Summer's End

A few more pics to close out the summer...

The kids and I squeezed in one more trip to the MN Zoo before school started (gotta use those memberships while you have them!)

We did,in fact, see animals and I, believe it or not, was actually enjoying my time with the kids so much that I didn't take many pictures. But when we went over to see the tiger, it came right up along the glass and was pacing back and forth in front of the kids--I am quite sure it was starving and would have eaten us if that glass hadn't been there. But how amazing is that??

Typical summer lunch--enjoying our last few lunches together before school starts

Exhausted!

Matt and I at the Rascal Flatts concert at the State Fair with the Kuchs

A few more highlights from the summer....Wyatt lost his other front tooth (which you'll see in his 1st day of school pictures) so he is now missing both front teeth. Wyatt also learned the value of hard work this summer. Wyatt mowed our lawn this summer and we paid him $10 each time he did it. Mowing the lawn isn't a regular chore of his (yet), so if he wanted to do it, we paid him for it. And there were some days when it was pretty hot and he was quite tired afterwards. But he saved his money all summer in hopes of being able to buy an authentic Twins Joe Mauer jersey that he had spotted when we went to a Twins game early in the spring. (He had asked if we could buy it for him and when we responded, "you can buy it with your own money" and he responded, "I don't have $80!", we started brainstorming ideas for how he could make some money.) There were days he was really motivated and wanted to be able to mow the lawn daily but there were times when it seemed like he would never get to $80 and he wanted to quit. LOTS of great lessons learned in the whole experience and by September, he finally had the money saved up and bought the jersey at the last Twins game we went to!

(forgot to get a pic of him actually wearing it, but this was the style he really liked and I have to say that I think he has great taste!)

And one more weekend at Stormy Lake to take out the boats, dock and prepare for winter.

A few pics I took on my phone of the kids sleeping at night...going in to the kids' rooms on our way to bed each evening may be one of my favorite parts of the day..seeing them sleep so peacefully and seeing their little personalities displayed in the way each of them sleeps.
*Soaking up the moments*
(p.s. Sadie does have little shorts on)

(Don't you love the hand on the cheek?)

Poor Wyatt had allergy testing after his seasonal allergies seemed worse this year then in the past....and boy was it bad! At least we know what he has allergies to now AND he was such an amazing sport! He had to sit like this for 15 min. after all the pokes and he didn't complain once.

And that about wraps up our summer. It was amazing, exhausting, fun, tiring, memorable....everyone was excited for school to begin, though, and get back into a normal routine.