Starting off the Summer Right!

We love our tradition of camping on Memorial Day. Our church life group has been going on at least one (usually two) camping trips each year since we joined about 8 years ago. This year we went to Father Hennepin State Park on Mille Lacs Lake. Each year, it's a slightly different mix of families. This year we were joined by the Skoglunds, Ellisons, Radloffs, and Goodmans (Skoglund's neighbors). We had fifteen kids and 10 adults. It was a great weekend, full of campfires, fishing, beautiful nature walks, games, food and....mud! We had some intense weather on Sunday morning (hail and downpours), but thankfully it passed over and we were able to get on with our fun camping experience. The mud, however, was there to stay. I think the Ellison girls collected enough worms to feed all of the fish in Mille Lacs Lake! Jacob tipped over while riding his bike and got covered in mud from head to toe. The unlucky fishermen didn't get anything more than a couple of bites. Jacob dropped his new fishing pole in the lake, so Chris jumped in to retrieve it. What a great daddy!

Earlier in May, we traveled down to Rochester for a couple of days to visit Pete, Paula, and Michael. They had fun swimming at the "Y." Jacob was pretty excited when Uncle Pete let him use the shop vac in his garage. Pete put him to work by having him vacuum out his car. Later, we went to a nearby park to play. Jacob is so blessed to have a cousin who is the same age! They love being silly together. It will be fun to see how they play together with Ella when we travel to Virginia (she is just a couple months older than Jacob).

HURRAY! The school year has ended! It's an amazing feeling to know that I won't be returning to work until Fall of 2009. I took a one year child care leave for next school year. Jacob and Sophia will both be home with me. I can't wait to see what joys and challenges this year will bring. Jacob's day care provider, Peggy, ended the year with her traditional spring concert. The kids all did a really great job this year.