Sleeping Beauties

We are enjoying all of the abundance in our gardens right now. Well, the abundance is mostly in the flowers and herbs, our vegetables are not doing quite so well. In my defense though, it was the first year I attempted to grow veggies. So I suppose it is a combination of inexperience and neglect, inexperience being the larger influence of course.

I am loving these poppies, something new this year. Justin got a bunch of seed packets as a giveaway at work so I figured I might as well give it a go. They were planted a bit late, but have been well worth the wait. They are amusing little flowers in the way that they close up in the evening and then burst open again bright and early in the morning. Flowers that sleep (although I have yet to catch them taking an afternoon nap).

Camp

It looks more like the farm here, but this is Connor at Day Camp. He enjoyed all of the many activities of last week - swimming, archery, games, art, even yoga. Mostly I think he just enjoyed being outside all day with a multitude of kids. What I wouldn't have given to have been a little bird spying on all of this!


Pictured here is the "art barn" where all of the children and counselors were packed in when I came to pick up Connor on Friday. We had a terrible storm, so bad I had to pull over and wait it out in a parking lot. Nothing life threatening or anything, but I was still relieved to see my little camper, dirt mustache and all.

And here we are at home, winding down from a week of camp, if you consider whipping the Friday afternoon craft around and around as fast as is possible a form of winding down.

Parade

Last week Connor attended an art class where he made a very handsome dragonfly all out of trash (ahem, I mean treasure). The kids also made some noisemakers out of recycled plastic bottles. Last Friday night I was serenaded by this little contraption - on and off for several hours.


And on Saturday he got to show off his art in a parade celebrating 25 years of the Phipps Center for the Arts.


It was not your typical parade - no clowns, no candy. Fire trucks did not lead the parade but rather a giant eagle that was pilaged by pirates. Yes, pirates in a speed boat.


And this guy. I am not sure what/who he was but he was my favorite, not including the dragonfly of course.

Again

So just after we finished remodeling the upstairs bathroom we have mess...again. Just as I was getting used to the luxury of two functional bathrooms...bam it is taken away. And this time the bathroom we are sqeezed into has no cabinets, no closets, and no space to move.

We were not planning on this, however after a weekend away we came home to a wet basement and discovered a rotted bathroom floor. Evidentally something in the toilet was not installed correctly or had not been replaced, causing years of rotting underneath. I guess we are lucky no one has fallen through!?! (well I don't think it was quite that bad)

I have issued a timeline on this bathroom though, no two + years on this one. I am putting my foot down.

Summer Fun

Weekend activities........

golf

frisbee golf, fishing, dam building, popcicles from the ice cream truck, bonfires, fireworks.....

and a little r&r

It was nice to have Dad home for the whole weekend (for both Connor and Mom)!

J&B K&C

View from the backseat:

Two brothers in front spent some time on our road road trip this weekend listening to their Armin. I know, this is not quite legal, but on long rides Justin needs his music and Connor needs his movies. This was our only solution, plus they look pretty cute/silly/techie/goofy/ridiculous up there with those headphones on!

So, Connor and I sat in the back with the laptop propped between us watching movies, and season 1 of the Smurfs - love that cartoon, not so sure he does though. However, once in awhile I do get my way and due to some technical difficulties there weren't many other options. We also had some pretty great conversation. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the everyday that I forget to have these silly little talks. Eight+ hours in the car gave me a chance to do this! My favorite convo went something like this:


C: I used to be a girl.

M: No honey, you've always been a boy.


C: No Mommy, I really used to be a girl. I'm seeeerious. I was born a girl and then changed into a boy.


M: I remember when you were born and you were definitely a boy.


C: Mommy, I'm seeeeeeeeerious. I was a girl and then changed into a boy when I was like 1 or 2 or something.

M: Well Connor, if you are born a girl you stay a girl and if you are born a boy you stay a boy. (this comment brought some snickers from the front of the car)


C: Well not me.

M: OK Connor.

silence

C: HAAAAAA, just kidding!

Riding the Waves

It has been a rough couple of weeks on Justin's side of the family. His sister left for Marine boot camp last week. She will have no communication with anyone for another few weeks. Personally, I cannot imagine having zero contact with family for that long. Not to mention, I have heard some scary boot camp stories. But, supposedly since she is in the officer's training program versus the entry level program, they are a little less rough on the enlistees (not physically but mentally).

And, right about the same time as Katie left, Justin's grandpa passed away. He had suffered from a second stroke and just could not recover from it. So, Friday we headed up to the North Shore of Lake Superior for the memorial service.

This was a hard death to deal with as Bob was such a kind man. Justin and I were talking the other night about how he was one of those people that never said anything bad about ANYONE and likewise you never heard anyone say anything negative about him. You know, there are just a handful of those people out there. That is one quality I really admire, the old "treat others as you would like to be treated." Such a golden rule.

Anyway, in addition to being a wonderful family man, Bob was a talented artist. He did drawings, woodworking, stained glass... Justin and I are lucky to have one of his infamous fish mobiles hanging in our living room. We think of him and his kindness everytime we look toward that corner of our home.


Grandpa Bob loved the outdoors. Justin told me that he did not want to lye in a hospital bed any unnecessary amount of time but would rather be pushed out in a canoe into the great lake in his back yard. When looking out over that big huge lake this past weekend I like to picture him out there riding the waves in his canoe,


smiling at all of those grandkids (and great grandkids)!