Summer Fun in Pictures

T-Ball: Jacob is having a good time with T-ball this summer. He hasn't gotten to field the ball yet, as sometimes he's not paying attention and most of the time he's just not as fast as the older kids. He seems to have fun hitting and socializing anyway. I think their team wins most of the time, as they have more players than most teams and they each get to hit each inning (there are no outs).

Gavin pacified to watch t-ball with the bat.

Jacob "baseball ready"

Jacob not so "baseball ready", yes that's him doodling in the sand.

Jacob's turn at bat. Go lefty!

Lake Days: We've enjoyed a couple gorgeous days at the lake. Jacob just loves it out there, swimming in the lake, playing in the sand, pushing trucks around the lawn, boating, all of it. Gavin enjoys the lake too and pushing around his tractor, he's become quite the tractor lover lately.

Fred with the boys at the lake.

Gavin in the sand.

Jacob half buried in the sand.

Splash Pad: It's finally hot enough to enjoy the splash pad at the community center. We've been there a bunch this week, twice one day actually. Both boys enjoy it. Though Jacob is more "under" the water and Gavin just "in" it.

Gavin splashing himself.

Jacob swinging thru the water on the pull rope.

Jacob and his friend Kyle on the turtle at the Splash Pad.

Jacob running thru the foutains.

It's summer! :) :( :/

We have the week off as far as summer acitivities go. So the boys have taken to tackling and annoying each other as their favorite past time. Arg. This week I am regretting not putting Jacob in the summer preschool program. At least that would keep them apart for a couple hours each morning. Plus, Fred has school on Mondays and Wednesdays, so those are really long days and bedtime can be real challenging. You'd think I'd have enough practice by now, but things still go wrong some nights.

Gavin's other trick he's doing lately is jumping off of everything. You have to be alert at all times as you never know when he's going to jump at you. He really likes to jump onto anyone laying on the floor, which most often is Jacob. Then there is the retaliation and the fun just continues.

We celebrated Isaac's (my sister's) birthday with him at Chuck E Cheese on Saturday and then headed to Paynesville to celebrate Jared's (Fred's sister's) gradutaion with him. Jacob enjoyed both parties - lots of playing and Chuck E Cheese and lots of trampoline jumping at the graduation. On Saturday night Fred and I went out to St Rosa and hung out with some friends and my sister and her friends.

Despite being very tired on Sunday we did get the boat cleaned up and put in the lake. Jacob got to play with Maddie and Isaac at the lake for a while and they had a great time. They made it look like the water was warm, but it was not and there were a few leeches that latched onto the kiddos' feet. Yuck!

We are headed back to Melrose this weekend to spend more time at the lake. Oh, and celebrate father's day with our dads.

Dances on YouTube

Thanks to Alyssa's high-tech camera, I was able to upload our dances onto YouTube. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOZr5VnPmkE

The Dance Is Done

Here are my fellow flapper-esque tappers. We had our recital last weekend, both days at 2 PM (it lasted until about 5, but I didn't stay for the finale - I mean 3 hours of dancing - really?). We did our hip-hop dance to Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson (I think they always do a MJ song) and then we did our tap to "Sing, Sing, Sing" (you'd recognize it if you heard it). The first day we could barely hear our tap music, so that probably wasn't such a great performance, but overall it was fun. We were back in the room practicing and getting ready, so we didn't get to watch the other dancers - who ranged in age from 3 to 18 - we were the "adult" group. I will miss my Tuesday night dance workouts. Fred and Jacob came to see the recital on Saturday and my family came to watch on Sunday. Alyssa taped my performances, so that was fun to watch - if I get really tech savvy one day, maybe the'll get posted.



Last weekend Fred worked on laying more drainage tile in the backyard, tearing it up even more. Hopefully this week someone will come and lay sod and save us from the muddy mess that it has become. Fred also made it up to our nephew Jared's graduation ceremonies on Sunday, while I was dancing and Jacob was at a birthday party and Gavin was home with a babysitter. Busy fam!

Fred started school back up the Wednesday after Memorial Day. He has class on Mondays and Wednesdays. He has 3 classes of this session done, 11 more to go, not that I am counting down to the 6 week break at the end of summer or anything. Then he'll have 2 more classes next fall and just one left next spring. Yeah!

We hit a different park each day last week except Wednesday when our backyard was the park for visiting friends, who ended up pretty muddy from our mess of a backyard. I loved that weather last week, not too hot, but am looking forward to some more heat so we can get to the splashpad at the community center. Doesn't look like its going to happen this week.

We spent this past weekend in Melrose. The plan was to get the boat out and ready to launch, but it was cold and rainy and we aren't motivated enough to work in those elements. We did get out to "Breakfast on the Farm" on Saturday morning to tour the Nathe farm near Meire Grove. It never ceases to amaze me how little I know about farming having grown up in a farming community and with my agricultural expert of a father. Most interesting to me was the hoof trimming truck that tips the cows up on their side - what a cow ride!

Jacob starts Tyke Hike camp tomorrow - three mornings hiking, I hope its not too wet or cold for them, but I am sure they have a back-up plan. Then tomorrow night he starts T-ball. Yeah for summer activities! Tennis, sports camp, swimming lessons and VBS all on the agenda.