So Long...

It is with great sadness, we start our blog post with the news of Grandpa Jim's passing. Grandpa was the prime example of a loving, kind, humorous, and successful person. He valued education and was proud of the accomplishments our family made. Cooper and I were blessed to meet Grandpa, even though he battled Alzheimer's the past 11+ years. We will miss Grandpa dearly. Some of our favorite photos are here as a remembrance.

In happier news, we have had a very busy few weeks. August seemed to come and go. I have been busy playing make believe. It is my mission to role play everyday. These days, I enjoy playing auto mechanic, hence the jacked up Coupe on our garage steps. Mommy turned the corner to see this followed by some clever handi-work.

Papa and Grandma Sharon took us to Como Park for a day filled with animal spottings, rides, and a trip to McDonald's. Papa is a kid trapped in an adult's body! Cooper loved making animal sounds all day and I was more brave than my parents thought I would be (fooled them!) I went on nearly every ride possible for my height.

We enjoyed the two giraffes exhibit. I was particularly amused that one of them was trying to get a piggy back ride from the other one (my parents said they will explain what this means someday)..

Cooper was trying to call the buffalo over. Thankfully, he did not listen.

Papa and I pretended to be seals in the Arctic. I told you Papa is like a big kid.

I thought the outdoor seals were pretty funny. The seals are Papa's favorite exhibit; he remembers taking Mommy, Auntie Stefanie and Uncle Jimmy to Como almost every weekend when they were kids. They always watched the "Sparky the Seal" show.

I clung to my black wax ape that the machine made for me at Como. Papa used to buy these for Mommy when she was a kid. Daddy also recalls getting one when he was a child and he mistakenly thought it was a chocolate ape and ate it. No comment needed on that one.

Papa humored me and rode the train around the track. I am certain his knees are still sore from sitting in the crunched car.

I rode on Aladdin's carpet ride, race cars, a horse drawn carriage, bumper cars with Daddy (I was hysterically laughing at this silly ride!) and we ended with a carousel ride as a family. It was a perfect day!

Daddy's work hosted a wedding shower at an indoor play area, called Action City. The bride- to-be works for Daddy and her fiance are both adventurous. The shower was a lot of fun and Cooper and I had a blast playing games and going on rides there.

Mommy and Daddy floated the river with some friends on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. They won the river float as part of the charity ball auction and nearly missed the chance to use it this summer. They had a great time floating the river while Amanda watched Cooper and I at home.

Auntie Stefanie and Uncle Bruce came to ski with us for the day. Lexi and Sam haven't attempted to ski, so they both were eager to give it a try. We are happy to report that both of them were success stories and are official waterskiiers!Lexi went first and got up after attempt number 3!

Sam also popped up after a few tries, although he preferred to sit on his skiis and ride around in a sitting position. It was quite funny!

Happy Sam returned to the dock because Auntie bribed him with soda if he gave it a few tries.

If you look closely, this is definitely NOT pop! Mommy told Sam that he could grab the soda in the refrigerator. Without really looking carefully, he grabbed a Miller and drank "some" of it. When Auntie noticed what he was drinking and asked how his pop tasted, he said, "kind of gross!" The can was half gone, so we are not sure if he actually drank that much or poured some out. We are pretty sure the ride home resulted in either some giggles, sleep or sickness. We never did find out.

I am sure you are wondering how my waterskiing is going this summer? I call myself a waterskiier (LOOK MOM, I AM SKIING!) My comfort this summer has been skiing from shore on my trainer. My parents had high hopes that I would give it a try this summer on the water, but it doesn't look like this will happen. Maybe next summer, when I am four, I will become a true waterskiier. Sorry Daddy!

Other pictures from this month reflect our summer routines... Cooper and I duke it out in the jogger/bike trailer almost daily as Mommy insists on getting some form of exercise. She usually tosses us some snacks and hurries out of the driveway. She found us cozy and tight this week when she retrieved us from the bike trailer.

Grandma bought Cooper this cute little patio table for his birthday. It is one of those dual gifts as I LOVE to eat lunch, dinner, and snacks on it too. We also play games and crawl all over it when Mom isn't looking.

We are so lucky to have beautiful parks all around us. Almost weekly, we met up with friends for a playdate at the park. This summer's weather was beautiful! We had perfect weather for many outdoor outings. My parents are a bit concerned about what we will do to stay busy once the cold arrives and snow falls (HINT... SNOWMOBILE!)

We end our post with a "so long" to Grandpa Jim and to our special summer memories. We also have to say "so long" to Mommy being home everyday as she begins teaching this week. She will teach full-time for 6 weeks as Heather is taking maternity leave but will job-share again this year. We will do our best to continue our blog posts as we love to update everyone with the latest. Take care!

Lovely Lutsen

We had an awesome long weekend planned with our good friends, Pete, Meggen, Abby and Lauren! We headed to the Lutsen area to stay at their family's gorgeous cabin. Daddy has been up there recently for a snowmobiling trek, but the kids/Moms haven't been up there for about two years. Our parents finally decided the kids were old enough to actually enjoy the outdoors. After a long, 4 1/2 hour drive, we arrived in God's country. Here is a preview of our weekend events.

Lauren is 4 years old, Abby and I are both 3 (just a few months apart) and Cooper is 1. Mommy loves that we are all around the same age. Meggen and Mommy have been close friends since they were in elementary school. She knows that we will be family friends for life. It was a nice change of pace for Cooper and I who mostly play with "boy toys." The girls had their Barbies, coloring books and little doll house. I admit, I did play with those things this past weekend (don't' tell).

The lake at the cabin is nice and cool. The water is very clean thanks to their cooler temps in that area. Notice the pink tube I am floating in... yup, it was Lauren's but I still think I look pretty handsome in it.

