What I Did During My Summer Vacation

We actually did take a summer vacation. Lake Beauty Bible Camp in Long Prairie, Minn., has a family week for pastors and those on ministry staff at Covenant churches in our district. Boy, were we looking forward to it.

It was a good time--Sunday night through Thursday morning despite a few children catching flu bugs...There wasn't really any programming--just good food, including a salad bar, and a lot of free time. So we swam, went horseback riding, climbed the wall (literally and figuratively) and more.

We looked up some geocaches, too. There's actually one on Lake Beauty (not the camp). We found it. Very fun! A geocache is a treasure that someone has hidden. That person then uploads the geographic coordinates to a website so other treasure hunters have an idea of where to look. When you find the treasure, you can either replace it or just leave what's in there. We've found a small TinMan from Oz in one, a lipstick pen in another, and shells and bracelets in others. It's fun!

Soccer finished tonight. I'm soooo glad it's done. It was tough trying to get two girls there at different times right over the dinner hour. But it provided some good photo ops.

School begins next week. Megan also has her doc appointment for her diabetes at Mayo Clinic next week. While school might provide more structure for us, I'm sure I'll still be tired!









Emily in church wearing her tie-dye shirt that matched the Vacation Bible School kids who performed Sunday morning.














Emily in her sailor dress--Lauren wore this one year for Easter.
















Megan on the horse at Lake Beauty--she looks like pop art!














The climbing wall at LBBC. Dan and I made it to the top and did the zip line down. I had to have a little push to get me over the edge, but I did it!
































































































Three very dirty girls after playing in the one mud puddle at camp







This is Lauren's drawing of me wearing a crown













This is Lauren's drawing of a dinosaur. The painting is on an easel.











Lauren helping make some peach crisp from some really delicious Colorado peaches.













With Farmer Pawel--we had a party at the farm where we bought a "share" this summer

August 1 Already

Man, time goes by much too quickly--in between blog posts and in daily life.

Megan's speech is much clearer these days. I can understand about 75 percent of what she says. My favorite is when I say, "Hey, Megan. Guess what?" She replies, "What?" and then I say, "I love you very much." She then repeats back to me, "Mama, guess what?" and so on. I love hearing that--though, to be honest, the exact words are a little muddled.

She's looking more like a toddler and less like a baby, another benchmark--we no longer have a baby in our home, although I won't tell Megan that. Actually, I keep telling all my girls they are still my babies. Hey, I gave birth to them--I can call them my babies no matter how old they are.

This summer has been a fun one, if a fast one. We've gotten to spend a lot of time together doing some fun things Fairmont has to offer. We've also spent a lot of time together--in the car--driving to the Twin Cities for events like Dan's Grandma's 96th birthday party

and to Lake Beauty Bible Camp to drop Annika off for her first ever summer camp--a two-day event. She loved it! and didn't want to come home. Boo! She brought her doggy with her as did a few of her cabinmates.

Annika and I got to do ceramics together awhile back. I made a princess bank for Emily--I kind of broker her last one when it fell off her dresser. Annika made two cats and then a black horse.

Annika and Lauren also are doing some fun events with the 4H group in town on Mondays. We also bought a pass to the waterpark which is really fun as a family. We've also done road trips like to Blue Earth (home of the giant Green Giant statue) to pick up our Community-Supported Agriculture vegetables at the farmers' market there. They had Giant Days one weekend--complete with kiddy petting zoo.

Annika and Lauren also took swimming lessons and did well. They enjoy practicing--so far Lauren can go a few lengths and is doing well with using both arms and legs to swim. Now those two are playing soccer--but at two different times--aargh. The schedule is tough since Dan has meetings on both nights! Annika's on the purple team; Lauren is on the tangerine!

We've also enjoyed movies at the library and other events the library has hosted like a magician
and a beach party in the basement (the water park got rained out that night).

We've also gotten free bowling from our local bowling alley which all of the kids have loved. Dan and I joined them in a game--doesn't go so fast with six--and most of us being under 10 years of age!

All in all, we're just enjoying exploring our new home town and taking advantage of what it offers. I'm also writing (volunteering) a column occasionally in our local daily paper which is fun--basically summarizing our family adventures in exploring Fairmont.