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| First Day of 3rd Grade |
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| First day of 4th Grade! Lydia was excited she was finally too tall to stand under the "4569"! |
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| First Day of 5th grade! Last year of elementary! |
Saturday, September 22, 2018
first day of school
We are already three weeks into the school year! Everyone has settled into the routine quite nicely.
Every year I take each kid on a back-to-school "date" to buy school clothes. Lydia and I decided to get our nails done this year. Her first manicure and my first manicure in 15 years!
My kids are growing up too fast!
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Roadtrip 2018
This year's road trip was inspired by the Every Kid in a Park program which allows every 4th grader to enter national parks for free! Last fall, we visited Voyageurs National Park - which is free to everyone - but I figured since it was in our home state, we should see it. Minnesota's long winters is a great time to plan summer road trip, so in January when the tree was put away, I started mapping out our summer road trip. I settled on a route that would take us through three national parks: Theodore Roosevelt, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton.
I like to camp, but Bryan doesn't and he wasn't going anyway. I wanted the benefits of camping: saving money, having campfires, enjoying nature, etc. But I wasn't quite brave enough to tent camp solo+3 in bear country. So I settled on staying in camper cabins in state parks. The cabins were about $45-$80 per night after non-resident park fees. They are a very basic shelter- four walls, a roof, and cots or bunks. Most have lights, some have outlets and heating/AC. We used the campground bathrooms and water hydrants. One night, we stayed in a tipi, so there was no electrical there. Another night, we stayed in a "tent cabin", which had one light bulb and a wood stove for heating. We were underprepared and very cold both of those nights! We also stayed in a hotel one night in Billings, Montana.
In May, I told our friend and sitter about my plans for our trip. The next day, she called and asked if she could join us. It worked out great, and I very much appreciated having someone to help me navigate-both maps and children.
We had great weather for our ten day trip, only running into rain a couple times and only for an hour or two. I should have expected it to be cooler in the mountains, especially at night and in the mornings. We drove over 2400 miles in 6 states. The kids watched at least a dozen DVDs and we listened to two books on CD, and we had almost zero cell service in Wyoming! We ate so. many. sandwiches. and only ate three meals out on the entire trip. (I'm pretty sure Bryan ate out more than we did.) We spent one day at Theodore Roosevelt, three days at Yellowstone, and two days in the Tetons. We enjoyed two nights of rest and relaxation at my parents' on the way home!
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
ABC's of Summer
A is for Grandma Alvina. who we went to visit in Des Moines. While we were there, we got to see my cousin and her family and my aunts and uncles, too!
B is for baseball, which we watched a LOT. But my favorite game was Reggie's final game of his tournament when they were playing for 3rd place. Reggie's team was ahead by one in the bottom of the last inning. Reggie was playing 2nd base. There were two outs, and a guy on first. The other team's best hitter stepped up to bat and he slammed it right down the center. Right into Reggie's outstretched glove!
C is for church camp (2 points) which is new this year. Our church had a church day camp for kids for the first time ever. My kids loved it!
D is for the doors, trim, woodwork, and walls I painted while the kids were at day camp. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you have eight uninterrupted hours! I actually finished our master bathroom (which has been in progress for 1.5 years) and the woodwork on the second floor landing. I should take a picture.
E is for the engineering museum we visit each summer, The Works. It makes the kids think Dad has a cool job where he plays with k'nex, circuits, and blocks all day.
F is for football, and although this post is about summer, we've got two boys well into their flag football (2 points) season! (Oops, Bryan always takes Brett to practice, so I have no pics yet!)
G if for golf. Brett decided to try golf through Special Olympics this summer. He started at the skills level, and scored enough points at area to advance to 3-hole (but we will wait until next year for that!)
H is for History Museums. I got a membership to the Minnesota History Museums, and we made it to four of them this summer: Mills City, Oliver Kelley Farm, Fort Snelling and the MN History Museum.
I is for ice cream, because we ate some.
J is for the joey we saw poke out of his pouch at the kangaroo crossing exhibit at the zoo. So cute!
K is for our neighbor, Kathy, who was fully surprised when her husband threw her a 70th birthday party!
L is for Lydia taking lessons (2 points) for piano. It's new, and she likes it!
M is for Miller Park in Milwaukee (2 points). This was our family vacation this summer. A ballpark Bryan and I have been to a few times, but it was the kids' first time. We scheduled our trip when the Twins would play the Brewers. I'm the Twins fan, Bryan is the Brewers fan. There was much rivalry involved in getting our kids to choose their loyalty. I lost, and so did the Twins. Despite the fact that it was 100 degrees, I wanted to recreate a photo of Bryan and I from when we were dating! Also, our intention was to buy $1 hot dogs, but we were so hot, we didn't eat a thing. We drank $20 worth of bottled water instead! Haha! We spent the next day at Discovery World, a fun science museum.
N is for national parks. We road tripped to three. Stay tuned.
O is for Olympics. As previously noted, Brett participated in the Special Olympics summer games. It was a really fun event and the kids even got to do some rock climbing!
P is for paprika. Did you know paprika is just a ground up pepper called paprika? I didn't. But I grew some in my garden this summer.
Q is for quit, which is what all three kids did by 10pm when they attempted to sleep in a tent in the backyard without their momma.
R is for throwing rocks into the river (2 points) which is always a welcome adventure, as well as log hopping.
S is for solar ovens, which actually cooked our hot dogs. Pinterest win!
