Love, Love, Love

It has been a beautiful week with sunny days and cool nights. I asked the kids what they wanted to do for dinner and Peter came up with a picnic at Farmer's Park. That's exactly what we did.

FP3 from garrick holey on Vimeo.

We are SO blessed.

Farmers Park Morning

We did not spend as many days at Farmer's Park this year as I would have liked, but most of the days that we DID spend there were really good. We spent time splashing, catching sculpins, bugs and frogs in the creek, walking on the rocks and through the water, and climbing everything. That applied to Peter, Emelia and Elena. All of them have turned into climbers- Emi being a little more hesitant than the others. Pete has gotten into the show Ninja Warrior and watches the competitors for ideas on how to get himself around and has gotten pretty good at monkey bars, sliding long distances etc..

Winona County Fair

When Peter and Emi came back from their school trip and I asked Emelia what her favorite part was, she answered "The MONKEY!" I looked at Peter and he said that yeah that was his favorite part too. The random animal petting zoo was back again complete with said monkeys, camels, fainting goats etc... When they went with their classes, they got to ride on a bus to get there, go on a ride of their choice (Emi "said" that she got to do two), and see many of the animals and have a snack!

We went back that evening as a family and pretty much did the same thing over again. But added in a long visit to the row of tractors AND saw the llamas attempting the obstacle course. Llamas can be pretty stubborn animals so when a few of the young girls we trying to jerk their llamas over the steps or under the hoops Peter would start giggling and I had to bite my cheeks so I didn't laugh as well! You could see the kids glaring at their animals and thinking "You did this yesterday!! Come ON"

 After we went to the fair, we went to our friend Susan's house to play on her trampoline and tree fort, have dessert and hang out. That night when we went to bed, I asked Emi what her favorite part of the day was... her answer: "Petting Susan's cat Nali". Sometimes I just don't know what to say!

Nuggets from summertime

Just a few fun photos from my phone from the month of July. We spent a lot of time with friends and biking because of the mild weather that we had.

 A friend gave us a HUGE blowup water slide. We couldn't believe how large and fun it was- trust me we have all taken many trips down the slide- and we have hauled it out for many events.

 

 The kids have also realized that an easy way to get an extra ten minutes is to ask whatever guest is over to read a few bedtime stories. A few of our regular guests have now started to ASK the kids to get them bedtime stories which they are all too willing to do!

 Peter also got a fishing pole this summer, we have taken it a few times to the lake to fish with grandpa, but occassionally I find him fishing off of the deck, with Emi and one time hoping to catch a chicken with it!

Emi Rides!

This is old news by now, but I haven't posted pictures or videos. Emi is pedaling her own bike. We had been helping her down to the corner and back all of March, she could do it a little on her own, but usually wanted to walk back. I had even told a friend that I didn't think she was going to want to learn this summer and that was okay.

Emi from garrick holey on Vimeo.

One day, she came to me and said, let's go bikin', I'm gonna ride my pedal bike. The next thing I knew, she was hopping on it and with a little help to get going, was on her way down to the corner and around the block! She really had no learning curve, just needed to decide on her own terms that she was going to do it!

Now, a few months later, she can pedal around the lake, all over campus at SMU, has completed MANY bike races around the block when our grown-up friends come over and bikes to school and back most of the time as well. She is more cautious than her brother, but I think it is because she doesn't have the coaster brakes mastered yet, so she is hesistant going down hills. Either way.... we are proud of our little biking babe!!

Strawberry delivery

Over my birthday weekend, Garrick was up north doing the bike race that he does each year, so we of course went south to the beach.

We also went strawberry picking, which I thought it seemed late in the year to pick, but there were lots of berries ready to pick, and then picked out some chocolate covered strawberries to bring to GQ in her new home.

 Lainey was our main concern, but she managed just fine. She plopped her booty down in a row and found plenty of berries to eat, and eat and eat.

