School Time

4th Grade at Banfield Elementary School.  Yep this is my last year of having a child at elementary school. But let's not talk about that right now.

I really do have a 7th grader who goes to Ellis Middle School.

Seussical the Musical

One of the kids summer activities was a week long theater camp.  Check out the video below as Ellie is a bird girl and Sam a monkey in parts of Seussical the Musical.

Orchestra Spring 2014

National Eagle Center and Lark Toy Store

Wabasha and Kellog were great places to visit.  We were all amazed by the Eagles.  What neat loooking creatures.  We even got to see one eat her lunch.  The Lark Toy Store is in Kellog.  We loved looking at new toys and antique toys.  We even had a game of mini-golf.  It was a fun day for us all.

Summer Fun

The summer has been jam packed with kids activities.  Swimming and baseball were just a few of our favorite things to do.

A little baseball action.  Check out this video to see him hit: http://youtu.be/NTCzLy1RBI4

 

Sam learned to dive off he diving board this year.

Here we are having fun at the Owatonna pool.

Yep pools even have climbing walls now.

Birthday Time

 She is 12 years old already!!!  Her dad once again made a pretty amazing cake.

 Ellie had a backyard party with many of her friends.  They had a great time being goofy girls together.

 Sam is 9 years old!!  Thanks for the Mine Craft cake dad!

 Sam had a birthday party with his good friends at our Local YMCA.  It was a Nerf gun party- just the perfect thing for a group of boys.

The kids have wanted a trampoline for as long as I can remember.  When they figured out we finally had a yard big enough- it became an almost daily question.   Surprise- this was in the backyard when we returned home from Las Vegas.

Las Vegas

School was over and it was time for some fun.  Mom and Dad helped us have a most amazing friend reunion in Las Vegas.

 I was lucky enough to be a part of a church program when I was about 15 where we were matched with a family from Texas that came to MN to do migrant farm work in the summer.  I then visited them in Texas for a week the following winter.  We have kept in touch since. Veronica and her family, along with her sister Esmer all live in Las Vegas.  Because of my mom's great idea(and dad agreeing it was a great idea) and planning we ended up in Las Vegas June 7-11.  What a great way to start our summer vacation. These pictures just show tidbits of what a wonderful trip we had. 

And it's the kids first flight ever!!

Yay-we landed and our very special friend Veronica found us.  After tears of joy we smiled for a photo- glad I opened my eyes for this one.

Almost all of us pose for a picture

These boys became best of friends while in Vegas.  Amazing how they can live states apart and yet do the same crazy 9 year old and 10 year old boy stuff!!

Love that more than 20 years ago we became friends.

The adults posed for a photo.  Nice that we used Guillermo's work truck as our background.

No we didn't watch boxing but it was a fun spot for a kids group photo.

More special friends that were made this trip.