Site #24

Well, as I stated earlier, we planned a one night camping adventure at Lake Elmo down in Woodbury, MN. Both Kirby and I worked on Thursday but after we were done for the day, we packed up the kids and the blazer and headed south for our adventure!

Setting up camp was fairly easy. Everyone "pitched" in and soon we had both of our tents set up. Originally, we were just going down with one tent but after a phone call from Grandma Jeanine (telling us that she has a tent that she never uses and could send it to us FED Ex) we were lucky enough to have 2 tents. Which, in the end, was a lifesaver! We would have been very smushed with all of us in one tent.

After camp was set up we decided to take a walking tour of the park and the campground. We played at the BIG playground, watched some hot air balloons float across the sky, saw the sand bottom swimming pool and then headed back to our camp site to start up a fire.

After a few marshmallows and s'mores, the little ones got on their pj's and went to bed. Tyler, Kirby and I stayed up and played in the fire a bit. Tyler has been watching too much of the discovery channel this summer and likes to pretend that he's survivorman. Then it was off to bed!

For those of you who camp often, is it hard to fall asleep? Do you always get a good night's rest? Because I sure didn't!!!!!! I did eventually fall asleep but was awakened a few hours later by the sound of 'a creature' trying to push over our tupperware box of wood that was left out. I had forgotten that I put our marshmallows in the box when I went to bed and apparently a raccoon was trying to enjoy my mistake. So, after I figured out what was going on, I half whispered/half yelled to Kirby to wake up and see what was going on. I guess he was already awake though and was working on finding a flashlight to go and investigate.

Our next wake up call was our little, Logie bear who is turning out to be quite the morning person. Apparently for him, daybreak is his time to get up and and start his day. Unfortunately, quite hours are from 10pm-7am and it was only 5:30. So, both Kirby and I took him for walks and keep him distracted by starting up a fire and before we knew it, it was 7am and he could be loud! Here's a picture of him looking in his big brother's tent and yelling for him to wake up.

After everyone else awoke, we had breakfast and then put on our swimming suits and headed over to the pool for a few hours. The pool at Lake Elmo is unique as it's a chlorinated pool but with a sand bottom. The kids swam and played in the sand and after a quick snack, Tyler decided we should bury him in the sand. Which we all gladly agreed to!

Next it was time to head back to our camp site and pack things up so we could head over for our annual summer outing to Como Zoo.

I have many fond memories of Como Zoo from my childhood days and enjoy coming back their every summer to see the same animals that have been there since I was 6 years old. It just never gets old to me and there's nothing better than watching your children get excited when they first see the monkey swinging on a tree or a seal swimming in the water. Unfortunately, the polar bear was not available (which is my favorite animal at this zoo) as they are working on building a new exhibit. We spent time watching the animals and then went on a few rides in the park. Logan was able to experience his first 'carnival' ride with his big sister. I admit, I was a little nervous about letting him go on a ride but he loved it.

By this time in the day, it was time to head home. It was a nice outing for us, especially since summer is winding down and football started on Monday(already!) Kirby's weekends and days off are somewhat limited in the summer due to his schedule of working at the pool. Our camping trip was a success but next time I think we'll try to stay for 2 nights because it's A LOT of work to just get set up for one night. Our hope for the future is to be able to go camping in other parts of the state with our friends and their kids. Happy Camping!

Where does time go?

Can anyone answer that question for me? Somedays it feels like time is just dragging on.... Especially when I'm waiting for those last 10 minutes of the work day to be done and over with so I can leave and get home. Then at other times, I have to sit and ask myself, "Where did the last 3 weeks go?" I guess I am feeling like time has been flying by these past few days/weeks. For the last 2 days I have been away from home for work and now that I'm back at work, I'm feeling like the day that I posted about our upcoming camping trip seems like it was a long time ago because so much has happened since then.

Tyler even said to me the other day, "I can't believe I'm going to be in 6th grade, time has gone by fast!" I just smiled and nodded thinking that it did go by fast because sometimes, it feels just like yesterday that he was a 2 year old running around my little apartment up in Bemidji and now I have another 2 year old running around my house! That's a 10 year time span that so much has happened in and get it seemed to just fly by.......

So, as soon as I find some time, I will update our blog with pictures and a rundown of our busy, camping weekend and some of my other random thoughts from the past few days.

Some of my favorites/recommendations........

This must be my summer of favorites or maybe I am just starting to pay attention more to the world other than to diapers and who has or has not taken a nap yet. (that must mean my kids are getting older and a little more independent huh?)

Here are a few of my summer favorites:

1. www.mattlogelin.com

A very sad story about a young couple and a baby. I won't go into much detail but I recommend you check out his blog and read their story. I'm addicted.