 The big kids worked  hard, picking as many for the basket as they ate themselves.

The girls, still eating.

 And then we had a nice visit with Grandma in her new home and shared our treats that we brought. Everyone had a good laugh over Lainey and her stained face and shirt!

Bike Trail Day

Mondays have turned into Grandma and Grappa Days. There have been very few all summer that we haven't seen them and the plans seem to be that we will continue to see them for the rest of them!

We took one Monday to drive to Wilton and "camp out" there for the day. There is a nice city park that has a shelter, picnic tables, playground as well as a pool that are all within biking distance of the trail. So we met, had lunch, went biking on the trail to Tunnel #2, walked through the tunnel, climbed on the rocks and then biked downhill the whole way home.

Peter rode his pedal bike on his own and Emelia rode on the trail-a-bike for the first time for a long distance like that! We had tossed around the idea of staying overnight, but it ended up that there was a huge storm and tornado warnings... good thing we got out of there!

BK1K for the kids!

We had racing fever in our house for a few weekends- and it was Peter that was the racer! The week after Trinona, there is the BK5K for adults and then a 1 kilometer run for the kids to do. We drove down to check it out and both Peter and Emelia were up for the challenge! Emi needed a little more assistance and lined up with Shana (who was going to run with Claire) and Claire, but Peter had no issues with getting up there with the other 5/6 year olds and giving it his best shot.

After the run, Peter did tell me, "It was fun, but I still like biking more... you know??"

Sweet sweater for a sweet babe

It is no secret that I have been knitting cardigans for Lainey like the next ice age is on its way. My favorite one that I have made for her (twice) is Granny's Favorite.I have big plans for this fall's sweater wardrobe, she will not be cold!

The first time I knit it I used Capra from Knit Picks which is a cashmere blend and it felt AMAZING on her. But it did pill quite a bit and that was disappointing. I knew the next time I made it I would use something sturdier especially because of the amount of wear that it would get. I picked a cotton wool blend, Solstice, that I thought would be lighter weight for summer

First Egg Delivery!

When we sell eggs, all of the money goes into a fund for the kid's college. I just wait until I have enough to buy savings bonds with and then cash them in for each kid. Now that they are older, they are doing some of the work of organizing the eggs, finding the people to buy them and making labels for the cartons. Here Peter is delivering his first dozen eggs to our friend Gregg.

Visit to Madison

First day of summer, time to squeeze in as much as we can into one day! Kimberly was visiting with Quinn from Arizona, so we met up with them in the morning and then stopped into Matt's house for Jack's birthday.
Emelia asked Kim about 100 questions about Quinn. What does he eat. Does he like crackers, pineapple, lemonade, cheese. Does he talk? Walk? What does he do? Does he like me? Does he like Peter? Why does he? Does he like Lainey?  Over and over and over. She also made sure that she got to be the one holding her hand and showing her things at the zoo. We are lucky to have a good friend like that!

Group Photo

Riding on their own in the zoo train

Blowing kisses and laughing

The aftermath. 30 seconds after we started to drive

Finishing off the night with a fun Birthday celebration! 

Trinona- Kids. Year 2.

Peter competed with his friend Finn in Trinona for the second year.

When we were talking about if he was going to do it, he asked about what it means to race and if he would be allowed to pass people. When I said of course- he told me that he was going to pass them two at a time on the bike and then one at a time while running.

He did a great job of swimming in the pool. Last year, he didn't start until 30 seconds after they said go, but this year, he started to paddle and kick right off the bat. He swam the whole time and didn't use the lane lines for any help. When he started to bike, he put his head down, elbows out and peddaled as fast as he could. The part that I was the most surprised at was the run. He actually passed another kid running in front of him, and when the kid passed him back, Peter kept working hard and caught up to him again. The other kid did outsprint him to the finish line, but he did a great job of working hard from start to finish.

Peter said he had a great time- especially while biking- and I think that his smile speaks for itself.