Our parents thought it was hysterical to watch the kids duck under the tree. Apparently, we didn't need to duck because the tree is high enough for us to walk under, but they felt this was a great joke all weekend long. Funny how things like that entertain adults.

Lauren and I were delirious over these balloon "bombs" that are pumped up by hand and squeal through the air once you let go of them. Bob, Pete's Dad, set them off for a good hour and we cracked up laughing the entire time. Just look at those bulging veins in my neck! I could have laughed for days just watching and hearing those silly balloons.

This picture is a typical glimpse of our weekend activities. Bob happily set of balloon bombs, Daddy entertained Cooper in the water, Pete chilled in the water (he is at the end of the dock) just drinking a "cold one" and Meggen was determined to catch crayfish. She is a crazy crayfish catcher (seriously skilled). Mommy was busy snapping photos and also took part in all of the above festivities. Cooper was busy, busy, busy all weekend long. He took awesome naps and slept well at night. Me, not so much. I went to bed well overall, but was ready to go at 5:00 a.m. My parents were walking zombies for 4 days thanks to my crazy sleep schedule. Cooper was so tired one night that he just laid his sleepy head onto the boat's steering wheel.

We went for several boat rides on the lake and at times, I was fearful of this new boat. Luckily, Pete humored this fear and allowed me to ride on his lap.

Cooper's favorite game is Peek-a-Boo! He plays with anyone willing and he even found time to play inside of the fishing boat. He has a word for "Peek" but it is nothing like the actual word. He thinks he is the funniest man around when he leaps up in the air with his "Peek" gibberish.

Meggen and Mommy thought it was awfully ironic how they both planned on having the big/little siblings wear these shirts on Saturday. This was the day we planned to go to Grand Marais for their town festival. We attempted a pose together to show our shirts off. People were definitely looking at our parents at the festival. I am sure they were wondering who was crazy enough to have four kids this close together in age.

I was able to squeeze in some fishing, although I only caught a perch (who was being chased by a nice walleye).

As mentioned above, I was a very early riser, but my naps were great. Cooper and I were completely tuckered out after our day in Grand Marais. We even slept a bit longer in the car once we got back to the cabin. Look how sweet we look!

My parents gave me a little test run in the kiddy ride area. Since the State Fair and Como Zoo are two trips coming up, they were curious to how I would do on the rides. I did great on the car ride and liked the airplane one too; my face on the airplane shows NO expression at all. I was busy doing some serious thinking and navigation on that ride.

Since Cooper was not old enough for the rides, he just happily sat in the stroller and ate a sucker to stay busy.

Here was a sad attempt of a "brother photo" in front of Lake Superior. It was a "no go" thanks to Cooper's inability to sit still and my inability to stop obsessing over the pontoon plane that was parked at the dock.

We had a fun time on the huge bouncy house/slide for the kids. I was pretty good at jumping since we have a smaller one at home. Back to the cabin....

More fishing....

Bonfire night with neighbors/friends...

Pretending to four-wheel with Pam (no, I did not actually ride on the four-wheeler since I have decided that these are "noisy" and "scary" all of the sudden).

Marshmallow S' mores, yum! In my case, I was just happy to pop marshmallows in my mouth without my parents knowledge. I probably ate around 10 marshmallows that night. No wonder I didn't sleep well.

I was OBSESSED with Bob and Margie's snowmobiles that were covered and stored in the cabin's garage. I irritated everyone all weekend asking them to come outside in the garage so that I could sit and pretend to ride the snowmobiles all weekend long. My parents are dreading winter since they know this will be the question of the minute once snow flies. Daddy is seriously second-guessing if I should get my own snowmobile due to this infatuation with the machines.

Lauren and I relaxing on the deck in these adorable adirondack chairs...

Margie (Pete's Mom), Daddy and I fishing and relaxing on the dock....

Cooper being his happy self on the lake in a float while scooping water....

Enjoying pushing my boat into the weeds instead of pushing Meggen in her float into the weeds... Catching crayfish with the kids (tip: Crayfish like ham not turkey)...

Having a great time with our friends... thank you Meggen, Pete, Abby, Lauren, Bob and Margie for the fantastic weekend of outdoor fun, friendship and entertainment!

Other happenings the past few weeks... I started a two week swim class. The first week went AWESOME which is when these pictures were taken. I learned how to float, blow bubbles, dunk my face and more. We played red light/green light with leg kicks and practiced jumping off the side of the pool. This week, on the other hand, has been AWFUL! I have cried all three days and have been forced by my parents to stay in the water (the lifeguard holds me and is good about not letting me off the hook). My parents are confused as I love the water, did so well last week, so what gives? Their only explaination is "He is 3" which means, "He does whatever his mood persuades him to do that day!" This is quite frustrating for everyone involved. Maybe I will do a great job tomorrow for my last day. Especially since a kiddy train ride is on the line if I do good.

Our family friend, Tom, took us on a pontoon ride when we were up having dinner with Grammy one night. Cooper and I took turns driving his boat. I am dreading the idea that school will be starting very soon for Mommy which means we won't have the flexiblity to do weekday drives up to the lake! Here's to hoping the last few weeks of our summer crawl.

I took my last of two art classes we enrolled in this summer. This week's theme was bees. We did a "ditto" art project (snore except for the glue bottle they trusted me to use) and ate a graham cracker with honey (yum!) Finley and Ethan took the class with me, yay! I was most excited to walk on the bridge that spans the width of the river. This beautiful bridge is next to the art building and we had some time before class to check it out.

What is up ahead this month? Mommy and Daddy's 11 year anniversary on August 12th (XOXOXO), a few playdates, Como Zoo, State Fair, boating/skiing, and holding onto the last days of summer. Thanks for tuning in this week and we hope to post some last summer memories in the next few weeks.