Summertime

It's crazy to think that the summer is half-over already. They just fly by, faster every year.

I mentioned in the last post that Willow started school, Josh started his new job and we got a new pet. I know you've all been waiting in suspense to hear about the pet. OK, maybe not, but here he is. His name is Coos; Willow named him.

He was a total impulse buy; Willow and I were at the mall and a new pet store had opened up. I dug up an old gallon aquarium that used to be mine when I was a kid. I don't remember goldfish being so high-maintenance!? His water gets yucky after like 5 days and I have to clean the tank again. Does anyone have any advice? Am I doing something wrong? It's an actual little tank with an aerator. I thought goldfish could be OK even in a small bowl with no air. I feel bad for Coos when his water gets all cloudy. :(

Here's Willow on her first day of school, looking proud with her Dora backpack.

She's afternoons-only for now. The first three days went great, then Thursday and Friday of the first week she had a little separation anxiety and cried and clung to Linda when she dropped her off. Then week 2 was fine again and it's been fine ever since. She seems to enjoy it. It's good to see her playing with other kids...that was the main reason we wanted to do this. Her favorite friend there is a girl named Zelda who she knew from music class. When I went to pick her up yesterday, her and Zelda gave each other a big hug before saying goodbye for the weekend. It was so cute. One adjustment for us has been the napping situation. Willow hadn't napped for several months, but at school, they do nap, and she does sleep. It's made going to bed at night a struggle again.

We love Linda for being so flexible and agreeing to stay on in the mornings. I think the more gradual transition will be good for Willow. We're expecting to get in for a full-time slot in the fall.

Bridgefest weekend was a lot of fun as usual. Lanners came up for the Chain Drive bike race again. Here's the two boys after the race. As usual, Lanners had something up his sleeve. Last year he did the 32-miler on a single speed. This year he did the 16-miler but on a snow bike. It got a lot of comments. He still had a decent time too. Crazy man.

Aspirus Keweenaw had a bouncy thing down at seafood fest for the little kids. Willow had fun but was a little intimidated by all the rough and wild kids who were bouncing all around her. She is sort of timid that way.

Seth was home from the island that weekend, and on Saturday, he and Beth had a party. It was fun, and culminated in watching the fireworks display in the middle of a sudden, isolated downpour. I got some pictures of the boys playing beanbag toss. It was notable because we realized that all 4 guys - Josh, Sean, Lanners and Mark - were Minnesotan. Ha.

Last weekend we went to Hastings for Josh's cousin Chris's wedding. The wedding was on Friday, and we left on Wednesday - on the 4th of July. So we sort of had a non-4th. We did no parade or anything like that, and we ended up skipping the fireworks in Hastings because the mosquitoes were horrible and it was late (it was mostly me being the wuss, I admit). Still, we had a fun (and very hot) weekend. One day, Josh, Janna, Jean, Willow and I went to the beach. It was a beach on the St. Croix river. It was surprisingly not too crowded, considering it was about 95 degrees. I didn't get very many good photos, but here's one that is sort of OK. The water was so warm!

I got a couple of really cute shots of Willow and her second-cousin, Natalie, at the wedding. The wedding was not that fun for me, I have to admit. Willow had some digestive issues at the reception, and we were running to the potty every half hour. She had tummyaches too and I felt so bad for her. Towards the end of the night, that subsided. But then she had a meltdown because the balloon that was on her wrist came loose and flew away. Oh, that was tragic. She could not be consoled, even with a new balloon. The one that flew away was purple,and she really wanted that one. Right before we left, we managed to find another purple one, and Willow thought that daddy had flown up in the sky and retrieved the original one for her. She kept going, "Daddy can fly!"

We also carved out some time to stop and visit my cousin Katie, her husband Jon, and their kids Ben and Aubrey. I got this shot of Willow and Aubrey.

My brother happened to be in the Twin Cities, so he stopped by for dinner and spent the night at Jack and Jean's too, before his flight left the next day. He also brought his girlfriend Audrey. It was great to finally meet her. Willow really loved her too. Unfortunately I did not get any photos of them with Willow, stupid me!

Here are a couple other random photos of a beach day here in the Keweenaw. This is at Great Sand Bay. We went with our friends Scott and Sharon. The other girl in the photo is Willow's friend Aspen.