Watermelon!

June Fishing Fun

As usual, I am very behind on posting about all our activities. Near the end of June we took our second annual trip to Long Lake for a little fishing fun with my family. Our kids and their cousins had a ton of fun making memories with Grandma and Grandpa. All the kids, minus Claranna, went out for a great night of fishing. The kids dropped their lines in the water and the fish seemed to hop right on. It's the kind of fishing that is really exciting for the kids and keeps all the grown-ups too busy. There was also time for swimming, tubing, campfires, making s'mores, doing sparklers, playing tag, swinging, taking walks, hiking, fish cleaning, fish frying, fresh corn and a grilled steak dinner and storm watching. We also ventured into the nearby towns for some mini golf, lunch on the lake, go-carting, and bumper boating. Everyone, big and little, had a great time!

The big boys (Mark, Chuck & Greg) had a awesome time driving go-carts, bumper boats, and tubing. Sometimes I wondered who that trip to the fun park was really for... I'm pretty certain it was more for the big boys.

We took some time to do a little sightseeing on the way there and home. Everyone has to stop and see the "Worlds Largest Ball of Twine Made by One Man" at least once in their lifetime. The real merry-go-round and teeter-totters might have been more of a highlight for the kids than the ball of twine during that little stop. We also went to the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden and met our friends at Minnehaha Falls Park on our way home. It was a great and jam-packed little getaway. The kids are already excited to go back again next year! Here's our trip in pictures...

Milk Wagon

Who wouldn't want to buy milk from this crew?

We survived another year in the "Milk Wagon". I had split days this year as our family went out of town this past weekend for a retreat. The kids and I worked on beautiful Friday morning with the help of Grandma and Grandpa. Both James and Ella are now expert milk servers. Mark helped me finish out my day of service on Sunday and we nearly melted in there because of the heat, humidity and the sun reflecting off the stainless steal counter. Yikes! We wisely asked Grandma to keep the kiddos at home where it was cool and it wasn't my most favorite birthday activity.

Craft Time

Ella wanted to create some crafts the other morning and she thought it would be fun to use things from our recycling bin like newspaper and a cool whip container, among other things. She is so creative that she came up with several little functional projects. While I was upstairs folding laundry, this is what appeared on my kitchen counter:

She peeled off the label and the evidence that she took the time to clean it out nicely was shown with a few remaining soap suds inside. Now this lovely vase will grace my windowsill for awhile. It was thoughtful of Ella and it really made me smile that she would think of this very "green" idea. Her daddy's proud too!

It's Fair Week!

It's fair week at our house and the kids were very excited to take their art to show at the fair. Claranna had fun painting a rather abstract design and was proud to stand next to her art and ribbon at the fair like a big girl. James was thrilled that he received a ribbon with three colors and Ella was in awe to see that her drawing won "Best of Show" in her age group. Tonight we are going back to the fair so Mark can check on all his vegetable ribbons. Hopefully it will be a little cooler tonight at the fair! It has been very hot and muggy so far this week.

Ella and James are both practicing to compete in the Pedal Tractor Pull on Thursday. Ella really wants to win a trophy again so she has been trying to make her legs really strong by doing a lot of biking and pedaling our little tractor up and down the street. We're happy that James wants to compete this year, too.

James keeps asking if it's Friday yet as he can't wait to work in the Milk Booth. Hopefully Claranna won't get into too much trouble while she is "helping" us to sell the milk!

Grandma Ruth is still fresh in all of our thoughts and the kids remember so much and share their thoughts with ease. While in the art building, Ella reminded me of what door we had to bring Grandma Ruth through last year so she could come see the kids' art at the fair. Some of the entry doors to the buildings have too many steps. I told Ella that it would be different to not have Grandma at the fair this year. To that, Ella simply replied, "But, she IS here with us. She's right in our hearts."

Enjoy the fair pics!