Happy 6th Birthday Eli!!

I really can't believe that Eli is six years old already. This year: kindergarten and in a blink of an eye: college. Where does the time go?
Eli was super-excited for this birthday. He even woke me up in the middle of the night telling me that he just can't sleep because he's so excited for his birthday. He did wake up early so he could open presents.

He got a Nintendo DSlite, which is like a GameBoy (for you old folks, like me, who just don't keep up with the gaming world). He was pretty excited. He has also obtained 5 games for his DS, so that will keep him entertained and stupefied for awhile!
Dennis had to work late, so we went to breakfast at Eli's favorite donut shop, Raphaels. Later we went to the Smurf movie and had a dinner of fried chicken and buttered noodles with "special salt" (Lawreys seasoned salt)-- his request.

We planned his birthday party on the 18th because his BFF also shares Eli's birthday and we wanted him to be able to celebrate with his family. Eli wanted a Rock-n-roll themed party. So, we went to the bowling alley and did rockin' glo-bowl. Before everyone got there, the kids did video games to waste some time.

Look at those awesome bowling shoes!

The bowlers: Abby, Zoe, Eli, Ryan, Nile and Sadie

Then we went back to our house for pizza, presents...

and cake!

Grandma Z. pulled through for us again and made this awesome guitar cake!

Then is was time for a rock-n-roll dance party!

The six year olds (Ryan and Zoe) stayed for a slumber party. They went to bed late only to be woken up by the biggest thunder storm that Bemidji has had in a long time. No one was scared (except me! It was a loud, house shaking storm.) thank goodness and they all went back to sleep. They were up early playing and having fun. I was exhausted. I think the kids had a blast. Six will be a birthday to remember!

Mutton Bustin'

As the previous post mentions, we spent the entire day at the Beltrami County Fair yesterday. One of the highlights was going to the rodeo. A few days before the rodeo Eli and Sadie asked if they could ride the sheep and we reluctantly said yes thinking that they would never do it. Before the day of the fair, we watched some youtube videos so they knew what they were getting into. They learned from those videos that they probably wouldn't be on the sheep for more than a second and they learned that they would probably fall hard and fast. They knew that they'd have to hug a sheep pretty hard wearing a heavy-duty vest and hockey helmet.
The time of the rodeo came and the kids were looking pretty ragged considering we'd already spent 7 hours at the fair and Sadie was beginning her meltdown. So, when they called all the registered kids down for the mutton busting we were surprised when the kids happily jumped up and went down to the gate.
Eli and Sadie watched as the 15 kids before them instantly fell of the sheep as soon as they got on and 2 left crying before they even got on the sheep. Then they called Eli's name and he was on a sheep and did this:



He stayed on the longest of all the kids! Sorry the video is so bad, but I got pretty excited. I wish it showed his fall, him standing up and waving to the crowd, the crowd cheering loudly and him limping out of the arena (apparently the sheep landed on his leg). But, I'm no videographer so you're just going to have to take my word for it.
Then, it was Sadie's turn:



(I swear I was going to do better on her video, but I just get too darn excited.) She stayed on a smidge longer than most of the kids, but you can tell that it's over quite quickly. Sadie was a little shook up afterwards, but then was talking about next year when she rides the sheep at the rodeo...

A Day at the Fair

Parking and Gate Fees: $5

2 Corn Dogs, 1 large order of fresh cut french fries, 1 Uff Da Taco, a Cheeseburger, 2 icee pops, 2 waters, 2 pops: $30

2 games: $10

2 Ride-all-the-rides wrist-band: $36

2 pony rides: $10

4 tickets to the rodeo: $50

9 hours spent at the Beltrami County Fair: $141

We had a ton of fun!!

Boundary Waters

We just got back from the kids' very first backpacking/canoeing experience in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area near Ely, MN. Though the trip was filled with ups and downs, we had a fabulous time and learned a lot along the way. We put in at Moose Lake and paddled through several lakes to get to Ensign Lake which is where we camped--on an island--per the children's request. We stayed at the same camp site the whole time and just did day trips to other lakes and explored the area around our little island. The children were responsible for carrying their bags and life jacket through the portages and they only whined a little about it.

We had absolutely perfect northern MN weather. Lots of sun, temps in the low 80s, a slight breeze and all around perfect camping and canoeing conditions.
We spent a lot of time in the canoe. In hindsight, to children spending a lot of time in a canoe is worse than spending a lot of time in a car because you're forced to wear a very uncomfortable and hot life jacket, you're subject to the weather (sun, rain) and the bugs (black flies are horrible) and you can't move a whole lot. But, we passed the time letting the kids paddle (note: bring an extra paddle for the kids next time!).
Playing cards (I bet you didn't know you could play cards in a canoe!)


and sometimes even sleeping.
We also played many games of "2o questions." My favorite:
Us: Is it an animal?
Eli: yes
Us: does it have fur?
Eli: no
Sadie: is it a bald dog?

So, while canoeing wasn't the best part of the trip, they still managed to have a good time doing it, even if there was some (ok, a lot) whining along the way. Now, their favorite part of the trip? Fishing. And not just any kind of fishing, fishing for crawdads!



And they caught a lot. Even enough for breakfast, though we decided that cooking two was plenty.

