Happy Birthday Auntie Cat!

Yay! It’s Auntie Cat’s birthday!

We love you and hope you have an awesome day.

A Picture Update: Summer ‘21 Week 7

Happy Friday!  This week flew by AGAIN!  

On Monday morning Callie took this selfie with Luna, which makes me giggle every time I look at it.

The girls started 2 weeks of swimming lessons!  They weren't super thrilled about it, but ended up having a fun time in the water.

On Tuesday morning the sky was beautiful during my morning run.

Then the girls played around with each other as we waited to leave for swimming lessons.  There was as LOT of playing/fighting this week.  We are clearly getting into the back half of summer.

Our favorite activity in the evenings has been watching the Olympics, and Maya tried her hand at weight lifting.

I took Maya to a park on Wednesday during Callie's swimming lessons (the girl cannot sit still on this hard benches by the pool unless she is eating!) and then we watched more Olympics!  Go USA Gymnastics!  

Crazy hair, a Luna run, and swimming lessons started out our Thursday morning.

Then Maya went over to hang out with Pa, so Callie and I went back-to-school clothes shopping!  Middle school, here she comes...in REAL JEANS.

The girls had a fund day with Boom today!

As we have spent a lot more time in the basement watching the Olympics, it has gotten MESSY. And yet they still get dressed up like gymnasts and practice their moves.

Have a great weekend.

Timehop Tuesday

Another week of summer vacation Timehops + Maya and Lucy!

Weekend Wrap-Up

The weekend went by really fast, as usual. Yesterday morning we headed to Auntie Yoda and Uncle Craigles’ house to see some Johnson cousins (Henry!). 

And then we watched some Olympics in the afternoon.

Then it was time for Birthday Party #2 with Boom, Auntie Yoda, Uncle Craigles, Lucy and Mila. The pool was out and the girls had a blast!




Maya opened more presents and we had ice cream! 




This morning the girls played Legos with the neighbor boys on our driveway. They had quite and operation going 

This afternoon we went to the service celebrating the life of Chris’ cousin Devyn. It was amazing to hear all the stories people shared about how he impacted their lives in such a positive way. Chris shared some words as well. 

Tonight before heading back downstairs to watch the Olympics, Maya was “really focusing” on these plus blocks and could barely eat her pizza due to all the focusing! Ha.

I’ll leave you with a bit of exciting/overwhelming news.

It’s been a couple of years since I have done a live in-person race, and a bit longer since I have done any longer distance races. Gulp. The 10 week training plan starts this week, so I’ll be finishing up my 60 miles in July goal and doing the first week of 10 mile training simultaneously!  October 3rd will be here before I know it!

Take care and have a good week.  Click here for a few videos from the week. 

A Picture Update: Summer ‘21 Week 6

Summer is now more than halfway over and I’m trying not to worry too much about all the changes that will come this fall and just stay in the moment. Here are the pics from the past week:

Monday/Tuesday- a walk downtown with Boom, watching the spaceship launch, and some pool time

Wednesday- scrapbooking and crazy Luna!

Thursday- Hamilton Camp performance!  To see an 8 minute video of some clips from the show, click here!

Post show glow and DQ!

And birthday eve preparations.  

Friday- the birthday girl (and here sister!) were up early (in the 6s!) to get the day started.  By 8am her presents had been unwrapped.

She has been talking about taking gymnastics classes "after coronavirus" for a year and a half now, so we signed her up for 4 sampler classes in August and got her some gear!

By 9am we were at the zoo!

And by 11am we were at the beach with Boom!

Then in the afternoon they played with the neighbor boys and "patiently" waited for her Gosselin family party guests to arrive!

Then it was party time!

Uncle Dan kept calling her gymnastics mat a WRESTLING MAT.

She handled 8 candles on a little cupcake like a champ!

And then we watched some of the Olympics opening ceremony (and played around with the cousins).

Isla was not too excited about being part of the pile up on Uncle Dan/Daddy

Overall it was a wonderful day!

Have a great weekend.  Stay cool.

Happy Birthday Maya Leigh!

This girl is 8 YEARS OLD today!!

And the birthday girl through the years…

She is just the sweetest, goofiest, curious almost 3rd grader there is. We love you so much Booger!

(I’ll post the picture update tomorrow!)

Timehop Tuesday

It is Camp DuNord Timehops for today:

Campfire!

Family lake time!

