August Adventures

OK, I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that this won't be as frequent as I had hoped. Oh well.

We never did go camping the weekend we were supposed to. After I got done with my blogging I was exhausted just reading about all the things that we had been doing and decided I couldn't bear gearing up to pack for a camping trip. So, we called up the friends that were going to go with us and asked them if they were up for a day trip instead.

We all went to South shore of Lake Superior to the mouth of the Brule river. It was a great day. When we arrived the lake was like glass and it was a perfect 78 degrees. We had a nice picnic and the kids swam and swam and swam. We even brought Bubbles and she had the day of her life swimming and running freely chasing kids and flirting with a boy dog that was also having a beach day. We stayed all day long and after we had packed up everything but the smoring materials we made smores in a fire pit that the kids had dug out and built up on the beach.

The second weekend in August was exciting for all of us for different reasons. I was flown out to Charlottesville, VA to visit my college roommate at her spectacular compound, limo ride from the airport included. It was very nice to just relax and catch up with my old friends.

In preparation for my travels and before Dusty's parents arrived the girls spent Wed, Thurs, and Friday at three different friends houses. It was a crazy week for them but they had a lot of fun. Dusty Johnson Contracting and Design was sponsoring a 5 on 5 soccer tournament so his parents came up to help with the girls. As it turns out he didn't really need to be at the tournament but it was great to have Grandma and Grandpa anyway.

Monday morning (11th) was back to life as unusual. Freja began a theater camp for the production of Snow White, and Naomi started Kindergarten camp. Although Nomi had been SOOO excited for K-camp, I did actually have to peel her little hands off the grab bar of the van and carry her out screaming. We went in and hung out with her for about 1/2 an hour until she made a little friend named Tori and then she was fine. The rest of the week was great and by the end she was embarrassed when I tried to kiss her goodbye. "I'm fine Mommy, you can go now." Overall, she had a wonderful time and is really looking forward to "real" Kindergarten. She will go from 9:00-3:00 M, W, and every other Friday.

Freja's theater experience was very different from the last one. They had actual auditions and Freja was pretty timid as they were conducted in front of 70 other kids. She was THRILLED to get the part (non-speaking) of the one and only butterfly. She did a great job on Friday night using her body and facial expressions rather than having to say lines and learn songs like the last time. She is excited for next year and thinks that she will be able to pull it all together and be Tinkerbell in the production of Peter Pan.

Sat. morning we left for the Ulen Turkey BBQ, an age long tradition in the Corwin family of which we have not participated since we turned vegetarian. I thought the girls should get to experience it now that they are old enough to remember. Plus, we were way overdue for a trip to Ulen to see Grandma Adeline.

It was fun, they enjoyed the parade (mostly the candy), and got to see the open spit line of 167 turkeys roasting. Daddy and Kevin were talking about what a beautiful sight that was and Freja thoroughly disagreed. She thought that they would be much more beautiful if they were walking around with their feathers. Other highlights were the Penny and Pals show, and the kiddy tractor-pull. Freja was enticed by the "prize" of a can of Dr. Pepper and gave it a whirl. She got a whopping 9' on the little John Deere. Naomi refused to sell-out her city lovin' self and participate in a tractor pull all for the sake of a can of pop.

Which brings us to this week. We had another week of K-camp, but this time Freja and I had a chance to have some Mommy-Daughter time and plan out our school year. I have been doing last minute volunteer coordination for the Art In Me festival that I have been helping to organize all summer. We also had our last regular "Girls Club" meeting this week. The consensus was from both the girls and parents that it was a huge success. I even got to witness some of the fruits of my labor and how God is using this group with some impromptu graciousness as three girls worked out a friendship triangle problem.

Today we had what may be one of our last beautiful 80 degree days so we packed a picnic and headed down to the beach with some friends. It was my perfect day. Summer is winding down now. Life is good.