Building Bird Houses

pounding away

the finished product

Thousand Island Nature Center is a favorite place for us to visit-we've hiked, learned about maple syrup, snowshoed, the kids have had field trips, and one fine June day we made bird houses.  Each kit cost $1, we had to bring our own hammers, and after some pounding we had three bird houses and three happy kids. 

Everyone

family=blessed

Cousins

Some random pictures of the kids from Father's Day weekend.

Extended Smiths

the whole family in the backyard overlooking the river valley

the originals

Mom & Dad with their six kids

Grandkids (two more coming soon)

One of the goals for our visit on Father's Day was to take family pictures. Family pictures are a bit of an ordeal with every family but when you're trying to get 16 people (five of which are children and two are toddlers) coordinated it's an even bigger ordeal. We were blessed enough to have some friendly photographers and taking the pictures at Nate's parents meant no real time constraints. We have several hundred of various combinations of people to choose from so here is just a sample of our dear extended family. Hopefully we'll have just as much luck doing it next summer with 18 people as two babies are due this fall.

Oshkosh Smiths

family shot

I love how they're all laughing in this picture

playing with black and white

I love you!

Marshfield Smiths

so happy

by the birch tree

celebrating four years of wedded bliss

Moorehead Smiths

celebrating six years of wedded bliss

our sweet redheaded niece

hand in hand

The Porch with Grandpa

Father's Day weekend we spent with Nathan's family at his parents. While many people might not call sixteen people in one house heavenly that's exactly what it was. Need proof? Here's Lydia with her little piece of heaven: Grandpa, a good book, the front porch. What's more heavenly than that?

Covered Bridge 5K

Over Father's Day weekend the entire Smith family headed home. More pictures of our visit will come later.

Crossing the finish line.

By Zumbrota's most famous landmark.

This is how Saturday started. Nathan and Joanna, his youngest sister, ran in the Covered Bridge 5K. They weren't first or last but in the midst of the pack. It must have been fun since they both plan on running it together again next summer.

Raining Strikes

Happy Bowlers.

First up Evan.

Hans has something that resembles form.

Lydia's preferred method.

Our summer is off to a rainy start. We've had a few nice days and enjoyed them thoroughly but it seems like we've had more than our share of rainy days as well. On one such day the kids and I hit the bowling alley for a little indoor fun. All three kids have bowled before but not for awhile. They enjoyed the neon bowling balls, bowling with bumpers so they never had gutter balls, and the "old school" shoes. I'm certainly not hoping for more rainy days but when they come we know where we're headed.

Eight on this Date

Evan turned eight! Time flies when you're having fun.
He celebrated by having a friend sleep over the night before. The three boys, Evan, Hans, and Andrew "slept" in the tent. I was pretty sure they were asleep by 11pm but woke to them laughing at 2am and made them come sleep in the living room.

The kids exploring the river at 1,000 Islands

On his birthday we headed to to 1,000 Island Nature Preserve for an eagle hike and some outdoor exploring. We followed it up with lunch at McDonald's and some more outdoor time at a park in Neenah. When Nathan got home from work we enjoyed supper of Evan's choice-shrimp pasta. Evan's cake wasn't actually a cake this year but a butterscotch mousse dessert. When it came to gift time he was thrilled to receive his own two person raft and get to give it a try that evening. He's eager to get it in the water again and perfect his paddling.

Happy Birthday Boy

My own!

Trying oars which are much harder than paddles.

Happiest of birthdays to you Evan. You are a outgoing, creative, inquisitive boy who we love so very much.

T-Rats

While the weather wasn't typical baseball weather we enjoyed a Timberrattlers game Friday night. A group from church went together which made for warm company if not warm weather. The kids had more fun playing with their friends and enjoying all the fun aspects of the ball park-a playground, sandbox, giant chair to climb in, free food for family night, fireworks at the end of the game, and running the bases, than actually watching baseball but it was nice night.

The Tooth Fairy

When she told me she had a loose tooth the last week of school I figured that Lydia just wanted to be like her big brothers. Upon checking it out myself I realized she did have a loose tooth. It took about a week of wiggling and tugging before it came out in my hand. The Tooth Fairy did visit and now Lydia's favorite part about having a 'hole' in her teeth is having a place to stick the straw when she drinks.

feelin' hot

In our local area it was hot today. Really hot. According to the news tonight it hasn't been this hot since summer of 2006. Temperatures were all in the mid to upper 90s with high humidity/dew points making it feel like it was over 100 degrees. How hot was it? It was so hot this poor squirrel just lounged on the tree in our front yard not even caring when I opened the window to take a few pictures. His counterpart seemed to prefer the shade of the flowerbed and snacking on the birdseed that gets left beneath the feeder. Thankfully tomorrow looks like it will be cooler and the weekend is supposed to be seasonal once again.