Overnight in Saint Peter

 While I was at my Girls' Weekend, the boys spent the night at their cousins' house.  When Jim went to pick them up on Sunday, they all headed over to the pool.  It took a little coaxing...

 but soon all the big kids were jumping off the diving board.

 They were lining up for more!

 The wee ones cheered them on from the shallower end.

 Soon the low board was not enough.

 Even Evan gave the high board a try...

 or two.

 Jim said that both he and the lifeguard were a little nervous about Evan going off the high board, so they suggested he stick to the low board.

 

After swimming, all the cousins went over to visit Great Grandma Verna.

Girls' Weekend 2012

 Last fall, I went on my very first "Girls' Weekend."  My friend Dawn's sweet mother let us stay at her beautiful cabin, which is amazingly spacious, accommodating and comfortable.  This year, we dragged a few more gals with us and went in conjunction with Dawn's 40th birthday.

Saturday we returned to Fishermen's Wharf, which might also be called Toucan's.  If you go, try the wraps and of course the cheese curds.  Afterwards, make sure to take a group photo with the toucans and flash your jazz hands just for kicks and giggles.

I thought it would be really cool if I brought a couple extra kayaks with so we could all do a kayak trip together this year.  I was pretty proud of myself for hoisting them up on Dawn's van and tying them down.  Just to be sure, Dawn drove under 60 mph the whole way.  At one point we stopped to check to make sure they were still secure and that's when we realized my big oops  ... 

No paddles.

Smooth move ex lax.

 

Luckily Dawn's mom & step-dad have two kayaks with paddles at the cabin, so I still spent a goodly amount of time cruising through the lilies and reeds.  Not all the gals were as eager as me to skim the water, but Melanie & Jackie each took a spin with me.

 

 One thing we did all enjoy doing was gathering stones.  Jim and I used our smooth stones from my last trip in our new rain garden.  I gathered some more to join those, plus a few other staples.

We had planned to pick rocks and make necklaces, but even the craftiest of us (Jackie) had a difficult time finagling something long lasting.  She did, however, make us all matching camp rings.
Happy 40th Dawn!!!

Lacrosse Camp

 I signed the boys up for and Introduction to Lacrosse Camp.  The camp was 4 days for 3 hours each day.  One of the days it was over 90˚ and another it rained the entire time, but they didn't complain one bit.

 

 I think it was a bit exhausting for Evan.  Even his preschool was only 2.5 hours twice a week.  He didn't do much, but he excelled at watching.  Somebody thought it might be a good idea to have him be goalie.  "Just keep your eye on the ball."  He watched that ball go right into the net.  I asked him if he wanted to practice at home and he said, "No. The good thing about camp is that you can learn a lot and then when you are ready to play, you can."

 Owen gave some effort.  He chased after the ball a lot.  The kids in his group spent a lot of time trying to pick the ball off the ground with their sticks.  They would stand in little groups all trying to pick up the ball.  Finally somebody would get it into their net and take off running.  Then the rest would give chase.  Then the kid would drop it and they'd be back to trying to pick it out of the grass.  Owen, who is never one to interrupt or budge, would stand on the outskirts of the crowd.  If he thinks they'll eventually give him a turn to practice, he might be in the wrong sport.

 I joke, but the kids really did have a good time ...  and they learned a lot.  They especially learned a lot from the bigger and more experienced group of campers.  They learned how to jump off the picnic table and spin on this thingy.  But they also learned how to make snarky comments and how to make yourself feel better by making others feel worse and how to hide from your parents in the woods when they come to pick you up.  Needless to say, I wasn't impressed by the manners of some of the kids participating in this camp.  It did give us a lot to talk about to and from camp.

 

   All the campers received a medal, a water bottle and a Jolly Rancher at the end of last day.  I think their coaches did a great job given the large amount of campers with varying levels of experience compounded with some extreme weather conditions.

Como with Cousins

My cousin, Kristin, and I have been trying to get together for months.  Finally we decided to just do something with the kids.  Kristin has created a summer bucket list for her and her kids, and Como Park just happened to be on it.

 

Between the two of us, we have 6 kids, but Mia was napping and her oldest decided to spend the day with a different (and older) cousin.  We did spend most of our time at the zoo part of Como Park, but my camera didn't really make it out of my purse until I saw their giddy faces on the rides.  By the time we made it Como Town, it was 4:00 and it just so happened that it was Community Night.  That means, half price unlimited ride wristbands!

 You would think that being mothers of 3, we could totally handle 4 elementary school aged kids, right?  Wrong.  Owen and Gus bolted from the water park area and hopped on the swings.  It took Kris and I a few minutes to find them.  Overall, the kids stuck together.

