It's the little things

Sometimes, I look at these three and I can't quite believe they are all mine. Well, and John's too. They are so big and turning into their own people, but they still seek each other out and love to be together. Not all the time, but they really do love each other. Sometimes it strikes you and it is a sweet moment. That was one of those little moments.


Also, I can't ever get over how flat it is in North Dakota.

Underdog

William gives Gemma and under dog.

I ask her if she is scared. She replies, "nope." (Quietly as she turns her head away).

William hops on for a ride on the back of the swing.

3 kids

These 3 kids have a lot of digging to do!

Summer vacation part 2: North Dakota

Friday morning after camp, we piled into the car and stared the next part of our big summer trip: North Dakota!

Our kids are so lucky. They have 3 living great grandparents. We try very hard to get to where they live in North Dakota at least once during the summer so we can all spend time with these special people!

We arrived in time for a late dinner and then some park time at our favorite park, Digger Park. William named it that a real years ago after the digger toys he loves to play with. I think we have a picture from each summer of William digging at this park. This time, William was more interested in the merry go round than the diggers, but he did put some time in with them the next day!

Really?

I cannot figure out this flavor.

Rochester "camel"

John arrived in Rochester and he took Gemma out on the deck to have a cookie (outside=no crumb clean up). While they were out there, a deer walked right into the yard. Everyone was so excited. The kids inside were glued to the windows and Gemma was fascinated outside.

She exclaimed, "look! A camel!"

The deer meandered through the yard and headed back towards the woods when Gemma shrugged and said, " I guess the camel is going back to the circus. Or the barn."

Gemma monkey bars attempt #1

Wobbly park has a nice set of lower than usual monkey bars perfect for our Gemma.

Wobbly park

After lunch with GranGerry (who is such a sport to come with us to eat ), we made a stop at Wobbly Park. (Named for the old chain swings that used to be here that were wobbly. They swung better right to left than forward and back.). This is a park I grew up playing at and remember well from visits to see my grandparents. The kids like it as well. Grandma came with us and watch the kids play from the shade.

La Capana

I don't know how this town in North Dakota has a Mexican restaurant. I'm sure it is actually authentic, but we love it and eat at t as much as possible when we are in town. Such a treat for us!

As the kids get bigger, they are starting to like it more as well. William shared a burrito with me this time instead of ordering from the kids menu. He really liked it! Yahoo!

(Although in all fairness he has always loved spicy salsa and southwestern fare. John used to joke that William didn't have amniotic fluid. He had salsa.)

Behind digger park

Behind digger park, there is a Japanese garden. The kids like to look at the pond and walk on the path (ok, I like the walk. They keep me company). The best part is running across the bridge!

William gives Gemma an underdog

Soon, I will be able to sit at the side of the park and read a book! William and Amelia usually do a nice job of playing with Gemma at the park.

Gemma and Amelia spin

Weeeeee! Until Gemma has had enough!

Day 6

The kids were up early and had breakfast, which meant it must be time for more park playing. Luckily, there is a park just a quick walk away from my grandparents' house that the kids love (digger park). On the way there is an open field full of gophers or prairie dogs. The kids love walking by here to watch the animals run and peek their heads out of their holes.

Day 5, off to ND

On Friday morning, we brought the kids to camp, loaded the car, visited with grandpa Heidt briefly before hitting the road to visit the North Dakota great grandparents.

The kids were great in the car, but it is a long ride. We got some dinner and then hit the park as soon as we got into town. The kids refer to this as digger park and j think we have a picture of William digging here every year in the summer.

Day 4, more

My sister and her crew stayed for some pizza and then a family friend came over to take some pictures of the little girls for their third birthday.

You never know what you are going to get with kids this age or these girls!

After we finished up with the pictures, daddy pulled in. He worked part of the day and then came to join us in Minnesota for the next portion of our trip.

