More Summer Highlights

Here are some other highlights from the past season.  I have an awesome family!

Samantha baking with her cousins.

Block Party

The ice cream truck!

Trips to Farmer's Markets.

Happy Father's Day!

 An impromptu parade with friends.

Dinners with Grammy.

A spring anomaly... yes, that's an iceberg.  I know every year the weather seems crazy, but this spring really was nutty!

Time spent with one kid at a time...

Sleepovers

Ely doing his part in the battle with buckthorn.

And relaxing.

Time with friends.

Teamwork in our community... I should add that no one was paid for their work.

New adventures for our family at the Aquatennial this year.

And ending an era of gymnastics...

End of Summer traditions

The great Minnesota Get-Together began yesterday signaling the end of summer. August is usually a crunch time for us where we try to fit in the many things we didn't get to and back-to-school preparations.

One of our traditions is to sponsor a child's school supplies and get them an outfit.  The child we had this year was homeless.  That sparked a lot of discussions with Samantha and a few with Sofia too.  We talked about how lucky our family is and that it's important for us to help those that aren't as fortunate.  I take the focus from giving money to giving time and specific things (i.e. food, cards, etc) for charitable work.  As I write this, Samantha is planning a baking day where she will donate food to our synagogue.  I'm proud that both girls show humility because life is unpredictable and it's simply good karma (or practicing tikkun olam "repair of the world" depending on your perspective) to be positive.

Daddy took the week off to spend with the girls since they didn't have camp.  It's worked out that way the past few years and they seem to cherish the time together.  He made a point to take them clothes shopping individually.

I lost my list of foods we ate at the State Fair this year, but I'm sure we got cheese curds!

Camping at Whitewater, just the girls.

Last weekend I took the girls camping... just me and them.  It wasn't supposed to be that way.  First, friends were going to join us.  Then plans changed and it would be just our family (including Daddy and Ely).  Then Ely hurt his paw so Daddy stayed home with him.  I didn't want to cancel it since we had been looking forward to going back to Whitewater (no bugs!), so off we went.  The girls played in the river while I built a fire.  We went to the beach, hiked and played at the campsite.  The girls kept commenting how they didn't want to go back to Kathio because of the bugs.  (I don't want to either.)  We decided that Whitewater should be at least once a year, maybe even twice.  It was also nice to see Grammy with her friend in Rochester to break up the drive.  The girls have been concerned about her (as we all have) and have been cherishing every moment they get with her.

I made fires!

Samantha was awesome at helping set up the tent.  She handled it well when Sofia joined us too.

We didn't use the rain cover so this is the view we had from our "beds" in the tent the next morning.

We hiked up the bluff just like last year.  I made them promise next time we would do another hike.

A found flower is okay.  She didn't pick it herself.

I'm so glad we did this!  It's nice to know we can do it on our own.  We want more people next time though... it is more fun with more people, even though we made friends at the beach and with the campers next door!

State Fair 2013

The heat was punishing, but we managed our annual tradition of eating our way through the State Fair.  We drank a lot of water and took many breaks in the shade.  This year we didn't make it to the barns, but we did watch a log-rolling competition and Samantha participated in the Giant Sing Along (One Direction song).  The girls got to skate on a new type of skating rink that doesn't have ice.  Of course, we had to do the Giant Slide... that's a must for us every year!

Our annual list of foods we ate this year:
Pizza
Cheese curds
Potato skins
Nutella and marshmallow Crepe
Roasted corn
Lemonade
Mild beef stick
Double bacon corn dog
Bacon ice cream, bomb pop and chocolate ice cream cone
French fries
Cajun Jerky
Chocolate candy
Sno-cones

Wizard of Oz Summer Performance

Last night the grandparents joined us to watch Samantha and Sofia perform "The Wizard of Oz" with their dance studio.  It was outdoors at a local park with an amphitheater and even though it was a little hot, it was a great night to watch them.

Sofia and her group began the performance.  She smiled and performed her routine beautifully.  Sofia said that she was nervous to dance in front of people, but practice was fun.  We helped her work through it and by the day of the show, Sofia wasn't nervous at all.

Samantha had 4 dances to perform and she was wonderful.

Daddy and I are so proud of our girls... here they are pre-show.

 

 

We went out for ice cream afterwards.  The excitement of performing and the sugar rush kept the girls up late!

Summer Activities Wind Down

Throughout the summer, camp has been a big deal.

Many thanks to Nana and Papa for taking the girls for a day each week! 

Here are some highlights from the summer camps and programs...

 

Samantha was supposed to go to zoo camp with a friend of hers, but it didn't work out.  Since Sofia was sad that she didn't go to camp, Daddy took her to the zoo the last morning. 

 

Scary T-Rex!

You've got to love this one!

Dirty Girl (Mom's fun run)

This is a group of us after completing the Dirty Girl 5K!  Samantha, Sofia and Daddy came to watch and giggle.  Sofia ran by me and was cheering me on... it was incredibly cute.

 

 The picture says it all.