A Sandstone 4th of July

Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening at Mike and Lamiae's house. Mike was kept busy the first few hours by taking people on tours to see the cattle, look for agates, check on the beaver dam, and to marvel at the usefulness of a forest mulcher.

Matt and I went on the tour with Mom and Dad.

Lamiae and Mom

Mom and Matt

I'm amazed I got the kids to stop for one second so I could take a picture: Colin, Laura, Damon, Karl, and Luke

After the tours were over, and after we ate Lamiae's yummy sloppy joes and potato salad, it was off for a pontoon ride. It's quite a walk to get to the dock, so we drove there. All the kids piled on to the six-wheeler, with Josh at the wheel! Good thing Connie climbed in at the last minute to supervise! (Although Josh turned out to be a great driver!)

Karl and Colin out on Miller Lake

Laura with Grandma

It was the perfect evening for a boatride!

Mom, Laura, Connie, and Josh

Karl even got a chance to drive the pontoon!

After our boatride, we came back to the house for ice cream cake. Baby Justin was happy just to play with plastic cups.

At last, it was time for the fireworks! Here is a typical reaction from the kids. Every year, Mike's fireworks seem to get more elaborate, and this year's show did not disappoint! Between our fireworks, the neighbors' fireworks, and the Finlayson fireworks that we could see from where we were sitting, it was a very sparkly night!

Time to Fly 5k

We drove through heavy rain to get to Harriet Island in St. Paul this morning so I could run a 5k race with Mike, Angie, and Jason to benefit children's cancer research. Laura, Karl, and Colin ran the kids' 1k race. Luckily the rain stopped just before our race began, so we had great running weather and a nice course. I ran a personal best of 26:15!

All the runners: Mike, Jason, me, Angie, Laura, Karl, and Colin.

Mike and I coming in for a big finish!

Angie and Jason were right behind us the whole way, so we all finished together.

Soon it was time for the kids' race. Laura's off to a strong start as she waves to her fans.

Karl heads to the finish line...

...with Colin not far behind!

Laura is happy that the finish line is near so she can fix her crooked shorts! Actually, she was happy that she is healthy and strong enough to even run a 1k, but a little push from her mother never hurts either...

Running is hard work! The kids were much more subdued after their race.

Laura was delighted to find books at the finish line, even if they were just picture books written by "Dr. Bob" in the style of Dr. Seuss. She'd been waiting to sit down and read all morning!

Thanks, Matt, for taking all the pictures!

Crazy Day

This morning, while Laura was in her theatre class, I brought Karl to the Science Museum for part 2 of his "Kitchen Chemistry" class.

Every time we go to the Science Museum, Karl spends lots of time at the map of the world printed on the floor of the main lobby.

"Look! There's Daddy's building!" You didn't know Matt owned the Wells Fargo building, did you!?!

On the way home, I stopped at Hamline to pick up some books I had reserved at the library. Karl loved seeing where I go on those mysterious evenings when I have class.

He was happy to find a Linus statue inside the library (and he got to learn about Methodism too!).

When we got home, there was a very short window of time before it was time to leave for an early dinner and to watch Laura in her play, "Vacation to Mars." For the past two weeks, Laura has been learning about all the parts of putting a musical together. She learned songs, choreography, memorized her lines, and helped make the set. Tonight was the big show!

As soon as the play was over, it was off to soccer practice! (These pics are all of Karl, because none of Laura's turned out. Sorry Laura!)

Tomorrow is Laura's last day of the class, and after that we're spending the afternoon at the pool. These kids deserve some relaxation!

Kitchen Chemistry

Three of us spent time in downtown St. Paul today. While Laura was in North Branch for her Project SEEK class (it's a summer theater class she's taking; you'll know more with the next post), I took Karl down to the Science Museum for his "Kitchen Chemistry" class. He spent the morning learning about chemical reactions, doing acid/base experiments, and "investigating the magic of water, oil, and soap" (he made bubble juice, but the paper his teachers sent home made it sound better). Meanwhile, I was across the street at the St. Paul public library, putting in some quality writing time. After Karl's class we walked over to Matt's building, since he works in St. Paul on Tuesdays, and had lunch on the 29th floor. Karl loved seeing the place where Daddy goes every week, and spent most of lunch time looking out at everything he could see from the huge windows. He even claimed he could see the Lino Lakes water tower. Hmmm, that might be stretching it...

Karl after class (notice the secret scientific potion he's holding).

Lunch with Daddy.

Karl explaining the intricate experiments he did that day.

Karl and I get to come back for part two of his class on Thursday. Thursday's a big day; watch for the super bonus post!

Great Day for the Pool

We spend every free afternoon we have at the pool in town, and today was a perfect day to go. Damon was over playing with Karl, so he came with us.

Laura loves hanging out in the shallow end, where she can take breaks to just lie in the water.

Karl is always just a wild man.

Damon and Karl had fun playing together today.

Karl loves going down the big slide, but you have to be at least 48" tall to go down by yourself, so he's always had to go down with me. Since last summer, Karl has worked very hard, eating as much as he could, so that he would grow enough to be able to go down the slide by himself. Alas, he fell a few inches short. Luckily, all the lifeguards know Karl and what a fish he is, so he gets special permission to go on it alone. Yes!

Father's Day

Since it's now tradition, we celebrated Father's Day at our house with my family. Luckily we got to spend most of the afternoon out on the deck before we got our downpour of 3/10" (when there is a drought every single summer you start to become obsessed with rainfall totals).

I asked my dad what he wanted for Father's Day and he said, "handkerchiefs." I asked Matt and he said, "to not have to host Father's Day." So shopping was tough since I didn't have much to go on this year (although I did happen to find handkerchiefs to go with my dad's gift, so at least he was happy!).

Here's Matt relaxing before he has to get grilling. Mike, Jennifer, and Connie anxiously await the tasty burgers.

Oooh, Dad doesn't yet realize how happy he's going to be to open his present and find a package of handkerchiefs!

Thank you, Lamiae, for bringing your famous baked beans!

Jim even got to come over for a little while before heading off to work.

After Laura played a piece on the piano for everyone, Bryan had a good time remembering his coronet playing. "Frankie and Johnny were lovers..."

I hope all the fathers out there had a great day!

Buddies

Here's a picture of Karl with one of his best friends, Tony. Karl and Tony have known each other since they were newborns. Now they're both Star Wars nuts.

Matt would also like everyone to notice how nicely-stripped the deck looks. Maybe by the end of the summer he'll have it stained, too.