Finally Made it to the POOL!

We opted not to get a pool membership this summer because we knew we were moving...Now that it is almost July, we finally made it swimming! 

Granted the weather has not been that great, but still - this is not like us to wait this long to swim!

Monday Sue came down for a visit and lunch. She joined us in making the drive over to Lake City for a swim at Pepin Lodge. And boy was she glad she came! (So were the boys!)

 Sue is a kid at heart and put her in the pool and she is in her element! Gerrit loved swimming with his snorkel and seeing Sue swimming underneath him and wave. She was a "Bond girl" with her squirt gun tucked in her swim suit - ready for action. 

Can't believe how old the boys are looking!

Emmit enjoyed his swimmy fish to float around the pool:

Gerrit preferred his mask and swimming under the water in search for dive toys:

We were lucky enough to come back on Tuesday night for supper. John and Adam were not home for dinner so we dined by the pool with Deb! After dinner we took a walk to the lake for some rock skipping:

 The view of Wisconsin from the shore:

 The view of the marina (MN side)

It was a great way to spend a few hours away from the house and the thought of packing! Lucky for us, we won't be too far when we move that we can't come and swim. Adam might ride his bike by himself there but that's all!

We are anxious and excited for MI and more swimming!

Back Tracking...

I forgot about basketball camp! I was downloading pictures and realized I didn't download basketball camp. Camp was Gerrit's first week off (but I was still in school so we were busy at night!).

 Love that form! I can't take much credit for teaching him - he comes by it naturally!

Here's the first grader campers (weird to think of him as first grade!):

They practiced ball handling in the 'big' gym (high school court) and dribbled in the halls (elementary is connected to the high school). 

Practicing the 'weave'

This drill cracked me up! Pistol Pete!!

Gerrit was the only one that could catch the ball sucessfully!

Shooting on the big court for a few minutes!

Full court passing on the move

Look at that lay-up!

This is how Emmit kept himself entertained:

Gerrit loved camp and was bummed it was only 4 days. He was very excited when I told him there was organized basketball at his new school for first grade! (One of the benefits of a large school system).

First BMX Race of the Season

Here are a few still photos from the first BMX race:

Gerrit had a full moto. He even did well without having someone hold his rear wheel. (He needs to work on his pedal placement but did great for his first time this season.)

I love these two pictures of Gerrit and Luke:

 Taken in the same section of the course and they have similar looks!

Gerrit did well despite finishing the first moto last. He took 1st in the 2nd moto and ended up 4th in the finals.

Strider Race:

Emmit and his competition - all 2 of them in the 3 and under race!

Wipe out (this was what was missing in the video!)

A close up 

Adam was on his way to help him up so there was no need for me to put the camera down! :)

 No wipe out was going to stop him!!!

BMX Video

We finally made it to a BMX race! With rain outs, poor track conditions (due to rain) and our schedule, it took until the end of June for us to make it to race night!

I didn't take the video camera but took video via my phone - which is why there isn't a 'zoom'. (Maybe I need the iPhone 5?)

Here's one of Gerrit's races. He didn't take hardware home tonight but raced without trepidation which we were happy to see. He 'crashed' his first moto and took last place. The video is of the 2nd moto. The finals he was way behind and actually made up a lot of ground to almost clinch 3rd. We realized after the races that he had his feet wrong for the starts. He was way behind from the start due to this. Guess it is something he can work on this week!

Emmit was so excited to race. He asked about the race all day and wondered when it was his turn. He waited patiently till intermission and then it was his turn to shine. He took a few practice laps and then lined up. They ran them in 2 groups - by age. Emmit was in the youngest group despite how tall he is (the started didn't believe he was only 3). Anyways, the video will show you the results:

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(OK, after watching the video for the first time - disclaimer -- I had Luke take the video so I could get still shots - guess he forgot to hit record! So its only 1/2 of his race!!)

