Happy August! We have been spending a lot of time at different cabins this summer, enjoying being around water and being around each other. We spent the Forth of July at The Lambert cabin on Whitefish with Adam's family; we spent nearly a week in Brainerd with Ryan's dad and Bea; we have done a handful of day trips north, most recently catching fish on Pokegama during the Fulton Fisherama. All these trips North leave me feeling that life might be more fun if we just moved up there and lived on a lake. But then reality hits and I realize that working down here offers us the ability to live the life we are both used to while affording us the opportunity to spend time with all those who we love.
Jack and Annalee are little fish, with Anna really wishing to be a mermaid. Their confidence in the water is absolutely terrifying, but they are learning to float on their backs and do flips with ease and, hopefully, learning to kick and swim and keep themselves safe. I hope that if we can foster a love for water and swimming early that they might be interested in participating in swim clubs as they grow up. It seems so much less dangerous than football and hockey!
I have also tried to get the kids into fishing this year! So far, I am the only one who is willing to bait the hooks for our family (Ryan has gotten a bit better, but still won't touch fish). We caught tons of croppies at the cabin in Brainerd and the kids all caught some perch at the fisherama. I, the only one with a fishing license out of the bunch, have not had much time to catch anything, but I hope that as they get older, J & A will become a bit more self sufficient and I will be able to cast out more often. It would also be nice to relearn how to clean fish so we can do a bit more than catch and release! I suppose, though, that one must catch large enough fish to justify that!
As the summer is quickly grinding to a halt, we are busy making plans for this Fall. Jack starts Kindergarten and Annalee will begin 5-day Preschool. Both of the kids will be at the same school this year and we are excited to find a few more weekends at home to start working on some projects on the new house.
Jack and Annalee are little fish, with Anna really wishing to be a mermaid. Their confidence in the water is absolutely terrifying, but they are learning to float on their backs and do flips with ease and, hopefully, learning to kick and swim and keep themselves safe. I hope that if we can foster a love for water and swimming early that they might be interested in participating in swim clubs as they grow up. It seems so much less dangerous than football and hockey!
I have also tried to get the kids into fishing this year! So far, I am the only one who is willing to bait the hooks for our family (Ryan has gotten a bit better, but still won't touch fish). We caught tons of croppies at the cabin in Brainerd and the kids all caught some perch at the fisherama. I, the only one with a fishing license out of the bunch, have not had much time to catch anything, but I hope that as they get older, J & A will become a bit more self sufficient and I will be able to cast out more often. It would also be nice to relearn how to clean fish so we can do a bit more than catch and release! I suppose, though, that one must catch large enough fish to justify that!
As the summer is quickly grinding to a halt, we are busy making plans for this Fall. Jack starts Kindergarten and Annalee will begin 5-day Preschool. Both of the kids will be at the same school this year and we are excited to find a few more weekends at home to start working on some projects on the new house.
