Summer splash...

I've been too busy lately to download photos or tell you what's been going on so the family got together to tell you what's up.

Jackson: I'm missing the button to turn my listening ears on and it's driving mom, dad and nicole a bit crazy this week. I've lost my big Buzz Lightyear. He sits high on a shelf looking down at me practically begging me to be a good boy so that I can play with him. When mom asks why I'm not listening I tell her that "my body tells me to do something different, but I try to listen." This week I played with Bumpa in seahorse lake, went for a long walk with Grandma Pam, had dinner with Grandma Jan and watched Dragon Tales with Grandpa Joel. I'm having fun picking cucumbers from the garden and am waiting for the tomatoes to turn red so I can pick them too. We planted two plants from seed this year and they have gotten quite large, so it's okay that the dear are eating all of the tomatoes from the front side of the plant.

Addie: I climbed the stairs for the first time! I knew I could tackle them, but I decided to wait until Mom and Dad were around so they could catch me if I fall. Mom is slacking on vacuuming and the cleaning lady hasn't been around so I'm getting lucky finding all sorts of things on the ground to put in my mouth. Mom and Dad catch me most of the time but they don't know that every once in a while I sneak something by them. Mom brought out a new bin of toys this week and I'm having fun exploring and riding on my little car, though Jackson always wants to ride it as soon as I do, go figure!

Ron: I'm catching a nice tan these days spending time out at the beaches. This year I'm in charge of Silver Lake Beach so I am able to stop in and check on my parents as I head back to work. I'm now finished with summer ball, but next week Fall ball starts, eight weeks of double headers! This week we played in the 100 degree hit so I traded in my pants for shorts and of course needed to slide back to third base so my knee had a little quarrel with the sand.

Sara: I'm just trying to find some "me" time in between all the business. I was able to do a scrapbooking weekend with my friend Wendy and some of her friends. It was so nice to get away and I love the work I was able to put in on the kids' scrapbooks. School this term is pretty intense with two online classes. And at the worst time, work has been kicking my tail! I feel like I'm about to throw up most days at the thought of all of the things I will need to fit in in the coming hours. However, I see the light at the end of the tunnel and that's what keeps me going.

And I'll leave you with this fun picture from our backyard fun!

I'm just a girl...

Lately Jackson has been saying a lot of things that make us laugh. I wish I could record all of them so that you could hear them just as they are said but here are a few:

The other day we are out for a walk when Ron comments on someone's beautfully made swing and then tells the man that he's a wood-worker so he appreciates good quality. The coversation goes something like this:

Jackson: My dad is a lifeguard and a wood-worker.
Mom: What is mom?
Jackson: You're just a girl.
Jackson: (somewhat quieter and under his breath) who plays.
Mom: sigh

This week my mom came by for an adventure to "the park at the top of Alpe d'Huez" because it's a pretty intense climb to the top. The conversation at the park:

Jackson: Come down here, like this.
Grandma Pam: Grandma can't sit down on the ground, she's too old.
Jackson: You don't look old.
Grandma: Smiling from ear to ear

And on the way to our picnic while driving in the car Jackson started to sing. He was singing really well, good intonation:

Jackson (singing): And then that monkey ate the other monkey
And then that monkey ate the other monkey
And then that monkey ate the other one
and then there were none.

White Bear Parade...

Jackson splashed water in our pool on the MCC float in the White Bear Avenue parade. He really thought it was the greatest thing and was so excited to have ridden in the parade. He shared the story with many and I was so glad to have caught it all on camera:

Parade Goer...

Buzz

A few weeks ago mom and dad brought me to see Toy Story 3 in the theater. I think Buzz Lightyear is the greatest! Mom bought me a cheap Buzz Lightyear figure that didn't move. Since then, I'd been asking for a BIG Buzz Lightyear. I was told that I could earn stars by being good to earn a big Buzz Lightyear. I needed to have five days without any time-outs. It took me ten days to do it in but I did it!

Check out his laser panel on his arm!

And his wings come out to make him fly!

