Yay...There's no crying in T-ball!

Tyler just finished his second year of T-ball. He did very good this year. Last year was another story. There was a lot of crying last year. Mostly due to lack of napping, even tho he still should of been. There was crying over not getting to the ball first, not being able to be the first to hit the ball, not being able to hit it more times than allowed or not being able to go to the near by playground instead. You know, the typical 3 year old stuff. One time last year I was taking bawling Tyler to the car and another mom I know said to us "There's no crying in T-ball." Well low and behold the following week whose kid was bawling this time. I had to say to them laughing "What happened to no crying in T-ball?" She guessed her comment the week before backfired on her. Well I am proud to announce that there was no crying this year. Here are a few pics from last night.

Here froggy, froggy...

I think the frog population has grown by 100-fold in the last week or two. We have had a lot of baby frogs hopping around the yard. The boys have been having fun catching them and putting them in their bug cages. As we have found, leaving a little frog in a cage overnight results in a even littler, dried up frog by morning. Boy, how a frog can shrink. Who would have thought? We have now been able to convince them to let their frogs go so they won't die. I bought these cages (that came with a magnifying glass and plastic tweezers) at Pemida in Ely. It kept the boys busy and reduced a little of the fighting during our camping trip. They caught a few beetles and moths, which ultimately ended up in our tent, since you can't just look at them without opening the cage. Tyler and Shane caught a butterfly the other day too. Not to worry, they let it go a little later unharmed.

Munsinger Gardens

The boys and I went to St Cloud shopping last week and I thought it would be fun to stop at the Munsinger Gardens. I have lived in the area 9 years and have never gone to the gardens, I have only driven by them. The boys had a fun time running around and checking out the river. If I was thinking, we should of did this in the middle of our shopping trip to break it up instead of making it the first stop. I had very naughty boys that afternoon and a run around the gardens probably would have helped.

The best $15 I've spent this summer

The Slip'n'Slide is the best $15 I have spent this summer. The boys have had a blast with it. Collin is even trying to slide on it now. Anytime I have a thought of going to the beach, I break that out instead. Some may call it LAZY, I know, but it sure save time of not packing up and getting in the car to head to the beach.

Man...We need a camper.

After 9 nights of tentin' it we came to the conclusion that we need a pickup camper. We left for Ely, July 9th, with the back of the van packed to the roof and the boat full of stuff. We have decided even if we were not going fishing when we camp we would still have to bring to boat to haul crap. We spent 7 nights at Bear Head State Park in Ely, MN. What a beautiful park. We loved the secluded/treed campsites, zero noise (except for our and the neighbors fighting kids and us yelling at them), bright stars and waking up to beautiful song birds. The lake was beautiful too, not a cabin in site, just woods. While up in Ely, we picked berries, swam, fished, went to the Soudan Mine, International Wolf Center, and the North American Bear Center. It is such a great tourist area. There is so much to do, that you really need more that a weekend to take it all in. We had such beautiful weather. Hot days and cold nights. I should of packed warmer jammies for all of us. It only rained 1 day, which we took the oppurtunity to go to Ely for breakfast and back later for sightseeing. For the following weekend we packed 'er up and headed to Eveleth Veterens Park and Campground for camping with more family and the Swan Family Reunion. We said we were easing back into civilization. A campground with sites ontop of each other, yard lights shining in at night, loud musics at bedtime (do to our own rellies), traffic, trains, and waking up to the damn noisey crows at 6am. I had to laugh the first night there, Tyler asked if I could turn off the light. I had to think a min about what he was talking about. It was the yard light shining into the tent. It is funny that he noticed something like that. We had a fun time family and good eats tho. Before leaving for home we did take the boys to the Mineview in the Sky in Virginia, MN and the Minntac Mine overlook in Mt Iron, MN. We had a great time, but we were ready to be back home and in our own beds. I am posting a bunch of storyboards of our pictures of the week. Not sure how they will turn out on here but we will see.

WELL I DID IT!

I have always wanted to start a blog. Well I finally did it. Not sure if I will stick with it, but will give it a try. I am trying to figure out the set up and whatnot on this blog and am calling it good enough for now. Will hope to an official entry soon.