A Day at the Pool

As I was lying beside the pool and looked up, I realized what a pretty sky. And although it's a pine cone, and not a palm frond, it was a gorgeous day! Someone, please, remind me in February of our beautiful Minneosta summers. They are filled with blue skies, warm (but not too hot to enjoy) days and I love them.

Boy Joy!

A trampoline and a sprinkler - there's nothin' better.







The man cave: well, they'll even make their own "man cave" at the age of 9. The boys set up these umbrellas and ran an extension cord out of the garage to hook up the little TV and dvd player. Nathan is very technical oriented, so the day before, he and Austin took apart Austin's stereo and rewired the speakers to put them on Austin's shelves. It looked like a pro did it. I'm serious. (P.S. Cary checked it for fire safety and it passed with flying colors!).

They even have a little fan for comfort!

A Rare Sighting

Casey in a dress! I snapped this pic before church on Sunday because I love it when she wears a dress and she's becoming of the age where she doesn't really want to, so this was a happy surprise!

And I put this next pic up because she picked out this outfit in Justice (her fave store) and I just love Casey's style and her sense of fashion. Sometimes it's very "colorful" like her orange plaid shorts, but it's very expressive of who she is. One of her favorite TV shows is "What Not to Wear" (along with Gaga). Which reminds me . . . when I was in Florida and we were getting ready to head to the beach, my mom walked into the living room and said "I am wearing about 4 "what not to wears" right now! Which totally cracked us up because we knew exactly what she was talking about!

Cascade Bay

Last week we took Casey and Austin to the local waterpark. It was a gorgeous day and we spent a lot of the day floating in the lazy river.

Our Morning Walk

I try to walk every morning, and sometimes Austin goes with, as he did this morning (along with Bella). We had walked around a lake where there were some dogs also out walking and some had barked (along with Bella!) and some didn't. So Austin started asking whether or not I thought that the dogs could really understand each other (can ya tell he just watched 101 Dalmations last week?). I said "well, I don't think they know words, but they can probably tell a scared bark from a happy bark, etc.". So then he pondered about all the other animals that existed and his belief that they CAN talk to each other (oooo kkkkk . . .). And then he finished the conversation by saying "except for fish - I think they have a sign language, or they text each other because you can't hear them". Can you tell that the boy has sisters???

Our Garden

About a month ago, I went on the Garden Tour here and loved how the gardeners referred to their backyard as "the garden". I'm thinking it must be an english term for their courtyards and I just loved it. So, with my very best english accent (use your imagination!), "welcome to my garden!".

The above is my newest "bubbler" and I love how the water flows over the sides and looks like it disappears into the ground. There is actually a bucket buried in the ground where the pump recycles the water up to the fountain.

Precious Raiya

On Monday, I had the joy of keeping Raiya, the daughter of a friend of mine. It was so fun to have her and she kept us laughing and on our toes! Casey begged the whole day for a baby sister. Um...no. But it was fun thinking about it for a little while! We hope to be able to have Raiya visit us more often!

And Soccer Begins

Casey had her first soccer game Monday night - they've been practicing for a few weeks now. Last year was her first year and she really had to learn a lot and this year, she's very comfortable on the field and just goes after that ball! I don't know where she gets her "sportiness" - must be Cary! Or maybe I would've liked sports if I'd tried, but I had that flute stuck to my hands! Anyway, I love watching her, especially that little tongue that sticks out or into the side of her mouth when she's concentrating (gee, where does she get that . . . grandpa!).

End of Baseball Season

Austin and his team played in the baseball tournament this past weekend to wrap up the season. They had a great team and once again, we couldn't have asked for a better coach. His coach is employed by the University of Minnesota sports program, and boy did it show. He was a great teacher and encourager to the boys, emphasizing good sportmanship above all.




I love this pic of an earlier game, where Casey had gone over to encourage Austin in his batting.
A "fist high five" from his coach!

The wrap up session after the last game . . :(

Drama Camp

Casey went to Drama Camp last week, and really had a great time and learned so much. The kids wrote their own script, based on a Max Lucado book, about cliques and uniqueness. She played a "geek" in the chess club. They did a great job!

PS I did not get great pictures because, since daddy could not be there, I was holding the dvd recorder in one hand and my point & shoot in the other. The dvd is interesting because at times when I'm taking pictures, I'm recording somebody's leg or the floor!