I wonder if he will miss his little Buzz? I think I'll hide back here and play with him, just in case.

Lightning McQueen

We weren't able to pass up this deal from the neighbors on Friday, so Jackson has himself a battery powered Lightning McQueen race car. He was incredibly timid when Ajay (the neighbor) brought it over. He was happy to sit in the car but vehemently refused to push the gas pedal.

He seemed so determined to never push that pedal, I thought he'd be sixteen before he would! Which is why I told Ron I didn't think it was a good idea to hand over our hard-earned cash for a hunk of plastic that Jackson would only sit in and PRETEND to drive.

Of course, Ron and I were not in agreement and I conceded. There, hunk of red plastic in our garage taking up more of my parking space. Done.

Well on Sunday a light bulb went on in my head and I convinced Jackson to sit in the car while I sat up top, behind him. I promised that we would only pretend to drive. I lied. That's right, I lied. I gripped him between my knees and I put my foot on the pedal. He squirmed and screamed... for like five seconds! And then he thought it was pretty cool! I drove the car to the front lawn and suddenly the boy's shoe was smashing my foot on that pedal (he wanted to drive)! So I let him.


Then I realized that my safety was in the hands of a three year old boy driving a car for the first time and this was bad. I kept trying to get my foot back on the pedal and grip the steering wheel, but the boy was having none of that. Finally I was able to get out of the car so that Jackson was racing solo. Thankfully, Ron was on hand to give him his first driving lesson.

In the end, I put my arm around Ron and said, "This is so cool! I'm glad you bought the car" And then, we called Bumpa down so that he could check out the race car driver of the family.

Here, I'd like to compare him to some famous race car driver, but that's not a sport I'm familiar with. I'm embarrassed to say that can't think of a one! I think there was a racer named Jeff on Pepsi cans for a while, and then there was the racer who died, I can't think of his name either, but he has a son that races? Good lord, that's bad. Oh wait... there is that one that Ashley Judd is married to!


And a video to capture the moment:

The Fourth of July...

The Fourth of July picnic was held at Auntie Mell and Terry's again this year. There were wagon rides, tractor rides and scavenger hunts. And probably Jackson's favorite part: brownie dipping!

Jackson sang Happy Birthday to America to celebrate. He was a bit cautious of the fireworks being set off by the neighbors and thought it best to be up in mom's lap. He stayed up until well after 10pm watching the fireworks around the neighborhood. After being asked if he wanted to watch more fireworks or if he wanted to snuggle in bed, he'd had enough and chose to snuggle. Addie missed out on fireworks this year and was fast alseep in her crib even through every boom and bang!

I've been meaning to add these photos all week! Here they are, one week late. The Fourth of July in photos:

One fish, two fish...

Thirty fish!

We went up to Grandpa Kolar's to celebrate the fourth of July holiday with him and some family. Unfortunately Grandma Jan was unable to make it at the last minute, so we had to bring her favorite butterscotch cookies to her at home.

While most of the family went out for an afternoon on the boat, we stuck around the house on a day that turned out to be 90 degrees. Because of the heat most of the day was pretty miserable, we actually went to Walmart just to get into some air-conditioning. For those of you that know me well.... I must have been desperate; I never go to Walmart!

When the boat came back after dinner we took Jackson out for a fishing trip. We started to get a little lucky and picked up Uncle Mike on the dock. And that's when the fishing trip turned into an event I will never forget. I was holding Addie in my lap who was in and out of napping while Ron, Uncle Mike and Jackson fished. They couldn't even get a third line in the water because the fish were biting so well. I sat and watched my boy squeal with excitement as he reeled in fish after fish.

He held on to some of the fish, tried to get the hook of out others. He pulled in sheephead, walleye, sunfish and perch. He helped to throw them back and then when Uncle Mike asked "would you like to eat this one or throw him back?" To our surprise Jackson said he wanted to eat it! So Uncle Mike dropped the fish to the bottom of the boat where it belly flopped all around even frightened Jackson a bit.





