Big man on campus

Kyle is going to be the cutest kid in his new toddlers class thanks to the awesome new pottery barn robot backpack he got. It's the perfect size for him and he seems to like wearing it.













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Comparisons

Here are some fun collages for you on this beautiful Friday:


Kyle enjoys the same Chippy turtle that I did as a kid.  Can you tell how short Kyle is?  He's half a year older than me in this comparison

While I do think Kyle gets his love from ice cream from me, I think this is a fun comparison of their personalities.

Dove Nest

We've got a mommy dove who just built a nest for her eggs in one of the trees in our backyard.  Pretty much the worst location as the tree is huge and the area she's on sways a ton.  But we've got another nest under the deck, so maybe she wanted to keep her distance.  Who knows, but she's got two very large eggs.  I hope they make it!

 

High fives!

Kyle's big thing lately is asking and giving high fives to everyone. Today, even Belle got one. Hehe. Poor doggies don't know what's I store for them with their little monster of a brother.

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Minnesota Vaca - Day Seven

Our last day at the cabin and of our trip was spent packing and saying goodbyes.  I will truly miss watching Kyle play with his cousins.  They all had such a wonderful time together.  It's really hard to put into words how neat it is to watch them interact.


We're so thankful to Grandma and Grandpa Shoemaker for letting us celebrate Grandpa Bob's 60th Birthday with them up at the cabin.  I hope they had as great of a time watching everyone on the boat as we all did playing on it!

Kyle gave high-fives as his goodbyes and we made the 3 hour drive back to the Twin Cities to catch our afternoon flight home.  In wanting to keep to happy endings, we won't discuss how Kyle was on the return flight. ;)

Minnesota Vaca - Day Six

Our last day on the boat was well spent.  Kyle had a much better day on the lake today.  I attribute it to the life jacket swap.   He had some seriously amazing giggles while tubing.  He LOVED when the tube would bounce up and down on the water.  I can already tell he loves to go FAST.


Jack did some tricks on the tube and had a blast!

Uncle Brian also did some tricks... and had a blast until moments after this when he took a nose-first nasty spill:

Dave did a couple of 360s on the kneeboard:

 

 

And our family of 3 went for another tubing adventure.  Kyle is my awesome little adventure man.  Up for anything with mommy and daddy.

 

After a day on the lake, we all got cleaned up for a nice dinner and pictures by the lake:

 

 

It was a nice way to wrap up our time up North.

 

Minnesota Vaca - Day Five-o

Dave, Brian and their parents woke early on day 5 to go fishing.  They weren't overally successful, but I'm sure they had a good time bonding.

When the kids awoke, we packed up to go hit the beach and pool.  The conditions were far too rough for boating.

 

So we decided to rent jet skis!

Brian took Jack and Caroline out.  Jack was a fun; Caroline not so much.

Dave and I had a GREAT time.  Okay, so maybe Dave would tell you differently.  Apparently I'm a CRAZY driver and put us in near-death situations, but I thought it was fun!   I might've been the insane one who reached speeds of 52 mph on the rough seas, but Dave was the one who managed to get pulled over by the State Water Patrol!  They seemed to think he had gone within 50 yards of the beach (several witnesses indicate to us that this wasn't the case), but luckily not having our licenses and being close to our rental return time allowed us to escape with only a warning.


Thanks to Grandma for staying in the condo while Kyle napped so we could all enjoy the jet skis!

 

Minnesota Vaca - Day Four

Today was our first day on the lake!  Besides the dislike for the constraining life vest, Kyle took the boat nearly immediately.  He LOVED the breeze as the boat hit high speeds.


He even went tubing. 

But it all tired him out pretty quickly.  He feel asleep in Uncle Brian's arms!  It was truly precious.  He rarely falls asleep in your arms anymore!

Lucky for us, Kyle has a great Uncle who held him through his entire afternoon nap so that we could do this:

and this:

okay, so maybe I couldn't do the above, but I did manage to FINALLY get up on waterskis after doing dozens of these:

Persistance paid off though and the reward was this:

Meanwhile, back at the beach, Jack and Caroline were building sand volancos.  Kyle woke from his peaceful boat slumber and wanted to join in on the fun.

Caroline showed him how to fill buckets with sand and water.

 

But it made a serious serious mess.  So it was time to dunk Kyle.  Kyle got several chuckles out of it.  Who knew he would LOVE being dunked?!

After we got cleaned up, we went to the indoor waterpark at the lodge.  The really fun waterslide had no official rules about not taking your baby on with you, so we figured why not? 

Uncle David taught Jack how to make huge water geysers:

It was a fun first day up North.

Minnesota Vaca - Day Tri

On the tri (err, third) day, we woke up VERY early to go watch the men race.  Both David and Brian competed in the International Distance of the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon.  It wasn't easy for Ania and I to get all 3 kids ready and loaded in time to make it for their swim exit, but somehow (despite a pretty lengthy walk through the grass with a non-off-roading stroller) we made it just minutes before their swim exit.  
We managed to catch them at two locations of the bike as well.

 

My friend Julie (you may remember our meetup and her twins from an earlier post) lives very close to the race course and woke herself and her twins up early to endure the extreme heat and humidity to hang out with Kyle and I between Dave's racing legs.  She helped us navigate the course so we could catch them in several locations.  Oh, and her little son Elliot had Kyle in giggle fits.  But Kyle's true eye was on Morgan-- he is such a ham and a flirt around her!  They were all so incredibly fun together. 

As we waited for daddy to finish his run, Kyle watched on and clapped for the racers.

Here comes daddy!  In personal record time!

Julie and I 'raced' a journey of our own to get to where we are today with our kiddos.  I'm so glad we could get together again.  Maybe someday we can convince her to move to Colorado so the kids can hang out all the time? ;)

Jack, Caroline and Kyle were all such troopers.  They happily walked the distances to see their daddies compete.  Such great cheerleaders they are already!

After making the long walk back to the car, we hurried home to get cleaned up and packed to head up north to the lake.  Caroline used the time to take Kyle for a stroll in her wagon.  She is SO good with Kyle!  It makes my heart melt.

We had a rather uneventful 3 hour drive up to the cabin.  Kyle slept for most of it and when he woke, he entertained himself in the 3rd row of Grandpa's Tahoe reading books and eating (throwing?) cheerios.