Too hilarious not to share

So I realized that I didn't post much about Wyatt's baseball season from earlier in the summer. This is for a couple of reasons.....(1) we missed some games and the end of the year tournament because we were up at Stormy (we left the decision up to Wyatt and he chose Stormy, which we were super pumped about, knowing that eventually it will be harder to get up to the cabin with the kids' activities) and (2) his team was horrible this year and the coaches were almost worse

I won't go on about his team (this was the last year of randomly assigning kids to a team---next year travel baseball starts and the kids all tryout for various levels) but let me just say that they only won one game (out of 15)!

But here's the hilarious part....picture day.

Since we had such a long winter last year (remember we got our last snowfall May 4th!), the teams weren't able to have any practices prior to the scheduled picture day. So the coaches all just emailed their teams and told them what time they were assigned for pictures and what color their team was. Matt was taking Wyatt to his pictures and since Matt has a small habit of running late, I told him Wyatt had to be at pictures at 9:30am and to look for the orange team. (Pictures were actually at 9:45am) When they got home, I asked how everything went. They both said 'fine' and then Wyatt said, "Mom, one of the kid's from my class at school is on my team and his dad is the coach."

As I proceeded to ask more questions about which kid he was talking about and what the coach's name was, I realized this was not his coach! After several minutes of confusion, it dawned on me that Wyatt had his picture taken with the wrong team! I emailed Wyatt's coach and sure enough, they were wondering where Wyatt was for their picture! It was partially my fault but we were also surprised that this other coach didn't say anything, like maybe "Oh, I don't have a Wyatt on my roster!" or "Are you sure you aren't on the other orange team?"

We will forever be able to remember the incident with this picture--a team picture with a team Wyatt was never on!

A little fun with Pops

After we got donuts, or attempted to, at the Lynn, the boys did some mini-golfing in Edina at Centennial Lakes. My boys had been with Matt before but my Dad had never been, so they were excited to take him. I mean, what golfer wouldn't love a true 18-hole mini golf course? No gimmicks or silly hole placement, just true greens like on a regular course----and 18 of them!!

The quest

It all started with this article in the Star Tribune one Saturday morning....

...an article on the top 11 donut places in the twin cities. Matt and the kids have a long history of frequenting donut places. It all started when we were in residency and Sadie was a baby. I was up much of the night with our sweet little girl who wanted to be held nonstop, resulting in an exhausted Mommy when 5am rolled around and Wyatt was waking up. Matt started getting up with Wyatt, despite being quite sleep-deprived himself from residency, at 5am and they'd quietly slip out of the house and head to our local grocery store. Matt said they often got to the bakery section at the same time the ladies would be putting out the donuts and the first few times they were there, the ladies would ask Matt, "What are you doing here so early?" but after a few weeks, they started to expect to see Matt and a bright-eyed 2-year old by his side. Sadie eventually slept better and Wyatt started sleeping until almost 6am, but the Saturday morning donut tradition continued into our year in Columbus when Matt and the kids would hit up Tim Horton's. And although donuts are clearly not a healthy option, they have provided some great memories between Matt and the kids and some fun places they have discovered over the years. So this article seemed to be written just for our family! 

Stop #1--MoJo Monkey in St. Paul

(I should actually have Matt next to me as I write this post because I have never been to some of these places, but I'll do my best to sum up what I heard about each of them. MoJo Monkey is a mix of traditional as well as trendy donuts....bacon donut, fruit tart donut, french fry donut but also your usual cake, glazed, etc.

Stop #2: Glam Doll in Minneapolis--for the true foodie

My parents happened to be in town this weekend, so my Dad joined the boys on their outing. 

It was also Wyatt's week with the 'cup' from their hockey tournament and they were given the task of taking pictures with the cup, so Wyatt wanted to bring it to get donuts!

The loot that came home--they are known for their peanut butter siracha donut as well as the apple bourbon fritter with bacon.....even their regular glaze donut is actually orange, cinnamon and ginger-infused glaze

This was probably one of Matt's favs but the kids' least favorite---a serious foodie donut place! The kids were searching for the 'regular' donuts! 

(Even the employees dress like they are straight out of the 1920's--hence the name Glam Doll--complete with bright red lipstick, vintage clothing, and a bit of attitude!

Stop #3: Mel-O-Glaze

This was a family outing for all of us and I have to say that although it was in Minneapolis near Minnehaha Parkway, it was still in the middle of nowhere. It was literally in the middle of a neighborhood of homes! And to say that this place makes it's money purely on the taste of their donut would be more than accurate--they don't have a website, the seating looks like it was all purchased from random garage sales and when we asked for water, they had us walk back into the kitchen and get some from the tap ourselves. But they are known for their glazers---and for good reason!!

Check out those donuts! (Blake looks thrilled, doesn't he?!)

This donut was absolutely huge and SO good!! It had a bit of crunch on the outside but was so gooey and soft on the inside--the perfect combination. At this point in the search, Wyatt placed Mel-O-Glaze in the top spot (doesn't hurt that Wyatt's favorite donut is the original glaze so he rates each place based on how good their glazers are).

Stop #4: the Lynn in Minneapolis

We were really excited about trying this place and their sugar donut was rated as their reason for getting a spot on the top 11 of donut places in the cities. (My parents were also in town for this one, but for some reason I don't have a picture of them with us.) It looked beautiful on the outside and we were all pretty excited to get inside.

