Last Boat Ride of the Season!

Well it has been a great summer, and we have had lots of fun on Coon Lake with Grandma and Grandpa, but it is time to say goodbye for the winter.  We got to take one last boat ride, and it was beautiful out! Maybe this winter Dad can bring my cross country skis down and I can ski on the lake with him. That would be cool!

Ty's First Birthday Party

We went to Ty's first birthday party and got to check out their new swingset. We loved it! It is pretty cool with a little fort on top. We had lots of fun, and got to eat the best cupcakes ever!

Audrey really wanted Mom to see how she could swing on her tummy. This is a cool trick to master, but you have to be careful to not break your neck like Peter almost did at the neighbors swing set. He went on his tummy and was going too high and fell heels over head, except his head got bent backwards. Apparently it looked way worse than it really felt, because Pete cried for about 1 minute and then moved on.

The cute birthday boy eating his cupcake. I guess we can't call you Baby Ty anymore, Baby Ty! Oops!

Happy birthday boy!!

Peter's Stay at Grandma Radzaks

Peter stayed with Mom at Grandma Radzak's house while I was with Dad at Grandma Gerard's. We both had a lot of fun, but since Mom had the camera, Peter is on this post only.

Peter is looking at the many shells that Grandma Radzak has collected from the beaches in San Diego. There is a jar full of them in their bathroom that both of us like to look at.

Peter is really into organizing and arranging everything just so. I used to do this when I was his age too. He laid out all the seashells in nice rows.

Mom, Aunt Shelly, and Grandma were visiting and Peter just played quietly arranging all his blocks and building towers too. He "blocked" himself in, literally!

After a nice bath, Peter warms up in Aunt Shelly's arms. Grandma and Shelly are making him giggle.

        Sleepy Peter...

Happy Peter!

Excited for Snow

I got the sleds out of the shed the other day, in hopes that Pete could pull me around, but there was no snow... yet! I know it is coming soon, but Mom says we need to enjoy all the falling leaves first. That didn't stop me and Pete from pulling our sleds around though.

"Please pull me Mom!"

 Dad was out mowing, so we helped pick up grass clippings to make the yard look super neat.

First Day of Preschool

I officially go to school now- Preschool! Our first month we are studying colors, and so the first day I wore my red shirt. It says "Hang Ten" and is from Hawaii, which Peter keeps telling Mom and Dad to hang ten, which is super cute. Anyway, my first day went really well. I hardly say bye to Mom and Dad. As soon as they open the door, I put my stuff in my cubby and I'm off playing with all my new friends with hardly a goodbye. Today was my second day, which featured the color yellow, so we went on a nature hike and picked yellow flowers. I was also in charge of opening the doors for my classmates, so I felt extra important. I think I am really going to like this school! Since Pete is potty trained, some days he will be able to come with me too, but right now he is having fun with just Mommy and Daddy (since Dad's been on vacation this week).

It rained the first day of school, but I was well prepared. When it is nice out, they have a super cool roller coaster toy to ride in their playground. Awesome!

Happy Labor Day

We headed up to Gooseberry Fall's State Park today. We had such a fun day! We packed a picnic and ate when we got there, then went on a super cool hike and searched for agates on the beach too. On our way back home, we stopped in Two Harbors for ice cream at DQ, and actually sat by a fire while eating our cones. Never done that before! But it felt good, because it was only in the low 60's up there. But it was a super beautiful day, and perfect temp for a hike. Both Peter and I fell asleep on the way home, but when we got up from our naps, we took another hour long hike at our house to go check out the new bridge and hiking trail on Skyline Parkway. We had a really good time! On the way home, I collected worms that I found and put them in my pocket. But I made a home for them with dirt and grass, so they are happy now. We ate broccoli from Aunt Shelly's garden (lots of it, yum!) and mac and cheese and grilled elk steak. We had such a good day! Hope you all had a good Labor day too!

 Peanut butter jelly sandwiches, apples, chips and cookies make a good lunch!

I am very good at balancing on rocks now, although Mom was nervous, but only because she didn't bring any spare shoes in case mine got wet! I was careful though!

Happy Marriage to Butch and Melissa!

My Mom's cousin Butch married Melissa on Saturday. Congratulations you two! They have a boy, Landon, who we would play with when they lived in Duluth. Melissa would babysit me and Peter, but then they moved! We wish they could move back so we could hang with Landon more. He's my buddy. We had fun dancing and wrestling at the party. Peter had fun lining up all the crayons. Good boy Pete. It seems like the Chicken dance song couldn't even coax him onto the dance floor. He was pretty serious about getting every last crayon to be in his perfect line up.

End of Races

We had our last running race of the season at Park Point Park last Wednesday. There was a big barbeque afterwards, that Texas Roadhouse catered. Delicious! We brought home shirts and medals. Dad may have picked out the wrong size shirts, but they make comfy pajamas, so that is ok.

We had a photo shoot the next morning to show off our medals! Next year we will be way faster, and I will be in a different race division from Peter because I will be so much older!

We are CUTE!

Peter is wearing big boy pants. He has been for about a month now, and doesn't even need diapers at night! He is doing great! Here he is using his underwear as a holster for his gun. Good thinking Pete!

I am so cute! Do you like my jellyfish shirt? Or my pirate hat?

We had a great bonfire with Aunt Shelly last week. It was a huge fire!

Can you see me?

Need the shades because the fire is so bright!

Raspberry Picking

We have had a great crop of raspberries this year, and I have been getting out early in the morning to collect them, and then mid morning, then afternoon, then evening. I like raspberries! Somehow I escaped from Mom and made it out there without pants on, which I don't quite understand why this is unacceptable. It sure feels better to wear nothing but underwear all day. We should all do it!

Summer Fun

We spent some time at Grandpa Gerard's house a week ago, and had so much fun! We got to work on the farm a bit, hunting wolves and taking wagon rides, and playing on the swing set.  We went over to Audrey's house and I got to go on the tractor with Uncle Justin, which was awesome! Pete and Audrey chatted it up on the step with there portable phone. 

Look at this giant hay bale!

We went to the Nowthen Threshing show again this year. We went on tractor wagon rides and train rides and saw too many tractors to count!

20 cent pop at the old gas station there. Yum!

Boy, I wish I could drive this monster tractor!

Mini Vacation

We took a little trip to Bayfield, WI and on the way there, stopped at Cornicopia, where we swam and had a picnic. My mom remembers going there as a kid with her extended family. The Lake Superior water was pretty cold, but not as cold at the Park Point water was yesterday when we went there (it was like iceberg temperatures!).

Petey's footprints. How cute and tiny!

Our first night camping all summer. We mostly ran around and played, but Dad got us to calm down for a bit with this book of mazes for me. I really like mazes!

The next morning we went to a fruit orchard, and picked blueberries. They were awesome!

Tastes good!

Good thing you could eat right off the plant- the temptation would have been too hard to resist!