camping at Sibley State park with papa and aahma...

Remember the tent we gave Steve for Father's Day?  Well, all of a sudden it was August and we hadn't used it yet!  Plus, after we got back from our vacation we looked at the calendar and realized that all the weekends were full until school started.  Maybe we wouldn't get that camping trip in this summer after all?  Then Steve suggested going to Sibley for a couple days during the week - we know the park, it is not too far away, and we could always bail and go to his parent's house 20 minutes away in Willmar if it was bad weather.  He was able to get Wednesday to Friday off, and we emailed his parents to see if they were going to be around and if they would want to come out and have a campfire with us any evening.  They surprised us by calling us back and asking if they could join us camping!  We didn't think about inviting them since it was very last minute, during the week and we didn't want to make his dad take vacation days, but with him having a new job, it has a lot more flexibility and he was able to move a few things around and free up those days too!  Yay!  It is always fun camping, but even more fun when you have someone to share it all with.  Bonus of having them live so close to the park too is that they drove up there and picked out some good spots for us rather than just having to guess on a map online. =)

We headed out on Wednesday afternoon after finishing packing everything up, and we met Mom and Dad at the park and had a quick supper and started setting up camp.  We explored the nature center for a while which is always fun for the kids.  We also checked into programs going on at the park over the week while we were at the nature center and there was a fishing program for kids the next morning!

Steve and Papa took the kids down to Andrew Lake where there was a naturalist waiting with fishing gear for all the kids.  She talked about fishing and some tips and then let them all go try it out.  Our kids love to fish so they were ready to go, but the timing or the spot just wasn't the right one and no fish were caught.  Still a fun morning though!  And then each of them got a little tackle box to go home with.

Then we all headed back to camp for lunch.  We had a cold breakfast since they were going to head out and fish, so we decided to have hot breakfast for lunch!  Traditional camping food for us - blueberry pancakes and bacon fried up on our old washing machine lid pan.  YUM!

 

After lunch and a rest, we headed back to Andrew Lake, only this time with our swimsuits on.  We were in sweatshirts all morning so we didn't know if it would be warm enough to swim, but the sun was shining brightly and it actually warmed up quite a bit for the afternoon.  The kids and Steve and I all had fun splashing around in the lake while Papa and Aahma watched from the beach.  Aahma also took some containers along and they had fun building sand castles (or sand Carstens!) too.

Supper after swimming was also a tradition for camping - tonka toasters!  And they always taste the best after a big day camping.  We had pizza ones with ham and pineapple, regular cheese ones, and then dessert ones with apple pie filling.

After supper we decided to do a short hike to the top of Mt. Tom (driving to a parking lot most of the way up to start) to see the sunset.  The kids got a big kick out of Papa having the same name as the mountain. =)

The next day we hiked the prairie trail, making sure we stopped at the bog halfway and found snails.  Then after lunch we packed up and got ready to head home.  What a fun last minute camping trip!  Thanks Papa and Aahma for coming with us!

a blessed father's day, 2013...

(oh boogers.  realized I forgot another post from June.  oh well, that is what I get for blogging a year behind!)

As is usually the case, Father's Day falls right after VBS.  This means I never fully feel like I put the amount of work or attention into the day that Steve really deserves (nor my own dad and father-in-law!  I think they got calls on the day...), but being the best dadda ever, he never expects it either.  After church on Sunday, we did a simple meal of spaghetti WITH meat sauce, which is how dadda likes it, some dessert I am sure but don't remember what, and presented him with homemade cards and the gift that we did manage to get before the day...

...a huge new tent for camping!

We had fun and made the neighbors laugh by setting it up in the front yard to try it out.  We made Marcus and Amy laugh by sending them a text and telling them this was where they were sleeping for the next week!  (they were on their way to visit us)  We definitely can't wait to try this tent out for real and now we have no excuses for not going camping now that we have a big enough tent! 

Love you so much, sweetheart!

vacation 2013, part MN...the rest of the story

With the jam all made, we could head for the Pipestone County Fair!  My kids love fairs, so they were super excited we could go and do all the normal fair stuff:

Like looking at machinery...

watching the horse show...

looking at all the animals...

(and getting to hold a few! but mental note, don't give the baby a chick to hold and then stand back to take a picture - the chick almost didn't make it!  hence no photo of H holding one! =)

and riding the carousel!

 We also got free yardsticks and other swag from the booths.  But we didn't do a lot of fair food, as it was Mom's birthday and we were going to pick up pizza and head home for a little birthday party for her.

Uncle Lucas came out to join us!

I don't know who was more excited about presents - Aahma or the kids. =)

After supper and presents, we went outside for a bit to burn off some energy before brownies and ice cream.

Uncle Lucas showed off his mad juggling skillz.

No pictures of birthday dessert as it was too good and consumed quickly.  What a busy fun day!

Happy Birthday Aahma!