More cartwheels

It is hard to do a perfect cartwheel with cold sprinklers spraying you! (The water is hard to see)

Amelia cartwheels

Round one of cartwheels

Gemma runs in the sprinkler

This girl is fast- it is hard work keeping up with her!

Day 4, cousins

On Thursday afternoon, my sister and her kids came into town. The kids just love to play with each other and don't get to often enough.

The first order of business was to empty all the toys from the new toy room and deposit them equally in all the rooms of the house.

Once that was accomplished, grandma and grandpa turned on their sprinkler system (fancy!) for the kids to play. William and Andy were delighted to find uncle Mike's old squirt guns were still functional.

The girls were more entertained by filling up buckets and trying to slowly scoop water from one bucket to another.

Amelia enjoyed cartwheeling through the sprinkler and Gemma and Zelda did some silly dancing and running. Overall, it was fun for everyone!

Day 4, quarry hill fun

We jam packed the fun in!

On Tuesday, we attempted to go to the county fair for a tilt a whirl ride. The kids were so disappointed that the rides were open until much later in the evening!

We did enjoy our yearly mini doughnuts and cheese curds though!

Even though Gemma wasn't signed up for camp (she is too little), she enjoyed herself as well! She loved drop off and pick up times when she could explore the center and interact with exhibits. She loves their big fish tank, the bees and the bird viewing area. She also loved taking short hikes after the kids were dropped off every day. She especially enjoying spotting turtles at the pond and choosing which way to turn at the intersections.

One day, grandma, Gemma and I were walking in the woods together. Gemma turned to me as we came around the corner and we had the following conversation:

Gemma: this is a nice place
Mama: yes, it is!
Gemma: what should we call this place?
Mama: there are lots of trees here! Maybe we should call it Beautiful Trees or Wonderful forest. What do you think?
Gemma: I think we should call it the Forest of Doom.

There are things that this third child says that I cannot imagine our older kids saying. This, for example.



Thursday was William's big day canoeing. He was so excited and a little nervous. That morning over breakfast, I overheard him out of the blue ask Grandma Kim:


"grandma Kim, how do canoes work? What makes them float?"

I didn't hear her exact words, but it was a pretty in depth explanation for 7am.

Later, grandma, Gemma and I were walking around the pond and saw the campers out getting ready to canoe. When I pointed out William to Gemma and grandma, Grandma gave a little laugh.

"I would have answered a little differently this morning when William asked about how canoes work if I knew he was going to be riding in a canoe today!"

Berne pizza

Where was William?

Well, he was with the pack of boys running around. Despite my best efforts, he only stayed with us for short periods of time. Like to drink half a gallon of water. Or consume 1/2 of a pizza.

Gemma dances

Gemma dances

When the band starts playing your favorite song..

When grandpa's band starts playing your favorite song, you have to smile! Even if you are the advanced age of 6 and trying very hard to play it cool.....

The progression is Amelia's face as grandpa's band started playing her favorite song!

Berne pizza

Grandpa's band was playing, the weather was gorgeous, the pizza was yummy1 it was a perfect night!

Pizza in a corn field it Minnesota leg, day3

Where else would you drive to a corn field, park and eat pizza?

Minnesota probably isn't the only place, but that is where I did it.


Grandpa Kevin's band was playing at a fundraiser in Berne, Minnesota. We don't usually get to hear his band play, so we jumped at the chance when we were in town. We went to this same event last ear and it was a lot of fun- we were glad to get to do it again!

All the kids.

Between us, my best friend from high school and I now have 6 kids. Aren't they cute?

(L-r) Gemma, William, Cal, Amelia, Cana, Hank

Meeting baby Gaedke #3

My best friend from high school recently had her third baby. we could not wait to meet him! Don't worry, I got to hold him for an extended chunk of time and get my baby fill. I love newborn babies, especially when they sleep at someone else's house at night!

Anyway, baby Cal is already a chunky little guy and our kids were DELIGHTED to be able to hold him and coo over his cuteness. He is very, very cute!