2. P.S I love you
A recent movie I rented while Kirby and Tyler were gone on their vacations. I cried and cried and cried and then watched it again for a second time. A good movie on how to live you life. A total chick flick and the men in it are easy on the eyes....

3. www.thelastlecture.com/

This is a lecture given by Randy Pausch. If you haven't seen the lecture, click on the website and watch it. If you have seen the lecture, I highly recommend you go out and read his book. (The Last Lecture is the title) Randy has been fighting cancer and developed a speech about how to live your life. Very moving and a good reminder of how important life is not only for you but for you kids and how you spend that time. (Sometimes letting your kids play in their good clothes is an okay thing)

There it is! The short list but a very good list of reminders of how wonderful life is and how lucky you are to be alive and have everything that you have. I know that some days it's easier to complain than to be thankful. But these stories are the reminders to change your thoughts and attitude towards life.

Camping!

Well, we are attempting our first trip out as a family of 5 for an overnight camping adventure. For our wedding, we registered for a WHOLE bunch of camping equipment (thanks to all of you who bought stuff for us) and just realized that we have only used our tent once in 5.5 years and have other camping stuff that has never been used. So, tomorrow night we are driving down to Lake Elmo for a trial run of the Kirby Krew camping. Wish us luck.......

Our Emma.....

I have been on a cleaning kick this past week and have put out some of our knick knacks and pictures that had been put away during Logan's curious time as a toddler. One of the pictures I took out was of Kirby, Tyler and myself from our trip out to Jackson Hole Wyoming. We are standing in front of mountains in front of Jenny Lake and of course, Emma and Logan aren't in the picture. I put the picture in our bedroom and yesterday after work I came home and laid down for 5 minutes and Emma came in to visit. She looked at the picture and this was our conversation.

Emma: Why are just you, Daddy and Tyler in this picture? Why didn't you bring me and Logie with?
Me: That picture was before you were here. Before you were born.
Emma: But, why weren't Emma and Logie there?
Me: Because you weren't a baby yet, you weren't in Mommy's tummy back then.
Emma: You can't eat people!
Me: (laughing) No Emma, you are right. You just weren't a baby yet.
Emma: Oh, so like I wasn't a baby or big kid yet.
Me: Sure.

So, there's the short version of how life is created to a (almost) 4 year old. I'll take any advice for when the time comes that I really need to explain how babies are made.

High School Get-to-gether

It's always nice to take a little trip back in time with the people who knew you way back before you became a Mom or a wife or the other multiple hats. A few weeks ago I sent out a "hey, can we get-to-gether anytime in the next few weeks?" and it just happened that August 3rd worked for quite a few of us. Joan, who lives 14 hours away in Canada, was down in MN visiting her parents; Pam now lives in River Falls and could make a quick trip up to her hometown; Alyssa came down from Richmond to share the good news that she is having TWINS (that really is awesome news Alyssa) and good ol' Schmidty was able to take a few hours to come up and throw out a few of his old jokes.

We didn't do anything special other than share stories of our lives and kids and what we knew about other classmates. It was so fun to just sit and listen and share stories of things we had in common or things we no longer had in common. Joan is a busy Mom of 3 living in the cold tundra of Canada most of the year, Pam is finishing up her Masters degree and enjoying life with her husband, Alyssa is getting ready to become a Mom to 3 and continues to work as a Vet, Schmidty has given up coaching at the college level for a professional career as a real estate broker (what a perfect occupation for him) and you all know my story.

Before we knew it, 4 hours had passes and night time was upon us. We said our goodbyes and made plans to hopefully meet again when Joan comes back at Christmas time. Our lives have all changed so much since we used to roam the halls of Monticello High School but it's nice knowing that we can still stay in touch (thanks to technology and a little effort.) I still remember my time spent with these people and the things I learned with them, about them and of course all the things we did together that made my high school years so fun and memorable.

So, my advice to all of you today, is to re-connect with an old, high friend. Send a card or an email or do a quick google search to see if you can find that person whom you shared a good laugh with back in the days when you were free and had no responsibilities. It's good for the soul to remember both them and those times.

We're Back....

Man being on vacation is hard work.... I am beat right now...but we certainly had a good time. Plenty of ups and downs over the 4 days in Minaki. We totaled 8 muskies in the boat and officially lost 5....that's a pretty good ratio believe it or not. 

Tyler had a blast in Warroad and came back with stories of seeing a moose, catching a turtle (Mannito?), and eating a lot of sausage.

Tyler logged 600 miles round trip while I pulled over a thousand.... and let me tell you, after about 2 days and no muskies, I really started to miss Michele, Minnow and Logie. Little Logie Bear stayed up to see us in at 9:00 last night but sissy passed out in the recliner. It was good to be home.

Check out one of my newest favorite photos...... and I learned how to spell Silhouete.... bonus.