July Summer Fun Activities

This week was filled with many special and memorable activities. We kicked off the week by finally (after 12 weeks) getting Presley's cast off. She is now the proud of owner of a crazy tan line. Keeping our fingers crossed that she is on the road to recovery...



This week, Mom had the kids signed up for refresher swim lessons. The kids weren't super excited at first about the lessons. However, Mom got them more excited once she told them we would finish off each lesson with a trip to check out a new restaurant and treat. I promised I wouldn't take pictures of them swimming but I didn't get pictures from some of our favorite discoveries like the old school Galaxy Drive-in, which had great shakes, mixers, and a giant chess board...




We also had tickets to the Twins vs. White Sox game this week. It was a beautiful night. We got free baseball caps, won an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, ran into the kids' favorite teacher from school, and ended with a fireworks show. A fun night for the family...




Presley has become a budding entrepreneur, setting up her second lemonade stand and earning $25. Not bad for an hours work!



This year we finally made it to the Aquatennial Firework show downtown. This is one of the best choreographed firework shows in the country. Our good pals, the Holjes, have been volunteering at the event for years and were able to secure us great parking and seats for the show. We also got to check out the fireworks up close from the bridge before the show with the man who designed the show. A super cool experience for the entire family!





Our weekend ended with a beautiful 11 mile ride in the city on the famous Midtown Greenway. We traveled from Lake Calhoun to the Mississippi River and back. We also enjoyed lunch at Taco Taxi, where the kids practiced their Spanish! We had a little accident at the end of our ride but everyone ended up safe and committed to more family rides in the future!

12AAA Baseball Highlights

Canyon bumped up from AA to AAA this past year for Eden Prairie Baseball. He had a really great season as a strong batter and was fortunate to play some of his favorite positions like 3rd base, catcher, and pitcher. The team had its ups and downs but gained momentum in the back half of the season taking home the 2nd place finish in their tier. He's looking forward to fall baseball and getting ready to play in the acclaimed Cooperstown tournament in August. A special thanks to one of this teammate's parents who took some of these fun shots of Canyon during the season...

Sports Activites Wind Down - Adventure Continues

Canyon is taking a break from football this fall because of his busy schedule with baseball and hockey. He loves the sport and with Mom's added flexibility this summer, we were able to sign him up for Mike Grant's non-contact quarterback and receiver camps. While he was at the camp, Mom and Presley went on bike rides and we also pulled out our kites to fly in the nice open space next to his camp.



Presley was okayed to golf again this week. She has been in a cast for almost 12 weeks. After her golf lesson, she went to a pals house where they picked fresh raspberries and made raspberry lemonade for her first lemonade stand ever. She was excited to walk home with almost $4.




This weekend was a nice weekend of family fun. It was Canyon's last weekend of 12AAA baseball. On Sunday, we had a free day so we headed to the Highland Park neighborhood in St. Paul to explore the historic Highland Park Watertower, which is only up one weekend year. We climbed the 151 steps to the top of the still operating water tower and enjoyed nice views of the city.






After the watertower, we headed to Highland Fest to enjoy some live music, cold ice cream, and visit some pals that live in the neighborhood. We then headed to Lake Nokomis for some afternoon swimming and raft jumping. Fun family day!

July Summer Fun

So what do our days look like during the summer fun. The kids are participating in various camps. This year is different because they can participate in things that are only a couple of hours versus the entire day. I think they are really enjoying the variety and "additional freedom" as Presley would say. Here are some of the excerpts from some of their "daily" activities.

Canyon taking a batting lesson early Monday morning...



Presley participating mornings at Coerver Soccer Camp. She won awards during the week for craziest socks and best jersey...




Friday morning baseball games with rain delays that enabled Canyon to have some team bonding time over breakfast and cinnamon rolls that feed five...



We are also continuing our summer of fun activities with both kid activities and adult activities. This week we had a weekday evening playdate with the Alleman family that included awesome fireworks that the kids bought in Wisconsin and Abba singing on the porch...




This past weekend was also the weekend of the annual Basilica Block Party. Some of our favorite artists from this year's show was Airborne Toxic Event, Delta Rae, and Michael Franti...




Mom and Dad participated in our pals' non-consecutive annual McPhee Challenge with a golf course that takes place over 4 of their neighbors lawns! Fun party with fun pals...



And Mom and Presley enjoyed some mother daughter time as we had our first adventure with berry picking at The Berry Patch. We picked blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Presley's quote of the day "This is much more fun than I thought it would be". We finished our mommy/daughter time with chocolate eclairs at Butter and World Cup championship watching at our pals Mariana and Sam's house...

Dave Matthews Concert in Chicago

The last leg of the journey. We drove from North Carolina all the way to Chicago, breaking camp at 4:30 am to try and get on the road by 5 am. When we arrived in Chicago, Grandma Harriet welcomed us and enjoyed an evening with the kids. Mom and Dad headed downtown with pals Joe and Rhonda to see the DMB concert at the new pavilion downtown. We also got a late night cocktail with Kim and John. An amazing family vacation, celebrating Presley's 10th birthday and her namesake.

Smoky Mountains - Day 3

Our last day in the Great Smoky Mountains was a more laid back day. We started our day at the visitor center and explored the living Mountain Farm Museum.



We then headed to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the entire park. We enjoyed a roadside lunch (literally) before making the .5 mile trek to the top...



We then decided to do an afternoon tube down the river. What a great end to a great trip!

Smoky Mountains - Day 2

From the top of Mt. Leconte, we awoke to the most beautiful sunrise (at least Mom did). We enjoyed a pancake breakfast before heading back down the mountain. The hike down went much faster than the way up but we made time to enjoy the hike from a different vantage point, including hiking through the clouds, playing some games and taking some more pictures.



We were happy to find that our stuff had not been taking from our truck and we headed to our campsite at the Smokemount Campground. Our site was snuggled between two other campsites. We set up camp, enjoyed some dinner on our new tripod grate, and were pleasantly surprised that our neighbor campers were this amazing blue grass band that had decided to put on a great show for the evening. What a treat!