in which we play at the park and auntie takes some lovely photos...

C (2.5 years old)

W (4 years old)

G (6 years old)

Baby B (29 weeks)

thank you as always, ceb!

...and we have a first grader!

Each year it seems to vary a bit (because they can, being a private school), but this year Calvin Christian started school after Labor Day, which is when public schools in MN start.  And we were all happy for this!  After the crazy remodel project, it just gave us another week or so to enjoy the end of summer...sleeping in, wearing pj's most of the morning, going camping and to the fair, playing and reading and doing whatever we felt like.

But there was no doubt about it that G was super excited for school to start.  She was excited to see her classmates again, meet her teacher, and just start back into the school routine.  She played school with her brothers at home, and counted the days until school started.  There were a few before school "school" activities that really got her excited too.  We went to the playground at school one morning to meet two new classmates and play with whoever could make it.  We went to the all school picnic.  And S took G to school one morning to meet with her teacher and do a reading assessment.  She is doing really well for her age - reading and writing well beyond where she should be.  That was really nice to hear and Mrs. H said she was looking forward to having G in class and would have to work to challenge her.

And before we knew it, the first day of school was here!  We literally had to pin G down the night before to get her to fall asleep, and she popped out of bed plenty in time Tuesday morning too!  Her excitement was pretty contagious, which helped Momma not be too emotional. =)

I love how Calvin starts their school year too.  Families are invited to bring their students to school and to their rooms, and then stay for a chapel.  This is really good for our family because the boys get some time at G's school then too and know where she will be at everyday.  I really enjoyed getting back into the school too, kind of orientated me, and prepared me for the year.  (I think teaching and school is in my bones because I love being in school on the first day - everyone is so excited and things are all new and ready for the year to start!)

G is very excited to be a first grader.  She is proud of the bigger responsibilities that first graders have, like individual desks and "jobs" that you have to do all week (rather than just one day).

We know G is in good hands at Calvin and are really looking forward to see how she grows and learns this year with Mrs. Hielkema.  We are also thankful for good friends that she is making at school and enjoy hearing all about her days when she gets home.

Which so far is one of our favorite times of day.  The boys (and I!) are super excited to get G from school and hear about what she did and be able to play with her when we get home.  They tell her all that we did too, and of course there are snacks (which aren't always as fancy as the tea party we had with Mrs. L and Kacie to welcome her home on the first day of school).  It will be an adjustment to have her at school every day, and I am already missing our Tuesdays and Thursdays off, but we will just make the most of our time together when she is home and hopefully it will be a great school year!

six...

Each birthday that S and I grow another year older, we often comment that "are we really that old already?"  But, we are finding out that our kids' birthdays really make us question how fast the time flies by.  Can our baby girl really be SIX already?  I really miss the little baby and all the other "little" stages that she has flown though, but I also really love the sweet big girl that G is now.  So that and all the happiness of birthdays is what I have to focus on otherwise the tears will flow!!!!

My parents came up the weekend before G's Monday birthday, and we had a very nice celebration with them on Saturday night.  Mom and G made her birthday cake, and that really made G's day!  She had so much fun baking with Aahma and it was so fun to see the spontaneous giant hugs and thank-yous for Aahma when they finished.  Plus the cake was pink!!!  (jello cake, one of my favorites growing up =)

G also decided that opening presents was going to be a big show and she made her own throne for us to watch her...=)  We humored her and had a very happy girl who was very thankful for all her presents!

One of the things that G asked for for her birthday was to have a school friend over to play.  So her good friend K came to play one morning and the girls had fun catching up and playing together.  It was nice for us to get to know one of her school friends better too!

So Happy Happy Birthday, our sweet girl!  We all love you so much and can't wait to see what year 6 brings for you!!!

and finally, it wouldn't be summer without a trip to...

...the state fair!!!  This was our 5th annual trip - we have been going since G was one.  And we love it.

Since we have been going a number of years, there are certain things that we cannot leave the fair without doing and/or eating:

• ice cream from the Dairy Goodness Bar (not the Dairy Bar - believe me there is a difference between the ice cream!)
• wild rice cheeseburger and wild rice corn dog from Wild Rice Specialties
• scones from French Meadow Bakery 
• Miracle of Birth barn (always a favorite with the kids)
• all the animal barns of course
• Little Farm Hands

And since we have been going a number of years we also decided to do some things we haven't done before:

• missed Little Farm Hands (this was not intentional, and G was especially not happy about this, but we didn't realize it closed at 7!)
• saw the afternoon parade (other years we seem to have been in the wrong place or came to late and have always missed it)
• watched English horse jumping competition (this was really fun!  and the kids loved it!)
• rode the sky ride gondola

We ended up staying much longer than we were thinking, but only because we were having a good time and the kids were doing so well.  And we had great weather too! 

lots of animals were petted

watching the parade (U of M marching band had just passed!)

the horse jumping competition

why yes, we did eat french fries for supper

Momma and kids on the sky ride

G especially not happy that we missed Little Farm Hands (no photo by the chicken height chart this year!)...