A Summer ‘21 Week 5 Camp DuNord Wrap-Up MEGA POST!

Hey everybody!  Happy Sunday!  We have spent the past week in a lovely little northern Minnesota bubble known as Camp DuNord.  We left last Sunday and headed up north of Ely with G-ma, Pa, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan, Auntie Hanna, Mitchell and Isla!  We were quite the crew, with three cars packed TO THE BRIM with all the things we (and tiny little children) would need for a week at family camp.

The girls were beyond excited and had been counting down to camp day for weeks.  On the way up, we stopped at Tobie's for the obligatory donuts.

We arrived on Sunday around 4pm, checked in to our cabin, and immediately went to check out the beach! Later, we attended the opening celebration with skits, songs, and all the information we needed to have a fun week at camp.

On Monday morning I was up before 6am so I decided to go out and get my run done!  It was beautiful.

At 7:45am each morning, starting on Monday, the girls, Hanna and I participated in the Polar Bear Plunge!   It was a big group of campers who braved the lake in the early morning, and we had so much fun.  Other fun things from the morning: a "troll" left clues and puzzles about a stolen pie mystery, and Callie got the first one on Monday morning.  We also all love to make Isla smile!

Before age group, we wandered around camp a bit.  After the girls went with their counselors for the morning, we continued to explore camp with Mitchell and Isla.


The girls had a great first day at age group, and we picked them up for lunch!

After lunch, was OF COURSE, beach time!

Then we enjoyed time out on the deck, in the cabin, and and dinner time!

Then it was S'MORES NIGHT!  On our way to the campfire, we saw some beautiful sunset sunrays.

S'mores were thoroughly enjoyed by all, and the girls' s'mores shirts (thanks Boom!) were a hit!

Look at those adorable cousins!

After we put the girls to bed, Chris and I went down to Siam Point and enjoyed the lovely view.

On Tuesday morning I got in another run before most of the family woke up.

Later that afternoon we had more beach time!  Callie also had fun meeting a new friend (whose family happens to go to our church!!!) and they were able to run around and hang out together. 

Callie and I also went paddle boarding!  

G-ma got these funny blue inflatable vests, so the girls surprised Uncle Dan and then everyone got in on the action.

We had a family sauna time before dinner.  It was awesome!

And then we had more cabin and deck time before bed.

Wednesday morning brought a colder polar plunge and lovely sunrays walking back to the cabin.

While the girls were at age group activities, the rest of us went on a hike to Old Baldy!

That afternoon, G-ma, the girls and I took a stitched creatures sewing class.  Chris, Hanna and Isla came along too!

Yes, that is a Poop Emoji that Maya made, in case you were wondering.

We enjoyed more cabin time Wednesday afternoon.  Auntie Cat and Maya decided to organize the fridge, because it was FULL and CHAOTIC. 

Thursday morning run: peek-a-boo sunshine! And then baby snuggles and homemade Eggs Benedict!


Dan, Hanna, Chris and I were able to escape the children for the morning to go hike at Bass Lake.  The hike ends at a little waterfall and beautiful lake views.  

And we definitely jumped in!

After lunch, the girls, Chris and I wandered down to the trading post to get our daily ice cream cone.

On Thursday afternoon, Auntie Cat took the girls on a mini Boundary Waters adventure!

And Chris and I went kayaking and then we wandered around camp with Dan, Hanna, Mitchell and Isla.

On Friday morning Hanna and I did paddle board yoga for the second time.  I worked on my paddle board headstand and was able to do it, VERY briefly! Then we ran into Pa and Mitchell looking for animals and saw Maya coming back from age group on a row boat.

After lunch, the girls wanted to go paddle boarding so we walked back down to the water front.  Maya hopped right up there!  And they played a game with Callie's friend out on the boards too.

On Friday afternoon there was a camp carnival, where kids could participate in a variety of fun activities! 

And then we soaked in the last of our beach time.  It was the most beautiful afternoon!

That evening was closing celebration.  Mitchell had fun running around the stage before it started.  Each girl participated in a skit with their age group.  And they had fun watching all the other skits and singing songs.

We had so many pictures from all of our fun at camp, so I put together a few more random picture collages to showcase it all!

Click here! for some videos of our fun (if you have 8 minutes to spare!).

I'm so grateful for the beautiful surroundings we were able to enjoy while being together.  

Thanks for another fun week, Camp DuNord!  The girls are already counting on more fun next year.