Jessica and I were able to chat and catch up while our kids played in the water in the backyard. Based on their appearance, they had a lot of fun- mud was everywhere!

Why yes

That is a rat tailed maggot. The only person more excited about this than William was his group leader who enthusiastically detailed some of the rat tailed maggot's best attributes- it doesn't need oxygen in the water! It can breathe through its tail!

Minnesota trip, day 2

The next day, I dropped the kids off at camp and Gemma, Grandma and Mama shopped for grandma's new house. Grandma and grandpa have lived in their new house for about 2 months now and it looks so nice! But, they still need a few things to organize their new spaces. Grandma and I worked at this and got some things done. Gemma was most impressed to find a bed that was just her size. And on clearance too!

We picked up the kids and got to hear all about their day. William, in particular, was impressed with the bugs his group found on the pond that morning.

Day 1 - grandpa Heidt+ cousins

After a full day of camp, we got to spend some time with Grandpa Heidt and our cousins! We just love being able to spend time with these cousins! The kids played and played until we dragged them away to eat dinner.


One minute we were eating pizza and the next minute I turned to see Gemma fast asleep on the table. She was passed out and done. I tried to gently wake her without any success.

Funny story now that wasn't funny at the time:

We were leaving and I packed up all of our belongings before scooping Gemma up. She woke up a little and then I thought she went back to sleep. Just as we walked through the doors out of the restaurant, Gemma's entire body stiffened and she began to scream. It startled me and I had to work to not drop what I was carrying (pizza box, purse, sleep heavy 3 year old).

I set Gemma down on the cement outside the restaurant and she refused to put weight on one of her feet. She kept screaming. My guess is that she fell asleep with one foot tucked under her backside and the foot fell asleep. When she straightened her leg, it hurt a lot, which was a surprising and somewhat frightening way to wake up.

I heard sirens and I looked up to see 2 police cars turn into the parking lot. I scooped Gemma up and hurried to get William and Amelia out of the way, as I could hear more sirens approaching. Emergency workers should worry about quickly getting to an emergency, not about little kids in the middle of a parking lot.

Gemma was still screaming. The first two police officers ran into the restaurant (I have no idea what happened inside that required emergency response, it isn't that big of a place). The second set of officers parked and got out of the car. They walked toward the building, and quickly detoured to my car in response to Gemma's screams. One of the officers asked me a question I could hear due to the crying. He repeated himself. He was inquiring if we were okay. Gemma was still crying huge crocodile tears and sobbing loud enough to...well, loudly. I reassured the officer everything was ok and I had everything under control. As he walked away, I could tell my the look on his face that he didn't believe me completely about having this under control. This is the piece that now makes me giggle.

I got everyone loaded into the van just as the fire engine pulled into the lot and parked right behind me. Which meant we were blocked in with a wailing preschooler in the backseat. It wasn't long before William and Amelia were begging to get out of the car.

Lucky, the emergency inside didn't require the fire truck and they left quickly, which allowed us to leave after only a few minutes.

Quarry Hill, part 1

The kids were so excited about their Quarry Hill week. We got there a little early and were delighted to find lots of wild life to greet us. Mama Duck and her babies, a pair of mallards out for a walk and a herd of turtles were just waiting to say good morning to us as we walked around the pond (we were early).

Summer vacation 2015

Whew! We have been running like crazy since the Fourth of July. I finally have 20 minutes to sit and put some thoughts down. I'm terribly behind - I have a 15 day trip to Minnesota to talk about as well as the first days of school.

We had swimming lessons and fun with friends in the middle of July. I did a little bit of presenting for the state of Missouri.

The last week of July, I had the kids signed up for Quarry Hill nature camp as I did last year. The kids enjoyed themselves so much, everyone was eager to do it again this year.

The Sunday before camp, John loaded the van and I drove the three kids on my own to Minnesota. They did very well in the car, despite some heavy rain.