Omri turns 7

Omri brings so much joy into our lives. I'm happy and proud to see him turn 7!

After school he video chatted and opened a few gifts.

Star Wars folded flyers... we have some projects to work on:

We had his favorite dinner (chicken nuggets) at home, along with a cupcake:

Time to open some gifts:

Omri got an Amazon Echo and Glow (a voice controlled lamp):

Some Pokémon cards from Veronica:

And the big Treasure X tomb:

This was pretty exciting!

Real gold-dipped treasure on the crown!

I also took a quick video, but it didn't turn out great because I was attempting to take photos at the same time:

Up next... Omri's birthday party!

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Happy 7th birthday, Omri!

Such a goofball!

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First day of 1st and 5th

Omri still looks half asleep. You'll notice this year's photo was not taken at the school. That's because the bus is picking them up this year for the first time. (However, it was running half an hour late on the first two days, so R ended up driving them in anyway.)

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Minnesota State Fair 2021

We returned to the Fair this year, but we arrived early (just before 8am), left early (around 1pm), and avoided going indoors as much as possible. Nothing stopped us from having cookies for breakfast, however.

Veronica's last year as a Little Farmhand:

The kids and I ran the maze, while Raia and Grandma Linda looked on:

Trying to get V inspired to submit a drawing next year:

On to the Kidway...

Omri goes through the rotating tunnel:

V on the swings:

The dog coaster:

No trip to the Fair would be complete with a ride down the slide:

We ate plenty:

I was there too (photo by V):

Sky Ride:

If you are making a movie and need to cast a role at three different ages, these ladies would be perfect:

It was a fun day!

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Dollhouse in Despair

You may have already seen my post on Facebook about this, but I wanted to mention it here too. I had a photo accepted into the Minnesota State Fair this year for the first time since 2016 (despite having tried every year since). I'm honestly surprised it got in--I picked the photo to submit because I happened to have it already printed for my exhibition at our church last year. Also to my surprise, somebody appears to have purchased it?!? Don't get too excited; I wasn't asking for much.

Anyway, we attended the fair today, so I'll be posting some family photos from our visit soon. I also have a ton of photos from our latest trip to Camp Du Nord that I need to sort through.

Here's a closer look:

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Spinning with the Saints

It's always fun to see some baseball with this crew, especially on a nice summer night.

We got our tickets through a package from The Electric Fetus (the Minneapolis record shop), which included baseball caps for everyone, along with vintage vinyl records. I would have liked to have included the records in our photo here, but I had already brought them back to the car. Oh well. I've been enjoying the tunes!

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Afton State Park camping weekend

We've been on a good run of camping with this crew every August:

This year we considered it "glamping," although the only difference was we slept in a rustic cabin rather than a tent.

We hit the trails on Saturday...

...And found a nice beach along the St. Croix, where we spent a large chunk of the day playing and swimming.

Dragonfly on Omri's head:

Making new memories with old friends:

Relaxing in the hammock back at the site:

This girl always has the wild eye when attacking a s'more.

Not a great photo, but I wanted to capture the breakfast scene. Everything tastes so good while camping!

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Good-bye to our nannying duo

Rachel and her sister Kristen tag-teamed this summer to cover our nanny needs. We also shared them with two other families, which meant V&O got to hang out with some other kids for much of the summer too. The nannies are heading back to college now, but it was great having their help!

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Out back

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Bouldering

Sorry--I know it's been quiet here lately. I'll get you some new content soon. Meanwhile, here's a shot R took about a month ago at the Minneapolis Bouldering Project.

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