Morning Reading

Mowing with Sam

How Not to Work in the Garage

in a skirt (see dirt). on top of the workbench. barefoot.

Napping with Baby Animals

Serious Business

Patrick and Spot

Bike Ride

Patrick and Sam

Isaac and very rare Mom photo

Cheese Cracker Addict

Sam calls me over excitedly, "Mommy, Mommy! Look!" I come into the kitchen and he runs to the stool and grabs a giant handful of Cheez-its. "Look Mommy! I sneaky!" And he was, before he announced it to the house. Super funny.

Sam Builds

And then yells, "Mommy, I made Dog Bone!"

Helping Dad

Boat Ride at the Lake

Ah, Freedom

After cleaning up lunch today I walked outside to have Paddy run up to me yelling, "Mommy, Sam pooped in the pine tree, but don't worry, we buried it."

Now I heard something hillarious going on outside but I didn't think it was recreational pooping. Isaac chimed in, "We buried it because we thought it was funny!" Ewww. Great. I walked back and found abandoned pants and underwear under a tree. "Where's Sam?" I asked the twins. "He's hiding somewhere. He's naked," came the reply. Yup, so he was. "I pooped pine tree," Sam told me, peeking out from the spruce. I grabbed clothes and came back out to find my little monkey swinging freely. Summer is wonderful  :)

Summer

Two Harbors

Two harbors lighthouse

Flowers and the lake

Watching the American Spirit

Afternoon at the Lake

The View Above Our Bed

This is what Mike found one evening after Isaac napped in our room. He made excellent use of the hooks on the wall.

Party Hats

"We're going to have a party Mommy, I have to get dressed up,"  Patrick yells to me, "so I have to find an animal for a bucket hat!"  Apparently Patrick's version of getting dressed up really only involves an animal hat?

Picnic Time!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Storm Clouds at Home

Up North in the Woods

With grandma on their nature 'treasure hunt'.

Ahhh. So quiet.

Windy day on the shore.

At the Big Lake

Twins walking with Grandpa

Sam following the call of the rocks

Rocks in the air

Building in the sand

Patience...Yeah, Yeah.

We went to the Children's Festival in St. Paul this year and saw the Mermaid Theatre again, this time "Goodnight Moon" and "The Runaway Bunny". Excellent, all the kids loved the plays. Afterwards, we looked around in the drizzling rain, made a couple of crafts, then saw the balloons. Ooooo. Balloons. I was walking with the twins and they insisted on waiting for one. "Are you sure?" I asked, "The line looks really long..." They were sure however, and so we waited. And waited. And waited, in the rain. Every five minutes I would try to convince them to get balloons some other time, give up, go walk around, look at the butterflies (the butterflies! they were right next to us! would no one look at the butterflies with Mommy!?). Each time I was refused. "Mommy, look! The line's getting shorter!" Isaac would encourage me. "We want to wait," Patrick would ensure me.

By the time we got our balloons we had waited over forty-five minutes. Wow. I would be crabby if it weren't for the twins. I kneeled next to them right before it was our turn. "Guys, I just want to say how proud I was of how patient you were. You waited a really, super, long time without complaining one bit. Guess who wasn't very patient?" They yelled in unison, "Mommy!" And of course, they were right.

Monkey on a flower bouquet (I think?) and penguin.

Upside-down penguin.

Random Cat.

Parrot hat. (Sam joined us just in time to get one too)

Yarrow Picking

My Three Boys

I love this picture. Summer is here!