Dates, Dates and more Dates

As the school year began approaching, my first thought was "NO! Summer can't end!" but apparently me simply thinking those things didn't stop the school year from coming! Last year I started a tradition of taking each kid on a 'Back to School shopping' date....complete with a meal out at their place of choice. And this lovely lady--my date for the day--chose D'Amico and Sons and her mama couldn't have been happier! Her and I both love the food there and the boys rarely want to go there as they usually leave hungry--so it's become 'our' place and Sadie always calls it our 'fancy place'. 

(On a quick side note, Sadie had a friend named Delaney in her Kindergarten class that lives down the street from us  and she has two older sisters. Delaney is a very girly-girl as is her mom and one of her sisters. So Sadie started saying that Delaney had a fancy family and Sadie wanted a fancy family. I said, "Sadie, we are a fancy family." To which she responded, "No we aren't. We have too many boys to be a fancy family." Oh man....we are working on this...I reminded her that boys can be fancy too, like when her brothers and Dad obliged for her birthday and wore ties, but they usually don't like to dress up as much because they like to play and get dirty. Apparently that answer didn't satisfy her and she is still mentioning Delaney's fancy family and fancy places and fancy clothes!)

Another date, although this one included the entire family + Nani and Pops......We went to see the Disney movie PLANES on opening day, complete with the 3D experience and all! As an avid lover of the CARS movies, Wyatt had been counting down the days until this one came out. And even last summer when we saw a movie that had a preview for it, he started talking about 'next summer when we could see it' and he of course never forgot! The excitement was palpable!

Since my parents were in town for the weekend, the girls went dress shopping to help my mom find a dress for my sister's wedding and rehearsal dinner. And being the fancy girl that she is, Sadie loved trying on as many dresses as she could!

That night our family and my parents met up with the Kuch family at one of our favorite restaurants on the west side---Maynards on Lake Minnetonka. Sadie was in heaven holding baby Conner!

And as is tradition when we go to Maynards with all the kids, we walked over to Licks in downtown Excelsior for some -scream. I am so thankful for my parents and the fun grandparents they are, not only to my kids, but also to many of our friends' kids. My Dad and all the kiddos at Licks!

Hang in there.....I'm almost caught up and the first day of school will be coming soon!!!

Ellingsons come to Stormy Lake

We finally found a weekend when our neighbors, the Ellingsons, could come up to Stormy. Unfortunately the Peterfesos, our other neighbors, couldn't make it up so we are hoping to have both families up some time next summer. But it seemed like we had all been waiting all summer to enjoy Stormy Lake with the Ellingsons and the weekend did not disappoint. The weather was perfect and all the kids got to ski at some point.

Tyler, who had never even skied before, caught on pretty quick (probably helps that he plays hockey)

Gracie did great off the boom

I'm sure some of these pictures are getting old, but it never gets old to see the eagles up close!

Papa took the kids out for a sail--Tyler, Lillie and Gracie had never been sailing and Papa loves to teach people how to sail--the day was perfect for it!

I included this picture because this is what learning how to ski at Stormy looks like...a cheering section on the dock as well as in the boat!! It's one of the most exciting things to be able to see someone achieve something and learn a new skill...and Tyler definitely caught the skiing bug!

Joel hadn't skied in about 20 years and wasn't sure how he would do......I think he did just fine!

Tyler was quite impressed by his Dad's hidden talents and the gauntlet had been thrown.....after just one day of skiing on two skis, he dropped one and slalomed!

The girls opted for tubing since the water was getting a bit choppy (at least for Stormy Lake standards)

The next day we busted out the tubes and decided to have some fun! We don't mess around on these things....it's go big or go home!

Check out Tyler Ellingson's leg!

And Karsten officially holds the title as the tubing king after a couple of these barrel rolls!!

After all that, it's no wonder he was so exhausted!! (FYI Karsten is Matt's cousin who worked at my father-in-law's office this summer for his college internship and lived with my in-laws in Madison, so it was fun to see him more than we usually do)

-Like I said, go big or go home-

And when you go big, sometimes not even the tube can contain itself!

Once it warmed up a bit, everyone was in the mood for a bit more skiing--Sadie J

Tyler starting to make cuts

And Lille quickly progressed from the short rope...

...to behind the boat!! WOoHOO!!

The guys headed out that evening for a little footing session

(these pics were from the one of the mornings but I can remember when)

Laughing hysterically at the bootie that Barefoot shorts+barefoot suit+hockey butt give you!

After watching Matt and Ty and Clay (a college-aged kid who barefoots with the guys), Tyler Ellingson wanted to give it a try on the boom.....but he quickly learned that it's a lot harder than it looks! The poor kid couldn't even pull his legs around to attempt a plant, but his go-get 'em attitude was awesome and it's fun to have people like that around!!

One of Sadie's favorite activities that she invented.....belly-footing, as she calls it! And this is all she does!

So much fun with the Ellingsons and we know they will be back quite often in the years to come!

We did have a life outside of Stormy lake this summer.....

I realize that most of my posts from this summer were from Stormy Lake--and although we did spend a considerable amount of time there, it's also because our time there lends itself to more picture-taking opportunities!

Pool time (this was with the Scribner girls before they moved)

Blake's first official dentist appointment without needing to be on my lap....

Sadie was quite interested....maybe a future dentist?!

One of the families in our small group is building their own house---literally--and so the guys have been helping out a bit on nights and weekends and one day after VBS, a few of us families headed out there to have some lunch and let the kids play!

(this was two full stories off the ground, as you can tell by how Wyatt was cautiously looking over)

The girls were playing fairies and building fairy houses----love the creativity kids have when there aren't any toys around and it's just a pile of dirt and wood and rocks!

But this guy was hard at work!

VBS at church on the last day

Before we left for VBS on the last day, I told Wyatt we had a surprise for him. I drove to a nearby gas station and met Dixie there--they were back in town for her daughter's hockey tournament and I hadn't told my kids about it because I wasn't sure we would be able to see them much. Neither Wyatt nor Titus knew what was going on, but as soon as Titus got out of their car, Wyatt flashed the biggest, most genuine smile and Titus climbed into our car and the boys hugged/wrestled/attacked each other in a rare  sign of affection for one another. Boy did it make me tear up--just to see how much they missed each other and how much joy they both had in seeing each other again. We took Titus and his little brother Onyx to VBS with us that day and the kids had a blast!

A group shot with Gracie (our neighbor) and the Scribner boys

My friend Kim and her three kids came over to play and catch up one morning and the boys were definitely being all-boy!

Tree climbers...

And their own invention...Wyatt pulling Blake in the burley-type thing while Elijah was being pulled on the scooter behind with a rope! He was going quite fast at one point!