...but a piggy back from Dadda to go get ice cream before heading home changed her mood!

summer trip #4 - camping...

Camping was on our want-to-do list this summer.  With a baby on the way we knew it would be out of the question for next summer, so we really wanted to get out a couple times while we could!  Then the weather was icky and sticky for most of the summer, and this pregnant lady was NOT going to go out in that.  Luckily there was a bit of a reprieve in August, so we decided to make reservations.  We made them with S's folks at Sibley State Park, near S's hometown, so that if it was really icky, I could go and stay at S's parents' house...well, we all could if necessary!  Turns out we had a fabulous weekend for camping, much cooler, only a little rain, and a great state park to camp in and explore!

Being that we hadn't been out camping yet this summer, we hadn't updated our camping gear which meant we only had a tiny "four" person tent in our possession.  Rather than us purchasing one at the end of the season when selection is not great, S's parents offered their old family tent which we gratefully accepted.  Best part was they set it up for us before we got to the campsite!  The tent gets its own picture here because it was pretty famous over the weekend as we had a family stop and ask to take a picture of it because it looks like Darth Vader.  We told Mom and Dad B that when they are ready to get rid of Darth Vader tent they will have to sell it for a mint on ebay...=)

*Soon after we arrived Friday noon, the kids were ready for an "adventure", so we headed out to the nearby interpretive center and for a hike around the pond. 

*family photo! (thanks, dad B)

The pond is surrounded by native prairie, so we enjoyed the wildflowers that were in bloom and saw quite a few monarch butterflies too.

 

The kids' favorite spot was a footbridge about halfway around the pond.  Here they looked for shells and snails and probably would have stayed here all day if they could have!

snails!

It was only a little over a mile and a half hike, and the kids did pretty well with it.  They were excited to be with Aahma and Papa, so that helped a lot. 

butterfly weed (we have some of this in our backyard)

After finishing our hike through the prairie and oak savanna, it was back to the campsite for supper...hot dogs over the fire and fresh green beans on the camp stove.

Part of camping, to me at least, is hanging around the campsite and fire in camp chairs.  So I found these used kids camp chairs on craigslist from a very nice lady, and the kids LOVED them.

Roasting marshmallows...

...and of course, s'mores!

After light rain through most of Friday night, Saturday dawned bright and clear and we were ready to go.  We visited the interpretive center for a kids program on animal tracks, and then did the shortened version of the Mt. Tom hike (highest point in Kandiyohi county) before lunch.  Kids were tickled that the mountain had the same name as Papa (we really should have taken his picture by the sign)!

The park has a nice lake with a swimming beach, so despite the chilly breeze in the air, and only because we knew the delight our children would have, S and I put on swimsuits with the kids and headed for the beach.  We thought enough in advance (luckily!) to bring buckets and shovels for the kids, so they were very content to play by the water's edge for quite a while.  Could we get lucky enough that they wouldn't want to go in all the way?

*another family photo!  (thanks again, dad B)

Nope!  They wanted to go all the way in.  Notice the lack of an Aahma or Papa in the photo?  They came to the lake conveniently "forgetting" to put their swimsuits on. =)  The water temp wasn't awful and fun was had by all, so we were glad we ventured out.  We were even more glad to put jeans and long sleeves on when we got back to camp and warm up by the fire with tonka toasters and campfire pies for supper!

There was more light rain Saturday night, but we all stayed dry in the Darth Vader tent!

Sunday morning arrived with more beautiful weather.  We went to "camp church" at the interpretive center, and then came back to cook bacon and blueberry pancakes on our ringer-washer lid fry pan (thanks Merlin and Avis for that!).  Then it was time to pack up and go...

...after a group photo. Thanks for a great weekend Aahma and Papa!

(for something fun, make sure you are on our actual blog site - not Google Reader - and run your mouse over the last photo! =)

summer trip #3 - staycation! (part #2)

...long awaited first game at Target Field
...game time temp was 76 degrees F and low humidity (after a very hot and sticky week!)
...seats were in the lovely afternoon shade
...unexpected free hot dogs and sodas with our seats
...good-natured crowd around us despite Twins poor performance
...helmet sundaes
...deciding to wait in the surprisingly efficient line for the kids to run the bases after the game and avoiding the vehicle lines and traffic leaving the game thus making it home from our wonderful staycation in 20 minutes

...added up to one very happy Bruin family