 Only Owen was tall enough for the big kid version of this ride.  They all got on this smaller version like they were going to keep their cool.  That lasted until the second drop.

 After Frog Hopper, the boys wanted to continue with the good ole' rides.

 Meanwhile, Greta went and got her hair done.

 We had a brief moment of sadness when Evan was denied entrance to the Bumper Cars (must be 7.) 

 But some cotton candy and another several rides on the pirate ship cheered him up.

 I started to feel bad about leaving Mia behind, so we headed back to the house.  After a spaghetti dinner and a very brief campfire, the kids were ready to pick out their beds.  The boys thought they would all sleep in Owen's bunk.  Gus ended up in his own room after about 10 minutes.  He and Owen like their sleep.

Greta slept on Mia's trundle.  Mia cuddled up with her there while Greta read her a bedtime story.  After the stories, we put Mia in her bed.  Later, when we went up to bed, Jim found Mia, leaning over her bed rail watching Greta sleep.

Nikki's Grad Party

 The Stewart family had some graduates this year.  We weren't able to make it to Kaitlynn's graduations party, but we were able to catch Alex at Nikki's.  Alex will be heading off to the Navy in a few weeks and Nikki will be going to UW-Madison in the fall.  They both are amazingly focused and are pretty clear on what they want to do with their lives.  The next step is, in a way, the first step for the them.  I'm really proud and excited to call them family.

 My Grandpa Stewart died when I was 15.  He was the awesomest.  After he died, I made a point of getting to know all of his siblings in effort to know him more.  This is his youngest brother - Donny - the last of the siblings.  Sports were always a big deal with Donny and my Grandpa Danny.  Owen is a true Stewart.

 My dad's cousin Jerry likes to collect Corvettes.  Nice hobby, right?  My dad remembers riding with him when he was younger and trying to get Jerry to speed, but Jerry never would.  Alex was extremely interested in Jerry's car.  Something tells me he would be equally as cautious if he had his own.

 The onlookers.

Jerry, Brad (Alex's dad/ my dad's youngest cousin), David (Alex's younger bro.), Karen & Donny (Alex's grandparents) and my dad.

 The graduation party was from 1 until 5, but we ended up staying until 9:00.  Mia kept herself busy the whole time.  Her biggest pastime was eating cookies followed closely by burying people with Nikki's stuffed animals.

 Uncle Donny is the recipient of Mia's "gifts."

 Evan still has a crush on Nikki.

We stayed overnight in Madison, had breakfast with Ya-ya & Bumpa at IHOP and then headed back to Sun Prairie to visit with my mom's BFF Cindy, her husband Brian and their daughter Shannon, who was the flower girl in our wedding.  Shannon will be a senior next year.  These kids sure are making me feel old.

City Kayaking

 After Owen's Award Ceremony, Anna & Charlie popped over.  We loaded up the kayaks, packed a picnic lunch and drove across the bridge to the boat landing at Spoon Lake.

 As we paddled through the channel, we saw heron and an eagle.

 The kids picked lillies.

We crossed into Lake Gervais and crossed the lake over to the beach.  Connie towed Evan.  His kayak is the heaviest and he is not a lot of help yet.  Then Connie got caught in the wind!  Needless to say, she got the best workout of all of us.

We had a lovely picnic lunch, played on the playground a bit and then paddled back home.  On the way back, I towed Evan and Connie took Mia.  Of course the wind was at my back.  The whole trip is just the perfect amount for little kids and a nice break from the usual concrete and motors of the city.

Final Awards Ceremony 2012

 Today was Owen's final award ceremony.  Each student at Farnsworth has a sash on which they receive pins for their achievements each year.  All students receive a pin for completing each school year and almost every student receives a pin for achieving their annual reading goal.  During the award ceremony, select students are recognized for excellence in academics, perfect attendance, citizenship, and effort.  For this final ceremony of the year, the administrative staff suited up in the flight gear despite the extreme temperature and lack of AC*. 

 

 During the mid-year award ceremony, Owen did not receive any of the "special" awards.  He (and the boy on the right) were a little ticked off that they didn't receive Excellence in Reading or Math.  I told Owen that it was because they acted like know-it-alls and didn't put any effort into their work.  I told him to step it up if he wanted to receive a special award.  Looks like by harsh pep talk worked.

This time, Owen received both Excellence in math and also The Eagle Award.  The Eagle Award is given to students who go above and beyond in various areas.  Owen received his Eagle Award for outstanding behavior, homework completion, good citizenship and class participation.  As a former teacher, there is nothing more horrifying to me than the thought of my child being disruptive or disrespectful in school, so this award made me most proud.  I was also glad that he received something since Grandma Connie, Mia & Evan all came with.