Home Sweet Home

 In 3 days we went from selling our house to buying a new one! If all goes well with the inspections, we will close mid July. Here are a few pictures I took with my phone:

I forgot to take a picture of the front of the house so this is a photo of the brochure:

When you walk in the front door, the formal living room (which also could be a formal dining room) is on the left:

The closet at the front door:

When you walk in the front door, this is what you see in front of you: 

(brochures for the open house which was later today)

(The deck  is on the other side of the table)

To the left of the kitchen table is the kitchen - love the stainless steel appliances:

I'm excited for more cupboard space and counter space. The counter color is not my first choice but I can work with it.

Ice maker, large fridge and room for frozen pizzas! (I'm not a fan of my side by side b/c I have to rearrange my freezer every time I buy a frozen pizza!)

To the right of the kitchen are a few steps down to the family room (wood burning fireplace).

Off the family room is the guest room:

Across from the guest room is a bathroom. It needs a little work, but it is livable for now.

Just beyond the guest room and bathroom is the mud/laundry room. I would've liked a little more room here but I can't complain. This also leads to the garage. There is a nice space carved out opposite the washer/dryer that we will have lockers build and put in that spot.

Big surprise we came across today (after we put in the offer)

LAUNDRY SHOOT!  Yeee ha! I've always wanted a laundry shoot. So in the little broom closet in the laundry room is the picture on the left. The photo on the right is the little laundry shoot that is in the hall closet upstairs.

 There is not a hallway, rather a landing for upstairs. This is a picture of the master bedroom. I wish the window seat w/ pillows was a bit wider - not quite big enough to sit on so I'm not sure what that will become - other than a spot for junk! 

 The master bath was recently updated. It has a large shower. We love the double sinks and high vanity.

A fairly large master bedroom closet too. :)

One of the boys' rooms. Both claim this is their room but it will be painted before we move or shortly after we move everything. 

This is why they are fighting over the other bedroom:

Who wants pink and purple???

The bathroom upstairs between the boys' bedrooms. This too could use a little work but again, it is livable. (I think the only areas in the house NOT redone are the 2 bathrooms and laundry room.)

Next to the bathroom (off the family room) is the stairs to go to the basement. We have found a home for Wilkinson's pool table!

A little room to the left of the air hockey table. I think this will house my crafts etc. There is not a closet or windows so it can't be considered a bedroom but will make a great craft room with some additional shelves! :)

In the backyard is a nice fire pit. It looks like a lot of the lots have fire pits.

Here is a picture from the edge of the backyard. Under the green tarp is wood for the fire place and fire pit. We are hoping they are willing to leave it :) They just bought stain for the deck and will leave that for us as well. It is in need of a little stain too. 

My next mission is to figure out how to cover up the underside of the deck in a tasteful way....

We are pleased with our choice and excited to do the closings back to back. Mid July gives us time to get settled in before school starts up for Gerrit and I. 

We are minutes away from the grocery store, restaurants, etc. which will be nice. I'm only 20 min (max) from school and Adam about 40 (which is why we never looked at the house before - but the price was right). We are hoping he can find a route that is less traveled by others that might be faster than the main roads w/ stop lights....

I feel like I can breathe and am happy we don't have to keep the house up anymore! I have 1 week left of school and then it will be major packing time for me! 

Gerrit is really happy to be done with this house business. He thinks all my spare time is spent on the computer looking for houses. He's very observant! :)

Cycling Update

I needed a few still photos to document the big event of riding a 2 wheeler:

Its amazing how much Emmit has improved in a week!

He can start on his own (he picked up that much faster than his brother). He still is working on stopping but that is improving with every ride too.

He likes to 'hot dog' it down this hill and weave down the sidewalk. Its pretty funny to watch because you know he is trying to show off!

I attempted to go for a run this week when it was just Emmit and I after school. I tried real hard to use the stroller but Emmit insisted on riding his bike. So off we went....a whole mile with many stops in between. It was a good effort on his part and a nice way to ease back in to running. I'm really hoping he'll choose the stroller next time so I can go a litter farther with fewer interruptions, but I'll take what I can get!