MN Summers...nothing better
Just like that, it's Labor Day and another MN summer has come to a close. I am not so good at blogging these days...I guess we are too busy *living* so there is no time to journal about it. :) This summer could not have been more perfect. We didn't sign up for a SINGLE activity and so we had a stress-free summer filled with only the things we chose to do, when we chose to do them. Benny and I started to write down all of the fun things we have been doing, and we are on our fourth sticky note. To name a few:
--We enjoyed numerous days on the lakes this summer. One on Lake Andrew with the Quinn family which included tubing for all the kids for the first time. We also were fortunate to go out on Green Lake with our friends, the Engebretsons, numerous times. We pontooned, swam, ate at Zorbaz, mom swam a mile alongside the pontoon in training for her Green Lake Triathlon, we paddle-boarded, and rode the Seadoo. So much fun!
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| Lake Andrew with the Quinns |
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| Green Lake with the Engebretsons |
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| Mom and Mer paddleboarding on Green |
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| Tubing on Lake Andrew |
--River Lake Days
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| Nice face, Luke |
--Lots of pool parties
--We hit up a bunch of Thursday nights at the Glacial Ridge Winery for free music concerts. We often biked or took the golf cart. We also made it to a few Sunday afternoon "Music in the Park" concerts right on the lake in Spicer.
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| Jeff James at the Glacial Ridge Winery |
--We made it to 4-5 Stingers games and became good friends with one of the players, Jake Rothwell., from St. Petersburg, FL. What an outstanding young man he is. We hope he comes back to play with the Stingers next Summer so we can continue our friendship.
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| That's Jake on the mound...hard to tell! |
--We hit up more baseball than just the Stingers. We made it to a bunch of New London/Spicer Twins games and also spent an entire weekend at the Paynesville baseball park for the Stearns County League baseball playoffs. Luke's 1st grade teacher was there all weekend and since Richmond was also playing we saw my grandparents, Uncle Jon, and lots of Richmond friends.
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| Luke's first grade teacher, Miss Quade |
--In between boat rides and pool parties we made it to Games Lake and Sibley State park to the beaches a number of times. I forgot how much fun it was as a kid to play in the sand on the beach.
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| Fun in the sand |
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| Games Lake |
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| Ice cream at the little campground store |
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| Sibley State Park beach day with friends |
--And in between boat rides, pool parties, and beach days, we also made it to both the Spicer Waterpark AND the waterpark in Redwood Falls. My kids are becoming such adventurous swimmers and had a blast jumping off the high diving boards and going down the waterslides.
--Which reminds me of the coolest thing of the summer. We had a swimming instructor come to our pool every Friday for 6 weeks to give my kids (and a few other friends) swimming lessons. What I witnessed amazed me. By the 4th lesson Meredith was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side of the pool all by herself - no lifejacket, no plugging her nose, no assistance from the teacher. Ben began to swim like a fish in the deep end, jumping off the diving board like a professional. And Luke was able to learn to swim without plugging his nose and began perfecting different strokes. It was worth EVERY penny!
-- Thanks to Grandma Marcy's generosity, we were all able to go to Shrek the Musical in Cold Spring as well as the MN Zoo to see the Dinosour exhibit that was there for just the summer. I'm not sure which of those two activities were more fun. Both days the Bell kids (Katherine and Elizabeth) were with us and our kids enjoy their cousins so much.
--Next to swimming lessons, one of the best parts of the summer was getting new bikes for Paul, Nikki and Luke. We didn't realize what we were missing out on! We have been biking like crazy, up and down the driveway, around Green Lake, into Spicer, to the Winery or Golf Course, in a triathlon, around the pool, etc. etc. With the purchase of Luke's new bike, Ben was able to move up to his old bike...which made his bikeing life so much better. Prior to that he had been using Uncle Joe's bike from 30 years ago...and while we loved that bike and the sentimental value it brought, poor Benny had to work SO hard to keep up and it made biking anywhere too difficult. Meredith got her own bike with the help of Grandma Annie and Grandpa Dave, who have a friend in Kerkhoven who finds old bikes, restores them, and gives them away for free. It was quite a treat for her to walk over to this home in Kerkhoven and pick out her very own bike!
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| Lukey's new bike |
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| Benny flying on his upgraded bike |
--Paul and Nikki headed to Oshkosh WI for the 3rd year in a row, to the EAA Airshow. Paul is invited each year by his biggest customer, Cirrus Aircraft. We enjoyed 2 nights without kids, met up with my dear friend, Barb, and went to a Brewers game. The kids had a blast with the grandparents, going to Munsinger Gardens along the Mississippi River in St. Cloud, hitting up a Richmond baseball game and just spending special time with their grandparents in two of their favorite small towns-Richmond and Kerkhoven.
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| Brewers game! |
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| Cirrus pre-party |
--Nikki did the Green Lake triathlon for the first time ever. The kids and Paul had a blast cheering me on and I had so much fun trying something new. I ended up taking 2nd in my age group (35-39 yr olds) and I'm on the very high end of that age group. :)
--We found 4 precious baby bunnies living in our garden. We aren't sure we did the right thing (we learned later) by picking them up and loving them. Apparently once a human touches or holds the bunnies the mama will not come back. We tried to feed them and gave them water through a syringe. They were in the garden for a few weeks. They are no longer there so we are hopeful they ventured out into the world safely.
--We ate our fair share of watermelons (I'd say we averaged 5 per week). Four watermelons on the cupboard at one time aint no thang for the Hannigs.
--And last but not least, meet Kermit. He jumped up to grab our car on a Wednesday, August 10th, after we had 11 inches of rain in a huge storm, and he stayed there, hanging out (literally) for close to 3 weeks. He made long trips with the family, from Spicer to Cold Spring and back, I think once from Spicer to Litchfield or St. Cloud and back, many trips into Willmar, and lots of zipping around town.
I'm so thankful that I am able to be at home with my kiddos and have the opportunity to create adventures and memories all summer long. Farewell summer 2016. Hoping summer 2017 will bring as many adventures as 2016, and maybe a hot tub. Ha...that is the kids' wish!
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