 The recipients of this award were all were quietly humble.  Or maybe they were thinking, "Phew.  She didn't catch me."

Here's Owen with one of his best buddies from this year.  I'm just going to call him Z.  He received an award for Outstanding Effort.  Mrs. Tayson likes to pair Owen up with Z because Owen is a task-master and a rule-follower**.  I like that she pairs them up because Owen tends to take life too seriously.

 

Z took this picture of us.  He's pretty good with a camera.  I think he really captured my feelings.

*We are in Minnesota.  Why on Earth would we put AC in our school buildings?  What?  Yes, we do have summer school.  But... but... this is Minnesota.  We're Vikings and... and.... perspiration keeps the mosquitoes away.

**  He TOTALLY gets that from me.

Farnsworth's Field Day 2012

Today was Field Day at Farnsworth.  The new phys. ed. teacher had 26 stations set up and 3 hours of fun planned.  Jim's parents came to watch Mia so I could help Owen's class.  Jim took off work to go with Evan to preschool because his end of the year Ice Cream Social ended up being at the exact same time.  All would have been perfect if it hadn't been 90˚!

 

All the stations were covered, so I was able to stay with Owen's class.  Mrs. Tayson class was split in two, so I took Owen's group.  We started at the jump rope station.  In reflection, I would say this station should have spent half the time jumping alone and half the time just practicing swinging the rope and jumping over "rock the cradle" style.  The girl to the right of Owen was the only one who could jump singular.  I tried to swing a rope with a couple of kids.  The results were fruitless.  I think I need to invest in a jump rope this summer.

The next station was the water station.  This was by far the favorite station of the day.  The only problem for us was that it was number 2 out of 26 (or however many they ended up actually doing.)  The gym teacher's mother handed out Icies while her father squirted kids with a misty bottle.

You only had to breath in order to sweat today, so Owen was glad to get a face full of mist.

Next station was water balloons.  Again, wish we could have spaced the refreshing water stations out a bit, but the volunteers needed to be near the hose, I suppose.  Each pair of kids got two water balloons.  Owen and his partner had a balloon of steel.  It refused to break.  Finally they got a small tear and then squeezed the water out at each other.

Then came Pizza Deliver time.  Only empty boxes for relay purposes.

We did some other relays and activities like stacking SOLO cups in a pyramid, sidewalk chalk, beanbag toss, pool noodle/javelin toss and so on.  The kids were hot and thirsty.  Ms. Tayson was nowhere in sight.  I made an exec. dec. to send kids back to the water station.  Then, finally, it was our turn at the bouncy houses!  This was by far the favorite station.  The kids were suppose to get a turn in each house, but suddenly the whistle started to blow at quicker intervals.  I think (hope) those in charge were trying to quicken things up.

Every Field Day has to have a sack race.

This was another fun station.  Ms. Barrage was one of the few volunteers that still had enough energy to rev up the kids.  My group split in two, each taking a seat on a tarp, called a "raft" for the purposes of the game.  Then each group had to lift a second tarp over their heads, lay it down on the other side and transfer to that "raft."  They continued this pattern until they reached the fence.  Owen's group talked very little in this activity.  It was almost as if they used telepathy.  Like they couldn't talk because they need to conserve their energy.  They were all business.  I think the other tarp ended up with all of the kids suffering from heat stroke.  Time for another water break.

This was a fun activity.  The volunteer made it so it wasn't a race - just a challenge to see how you can get to the other end.

Kids jumped over and crawled under the hurdles.  Owen got a little over zealous at the end of his turn and almost knocked over one of his classmate, but we made sure she was OK.

 

After the hurdles came a Hula Hoop Toss and a Bike Tire Throw.  Then we did a Team Hula Hoop Pass Challenge

The kids were really good at this activity even though they were exhausted. 

Somewhere along the way, Owen got extremely annoyed with one of the kids in his group.  He purposely sought out this girl for this next activity.  They were very serious while they transported their ball.  Zolly was probably one of the next tallest kids in our group, so it was a good match for this activity.

After the ball activity, we picked up plastic bugs with plastic gloves, transported rubbery lizards using twisty straws, went to a bubble station that was out of bubbles and only had broken bubble wands, played on the playground (which ended up being a trip back to the water station) and then finally called it quits after this station. 

They might have won had they actually put the water in the right bucket, but I was glad to hear Owen's reflection of the day on the way home.  "It's not about winning.  It's about having fun."  And that's exactly what we did!