Lake Calhoun

It feels like winter is coming so fast, so we've been trying to take advantage of our last few warm days. Last Saturday, we went to Lake Calhoun with the boys. Lucas and Matias rode in the bike trailer, I rode the bike and Zeke went rollerblading. We also happened to run into our friends the Creer's and Stacey was nice enough to take a family picture and the kids got to play together at the playground for a little bit. It was a perfect Saturday afternoon!

Before our ride around the lake

Peter and Eva Creer

I love Matias' look of pure excitement!

Lake Calhoun in the background

Fun Pictures

Lucas and Matias hanging out on the couch (Aug 22nd)

Matias' new obsession is balloons!
I love that they're free at Trader Joe's! (Sept 15th)

On Monday (Sept 22nd), we had a picnic right out front of our building while Matias was napping.

It was the perfect day for a picnic!

We Love Soccer!

Over the summer, Zeke and I taught a community soccer class for 3-5 year olds here at CSCC where we live. The class was every Wednesday for about 8 weeks in June and July from 4:30-5:15pm. Technically, we had about 30 kids sign up (the class was free) but on any given week we had between 15 and 20 kids. We had a lot of fun with all of the kids. Each class we'd start by warming up, stretching a little bit, and then working on drills such as dribbling, kicking, passing and making goals. At the end we'd always scrimmage and then do a version of "Red Light, Green Light!" For that game the kids would dribble when it was green and then when it was red they'd have to stop the ball and keep their foot on the ball - also known as trapping :). The kids loved doing it and it was a fun way to end the class each week. After that, we'd get in a big group to officially end and the kids would all yell, "We Love Soccer!" Zeke and I certainly love soccer and our kids are pretty much destined to love it as well, although with me around they'll also play basketball, tennis, volleyball and more! Since we were teaching each week, I asked my friend Monica to take pictures on the last day of our class. Here are the pictures!

Minnesota State Fair

We live about 2 miles from the State Fair grounds. It's quite the event each year and is also called the Great Get Together. This year almost 1.7 million people went to the fair. Some of the unique things you can find at the fair include being able to buy almost anything on a stick, all you can drink fresh milk for $1, deep fried cheese curds, deep fried candy bars, roasted corn on the cob and really anything and everything. Each year it feels like a different experience because it is so big. This year we went with some friends and went on the last day of the fair. We took the kids to Little Farm Hands (a must for young kids), saw a Logging show, went down the Big Slide and ate yummy food. This year, all I wanted was the corn and it was so delicious. Zeke got to eat cheese curds and a wild game sausage. Although it took some convincing to get Zeke to go this year, the boys and I are already looking forward to next year!

Lucas hauling hay on his John Deere tractor at Little Farm Hands

Jill and Anthony

Picking apples at Little Farm Hands

After you do all the farm chores, you receive 'money' to 'buy' something from the General Store - Matias got Honey Nut Cheerios

The Logging Show / Timber Olympics




Lucas had a great time watching the show!


Lucas, Jude, Anthony and Emmett taking a break for lunch

I'm definitely getting the corn on the cob again next year!


Zeke and his cheese curds


Lucas and I going down the Big Slide (we're on the green part)



Lucas loves the State Fair!

Minnesota Gophers Football!

Zeke and his friend Scott decided to get football season tickets together so we can share them and each go to a few games. Zeke and I got to go to the season opener on August 30th against Northern Illinois. It was a fun game to watch and we won too! It's always more exciting sitting in the student section and we were also right next to the Marching Band. Zeke and I quickly learned though that we are pretty clueless when it comes to singing the Minnesota song after each touchdown and all the other standard cheers. We'll have to brush up before the next game that we go to. Here are some pictures from the game as well as a video of the fight song after a touchdown. Go Gophers!

The team coming out before the game

Goldy Gopher!

After the half

Touchdown!
(getting ready to kick the extra point)

Waiting for the bus to go home

Visiting the Schafer's

Back in August, the boys and I got to go visit the Schafer's in Rochester. Lucas and Adelyn picked up where they left off and had a great time playing together. I had a great time hanging out with Janet in their beautiful home! We miss them a lot and can't wait to see them again.

Playing at the park in Rochester

Such good friends!

Oak Hills Park - the Splash Pad!

A couple of weeks ago (Saturday, August 23rd to be specific) we needed to go to Costco, so we found a nearby park to take the kids to first. They had a great "Splash Pad" as it was called that Lucas and Matias had a lot of fun in. Even though it was a sunny day, it was actually quite chilly so Zeke was nominated by Lucas to be the one to get wet with him! I got to sit on the side and just enjoy the sun. :) Here are some pictures from our fun morning together.

Notice how Lucas looks to Zeke to see if he's going to say anything
when he takes the fish from Matias!

Lucas' First Day of School

Lucas started preschool at Elizabeth Hall Elementary School last Thursday. The school is an International Baccalaureate school and the kids wear uniforms - blue polos, khakis and black shoes. Zeke and I were very impressed when we went to the Open House a few weeks ago. We really like Lucas' teacher Ms. Hanson and we also got to meet the Music Teacher, Librarian, Chinese Teacher and see the gym. Yes, I said Chinese teacher! Since it is an International school, they have chosen the Chinese language as their focus. So Lucas will be learning some Chinese as well. The only drawback is the school is pretty far away so he has a pretty long bus ride. He gets on the bus at 10am and school starts at 10:55. He finishes at 1:45pm but doesn't get home until about 2:35pm. I've been most nervous about letting him go on the bus all by himself, but his bus drivers are really nice and he sits in the very front and has already sort of made a friend on the bus. This morning when I took him, this little boy said very happily, "Hi, Lucas!" Lucas just looked shyly back and sat down. Anyway, hopefully he makes some good friends at school and I'm hoping to volunteer in his classroom a couple of times and help out as much as possible. So here are the pictures from his first day!

Lucas in his uniform!

His backpack is about as big as he is!

Waiting at the bus stop with Daddy

Lucas happy and ready to go to school on his yellow school bus!

Who knew it would be Zeke and I with tears and not Lucas.! He's been super excited about the idea of preschool for so long but in the back of my mind, I was worried that he still might be very sad to go on the school bus all by himself. So as you can see, he was very happy on the bus and it was Zeke and I that shed a few tears as the bus drove away. Today was Day 3 of school and he's still just as excited to go to school! I've also been enjoying some time while he's gone to be with Matias and get things done while Matias is napping.