They fished for crawdads morning, noon, and night until the mosquitoes started tuning up at night for their evening performance. Once the mosquitoes started their performance it was too late to get into the tent without at least 5 bites so we tried to get into our tent before they started to play! Then, I told scary stories before bed about giant mosquitoes coming to steal little children to feed to their young. Sadie loved it, Eli plugged his ears!
One morning though, it was a perfect day--weather wise-- hot, sunny, no wind. Quickly we discovered that when the lake is glassy and perfectly still the black flies come out ready to attack. We were constantly swarmed by the nasty biting suckers and we were instantly miserable getting bit about every 6 seconds. We survived by rigging up the tent fly to block the sun, but let some air in. Then we jumped into the lake with our towels and ran up to the tent and laid there dripping wet in the hot tent and sweat while playing kings in the corner. Luckily, the perfect weather didn't last more than a couple of hours and the breeze came back and kept the flies away. Here we are staying cool in the tent and eating melted chocolate. Chocolate really does make every thing better.
We also did some swimming. It was even hot enough for me to swim! And Dennis got in a little fishing time too.
While we had some mishaps along the way-- broken glasses, a forgotten water filter, our canoe almost flying off of our car at the beginning of our trip because of a huge storm that was passing through the same time we were-- we managed to make it through with a smile and thinking that we wanted to do it again, soon. The kids have already forgotten how much they disliked the canoe part of the trip because they saw an eagle pooping (think silly string) and investigated bear scat and pooped in the woods and caught crawdads and ate chocolate. We might just have to make it a yearly event.

Family Reunion 2011

Greg and Michele once again opened up their house for the whole Sperle gang to come and camp out and enjoy one of Minnesota's great lakes. And, once again, we all had a blast. We especially enjoyed the early morning tornado sirens going off and everyone mad-dashing for the house hoping that there would still be a spot left on the futon to sleep only to find that 5 kids already claimed it! Once the storm past, the sun came out and we plenty of time to enjoy the lake. Eli and Sadie love their cousin time and their uncle and aunt time too. Eli particularly loves playing steal the sock with Uncle Jaime. We had to make sure that we brought a pair of socks just for this game. Sadie loved playing cards with her aunts Mary, Cindy and Terri and now plays "trashcan" daily. Everyone ate and swam and ate and played cards and ate and played ninja and ate and fished and ate and tubed and ate some more. Here are some highlights:
Sadie hanging on the tube with Ashley and Kyle:

The lift done by Sadie and Emily is almost better than Baby and Johnny's:
Carl and Kyle wearing an Ashley 'stache:
Greg and Jack:
Sam, Gabe, Sadie and Eli tubing:
Sadie and Maddie:
Jake, Gabe, and Eli:
The "big kids" playing volleyball:

Everyone's favorite game-- Ninja!

Folk Fest 2011

After the 4th of July, grandma and grandpa came to stay with the kids and Dennis and I packed up and headed to Canada to spend 5 days relaxing and listening to music at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Last year, we hardly listened to any music because we were too busy keeping the kids occupied so this year we decided to go alone and while we missed the kids, we sure enjoyed the folk fest without them! We got to hear some of our favorites: The Jayhawks, Joy Kills Sorrow, The Be Good Tanyas, Lucinda Williams, Trampled By Turtles and Jeff Tweedy. We also got introduced to some new favorites too: Dan Magnun, David Wax Museum, The Tom Fun Orchestra, and Teegan and Sara. We had a great time doing what Dennis and I love doing: camping and listening to music. It was good for us to have some time away. It was awesome all around. The Winnipeg Folk Fest can't be beat as far as festivals go. It's clean, well organized, the food is awesome, you get up close and personal with some of your favorite groups and they draw in a good crowd.

The Be Good Tanyas:

Jeff Tweedy:

36,000 of my closest friends:

T-Ball 2011

Eli is playing t-ball this summer two mornings a week as his sport of choice. He enjoys it quite a bit and has a really nice coach. His team is sponsored by Ken K. Thompson Jewelry store. I love watching t-ball. I laugh out loud every game because no one is paying attention to the game and the boys are distracted by every single thing that is not a baseball. Then when the ball is hit every single kid on the field runs for the ball. Sometimes (and this would never happen on Eli's team, ahem) the kids will all run for the ball then tackle the other player for the ball and the whole team will end up in a pile-up. It's just so perfectly four and five year old t-ball that I just have to enjoy it!

Fourth of July Weekend

We had a fantastic Fourth of July weekend. The weather was wonderful so we kept ourselves busy by playing in the sun.
The parade is always a big hit mostly because the kids get wads of candy. We sat with Ryan and Abby's family so the kids had a blast.
Ryan's family invited us out to their aunt's cabin for a little swimming

and hot doggin' (that's my name for it, I'm not sure what the "technical" name is).
The kids were riding on the back of the "fast boat" while we lounged on the pontoon. You know you're old when you think the pontoon is where it's at!

Then, we did a few small fireworks in their backyard.

Eli was brave enough to light one himself, until the wick would start sparking, then he would drop the punk and run!

We spent the 4th of July evening at a potluck with some friends. It poured rain an hour before the fireworks, but they still shot them off just a little delayed. We ended up watching them from the back of our hatchback in a parking lot since everything was soaking wet. Sadie was asleep by the time the grand finale started. Eli fell asleep on the way home. Good times.