Summer

 I love summer. I love what summer represents; Opportunities to spend what feels like endless time making fun! And we have had some fun, even in the misted of a foreclosure.

We have all gotten a nice tan, even though  we are heavily caked with SPF30. Summer started with soccer.

 Every week we would race to the fields, I would fret over what we had for dinner and how we had just wolfed down yet another hot dog or burger to get out the door and to the fields...then I would settle into my chair and watch in wonder as my kids chased the ball, kicking it to and fro and every so often getting lucky with a goal!

Nina had her first experience with going away to camp. If it wasn't for the move I think This would have hit me harder. It was only for 2 nights and she was going with on of her best friends.

She was completely open to going, ready to stretch that cord. She got quiet right before getting on the bus. I stayed and waved until the bus was out of sight. I was greeted in the morning with a camp picture on their facebook page.

There she is posing with her cabin-mates. Once I saw this I knew she would be just fine. And she was. In fact she came home stating: "And I want to go again and this time for a whole week!"

Yea, that might be something I need to ease into...

Another first: Fishing. We live near a lake, we bought the kids some poles. Nina Barbie, Nick Snoopy. It's a birth right in this family to have a Snoopy pole! (My first pole was Snoopy, Rob's first pole was Snoopy.)

 Nina caught the first fish. She was excited and scared. She wouldn't go near the fish, I had to reel it in, but she was very concerned that the fish was going to be hurt. I'm not sure she realizes that most of the time when you fish, it's for eating! Shh, lets not break that news yet.

 Oh and the boy, threw a fit because he hadn't caught one yet. His line spent more time OUT of the water then in, but he still couldn't understand why he wasn't catching anything.

Ice cream! Homemade. Store bought. Dairy Queen, you name it we've eaten a ton of it!

Legos. We have spent countless hours building totally awesome houses, cars and playgrounds! This is one of Nick's works. He was so proud he asked me: "Can you take a picture and put it on the computer so I can put it on Legos.com?"

 If you didn't know; I am a Harry Potter junky. So when I was at Target, in the lego aisle and saw THIS on clearance...

 Ah, yea, I snatched it up, went home and worked on it for an hour.  There is a light-up cauldron where the dragon hatches. A secret hiding spot for the Sorcerer's stone. A letter from Madame Maxime. And of course Argog, the giant spider, there are even spider babies that if they are left on there own make me want to grab a tissue and squish 'em!  Strict orders are nobody plays with Hagrid's house. If any of my Potter peeps go missing the cruciatus curse will be used...

 Summer has brought us many birthdays.

Cousin Blaine's first birthday.

Cousin Preston turned 5!

And this beautiful lady, Molly (center) will be turning 40 soon and her sweet husband planned a surprise party to celebrate her! (they live in a different state now) The three of us girls (Sarah A. is the lovely blond) first met nearly 6 years ago in a women's bible study. I cherish these friendships. Some of the other gals weren't able to make it, but it's the same every time we get together, we jump right back into things as if it were last week!

Then there are the festivals! The best one is coming soon; the state fair.

We recently saw Clifford the big red dog! I took Nina to meet Clifford when she was a little baby, so I begged her to get another picture. Nick was not going to do it either until I walked right up to Clifford and proclaimed "Clifford I love you so much! Can I hug you!" Which may or may not have freaked the person out inside there, but she did let me hug her and after that the kids came around. We also saw the Cat in the Hat go by on a golf cart. That was pretty cool too.

Speaking of "famous" I met someone at Miss Molly's birthday party. I won't say who yet, not until I get the picture of it...but it was someone from blog land and it was so unexpected I think I may have acted like a spaz. Once I get the picture I'll tell you the story, until then go get some ice cream, dip your toes in the pool, there is one month of summer left make the most of it; or if you live in the south, there's five more months of it...Here in Minnsota we are weeks away from apples and sweatshirts! I'm giddy just thinking about it!

Happy Summer Peeps!