Swimming at the Lake

We arrived in Minnesota on Saturday and made a long weekend out of it, staying until Tuesday. On Sunday, while Dad and Grandpa did their annual all-day fantasy football draft outing, the rest of us went to the beach. I know you east coasters think the only "beach" is at the ocean, but to us who grew up in the midwest, specifically in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, there is a beach around every corner at the nearest lake.

There is something special about watching your children explore the world and experience new things.
Grandma and Aunt Leah hanging out with Riley
I always took it for granted as a kid, but it was so fun to watch Conor's fascination as his feet "disappeared" in the sand when they sunk in as the water lapped over his toes.

Most playgrounds nowadays use woodchips or rubberized play areas, but Conor has always loved sand, so it was a treat when he was able to make sand castles and scoop it in and out of buckets
Riley was able to take a nap under the umbrella shade
Do you think Riley is the one who buried Conor in the sand??

Catching Up...

So last week when I was ready to update with all the newly uploaded photos, our power went out for the entire evening. Then I spent the weekend in MN and the last few days catching up from the whirlwind weekend, so here we go....day by day I will try to update the last several weeks in photos...

The last weekend in August, we traveled to Minnesota for our annual Labor Day weekend festivities (a week early due to some scheduling conflicts) -- a celebration of Conor's birthday with family, the MN State Fair, Adam's fantasy football draft, and introducing Riley to a few more extended family members --

Conor had special birthday cupcakes
And he loves to blow out the candles (forgive the pantsless wonder, we had to squeeze this improptu "party" between changing into pajamas since we tried to fit so much into the weekend)
One of his presents was a new camping/outdoor chair
He also got some Toy Story gummy candy
I just love his smile in this one. He was showing off the stylish mohawk after his bath. And this is his favorite toy to play with whenever we are at Grandma and Grandpa's--a Wiggles' guitar.

Stay tuned....

Lots of pictures uploaded tonight...look for major updates in the next few days!!!

Brother and Sister

Just some pics to hold you over since I haven't posted in a while.