up to the 5 and 6 year olds. It took him a couple of practices before he got the nerve up to play with the big kids (and I don't mean by age, Eli is the smallest by quite a few inches and the tallest kid is at least a foot taller than him), but now that he's out there, he's a wild man.
Sometimes, a few get by:
And sometimes not..
Skip to summer soccer... There are no 2s and 3s so we put Eli on the 4s team only to find out that they still don't play soccer they only do silly games and drills. Eli was not happy. He refused to play and said, "I just want to play 'real' soccer." So, we moved him up to the 5 and 6 year olds. It took him a couple of practices before he got the nerve up to play with the big kids (and I don't mean by age, Eli is the smallest by quite a few inches and the tallest kid is at least a foot taller than him), but now that he's out there, he's a wild man.
Sometimes, a few get by:And sometimes not..It is so much fun watching the kids go out and have a blast. It's so much fun to watch Eli have confidence in his abilities and to just get out there and knock 'em dead. And I can't believe that I'm the mom who yells little helpful hints from the sidelines. (Rats, I swore I wasn't going to be that mom.) Now all I need is the mini-van and I'll officially be a soccer mom!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Swimming Lessons
Our friend really wanted her daughter in private swimming lessons with Eli and Sadie. After looking at the cost (which is very reasonable) and figuring the (sort of) individual attention and with Eli's tendency to not perform in front of unknown kids, we decided it was worth it. The kids are in love with Megan who is an awesome teacher. We meet a couple of times a week at the HS pool where Megan is a coach. The kids have the whole pool to themselves and have a great time.
Sadie is working on getting her whole head wet. She doesn't like to fully submerge herself.
Listening very very carefully...
Splash!
Listening very very carefully...Splash!Sunday, June 20, 2010
Summer School
Sadie has been waiting and waiting for summer because she knew that she would be old enough to go to Eli's school. Sadie and Eli have "school" one morning a week during the summer months. In the fall, Sadie will continue at Frances' and Eli will move on to Kindergarten. Without further ado. Here are Sadie's first school pictures:
Cutting veggies for soup:
A little drum time:
Hide-n-go-seek in the rain:
Tea time:
Pizza time:
Two side notes.
1) Eli is not the only boy at his school anymore. 4 boys have joined the girls, so Eli is super excited.
2) Totally random, but I might want to remember one day... I have this thing when I'm playing with the kids that whatever we're doing, I try to incorporate the word "pickle" into everything. If they ask what's for lunch the answer is pickles. If they ask what the name of my pet/car/baby is, it's pickles. If they ask the name of a bird I tease and call is the pickle bird. Well, the kids have started to do the same but their word is "pizza." I ask them, what should auntie Talia name her baby? Pizza. What do you want to drink? Pizza juice. Which book do you want? The pizza book.
Cutting veggies for soup:
A little drum time:Hide-n-go-seek in the rain:Tea time:Pizza time:Two side notes.1) Eli is not the only boy at his school anymore. 4 boys have joined the girls, so Eli is super excited.
2) Totally random, but I might want to remember one day... I have this thing when I'm playing with the kids that whatever we're doing, I try to incorporate the word "pickle" into everything. If they ask what's for lunch the answer is pickles. If they ask what the name of my pet/car/baby is, it's pickles. If they ask the name of a bird I tease and call is the pickle bird. Well, the kids have started to do the same but their word is "pizza." I ask them, what should auntie Talia name her baby? Pizza. What do you want to drink? Pizza juice. Which book do you want? The pizza book.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Vacation Finale
These last few shots are just random ones from our South Dakota trip.
South Dakota is a great place to go if you are into dinosaurs or any other prehistoric animal. We went to The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs for a tour. They also to archeological digs with kids every day that we missed by 20 minutes. The kids were totally bummed.
We passed through Deadwood, SD and took in a few of their Wild Bill Hickok reanactments. While waiting for one show to start, we taught the kids how to order from a bar. They ordered root beer and Eli learned how to flirt with the barmaid.
It turns out that if you get the show early enough, they call you up from the audience and you get to part of the reenactment. Well, I got to play the part of riverboat Captain William Massie. It was a pretty easy role. All I had to do was play poker and pretend to get shot. Eli forgot that this was not real and had tears in his eyes when Wild Bill was shot and I ran off with a hurt hand. He got over it as soon as I came out and took a bow. Here I am with Wild Bill:
One of the most beautiful parts of our trip was our drive through the Spearfish Canyon. We found a quiet place to camp, quiet as in not another soul around and had a fun night nestled in between the canyon walls. We woke in the morning and did a hike to the waterfalls then continued on our way up to North Dakota.
We spent a couple of days exploring Teddy Roosevelt National Park (which is where the photo at the top of the blog was taken). Then we headed home with a brief stop at both of the grandparents. 
When I asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was they said, "all of it" but I think Eli narrowed it down to seeing buffalo and Sadie agreed. I think the best part was that the kids were awesome travelers and enjoyed camping, but thought the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park was a highlight because the kids were so entralled (afterall it took 2 and half hours to go 18 miles because we had to stop and look at everything!). Dennis loved when Eli got the meadowlark to sing and that he got to go on a long hike all by himself... Good times were had and we'll have memories to last a lifetime!
South Dakota is a great place to go if you are into dinosaurs or any other prehistoric animal. We went to The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs for a tour. They also to archeological digs with kids every day that we missed by 20 minutes. The kids were totally bummed.