We pulled in enough fish for an evening snack and decided it was time to go in. Uncle Mike showed my boys how to fillet a fish! Jackson watched so intently as the fish were filleted, he took the good meat and put it in a dish of water and took the rest of the fish and put it in the garbage... wiping his hands on his shorts in between.



He then went around and asked everyone how they wanted their fish and when it was done he was so proud to have everyone eating the fish that he caught. He also like having a fish snack before bed.



I have to say that this will go down as one of my favorite memories with my family. I was so proud watching Jackson get excited about catching fish and being brave enough to get his worms, hold on to fish and learn to fillet.

Wordless Wednesday

Fireworks on Cross Lake...

We took our annual trip to Pine City for the Fourth of July weekend. We stay at Ron's Grandpa Jim's house and stay overnight in our camper in his yard. We have been able to create some wonderful memories and this year will stand out for a long time to come. I can't wait to share the fishing photos with you but it's too late and I couldn't do the story justice so I will just leave you with this photo of Addie and Grandpa Jim. (I'll write up the fish story soon.)

Swimming with Hoschkas

On Friday we were lucky enough to be invited over to the Hoschka's house for a swimming party. Jackson was a bit timid at first around the water but took to it after a bit of coaxing. He wanted to try out the diving rings and mom found out that he's got a pretty good fast ball (I took a diving ring to the noggin' and I have a nice egg to prove it). After he got the hang of it he was tossing them to Jim's kids Dylan, Austin and Allison so they would dive to the bottom and retrieve them. We'll have to get Jackson into some swimming lessons come fall so he gets even better around the water.

Addie loved being in the water as well and even spent some time relaxing on floaters by herself. Don't worry: while the picture doesn't show it there was someone holding on to her all the time except for the two seconds it took to take this picture. And there was a lifeguard on-duty!

We're off to the races...

We spent Sunday at the horse races and like most betting adventures we broke even. Sara bet a trifecta in race number three and won! It was pretty exciting printing out that $50 ticket. Ron wasn't as lucky and neither was Sara's dad. All betting aside; we had a great time watching the horses with one eye and keeping the other one on Jackson. Addie was content to eat puffs and watch the action from her stroller.

Ron forgot his sunscreen at the water park the day before and didn't want to risk getting more sunburn... so he wore this ridiculous hat. However, it sure was easy to pick him out of the crowd.

We won Canterbury's "family of the race". We were up on the jumbo-tron and won a four pack of tickets to a local raceway! I bet it was the hat!

Family Update

Addie: I am now picking up on new words and can mostly say HI and UH-OH. Now I drop my nuk or toys on purpose just so I can say UH-OH, it's fun. I have started drinking formula now so that my mom can get in a full days work, the stuff isn't too bad and I hardly know the difference. Mom still cuddles me and lets me nurse when I wake up and before I go to sleep at night, so it's okay. I'm crawling around a lot these days and mom and dad can no longer leave me on the bed while they get dressed. This morning I checked out the stairs for the first time as I was left in the lower level by myself. I think I can make it up those stairs and am going to try it when no one is looking.

Jackson: If I can go five days without getting a single time out, I get a Buzz Lightyear. Light this Buzz Lightyear. I LOVE Buzz Lightyear and want to be just like him when I grow up and until then I will just fly around like him wearing Buzz Lightyear underwear. Oh, and guess what else is new? I can go down the twisty slide at the park all by myself! I love chocolate sundaes, chocolate candy bars, m&ms, chocolate milk... are you sensing a theme here? Yeah, I LOVE chocolate and Buzz Lightyear!

Sara: I got an A on my final paper and I made the spring semester deans list! Are you sensing a theme here too?

Ron: I wish my wife would allow me to spend more time in the garage working with tools and building things! I have a great idea for a small business using my craft and am getting ready to get it going. My job is the greatest in these summer months. It's incredibly busy but I can't complain too much when I get to hop in my car and ride out to beaches to be sure that things are going well. I'm running two popular beaches this year in addition to the community center so its keeping me on my toes.