Roadtrekin' GNO

My dear friend, Tracy, purchased a Roadtrek RV last year and this summer my best friends from Augsburg (my GNO crew) and I tested it out with a trip to Northern(ish) Minnesota. As always, it was a great time and by the end my stomach & cheek muscles were both sore from laughter & smiles. We enjoyed hiking around Goosebury Falls, lunch at Fitger's (where Jer & I were engaged!), cooking on the campfire, reminiscing of college days and catching up on what's happening now and where are dreams are taking us.

I may be a bit biased, but I have to say, Augsburg attracts and churns out some pretty spectacular people.

Can we go fishing?

When we were home, these were often the first words out of Owen's mouth. Jer often obliged and they'd grab their poles & worms and walk to beautiful Lake Nokomis. Its nice to live so close to water.

In addition to enjoying our house and neighborhood, we got to enjoy our dear Minnesota Twins one afternoon. We went with Al, Moogs & a family friend, Tony. It was a perfect afternoon and we were happy to have tickets in the shade. The boys enjoyed enormous hot dogs...something they don't get in our house anymore...so it was a real treat. I really enjoyed being downtown.

We just so happened to park next to First Ave & couldn't resist a few quintessential Minnesota shots.

Like for dinner?

Walter asked me today, 'Will Daddy be home tonight?' and I answered 'yes.' He said 'No, but will Daddy be home before we go to sleep...like for dinner?' and when I answered 'yes' again, he did a fist pump 'YES' combo. I'm telling you, we are all really enjoying this togetherness.

After returning from Iowa, Jeremy went on his fishing trip with his Augsburg pals where there were plenty of laughs and unfortunately not much fish.

While he was away, we enjoyed the Hipps family and caught up with some friends as well. We didn't get to see everyone we hoped to and I'm sorry if you were among those we didn't see. We were also hoping to have more time with many of you and just had to relish the time we did get. Here are a few photos from those wonderful playdates that I remembered to take photos during:

We are lucky to have such kind, fun friends!

Back...home?!

We are back in beautiful SUNNY Hove after 5 solid weeks of laughter, joy, tears and enormous amounts of love back in the Midwest. I've broken up previous vacations into multiple posts and this one will be no different. My only concern is that we were so busy and did so much the posts may never end and become what we are doing now!

After about 2.5 weeks away from Jer, we were so anxious to be together again. Although it was ridiculously difficult to say good byes, Jer & I both have had a very strange and unforeseeable feeling that this actually feels like home here. I think after being away from one another regularly for work and having such great friendships and family near by, having this time here has allowed us time to be a family so much more and has hence brought us much closer. So although its tough being away from all you that we love, we are cherishing this time and considering it a huge gift to our little family.

So I suppose I should try explain a bit of our trip. The boys were rock stars on the flight and we were greeted at the airport by my college roomie, her family, and Jer's grandparents. We had a great night reconnecting with Griffy and our lovely house. (I have to say, I did an amazing job designing that kitchen!) We received visits from Jer's parents, brother and my sister and loved it all. We eventually made our way to Iowa for Jer's cousin's, Anne, wedding. Jer stayed back home with his dad, who unfortunately had to follow doctor's orders and not travel. We missed them terribly but enjoyed a beautiful evening celebrating Anne & Charlie and laughing lots with family.

The following week was full of playdates and catching up and even a few appointments if I remember correctly. We celebrated Uncle Moogs' 33rd birthday...and spent an entire day swimming at the Chaska Community Center with the Hipps crew, followed by an obligatory stop at DQ! (Their hot fudge sundae's with pecan's are still amazing.)

Now to keep it present - the boys and I had a lovely day at home today. They built enormous megabeasts that they ride on - photos later - we found a beautiful near path full of forts and great areas with major fort potential and topped the night of with a little tea & Risk. FYI, Walter can now claim World Domination.

I don't want to go home.

Fear not...this comment did not come from a discussion of our upcoming trip to the Midwest. Although I will be honest that for the first time I'm feeling a bit sad about missing out on an English summer. A little sad. Thankfully, we have had a really nice taste of summer in England over the past 10 days. We have been in the sea, we have stopped for many ice creams, the squirt guns have been fired, shorts, sandals & summer dresses have been worn and we even went camping! The school had an end of the year camping event this weekend and this is how both boys responded as the car was packed and we were dragging them to the car.

It was held an amazing woodworker's field and was filled with only school families. Camping in England can be chancy with its infamous weather, but we completely scored this weekend and loved it. The best part of it is that there are really no bugs here. No mosquitos buzzing in the ears, no ticks looking for blood, nothing more than a little friendly spider. What a lovely way to end the year and send us off on our holiday back home!

the view from our tent 

the outdoor kitchen

Pizza when camping...not so bad!

In the whittling shed.

Can we try make our own?

Last year I saw a hill full of red and couldn't figure out how to get there. (Of course we weren't really comfortable with having to drive anywhere at the time, so that could be part of it...) I knew it was a field of poppies...one of my favorite, dream like images I always hold. Poppies are by far my favorite flower and to stand in the middle of a field of them always sounds so magical.

When I saw that hill again this year I knew I could find a way there this time and on Saturday we did it! Oh it is just so beautiful!

They are growing amongst Rapeseed plants - as seen in an earlier post (the field of yellow flowers) - which have now turned to bean like seed pods. While they aren't as plentiful as the Rapeseed, in this particular field they are and its a gem! While we were there enjoying the beauty Owen started collecting the Rapeseed pods and asked if we could try making our own vegetable oil. He loves to make things. Loves, loves, loves it!

Happy Special Visitor's Day!

On Friday morning, Walter came into our bedroom singing "Happy Special Visitor's Day" over and over again. We were invited into both boys' classrooms as an opportunity to see their work. Of course we left feeling quite proud of their progress and so happy that they are at The Montessori Place.

Walter showed us a variety of work from metal insets, puzzle maps, bow frames and the decanomial square.

Owen showed us some laws of mathematics, grammar boxes, and quite a lot of botany. He has done some amazing research on bees and the pollination of flowers...and can explain it to you beautifully.