And then we walked in to see this.....a beautiful modern cafe with Pellegrino at each table and people quietly enjoying a nice breakfast. WHat?? This isn't a donut place! I mean, I'd love to go to breakfast with Matt at a place like this, but clearly we got something wrong.....

...we went to the register to ask if they had donuts and they pointed us to this small pastry section they had....and of course, just behind the register, I saw the article listing them as one of the top 11 donut places! See those little donut holes in a bowl?

Apparently they usually have full-size donuts but they had already run out, so we bought out all the donut holes and shared those instead.

"WHere are the DonUts?"

Surprisingly, they were quite good and I'm sure the full-size version would have been even better!

Stop #5: YoYo donuts in Minnetonka

This one was a serious hike for us--almost an hour away! But it was well worth it--YoYo definitely holds the #1 spot FOR SURE!!

(I was so thankful no one got these donuts!)

And yes, YoYo definitely had the best donuts, but having Matt's buddies stop by with their kids made it that much more fun!! (Matt called his good friend (Erik) Kucher and (Aaron) Merritt on our way over, since they both live near YoYo and they happily loaded up their kids and met us there!)

Sadie reading to the kids

The guys!

Our take-home

We still have a few places to hit--although two places on the list are local grocery stores (which the kids have already tried in the past). It was such a fun thing to do this summer and although not the healthiest 'goal' to work towards, it was fun to cross places off the list and rank them all! 

Go out with a Bang(tson)

Our last weekend at Stormy Lake for the summer was over Labor Day weekend. I love that my kids don't start school until after Labor Day, giving us one last long weekend to enjoy the summer. And oddly enough, it almost always seems to be the last warm weekend of the season here in the northwoods! The weather honestly could not have been better--and it rained on the day we left, which always makes leaving a bit easier.

It was just our family for much of the weekend, but our friends, the Bangtsons, came up from their cabin for the day on Saturday and we had an absolute blast. They were in our small group at church for the last year and just moved to Wausau, which is about an hour and half south of Stormy Lake (we drive right through Wausau on our way). Their cabin is about an hour away from both Wausau and Stormy, so while they were in between houses and living at their cabin for a bit, it worked out great for them to come up and to spend the day together. They have 3 boys, all the same ages as our kids, and equally as interested in water sports!

Sadie, myself, Kim and Alicia 

(Kim's parent's cabin is 2 doors down from us--her and her husband are also in our small group at church and she grew up coming to Stormy Lake as a little girl--I know, crazy small world!)

Alicia's son Blake--he is the same age as Sadie (6)

The Bangtson boys are primarily wakeboarders and Blake (Sorensen) felt right at home with them. But he was still a bit unsure about trying to wakeboard behind the boat, so he convinced Matt to be his boat

After trying that and seeing that he could indeed get up, we convinced him to try it off the boom. (Thanks to the Bangstons for bringing along their smaller wakeboards and letting the kids try them)

I drove the boat, Alicia took pics and Matt hung onto the boom to help Blake get the feel for guiding the board (because on a wakeboard, if you dip the front edge into the water, it smacks you down into the water pretty hard--AND we weren't sure Blake knew how to rotate the board around in the water if he did fall down and didn't want him to be face down in the water and unable to rotate himself---yeah, not a good idea!)

He was absolutely loving it!!! But once I picked up the speed a bit to keep him on top of the water, Matt had a hard time holding on (you can imagine--with just one hand on the boom!)

(I included these pics just to show Matt's face--it was hilarious!)

One happy boy! (He's been asking for a wakeboard for Christmas ever since!)

(unfortunately this pic is out of focus, but it was too cute not to include)

showing off the board

After that, the kids wanted to give barefooting a try. I think Blake Bangtson is the only one who would have wanted to do this on his own and has tried a few times previously, but with all the kids together, they were easily egged on by one another! So Sharon came over and offered to ride along to give the boys some tips...and she even brought along a kid's barefooting suit for them to use

Blake was the first willing participant

The kids are so light that it's nowhere near as difficult as if you wait to learn until you are an adult (like anything else in life)...although it's still quite challenging for the kids and a bit scary at the same time.

Cayden was next and he did great as well...the kids end up holding themselves up by their arms quite a bit and the spray gets quite distracting!

The cheering crew--Andrew and Blake

Wyatt was up next and although he did give it a try (I think mostly due to the peer pressure), he felt more comfortable trying a step-out from the slalom ski

These pictures show a bit of what happens when you catch a toe---Wyatt's foot got kicked back pretty quick (which is why using the boom is so great because he can still hang on)

..trying to regain his composure and actually see amidst the spray

..and listening intently to instructions

...then trying again..

After watching everyone try something new, Sadie was up for trying the wakeboard....Justin hung onto the boom for a bit to help her get the feel of it, but once I started to pick up the speed, he had to let go.

...then Matt helped her out as well

....here he was saying goodbye to her as he went down!

She was pretty determined and did awesome!!

The Bangtson boys heard about our skiing adventures this summer, so they gave it a shot on their wakeboards....next summer we'll have to get all the wakeboarders and skiers up together!

Our attempt at a group pic with exhausted kids after a long day on the water...

What a great weekend we had with friends and also some time just the five of us---it was a great summer in the books and we are even more excited for next summer!!