Minnesota State Fair 2018

Looking a little sleepy in their matching Boston Scientific t-shirts, on the way to the fair:

Waking up with cookies and coffee/milk:

Omri's first time in the fun houses...

... he only had to be rescued by momma once:

The little swings:

The big swings:

That's V in blue:

Here's a ride they could enjoy together:

V seemed more nervous on this mini roller coaster than she was two years ago:

Trying out a tractor at the Little Farm Hands exhibit:

An old favorite:

Time for the parade and then to get out of there!

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Bel the weather girl

We met Belinda Jensen, the meteorologist from Kare 11 news, a couple of weeks ago and she signed our book.

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The newly annual midweek visit up north

Similar to last year, the kids and I made a late-August, weekday visit to my parents' place on the lake. Cousins E&T were there too!

One activity included a walk from Great Grandma K's old house to the Gilbert school... we traced the path that my mom walked back in her school days (my brother and I also walked it for two years).

Crossing Main Street:

The school is in sight:

The kids helped make pancakes that morning:

They also went on multiple treasure hunts, including digging through a Treasure X package...

... did yoga with Grandma, hit a playground, took a boat adventure to an island, went swimming (in the lake but mostly in the hot tub), played Pictionary Junior, drew up plans for a huge clubhouse, and raced some cars at E&T's house. It was a busy couple of days and photo coverage is limited.

I did take some other photos of the Iron Range that either aren't ready yet or aren't fit for this blog.

Thanks to my parents for hosting us! They have a strong tomato game, by the way:

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Willow River camping weekend

Fun time with this crew in Wisconsin:

Omri with his "shooter gun" (also known as the aim-and-flame from our camping bin):

Nice to be camping with a friend:

Pretty cool waterfall scene a mile down the trail. I was a little late to the party after having had run to Hudson for an emergency laundromat session, but the kids got to wade/swim here:

Good thing you can swim in the falls because the campground is next to a dried up lake:

Working on high step counts:

Our fire starting expert, R, didn't let us down.

This is pretty sweet:

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Bachelor party

Maybe a little off topic here, but this is the group photo I snapped (via trigger behind my back) at my brother's bachelor party last weekend:

I was out of my element with these wild and crazy guys, but it was definitely a fun, memorable weekend at Breezy Point Resort in northern-ish Minnesota.

Somebody else also got this one of my brothers, my dad, and me during the "Elvis concert":

On second thought, this blog is about family, so these do fit the topic.

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Pizza party play date - year 2

I think we started a new summer tradition of hosting a pizza party in our unique and wonderful treehouse. Remember the one last year? Well, here we are again:

This year we made the controversial move of picking up the pizza ourselves rather than ordering delivery, so R attempted to fake the kids out. See how that went below:


We also fulfilled a long-term dream of setting up the pool and the bounce house right next to each other:

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Take your kids to work day

The kids joined me for a photo shoot in somebody's garage last week.

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Summer afternoon

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Bridal shower weekend

Had a great weekend with family at my parents' house. I mostly took photos/video for the OldRedCar channel, but here are a few moments worth sharing:

The ladies of the house went to Heather's bridal shower on Saturday (photo by somebody else):

The weather was not good on Saturday, but we made it into the lake on Sunday:

Look out Uncle Trevor!

These cousins get along so well!

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Hogwarts camp

Veronica was in a camp during the mornings this week where they put together a play taking place in the Harry Potter-verse. We saw a performance on her last day. Here are some clips:

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Slice of Shoreview fireworks

While the ladies of the house were at Girl Scout camp last weekend, the gentlemen attended the Slice of Shoreview festival, including some pretty cool fireworks. My perspective was a bit limited because Omri was nervous and wanted to sit on my lap, but you can still make out that he's smiling.

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