Saturday was going to be just as busy and fun because it was a baby shower for Auntie Jess!  Jessica's sister Jen threw her a lovely baby shower at Lucas and Jessica's church.  And Grace and I were super excited that we could go and do all the normal baby shower stuff:

Like eating yummy food, including fruit salad served from a watermelon cut to look like a baby carriage...

 ooo-ing and aaah-ing over this John Deere themed diaper cake...

(someone made another one to look like a Harley with a stuffed monkey driving it!)

 bringing books in to stock baby's library...

playing shower games where you lost your little diaper pin if you said baby...

(Grace got Auntie Jess's here!  She and Jessica's niece Koranna were by far the best players)

visiting with a lot of lovely ladies that all love Lucas and Jessica as much as we do and that were so happy to be there to celebrate their little bundle of joy to come...

and of course opening lots and lots of gifts for baby!!!

(top is baby sweater from Grandma Kole, middle is flannel baby blankets from my mom, and bet you can't guess who all the Carter's onsies on the bottom photo came from.  =)

 We also got to take a four generation photo since Grandma was able to come to the shower too.

What a fun shower, and thank you to Boppa, who baby-sat the three boys while we were gone.  And when we got home there was one more fun farm thing to do before getting ready to leave after church the next day...

 ...husking sweet corn!  

Under the same tree my folks have been husking sweet corn since they have owned the farm.

Kids all tried it raw, but much preferred it cooked with butter and salt. 
(Henry liked all the butter and salt off first, silly boy. =)

After church Boppa and Aahma drove us to Willmar to the other grandparents' house to meet Dadda.  It was such a full and busy week I was afraid of a crabby crabby car ride, but between Mom and Dad and I, there were plenty of apple devices to keep them happy and calm and quiet. =)

And we had just enough time for a quick bonfire by the lake with tonka toasters and s'mores before making the final leg home.  

It may not have been the ocean or mountains, but we saw so many people

that we love and got to do so many fun things with them that this

2013 summer vacation is definitely a memorable one!

time out for summer reading!

OK, I will get back to last summer's catch up posts in a bit, but I thought I would take time out today to share what we are doing this year for our summer reading program!  Mostly because I am super excited about it. =)

I have big nostalgia about the summer reading program we did at our library in town growing up.  It wasn't just a minutes logged or reports written based program, but there were categories of books we needed to read and we had to spin a wheel to see which ones we needed to read for the week.  I really wanted to do something like that last summer with our kids, but I just wasn't proactive enough and didn't get anything put together.  When Mom had my niece Evie for a week and was going to go to the library, that turned on the light bulb in my brain again about it and I asked Mom to look at the program (which they still do) and write down the categories.  I hoped I could think of something to do with them.

Mom not only wrote down the categories, but came up with a great idea to put them on clothespins for the kids to draw!

And bonus that Steve dug up my clothesline in the backyard so I had a big bag full that I have not been using. =)  We wrote 24 categories on clothespins three times so each of the big kids had a set.  

We used:  Dog, Cat, Horse, any animal, Boy, Girl, Geography, Science, Biography, Mystery, Sports, Craft,
Historical fiction, Non-fiction, Picture book, Chapter book, Math book, a magazine, Comic book, Mom's choice, Mom's choice, Mom's choice, your choice, your choice

The kids grabbed stocking hats (HOPEFULLY we won't have any use for them this summer! =) and dumped the clothespins in.  The plan is to draw 3 clothespins every week.

The genius of the clothespins is that they can clip them to the handle of their library bag (each of them has one thanks to Mrs. Lynne!), and we can head to the library to find books that fit the categories and the reader.  Then they can also check out 3 more books, and that is about what fits in the bag.  I know they can read way more than that, but if we go every week or more than once a week we can keep that stash rotating.  And they read each others too.

I was also struggling to figure out how to mark each book as completed for each kid.  They can blow through them so fast sometimes, and I wanted it to be a bit more of a challenge to get that "stamp" (that is what we got growing up!).  Our friend and favorite librarian Ms. Jenn came up with a great plan for that.  Use the library's summer reading program in combination with it!  Our program has them read a book and either write or draw about it and hand in the paper when they are done.  Each week the library draws from the papers submitted for prizes.  So each kid now has to do a Bookawocky page to complete their category.  (This is also a HUGE bonus for us as it gets Grace to practice her writing and spelling without her even realizing it!)

Then once everything is checked by Momma or Dadda, they can clip their clothespin to their Reading Goal sheet hanging in the sunroom (with oh so fancy blue tape).  As you can see I also have one for Henry and he gets to put stickers on for books he reads with Momma or Dadda from the library.  He has to do stuff like the big kids, ya know.

What I now need to come up with is prizes.  Everyone is SO VERY EXCITED about this now, and I want to keep that momentum and I think the prizes will do it.  I remember being thrilled to pick something out when I completed a goal at the library and I hope they will too.

Need a summer reading challenge with your kids?  Give it a try!  It wouldn't kill the adults to come up with a few categories to expand their horizons and do it along with the kids too.  Hmmmm, we just might have to do that!