We passed through Deadwood, SD and took in a few of their Wild Bill Hickok reanactments. While waiting for one show to start, we taught the kids how to order from a bar. They ordered root beer and Eli learned how to flirt with the barmaid.It turns out that if you get the show early enough, they call you up from the audience and you get to part of the reenactment. Well, I got to play the part of riverboat Captain William Massie. It was a pretty easy role. All I had to do was play poker and pretend to get shot. Eli forgot that this was not real and had tears in his eyes when Wild Bill was shot and I ran off with a hurt hand. He got over it as soon as I came out and took a bow. Here I am with Wild Bill:One of the most beautiful parts of our trip was our drive through the Spearfish Canyon. We found a quiet place to camp, quiet as in not another soul around and had a fun night nestled in between the canyon walls. We woke in the morning and did a hike to the waterfalls then continued on our way up to North Dakota.We spent a couple of days exploring Teddy Roosevelt National Park (which is where the photo at the top of the blog was taken). Then we headed home with a brief stop at both of the grandparents. When I asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was they said, "all of it" but I think Eli narrowed it down to seeing buffalo and Sadie agreed. I think the best part was that the kids were awesome travelers and enjoyed camping, but thought the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park was a highlight because the kids were so entralled (afterall it took 2 and half hours to go 18 miles because we had to stop and look at everything!). Dennis loved when Eli got the meadowlark to sing and that he got to go on a long hike all by himself... Good times were had and we'll have memories to last a lifetime!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Theme #4: Wild Animals
This trip was full of wild animals. It started with the porcupine we saw in the ditch as we were leaving Minnesota. I've never seen a live porcupine in the wild before(versus all the dead ones we see along side of the road). True to Dennis style, he had to get a closer look. The porcupine did not like that and we watched as the porcupine pricked up it's quills and was starting to take aim. Dennis got the hint and got back into the car. We started keeping a list of all the animals we saw along the way. It included a lot of birds and a lot of these:
There are lots of prairie dog towns across the plains where buffalo roam. Sadie thinks they are about the cutest thing ever and I love watching them bob up and down as their warning signal to each other that predators are around. We saw thousands of them and they never failed to entertain.
This big horn sheep was posing so nicely in Badlands National Park:
Mountain goat at Mount Rushmore:
We saw buffalo at all the parks we visited, but the biggest herd we saw was at Custer State Park. There were lots of babies and it was pretty cute:
Lovely mountain blue birds:
Pronghorn:
In Theodore Roosevelt National Park we spied some wild horses:
And this beautful elk:
Only one more vacation post... I hope you're not too bored yet!
There are lots of prairie dog towns across the plains where buffalo roam. Sadie thinks they are about the cutest thing ever and I love watching them bob up and down as their warning signal to each other that predators are around. We saw thousands of them and they never failed to entertain.This big horn sheep was posing so nicely in Badlands National Park:
Mountain goat at Mount Rushmore:We saw buffalo at all the parks we visited, but the biggest herd we saw was at Custer State Park. There were lots of babies and it was pretty cute:Lovely mountain blue birds:Pronghorn:In Theodore Roosevelt National Park we spied some wild horses:And this beautful elk:Only one more vacation post... I hope you're not too bored yet!
Monday, June 14, 2010
News Flash: Where Not to Put a Shoe
On Sunday, we took a trip to the emergency room. Sadie put a Polly Pocket shoe up her nose and we couldn't get it out no matter how hard we had her blow and it was too far back to grab it with a tweezers. Well, wouldn't you know when we got there the dr. couldn't see the shoe and said she either sneezed it out (she had a little sneezing fit) or that it was back too far in her nose, which meant that it would just go down the back of her throat and she'd swallow it. So, we went home, with a lost shoe not knowing where it disappeared to.
Skip to 8 hours later, we're driving home from a barbecue at a friend's house and I was looking back at Sadie and she turned her head to just the perfect angle and sure enough, I caught sight of that elusive Polly Pocket Shoe. Sadie swore that she couldn't feel it and when Dennis looked, he said he couldn't see it either. Well, I must have x-ray vision, because I saw that shoe hidden in her nose, only it had moved forward quite a bit. We held her down and in one swift move, I reached the tweezers in and pulled the Polly Pocket Shoe out!
We had a long discussion about where not to put little tiny plastic shoes.
Skip to 8 hours later, we're driving home from a barbecue at a friend's house and I was looking back at Sadie and she turned her head to just the perfect angle and sure enough, I caught sight of that elusive Polly Pocket Shoe. Sadie swore that she couldn't feel it and when Dennis looked, he said he couldn't see it either. Well, I must have x-ray vision, because I saw that shoe hidden in her nose, only it had moved forward quite a bit. We held her down and in one swift move, I reached the tweezers in and pulled the Polly Pocket Shoe out!
We had a long discussion about where not to put little tiny plastic shoes.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Theme #3: Putting Our Faces in Holes
Why do people like posing in these silly murals with a hole cut out for your face? I'll never know the answer to this and life's most perplexing questions, but we posed in every single one we saw and the kids made me take a picture at each of them. I'm only sharing a few!
At the Jamestown Buffalo:
Doesn't Dennis make a beautiful Snow White?
Such a brave, brave snake catcher:
This hole is the original entrance to Wind Cave. I'll spare you all of the cave pictures because they are pretty dull.
As proof, this is what Sadie thought of the cave:
In the cave's defense, it was nap time and Sadie had been staying up late and getting up early for the whole trip. Plus, it was dark...
Doesn't Dennis make a beautiful Snow White?Such a brave, brave snake catcher:This hole is the original entrance to Wind Cave. I'll spare you all of the cave pictures because they are pretty dull.As proof, this is what Sadie thought of the cave:In the cave's defense, it was nap time and Sadie had been staying up late and getting up early for the whole trip. Plus, it was dark...
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