As Artsy As we Get around here...

I don't really love doing crafts with the kids and it usually ends up being more stressful than enjoyable. Peter was gone last week at his grandpa's house so Emi and I decided to do a little project. I used to do this with Peter once in a while too- it must be the two kids doing it together that makes it stressful?

Surveying the damage

She definitely liked painting herself more than the paper but we got some down on there too! 

Our princess Winona

 She loves walking around the fountain and if you ask her to hold your hand then she tells you NO.

The problem with that is that Peter can do a lap for every 1/3 of a lap that she does. So he bashes into her each time he passes her and after 3 or 4 times we have to go home.

River

 We headed back out on the river and had some more tubing and skiing fun. I remembered to wear my suit this time too! Pete and Oscar had a blast on the tube, making it turn a little, jumping on it and I am pretty sure Pete was trying to flip it at the end of his run...

 Emi watched with a careful eye... not sure what to think!

What are we going to do when these boys are 16???

Garrick's Half Ironman

 Garrick did a half-ironman this weekend up in the cities. He left for the race much earlier than we did and we got to the race just as his wave was being called into the water which was perfect timing. I got my watch started and tried to find him in the sea of green swim caps and black wetsuits.

 While we waited for him to finish swimming we went down a few slides...

Swung on a few swings

and climbed.

We went to watch and pretty soon, he was out of the water! Garrick mentioned that he had a cut on his foot that he sustained in the middle of the lake... a fish? a wire?? Someone's mouth??

He headed out and so did we!

We took a quick stop at an overlook to let the kids run around for a bit

and then went to a cemetery to wait for Garrick and cheer on the other bikers. Garrick was super happy and cheerful to see us and the kids had fun running around the gravestone and Pete rode his bike and picked a few flowers from some graves...

After we caught him one more time biking we parked in our spot near the one mile marker and waited for him to come- Then we took a walk for a while to let the kids rest- Emi took a short nap and Pete relaxed in the chariot and had lunch, cookies and a huge freezie pop.

Back to the park.

And saw Garrick Finish! Official Time: 5:07 (I think)

Garrick said that he wasn't sure what to expect going into this- he had done lots of little triathlons and some olympic distance ones, but a half-marathon is a long ways to go after you've been exercising for 3 hours! He did a great job and  we were so proud of him! GO GO GO

Pizzzzey Farm

Peter (and Garrick and I) have been telling all of the grandparents about the pizza farm for a while. Grandma Linka and Grandpa Greg decided that enough was enough and left work early Thursday night and came down to Winona for some fun!

We had snacks and pizza and then let the kids loose to play on the toys and visit the animals. Peter thought that the rooster crowing was particularly funny and also liked the goats on the leashes. We also saw Oscar and his family there so he and Pete danced/wrestled to the music for a while. I thought I took a few more pictures, but I must have been mistaken!

Boating with Kids

We used to ski until we were going to drop... the last time we went out in the boat I forgot to put my suit on... my how things change! Who knew you could have so much fun at 8 mph? So the video is hard to see but we have a tube that is designed for the kids to stand up on and get pulled aroudn in the water. It even has a handle that they can hang on to to practice skiing!

Fair trip

We went to the fair again this year and saw the animals, ate a few things, looked at lots of tractors and went on a ride!

It was a really hot trip to the fair, of course I didn't want to pay to park so we had to walk a long ways in and the walk out was very hot and very quiet. However- we saw a family arguing with eachother on the way out and then we felt like we weren't doing such a bad job afterall!