Hot tub anyone?

Who needs a hot tub or a big fancy pool - there's plenty of room in the "deluxe" orange pool!! Thanks Kelly for hookin' us up!

Collin, Connor and Cole lounging around.

Fireworks

Our little neighbor Jaiden has decided fireworks are the coolest thing ever. He started lighting them off a few weeks ago. Well apparently he was on to something. We have started having regular gatherings in the neighborhood for firework shows.

Fathers Day

We had a nice Fathers Day. The kids picked out a Scooby Doo t-shirt to give to Matt. They were really excited about it.

3rd Annual Soccer Clinic

We did our 3rd annual soccer clinic. Ella got to join this year too. It is for 4-8 year olds, but Leah let us sneak her in. I wasn't sure how she would do (2 hours at a time). I figured she would last a half hour or something and then come sit by us. I signed her up because I felt bad making her sit through yet another thing of Collin's. She did great. She made it through all 3 days and participated in all the drills and even a little scrimmage. Collin also did really good. He is starting to get a little more invested. He even scored his first goal!! Of course mom has 50 hours of worthless soccer video, but missed the 10 seconds when he got his first goal. Oh well next time.

Collin, Ella, Xan and Henry - so cute!!

Ella is not having any fun at all!

Whenever she could, Ella stuck to Collin like glue - but she also did just fine when they split the kids by age and she got separated. She was so excited to be doing what her big brother was doing.

After one of the nights, the kids wanted to take grandpa out for ice cream cones.

Playing in the rain

We had our first summer rain recently. It was warm and not storming so the kids got on their suits and out they went. Jacob and Elizabeth were over too, and our neighbor Jaiden couldn't refrain from coming out when he saw the kids jumping in the puddles.

Collin is such a protective big brother. Every time a car came near he would pick up Madelyn and carry her away from the road.

movie night

There's nothing like a bowl of popcorn and a little Tom and Jerry! Madelyn absolutely LOVES popcorn - if you don't watch out she will eat her bowl full and yours.

Camping with Grandma & Grandpa

We finally talked Grandma and Grandpa into camping with us. We headed north to St. Croix State Park. We had a great weekend. We got a little bit of rain our first night, but then had great weather the rest of the time. We did one really awesome hike. It was 4 miles of pretty unmaintained trail. We hiked along the Kettle River and then to where it met the St. Croix river. It was a pretty tough hike. Collin hiked all 4 miles without any complaining - he did awesome. Ella had to get a couple shoulder rides from grandpa, but she did good too! We drove to the trailhead and about a mile from where we were getting out of the car to start our hike we saw a pretty good size black bear. It was really cool. The kids were really excited, I was a little less excited :)

Collin and Ella spent most of their down time playing with a rope that grandma brought for Bailee. They tied trees up, they tied Bailee up, they tied each other up and pretended to be Bailee. It was pretty funny.

There was an area right near our campsite that was for people camped with horses. The kids had never seen a horse up close. They were a little scared at first, but they warmed up pretty quick. One of the owners even gave them some hay to feed to the horses.

Madelyn after a day at the beach - she is such a disaster!

"park" in the back yard

After several years of resisting and one long month this spring of Collin not being able to play with his friends....we (or I) finally caved and bought the kids a swing set. My mom spotted it at a garage sale for dirt cheap, the kids wanted it SO bad, and Matt was too busy with the end of his 4th quarter at work to tell me no. So I made a ridiculous offer, they accepted, and we were the proud owners of a new "park" for the back yard. It needed some work. But after a gallon and half of stain it's not looking too bad. The kids are LOVING it! Let me tell you, it was the best 50 bucks I have ever spent!

When we fist got the swing set Collin and Ella played for hours and hours every day. One day Ella played so long that she literally fell asleep at the top of the slide.

Look at me!!!

Today Amy decided to teach my 3 year old to ride a bike with no training wheels. I thought she was crazy, but apparently I don't know anything. Amy put the seat down on the bike, we ran up and down the street a few times - and an hour later there she goes, riding her bike all by herself with no training wheels at 3 1/2. Ella was so excited to surprise daddy when he got home from work. All she wants to do is show everybody and ride her bike ALL day long. Even in the rain. We are so proud of her - she definitely has no fear.

Video of Ella riding her bike. She learned so fast that I didn't even really get a chance to video her learning.