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.

North Shore- 2014

We took our annual camping trip to the North Shore with Garrick's family and had the most perfect weather ever! We spent hours at the lake shore, Emi and I must have thrown in about 1000 rocks. When she missed the lake or it didn't go where she wanted, she said "try again, oops" in the most calm voice I have ever heard from her!

 We also took the kids for the first time to Lutsen to do the alpine slide. We weren't sure what Emi would think of it, but she loved it, screamed the whole way down the mountain and giggled. Peter actually took control of the slide and did the lever the whole way down. We actually came into the bottom too fast one time and crashed over the edge of the ramp. He still said it was fun.

 We also went for some short hikes, to the local school to play on their amazing playground and had lots of campfires. Peter's favorite parts had to have been either playing in the hammock OR our night hike where a fisherman showed us the whitefish that he had caught.

One time that we walked to the bathroom, Peter started to go into the first potty, and then stopped himself and said- No mom, you can have that one, I like the other one better- it has an owl picture in it. And sure enough- there was a poster of a great gray owl on the wall!

There is also a natural spring down by the bathrooms that Linka LOVES to drink out of and that the kids would stop to take a big gulp from each time we walked by, Emi straddled the fountain (instead of leaning into it from the side) and WOOP, slipped and landed right under the stream of water! Poor girl. She came back and seriously told me, "I feeeel in under the water".

And Lainey. Well she wandered around the campsite, ate a lot of food and was the best baby camper that we could have asked for!

Chickens, Chickens, Chickens

After taking a year off of having hens, we decided that we did in fact miss having them and found a farm with some hens that should start to lay sooner than later. After a few twists and turns, we ended up with seven chickens- most lay brownish eggs of some sort, but one lays a blue-ish green egg which Peter of course just loves. Emelia loves to go into the hen yard and give them "treats" (compost) from the kitchen and they both like to pet them if someone else is holding them.

As of right now, the favorite chicken is "milkie the silkie" who is a fiesty little Silkie chicken. She lays tiny cream eggs, but she is cute and different looking and is easier to handle than the big laying hens.

We got our first egg and it was very exciting for the kids. They both enjoy looking in the boxes to see if there are any more eggs and haven't dropped one yet! One of the chickens likes to follow us around the pen, I did find Emelia up on the stool screaming for me as that hen