Maren's Masterpiece

Maren's latest masterpiece includes our family all holding umbrellas in a rain shower. She had some trouble spelling Brendan's name.

A Trip to the Knife River (up the north shore)

Me following Brendan down the trail to the river


Brendan wanting his picture taken (as usual).


Bret and his buddy


The buddies, again

The Real 4th Birthday Party

Webkinz are taking over!


Brendan opening his present from Pop-pop (Grandpa Bob),
Grandma Gayle, Uncles Taylor and Dillon


He looks really happy!


Blowing out the candles (which spell Brendan and the number 4).
He needed help.


Uncle Taylor reading "The Red Ranger Came Calling".

July 2008 Texas Trip

About 2 weeks after moving to Duluth, we headed to Texas for our annual Texas beach/fishing trip. Here are the kids on our annual dolphin watch.


Maren loving Brendan (as usual)


Maren and Brendan being silly
(Maren still hasn't gotten her front teeth).

The absolute awesomist picture ever!


Captain Brendan navigating the dolphin cruise


Maren holding a crab that was caught in the trawling net.


My boys


Brendan as his usually smiley self


Taking a break from sun and surf.



My three angels (at least for a second)



Brendan (almost 4 at the time)



Maren looking for dolphins (always the animal lover)


Connor

Connor's Good-bye Parties

Connor had a party to say good-bye at school and then another one at a local park.


Michael, Connor and Austin


Connor and Kailee

Connor getting a secret from Kailee

Another precious moment

Connor and Jack

Brendan's First Four Year Old Birthday

Since we were moving before Brendan's birthday(Aug. 3), I told Brendan that he could have a party before we left so his friends could come. So I was originally planning to have the party at our house, but since we closed on our house May 30th, I opted to have it at JETS, a local gymnastics gym that does everything for you. Brendan wanted to invite Uncle Dave and Aunt Jenny, so they came up for the day. We started the day fishing. Brendan slayed them and Aunt Jenny also contributed.

Then, we headed to JETS. It was a great day!

Catching Up

So, since I've been offline and a little busy getting settled, this blog has been a bit neglected. I just downloaded pictures off of my camera and they date back to May. Yikes!



So, here's some of the pictures to get us up to date!

Connor and Maren cut out these letters themselves

and put them up to celebrate my day.

I loan my favorite camp chair to Bret,

and see what happens.

Kyo, Nolan and Connor with a huge snapping turtle,

which they found on the boys annual fishing trip to Fall Lake (near Ely, MN)

Maren being silly and Davy Crockett

(Connor was Davy Crockett for famous people day at his school; more later).

Brendan trying to be Maren?

Connor as Davy Crockett.

Connor's speech as Davy Crockett.

Finally Here (and up and running)!

We've finally made it to Duluth! And about a month later, we finally have tv and internet service. It seems that living out in the country poses some challenges to technology. We had dial-up internet for a while, which was EXTREMELY painful! Now, we have high speed and satellite tv.

Bret rewarded himself for finishing his training with a large screen HD tv. We've really been enjoying the Olympics on it!

There have been soccer camps, soccer practices, soccer games, hockey practices and hockey camps so far. So, I'm trying to keep the kids busy (and from killing each other)! We are all anxiously waiting school to start!

Connor and Maren start on Sept. 5. They are both very excited and especially so because they'll be riding the bus together.

Brendan doesn't start pre-school until Sept. 16, so it'll just be the two of us for a while.

Bret is settling into his job nicely, it seems. I've already heard rave reviews from the nurses and support staff. He's also enjoying his brothers and lots of fishing. Another great interest seems to be his new GPS system that I got him for Christmas. He's using it to figure out where we are on our land. We went on an adventure hike last week, and luckily, we had the GPS. I had no idea which way was what.

I'm trying to reclaim my life, as it's been consumed by the selling of the house, the move and now entertaining the kids. I know that things will improve greatly with the start of school. I'm trying to remember how to make new friends. As are the kids.

We've finally gotten new cell phones. My new number is 218-269-2544.

I hope that all of you are having great summer!

New pictures soon (I promise)!