T is for Packer's Training Camp, the tradition is in it's 35th year. This year we had some new adventures. There is a new attraction near the stadium that includes a fun playground and full turf football field complete with goalposts and lights! The kids also got to participate in the long tradition of kids bringing bikes for players to ride from the stadium to the practice field. There are way more kids that show up with bikes hours before practice, so the boys were pretty lucky to have players ride their bikes. Even if Brett's player got cut from the team last week!
U is for the United States of America which we celebrated Up North with the cousins on the 4th of July.
V is for vaccines, which I am thankful for, but sometimes don't work. So we spent 9 days at home because Lydia had the chicken pox. Let me just say- we don't stay home well. Vaccinate your kids, folks! Public health, my friends! But we tried to make the best of it. Lego day, game day, movie day, STEM day. Even ate funnel cakes for breakfast.
W is for Team Wedan Win! When things got a little too competitive among siblings on our Kids Bowl Free nights, we changed the tone by keeping track of our total family score. Our record is currently 498! Practice makes progress (and bumpers are for cheaters).
X Speaking of cheating, X is for eXtreme puzzle queen. Lydia has completed two 750+ and one 500+ puzzles this summer, with a little help from Grandma...and the chicken pox.
Y is for Yellowstone. Pictures coming soon, I promise, Vicki!
Z is for zipline, which is a fun thing to do at the playground. It reminds me of how fast summer has just flown by, and now I am sad.
(Not a zipline - what? Do you think I've been planning this post all summer?)
B is for baseball, which we watched a LOT. But my favorite game was Reggie's final game of his tournament when they were playing for 3rd place. Reggie's team was ahead by one in the bottom of the last inning. Reggie was playing 2nd base. There were two outs, and a guy on first. The other team's best hitter stepped up to bat and he slammed it right down the center. Right into Reggie's outstretched glove!
C is for church camp (2 points) which is new this year. Our church had a church day camp for kids for the first time ever. My kids loved it!
D is for the doors, trim, woodwork, and walls I painted while the kids were at day camp. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you have eight uninterrupted hours! I actually finished our master bathroom (which has been in progress for 1.5 years) and the woodwork on the second floor landing. I should take a picture.
E is for the engineering museum we visit each summer, The Works. It makes the kids think Dad has a cool job where he plays with k'nex, circuits, and blocks all day.
F is for football, and although this post is about summer, we've got two boys well into their flag football (2 points) season! (Oops, Bryan always takes Brett to practice, so I have no pics yet!)
G if for golf. Brett decided to try golf through Special Olympics this summer. He started at the skills level, and scored enough points at area to advance to 3-hole (but we will wait until next year for that!)
H is for History Museums. I got a membership to the Minnesota History Museums, and we made it to four of them this summer: Mills City, Oliver Kelley Farm, Fort Snelling and the MN History Museum.
I is for ice cream, because we ate some.
J is for the joey we saw poke out of his pouch at the kangaroo crossing exhibit at the zoo. So cute!
K is for our neighbor, Kathy, who was fully surprised when her husband threw her a 70th birthday party!
L is for Lydia taking lessons (2 points) for piano. It's new, and she likes it!
M is for Miller Park in Milwaukee (2 points). This was our family vacation this summer. A ballpark Bryan and I have been to a few times, but it was the kids' first time. We scheduled our trip when the Twins would play the Brewers. I'm the Twins fan, Bryan is the Brewers fan. There was much rivalry involved in getting our kids to choose their loyalty. I lost, and so did the Twins. Despite the fact that it was 100 degrees, I wanted to recreate a photo of Bryan and I from when we were dating! Also, our intention was to buy $1 hot dogs, but we were so hot, we didn't eat a thing. We drank $20 worth of bottled water instead! Haha! We spent the next day at Discovery World, a fun science museum.
N is for national parks. We road tripped to three. Stay tuned.
O is for Olympics. As previously noted, Brett participated in the Special Olympics summer games. It was a really fun event and the kids even got to do some rock climbing!
P is for paprika. Did you know paprika is just a ground up pepper called paprika? I didn't. But I grew some in my garden this summer.
Q is for quit, which is what all three kids did by 10pm when they attempted to sleep in a tent in the backyard without their momma.
R is for throwing rocks into the river (2 points) which is always a welcome adventure, as well as log hopping.
S is for solar ovens, which actually cooked our hot dogs. Pinterest win!
T is for Packer's Training Camp, the tradition is in it's 35th year. This year we had some new adventures. There is a new attraction near the stadium that includes a fun playground and full turf football field complete with goalposts and lights! The kids also got to participate in the long tradition of kids bringing bikes for players to ride from the stadium to the practice field. There are way more kids that show up with bikes hours before practice, so the boys were pretty lucky to have players ride their bikes. Even if Brett's player got cut from the team last week!
U is for the United States of America which we celebrated Up North with the cousins on the 4th of July.
V is for vaccines, which I am thankful for, but sometimes don't work. So we spent 9 days at home because Lydia had the chicken pox. Let me just say- we don't stay home well. Vaccinate your kids, folks! Public health, my friends! But we tried to make the best of it. Lego day, game day, movie day, STEM day. Even ate funnel cakes for breakfast.
W is for Team Wedan Win! When things got a little too competitive among siblings on our Kids Bowl Free nights, we changed the tone by keeping track of our total family score. Our record is currently 498! Practice makes progress (and bumpers are for cheaters).
X Speaking of cheating, X is for eXtreme puzzle queen. Lydia has completed two 750+ and one 500+ puzzles this summer, with a little help from Grandma...and the chicken pox.
Y is for Yellowstone. Pictures coming soon, I promise, Vicki!
Z is for zipline, which is a fun thing to do at the playground. It reminds me of how fast summer has just flown by, and now I am sad.
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