Summer and some New beginnings

 This summer has been such a nice time with family! Like always, June felt super busy, as is July, but things seem to be slowing down.... maybe?

The first week after the cabin Mark and I each worked a camp for our district. I worked Adventures in Learning, a camp for English Language Learners and Mark worked Nature's Engineers camp, a camp for Gifted and Talented and Young Scholar students. Like last year my parents graciously watched both boys during the day, including drop off and pick up! We were so lucky to have them do that so we could make a little extra money, and get to better know the students of our district...plus Dean LOVES being at their house. Although he loves real daycare, he didn't miss it that first week thanks to fun at grandparents!

The following week was what is started to become an annual tradition, The Gerlachs (My brother and family!) came to visit! We had such a great time with them! We spent the start of the visit in Minneapolis spending time with my parents and my grandpa who was also visiting Minneapolis for a few weeks.

We spent the last few days of their visit in Cornucopia at the Cabin! It was really fun to share this little vacation home of ours with my family, and they really enjoyed spending time up North. They got to see the Sea Caves from land and sea (thanks to Steve's boat) we went on hikes, did fireworks for the kiddos, ate at Local Favorites like Little Nikki's, and of course spent time at the beach. We ate plenty of local favorites like fresh fish and cheese curds and I know they want to come back.

Sea Caves from the boat on Lake Superior

Visiting Siskwit Falls

Fieworks on the lake

Visiting Lost Falls

5 AM Sunrise-Thanks Benny

 Since they've left I've been very busy playing and exploring with the boys. This is because Mark got a new job! Still in our district but he's no longer a classroom teacher. He is now 1/2 time Math Coach and 1/2 time Lead Teacher of Gifted and Talented, working out of the district offices. He technically gets summers off, so it's nice that every time he has a training or gets extra work we get paid extra... but he's been working a LOT this summer! We are very excited for the change and feel like it's a change we've been working for, it just happened very quickly and I think there is a sense of loss and sadness (and jealousy on my part :) ) Of Mark's leaving his classroom.

Luckily for me though, one of my closest friends from KC, Julie live in Minneapolis, 8 minutes from us! And she's a teacher... in our district! And she has a boy Dean's age. SOOOO that means lots of time with Judah. We have been able to watch him and she's watched our boys, and we've done stuff together too! Zoo, beach, Crayola Universe, home visits, it's been a lot of fun to see the two boys becoming such good friends.

Zoo Visit

Crayola Universe

The rest of the summer we are filling doing things we love. We've been to the beach a ton, we've been to the zoo, visiting Grame and Jimpa, Market Fest (Or Mark Fest as Dean calls it) and lots of time playing outside in our pool! I've been cooking when I can, and baking when Dean asks me too :) We still have aspirations to visit a lot of our favorite places in the cities like Lake Nokomis, Lake Harriet, Wirth Park, Minnehaha Falls, state parks and hopefully get out on the river, but luckily we still have half the summer left :)

Summer = salads!

Mady Graduated High School!

Zoo Day

"Mark Fest"

Baked Goods

New Chairs for the deck :)

The Boys:
 Benny is now 10 1/2 months old, and Mark and I are both realizing that this age is way harder than we remember! We knew newborn was hard, but that seemed easier this time (better sleeper, eater, experience!) But at 10 1/2 months Benny is INTO EVERYTHING. And EVERYTHING is INTO his mouth! He's super cute, and really fun, but you have to watch him 24 / 7! He screams if you leave him tied into a high chair, pack n' play, behind a gate, and always wants to be at the center of the action! He's pulling up and walking all over, experimenting with nodding his head, having screaming matches, fighting with his brother and holding tv remotes every where he goes! He loves almost all food and now has 2 full teeth, and 3 more coming in. I can't believe he's almost a year old. He's a happy boy and is FINALLY (fingers crossed) Seeming to sleep almost through the night. He'll wake up between 10-11 for a feed, then not again until 5-6. It's been a nice change from last month where he was kind of unpredictable. Hope we are starting to stable out!

 Dean is just hilarious. Mark and I wish we could remember all the funny phrases he says but it's so hard. He's extremely sweet, caring "I'll catch you bro!" "Mommy, it'll be ok! Don't worry mommy" "You got an owie? Call Mark (yes he's talking about his dad) he will kiss it for you mommy!", and he's SUPER STUBBORN. When he gets really tantrummy Mark and I will sometimes raise our voice (SURPRISE?) and he will say "MOMMY DO NOT YELL AT ME! YOU ARE IN TROUBLE YOU GO TO TIME OUT!" He's very big on imaginative play right now. He usually likes to play "animals' and will be anything from a Jackal (thanks Lion Guard) to a wolf (he says "HAYOO!") to a turtle. And when he is this animal heaven forbid you call him Dean "I A TURTLE!". He continues to love dinosaurs, trains, cars and being outside. He LOVES his brother and is starting to get a little rough with him. We really have to watch him when he's with Benny because he sometimes gets a litlle jealous, but he can ALWAYS make us smile!