A Day in the Life

One of the best memories I will have of this summer will be the mornings I share with my girls out on the playground. As many of you know, Claire is an outdoor girl. Every morning after she wakes up, I hardly have enough time to get breakfast into her tummy before she brings me my flip-flops in hopes that I will bring her outside. As soon as I say the magic words, "Claire, do you want to go outside?", her big blue eyes light up as a huge smile spreads across her face. She giggles and squeals as I put on her shoes, knowing that we will be in the great outdoors in no time!

Because it is so early in the morning, I have to carry Claire back to the playground because the grass is still wet with dew. I trudge across the yard with a baby in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, with Mario following close by. I sincerely hope our backdoor neighbor, Rob, sleeps in because we are ALWAYS still in pajamas and often still supporting our "troll hair" from the night before.

Once we are in the rocks, Claire usually points to her swing. After I get her all buckled in, she always points to the swing next to her and grunts. This is telling me I have to swing too.

After swinging, she usually chooses to play in her house or in the rocks. By this time, Ella has usually woken up and joins us (while Joc is still sleeping soundly).

The girls often play "Restaurant" with me and serve me "stone soup".

What service!

After a few hours of playing, Claire usually gets a little sleepy and is ready for her nap. Then we head back in the house, lay her down, and I get some of my "Mommy Chores" done before lunch time.

Before the summer began, I thought I would have time to have a cup of coffee while watching Ellen in the mornings. But to my surprise, I have only seen about 20 minutes of Ellen all summer long! But to be honest, as much as I love Ellen, I have not missed it one bit! I would take a morning on the playground with my girls over watching Ellen any day of the week!

This glass is half full, baby!

This is the last week of July. August starts next week. Cue the dramatic music and melodramatic actress.

All us teachers have been guilty of eternal-negativity when the 1st of August rolls around. Play-time is over. School shopping begins. Teacher In-Service and Open House is right around the corner.

But this summer have I vowed to be positive. After all, school doesn't begin until September. That means, I still have around 35 days left of my summer. Sure it might be a little busy when we start getting the girls ready for the school year, but I am still not AT WORK! Which means, I still have a whole MONTH left of:

limited alarm setting

drinking coffee in my PJ's

playing out on our playground with the littles for hours on end

staying up late with a glass of wine - just because I can

going to the beach whenever I want

4 more sessions of Play Group

bike rides around the lake

being able to do what I want, when I want (for the most part)

The list goes on and on. Not many professionals get 3 whole months off (in a row) every single year. I will NOT waste 1/3 of it feeling sorry for myself that it is "almost over".

No Sir.

Not me.

Now if you will excuse me, I have some LIFE to live!

Gang's All Here

We were super excited to have our friend Justin Giersdorf (AKA Dorf) come stay with us this past week. He and his family now live in Detroit, and we don't get to see them enough, so having him around was really nice. Unfortunately, his wife Amie and son Drew had to stay back in "The D" because Amie had to work. But he vowed next time the whole famn damly would come so we could rip it up with Amie too!

Dorf wasn't the only friend we got to hang out with. Our old friends The Verbout's (brothers, Jeremy and Shaun) and their wives Steph and Shelly, Carl's brother Keith, and another friend, Ryan Swanson (Swany) were also around for the week's festivities. All these guys are like brothers-from-another-mother to Carl. They have all lived together, partied together, traveled together, played sports in High School and College together, watched everyone get married, and have babies. They have also been there for each other when things got tough. They have watched each other moved away, prayed for Jeremy through his deployments and dangerous missions over seas, and consoled each other through grief and losses. After over 10 years of friendship, these guys have stayed by each other and are still the best of friends. This is something that is not often found in life, and we celebrated that together this weekend.

The boys started their weekend early by hitting a Twins game on Wednesday afternoon. After the game, they hung out downtown and had a few beers to celebrate the win. The next night we headed out to Gasthof's in Northeast Minneapolis. This place is a traditional, old school, German restaurant and bar complete with accordion players, waitresses dressed in liederhosen, beer served in giant glass boots (Das Boot), snuff shot up your nose, and lots of singing and yelling "ziggy-zaggy-ziggy-zaggy-oiy-oiy-oiy!". I am sad to say that I didn't bring my camera that night (stupid), but I assure you we had a good time!

Friday, the guys golfed 18 holes, and then came back to our place for a BBQ and yard games. Swany is such a grill master that he is actually on a grilling team (bet you didn't know those existed)! He brought some of his home-made steak and pork rub and got down to business.



We were all introduced to a new yard game called KUB. It is an old Nordic game that involves 12 wooden batons, 12 blocks of wood, and a King Block placed in the middle of the field. Two teams battle it out to knock each other's blocks down and out of the game. Who knew such a simple concept would turn out to be so much fun! The name is kind of weird, so Swany later renamed the game Woodchuck, which I think fits it perfectly.

The Verbout brothers were unstoppable.

As many of you know, Jeremy is a F-15 pilot for the Air Force. He has an awesome job with a TON of responsibility. We also celebrated Jeremy's family coming back to the States. They have been stationed in London for the past 3 years, and since he has been promoted to Major and given a new assignment, they will be moving to Northern California on Monday! I could tell you about his new assignment, but then I would have to kill you . . .

Jeremy knows that Jocie wants to by a (commercial) pilot when she grows up, so he brought out part of his flight suit and helmet for her to try on. She was pretty impressed along with the rest of us.

