Logan at football camp

Logan attended a football camp this past week. He Loved It! When we arrived we were surprised to see the high school football team in attendance. Logan was teamed up with one of the boys on the team and they worked together for the week. I seriously cannot remember his name so we will call him "number 64" The football team did a great job working with the kids and Logan even learned the secret football handshake.

Logan is excited to go to the football games on friday nights and see his "coach" on the field.

where has the time gone?

We have been spending some time lately watching DVD's of the kids when they were younger. It is quite emotional to see your children when they were babies and there is a kind of a sense of loss felt. I know they are the same children only older, but there is a sadness of never getting to cuddle with that baby again. A very weird feeling goes through you. As we were watching the videos and laughing over things the kids said and hearing the sound of their voice at a particular age, I was so very grateful for having video taped as much as I did. Photos are always great to have but to see your babies talking, walking, laughing and playing is such a wonderful thing to experience again.

They sure do like it big!

Australia and even New Zealand like things big, Australia has even put together a book of things that are big icons around the country. We happened across some of them during our travels.

The big prawn

The big gingerbread man

The big tap

The big pineapple

The big bottle of bundy

The big fish

The big pile of fruit

The big kiwi bird

Of course, Minnesota likes things big also

Here's our Big Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox

Big sure is grand

What do you think?

We are removing all the white trim on our main level of the house and replacing it with stained maple. I am really liking the new look and I think it will make things more homey and more my style. We also painted the front door. What do you think?

British Soccer Camp

Chesney and Logan attended a soccer camp with coaches from Great Britian, They both had a great time and got a chance to meet some more kids they will be going to school with.

What a wild storm

About 3 am during the night we were awoken by a storm, lots of lightning followed by loud thunder and then the rain came. That would have been fine by itself but then the wind came. I kid you not , the house was shaking something awful. We ended up heading down to the basement for a bit, just in case. Then logan, curled up on my lap, looked at me and sayed "Now can we move back to Australia?" poor kid, better get use to these storms.

We got a bit of water in the garage and through our front door but no damage to the house.

The playset lost its top, could be worse one neighbor's playset tipped over and completely split apart and another's trampoline is completely gone.

One of our beautiful Aspen trees is leaning from the wind

And hopefully this farmers field will bounce back, I am thinking there is a trampoline in there somewhere

Along with this cubby house

Then to top it off, while school shopping with Logan today at Target, a tornado touched down outside of Rochester and we were made to go to the back of the store for about an hour to wait for them to let us back in. Looks like more storms tonight, hopefully we can sleep through these.

On the good side- crayola crayons are 25 cents for a 24 pack at Target- can't beat that

Can you believe it has been 20 years?

This past weekend Duey and I attended my 20 year class reunion. Where has the time gone?
It was great to see everyone and catch up with those who were able to make it.

Me and my good friend Melissa. We haven't changed a bit.

The group who made it to dinner that evening

It was a small turnout, of the 32 I graduated with 8 made it to dinner and 4 more met up with us at the pubs later on.

Buffalo Bill Days

This past weekend we headed down to Lanesboro for Buffalo Bill Days. Now don't laugh, this is one kick ass three day party. We haven't been able to attend the festivities for the past 5 years and were glad to be back for them this year. We headed down Friday evening and went downtown to meet some dear high school friends . The street dance was a blast, the same band that has been playing for the past 25 years or so, a little older but still great. After the dance the fun continued at the campground where a lovely young girl named Lacey apparently needed the attention of her boyfriend and told him that we (meaning me, Duey, my brother and a few of my friends) locked her in a portapotty for 25 minutes. After a little scuffle, some threats to call the cops and lots of yelling, we headed on home at 4 am.

Duey and some of my friends played in a volleyball tourney Saturday and Sunday morning. They had a fun time playing, but didn't place in the tourney.

Chesney and Logan in the park at the petting zoo

All good festivals have a great parade. This one is no exception.

And no Buffalo Bill Days would be complete without a buffalo leading the parade.

My Brother, isn't he special?

Dad and Jeff entered into a beanbag tourney on Saturday, So we practiced at Mom and Dads so they could kick some ass. They held their own, but no one came home with any trophies that weekend.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for not only hosting us all at their house but for also watching 6 of their grandchildren while we went out and had a bit too much fun.

What a good looking group

This past June we were lucky enough to have all of Dwaynes siblings and families back in Minnesota for holidays. This is the first time in a great many years we have all been together. It was wonderful to be able to spend time as a family and the kids all got to know each other again.

A pretty good looking group I have to say.

The siblings- Troy, Dwayne, Darren, and Lisa

And the in-laws- Kelly, Paul, Trish and Terri