Wowza!

I can't believe its been over a month since I last posted. Where has the time gone???? I guess I'll try and explain and show you with a few pictures...stay with me.

Sandy Pines - Part II:

I took the boys back to Sandy Pines after we moved because Adam was going to be gone and they love it there so much. We took Luke along again as my copilot - broken collar bone and all.

The boys can't get enough of the jeep - to think its over 12 years old already!

We were able to race BMX - well Gerrit did, they didn't have any Emmit's age to race. Small world - the guy in orange was Adam's freshman college roommate! He had a few little ones racing and were just getting into the sport. As nice as it was for the family to see Gerrit race, we are sure thankful for the great track we have in MN!

 This is how Emmit spent his time at the track - hanging out in an old tire that was filthy!

A trip to Sandy Pines is not complete without ice cream! The boys always tend to get the most unappealing flavor - pure sugar with cookie dough in it??? I was not going to help 'clean' the cone, Emmit was enjoying it too much and I didn't want to stomach the icky flavor...

I love that Gerrit is getting old enough to eat ice cream somewhat cleanly!

Yep, that is Emmit's hand...

We did a lot of playing at the beach

And yes, Emmit after ice cream (and cleaned up by Oma in the bathroom). Even though he didn't have his suit on, he still managed to get plenty wet!

 We went blueberry picking where I went as a little girl with my mom. Oma loves blueberries and would go daily if she could to pick fresh blueberries!

We were not quite as quick as Oma. I think all 4 of us together pick as many as Oma did by herself!

  Granted, some of ours was consumed by Emmit!

We spent a day at the cottage too. Emmit didn't like me for leaving him on the tube by himself. He did great though!

These 2 could play all day long together. They rarely fight and pick up where they left off each time they see each other.

They wanted to take the paddle boat out in the worst way and none of the adults wanted to go...so we let them do it themselves if they stayed near by and they did better than we thought! They have pretty strong legs to get that baby moving!

One day at Sandy Pines, we hung out with our friends at their beach. It was 2 doors down from where I spent many days hanging with my friend when I was little. Love that life has come full circle!

More August fun at the Farm.

We hadn't been to the farm all summer - the one we use to work at weekly when Deb was doing CSA boxes....So we squeezed in a visit before heading back to school.

Deb has new residents - 6 kittens that were only 2 weeks old when we were there. The boys surprisingly did well with them (they really are not animal kids). Gerrit held them and Emmit would pet them...we were able to wait out the rain and play with the kittens.

 Emmit  - a farmer at heart! 

When the rain stopped we took the dogs and headed to the river. It was a muggy night and a great time to cool off. Gerrit enjoyed finding rocks for Amber Jo to 'fetch'.

He also showed Deb his swimming skills:

Emmit was a bit timid by the cool water:

He finally was convinced to show Deb his 'swimming skills':

The boys took over our chairs and jumped in (yes, Emmit warmed up to the water). They were suppose to be jumping at the same time here....

I love the sun in this picture. We had to convince the boys it was time to get out of the water and head for dinner - they would've stayed in all night if we would let them!

We promised we would make it back this fall to visit and for sure next summer. We miss hanging out at the farm and the sense of peace we feel when we are there. Its so quiet and takes us out of the hustle and bustle of city life!

MN State Fair!

We have not been to the state fair in years.....but seeing we could get free tickets from the Corn Growers...we decided it was time to go back and bring the boys.

They enjoyed some of it: the Lego display...

My favorite was the little farm hands on exhibit:

Adam helped the boys 'plant' at the farm:

The one thing the boys didn't like was all the walking around. I think as they get older they will enjoy it. We visited many animals but missed seeing Mazy the Corn Grower's mascot by a few minutes (the boys were bummed about missing her).

No one argued with the chocolate chip cookies I bought!

We only were able to eat the top part of the bucket - enough to get it to close...luckily the milk barn was nearby so we could wash it down with a tall glass of milk!

This was the end of our August....let school begin!

Travis and Millie's Wedding Ceremony

Friday night we headed to Duluth for Travis' wedding. Following dinner downtown Duluth, we took a walk along the peer:

It was a beautiful night for a walk and very busy. We've never been to Duluth during summer tourist season so it was a bit of a shocker to deal with all the people and traffic!

The famous lift bridge, we saw go up and down while we were on the peer:

Watched a ship come in and blow its horn right in front of us - LOUD!!!

Saturday morning we headed further north to Beaver Bay. Travis and Millie decided to get married in the 'fish house' on the property of a resort they were going to stay at Sat. night.

There was a cute little water fall near the parking lot:

Nature calls - one of the blessings of having boys! (Emmit's little buns are peaking out)

 The happy groom. (I took this before Millie showed up and realized I didn't get a good picture of her!)

Brotherly love (for the moment)

Gerrit and Emmit loved the location of the wedding. The water and rocks made for a great playground. I didn't think so as this took place before pictures and I didn't bring spare clothes along!

A view of the fish house from a little walking path the boys and I found:

This was a little more tame way to pass the time, and a dryer option!

The view of the ceremony from my side: 

Jacee was Millie's attendant and Connor was Travis' (that's Connor's head).

A view from inside the fish house:

Following the wedding we had lunch near the resort. We headed back to Duluth and went swimming. We went to Fitger's for dinner - yummy food and better beer!

After dinner we went to Spirit Mountain, a local ski resort in Duluth to go on the Alpine Coaster. It was a highlight for all of us. The boys were not too apprehensive to go with us either. They both wanted to ride with Adam but Emmit won the coin toss and road with Adam first.

We had so much fun, we went again. This time switching partners. We controlled how fast we went with the break. If you didn't use the break, you were going about 26 mph. Adam and I both used the breaks a bit, but Connor (who hung out with us after the wedding) did not! Bob and Geri even went on it too. 

Emmit was mad he couldn't go again (thankfully it was closing as it was going to break the bank if we paid for more rides!). We promised the boys we would come back as the slide is open year round. They can not wait!

Sandy Pines 2013

Better late than never regarding July at Sandy Pines.

Emmit enjoys hanging out in the loft:

The boys were excited to use a Christmas gift frequently during the week:

Emmit a bit disappointed he can't hit the ball as easily as his brother:

Classic digging a hole at the beach with Ella and Mia:

Emmit went to dig for buried 'treasures' at the volleyball courts. It was sponsored by the rec dept. He stuck to one area but did find a few coins:

Opa helped a little too:

He could play on the monkey bars all day (so could Mia):

Emmit wasn't quite sure he wanted to be in the deep with Ella and preferred to chill on the beach:

Eating a snack on the soon to be decorated float:

The kids loved playing on the trailer, pre decorated:

Before the fireworks, we had a few sparklers of our own:

Adam doing his sparkler dance:

Emmit got the hang of the sparkler too:

We went to the water park too - the water was a bit chilly:

 The cold water didn't stop Emmit and his curiosity:

Gerrit bravely sat on the water sprayer despite the cold:

Emmit almost got wet:

Before we left for MN, Opa brought the tracker that was going to pull the big trailer:

 The boys enjoyed sitting on it and 'driving'

This is the first trip we made which we didn't use the pack n play. Both boys received sleeping bags at Christmas when they were at the age of outgrowing the pack n play. They liked having one side of the loft to themselves:

 A fun and fast trip. Hard to relax completely because we knew what was ahead of us - moving! Now that we have moved and getting settled in, we are ready to go back!! I'm taking the boys back for a few days while Adam is out of town.