It was pretty cool to think she was wearing the very suit he wears when he fights for our country. We are so very proud of him, and thank him for all the sacrifices he makes for us every day!

"Seal" is his call name.


Even Ella had to try it on :)

Cheers to awesome friends!

After night fall, Carl built and fire and we sat around telling stories of the good old days. Our campfire was interrupted by a storm, but we didn't let that stop us. We just moved everything into the garage for a late night of food, fun and laughs (and some political talk . . . this shows our age a bit).

We can't wait until we get to do it all over again. Who knows, maybe next time it will be in California instead of Big Lake!!

I got my toes in the water . . .

Every July, Carl's parents rent a couple of cabins on various lakes around Minnesota. Some years it is up North (and we're talking REAL up North . . . meaning closer to Canada than to St. Cloud . . . for all you southern Minnesotans who refer to "up North" being Brainerd . . . that's Central MN!), and sometimes it is closer to "Lake Country". This year they chose a charming resort on Lake Amelia near Alexandria named The Shady Rest Resort.

When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, we were relieved to have dodged yet another summer storm that ripped through the southern half of the state, and also VERY excited to get into the water and have some family fun.





Not only was our cabin adorable and spacious, but it was butted right up next the the beach! What could be better?!

We wasted no time, and got our suits on and ran down to the water. The beach was well equipped with lots of sand, a shallow entry, a twisty-turney slide, and a floating raft out near the edge of the swimming area.

Ella striking a cute (but almost inappropriate) pose.

I am all about beer life jackets.

At the lake, you can never be too safe.

Just look at the lovely pedicure my family bought me for Mother's Day.

Good thing too. It it weren't for my newly filed feet, I probably could have started the campfire by rubbing my dry heels together!

Jocie was the resident "fish" ( . . . swimming one) of the weekend. She was in the lake every chance she could get. Back and forth from the raft, doing handstands or just floating on her back, she never seemed to get sick of it.

Ella was heard around the resort as she screamed, "Look Mommy, I am swimming!" when she laid on the water's edge and kicked her her legs and paddled with her arms. As you may know, she is still not so sure she trusts the water yet. But every day she is in it, she gets a little more confidence in her water ability.

Claire had the most fun playing in the sand with her toys. She got very excited when she would scoop up the wet sand and dump it into her bucket.

As as I sat in the calm rippling waves, taking pictures of my family having fun, I couldn't help but feel total peace and happiness. I also couldn't help but hear a song play in my head sung by one of my favorite groups.

"I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand.

Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand.

Life is good today.

Life is good today."

~ Zac Brown Band

As the sun set on our first night, Carl and the kids decided to try their luck at fishing of the dock in front of our cabin. I think it's these simple and quiet moments at the lake that our girls will remember into their adult life.

A little cast-coaching from daddy.

And wouldn't you know it, Jocie snagged a small mouth bass with Ella's Barbie fishing rod! What are the odds?

The next morning started off a bit windy and cold, so we cuddled into our cozy cabin for a little R&R.

The little girls playing Guess Who with Dana (Carl's sister) and her boyfriend, Ryan.

After lunch, the wind dyed down, so we decided to take the pontoon out to explore the lake. Of course, when going on a pontoon ride in the afternoon, you have to pack beverages and snacks to enjoy. As you can see, Claire is clearly not ready for juice boxes yet. She wanted to be like her big sister Ella and drink it without Mom holding it for her. As I am sure you all know, the juice erupted out of the straw like a volcano every time she tried to pry it from my hands. Much of it landed on the deck of the boat, but a fair amount splattered onto her face. She didn't seem to mind, as long as I kept my hands off the box.

. . . she even had it dripping off her long lashes . . . not a good choice, mom!

The sun sets were absolutely magical. It seemed as though they were painted by a gifted artist. I tried to capture it, but even these photos don't do it justice.

After the sun set every night, it was time to switch gears and head out to the camp fire. Ryan brought a cooler full of his home-made brew for us to try. His beer brand is named Herman, after his grandfather who also used to brew his own beer. Being a beer lover, I thought his beer tasted bold, yet smooth, with a creamy texture. Nice work.

Another one of Ryan's many talents is his guitar playing. We have always made Keith (Carl's brother) entertain us with his musical skills around the fire, but this year he was accompanied by Ryan. They made an awesome team. We heard everything from Jack Johnson to Johnny Cash. I promise to post a video of Keith paying tribute to "The Man in Black" soon!

The next morning, the lake was very calm. So Dana, Jocie and Ryan decided to try out the canoe. They were gone for at least an hour exploring Lake Amelia.

As the explorers were gone, the little girls were inside the cabin having fun with their cousin, Annika. For being as little as she is, she sure was a trooper! This cutie-patootie has a laid-back disposition and loves to just take it all in. At this time next year, she'll be running around with Claire. We can't wait!

Later that day, after another afternoon at the beach, Ella tried her hand at fishing again, and caught a couple of fish all by herself! She was very proud and so was her daddy!

Getting some tips from grandpa.

I can't thank you enough, Judy and Dwaine, for this past weekend. It is apparent how much you love watching your kids and grandkids have fun! We had a ton of fun, at the beach, on the dock, on the pontoon, in the cabin, on the volleyball court, around the campfire, on the slide, on the beach chairs, on the deck, at the jungle gym, in the kitchen, by the grill, and of course in the lake. These long weekends have created many lasting and loving memories that will be remembered by not only your kids, by also your grand kids. We love you, and can't wait until next year!