June Review

Before we get to June, here are a couple pictures from Memorial Day weekend. We spent as much time as possible at the cabin. I did get to go to my cousin's fiance's wedding shower on that Saturday with my mom and my sister, so that was some fun car time. When we got back to Melrose we went to the lake where Fred and the boys were with my dad and found Fred and the boys on the tube with Grandpa pulling them. Quite a fete to get that set-up going without additional help, I was impressed.

Here is Jacob enjoying the dock and water with neighbor friends.

I attempted to give Fred a break from the water and took Gavin with his "dolphin" (really a seal) out, but I was not as good as Dad and Gavin let me know by yelling "I want my Daddy!"

Fred and the boys fishing. Gavin had a little plastic red fish at the end of his line, so every time he reeled in, he said "I got one!". One of the neighbor girls had caught a fish off the dock, so the boys were determined to do the same, but their minnow, I mean the fish they caught paled in comparison.

Gavin got to do a short sports camp at the beginning of June with his friend Avery. That's his only scheduled activity for the summer, the rest of his summer consists of running his big brother around to his activities. Next year hopefully there will be more activities for him as he'll be 3.

Fred and I had our 15 year class reunion on June 5th. It was fun to see a lot of people, but mostly I wanted to hang out with my friends I see regularily anyway:)

We went to Como Zoo with some friends on June 9th. My wonderful friend Cori, who is the mom of Jacob's good friend Kyle, was sweet enough to take Jacob on the roller coaster in Como Town for me, since this pregnant lady can't. I'll have to make it up to her next summer somehow.

Jacob and Cori on the Dragon Coaster.

Gavin and Avery on the gator.


Just a cute picture of Jacob at the Como Zoo.

The second weekend in June I went to Lutheran Island Camp with Jacob, my mom, my sister Alyssa and her kids. Fred headed off fishing, so Gavin got to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Middendorfs. He had company there from some cousins, so he had a great time. We had a dreary, cool weekend at camp, but we enjoyed out time together, the singing of songs, campfires, and games. I went to Lutheran Island Camp as a kid, so its fun to go back. Alyssa had her camera out most of the time, so she has all the pictures, sorry none to post.

The next week Fred was up at Lake of the Woods fishing with a couple co-workers and the boys and I stayed in Melrose. Jacob and his cousin Maddie got to go to Drama Camp (see previous post). The theme was "Pinkalicious and Friends", which meant Jacob was the only boy there, but he had no problem with that. They did crafts, sang songs, learned lines and put on a performance at the end of the week. It was another dreary week and we didn't even get out to the cabin during the week. Wednesday was the one nice day and we hung out in St Cloud and Gavin thoroughly enjoyed the splash pad in Waite Park. The other kids did too, but not as much as Gavin.

Gavin running thru the sprinklers.

Maddie being teetered by Jacob and Isaac.

Jacob on the teeter-totter.

Jacob and Isaac on the playground by the splash pad.

Jacob with his camp certificate.

Jacob and his drama camp class. He's second kid from the right in the back.

Jacob and Maddie after their performance.

Jacob had a birthday party for his friend Parker on the 18th, so we headed back to Chaska so he could go to that. They've "known" each other since they were in the special care nursery together as preemies, so he's a special friend of Jacob's. On the 19th we celebrated both Isaac and Maddie's birthdays with them in Melrose and then went to Cold Spring to celebrate Zachary's high school graduation. That was just a day trip up to the area and we were in Chaska for Father's Day. We celebrated with church, brunch, naps and a trip to a local beach.

Last week Jacob has British Soccer camp for 2 hours each morning. He hasn't done any soccer before, so I wanted him to try it out. He really liked it and his coaches made it really fun. One game consisted of half of the kids pretending to be crabs yelling "surfers are rubbish!" and the other half pretending to be surfers yelling "crabs are rubbish!", then the surfers yell "surfs up dudes!" and the crabs yell "crunch, crunch, time for lunch!" and the surfers try to kick their balls past the crabs (in crabwalk position) so they can't "eat" them. There were lots of fun games like that. I thought the 2 hour workout would make for naptime in the afternoon, but it didn't happen.

Jacob and the soccer students and coaches Dan and Dan.

Parker attended soccer camp with Jacob.

Jacob running on the soccer field.

Gavin playing soccer on the sidelines.

Last weekend we were up in Melrose again for the weekend. Fred and his friends had a "STUD" tournament on Saturday, lots of challenges to determine the stud of the group. Fred ended up second lowest stud, but the guy that I assumed would be the stud was last, so I don't know how well their studliness was tested. While he was off doing that, the boys and I went to the lake with the Feldewerds. Jacob and Jake don't see each other too often, so its always fun to see them play so well together. Gavin and Ben played side by side too once they got a chance to play with the paddle boat. I had fun chatting with Becky.

Jake and Jacob on the raft, they paddleboated out there.

Ben and Gavin getting a paddleboat ride from the big boys.

This week Jacob is doing swim lessons. Gavin and I get to watch and then we all head out to the splash pad for some more water time. I've been impressed with Gavin's patience. Jacob has been doing great in lessons, though he thinks the half hour lessons are too short. He's learning strokes and floating. There are only 4 kids in the class, so its great.

Jacob and his class listening to his teacher Leah.


Jacob in the pool with his class.

In the latest Gavin news, he pooped on the potty chair today. Very exciting, I hope it is a sign of potty training in the near future, as soon as I feel up to it.

He'll Be a Kindergartner Come Fall

Jacob finished preschool on May 29th. He'll be a kindergartner in the fall! He's grown and learned so much this year. His handwriting skills have improved and I am excited for the bus to come pick him up in the fall. Though then I'll be driving Gavin to his preschool classes, so not really a break from that.

Jacob at the beginning of the school year.

And at the end, see how he's grown!

Drama Camp

Jacob and my niece Maddie went to drama camp in Sartell last week. It was put on by the theater group that we are season ticket holders for. They had a great time and put on a little show at the end of the week. Here are a couple samples of that performance...

"The Rules of the Performance"

This is one of the songs they learned at drama camp. Jacob is to the far right, cousin Maddie is the tall one in the middle in white shorts. You may have to crank up the volume to hear this as it was taken on my camera, not a video camera. There are more verses to the song that you can request Jacob to sing if you see him.

This is happening while the kids are suppose to be doing a script reading...

Gavin's Big Day

Gavin got to go to his first movie tonight. We went as a family to see "Toy Story 3". He was so excited to go, though I don't know if he had any idea what he was going to do. Luckily we went to a showing that was NOT in 3-D, so none of those annoying 3-D glasses to wear. There were lots of kids in the theatre, so even Gavin's loud exclamations during the previews "horses!", "castle! pretty castle, mama" (seeing the Disney Castle), "its dark!". Gavin has not yet mastered the whisper and is in fact quite loud, but so are movie soundtracks, so no biggie. Once the movie started he was mesmerized. He sat so still and quiet, it was so cute. He did ask for some popcorn at the beginning of the movie, but settled for fruit snacks and lost his ticket he was so proud of, but again was happy with my ticket. We were in the theater for about 2 hours and he never once got out of his seat. I think Jacob was 4 before he went to his first movie, so we were very impressed with our 2.5 year old. As he left the theater he told the girls working at the theater that he had just seen a movie and showed them his ticket. It was just so fun to watch his excitement and his good behavior.

Then to top off his awesome evening, he pottied on the potty before bed tonight. Another first. I clapped and cheered with hopes of what is to come, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I'll update soon on our June happenings - including a drama camp performance clip:)