July 2014

July was fun, July was hot. July was also 6 months ago, so it's a good thing we took some pictures to remind us what we did.

Like a quick mid-year check up from the Rouspil cousins.

Jo's love for Reggie grows, but his healthy distrust of the kids remains constant. 

A super fun playdate at the park with the O'Connor girls

Jo was a little skeptical at first

But she quickly learned the ropes. 

I have no idea what was happening here, but she's so cute, who cares?

Teddy helping Daddy wash the car

This is what happens when you put a 3 year old in charge of the hose

Quickly leading to a very wet boy

A trip to the local beach to splash around

Lookin' good in our shades 

Jo helping Daddy with the yardwork

 

And this is how it typically ends up 

This was also the month that Jo's ringlets first appeared. I love them. 

General silliness

Teddy fulfilling his big brother duties

My company threw an elaborate Bring Your Child to Work Day, complete with fire engine visits, kettlecorn, bounce house, photobooth, yoga, arts and crafts, pop-a-shot and a custom t-shirt.

We had such a fun day, but I'm afraid Teddy thinks I work at a carnival.

He says next year we can bring Jo, too. 

 Hanging with Uncle Chris at Lila's birthday party

More silliness

Waiting for the red-eye to Minnesota. Surely, they'll fall asleep in the stroller at the airport, I thought. Ha. 

They did sleep all 3.5 hours of the flight and that should be enough for anyone, right? 

Luckily, they also slept most of the 4 hour drive to the cabin, too. 

Look who we found at the cabin - Baby Maisie!

And also the Golden Book of Planes: Fire and Rescue (foreshadowing)

A leisurely breakfast with Nate and Grandpa

Learning to unwind from soon-to-be-retired Grandpa

Rocket ship rides!

Family boat rides. Sorry, Reg, no room.

A lot of playing in the water. 

Teddy was frighteningly confident in the water this year for a boy who doesn't know how to swim. 

 Aren't they the cutest?

Teddy quickly adopted this cabin hat as his own. It came home with us. 

We camped overnight by the Knutson Dam - our first foray into the Great Outdoors as a family.

We kept it pretty simple. Grandma and Grandpa dropped us off in the boat in the afternoon. We set up our tent, cooked some hot dogs and s'mores over the fire (though most of the marshmallows were consumed straight out of the bag), watched the sunset next to the dam, read some stories and went to sleep. In the morning, we had breakfast and hitched a ride back to the island. A big success. Maybe next summer we'll stretch it to a full 24 hours of roughing it :)

It was a month full of adventure. More than Reggie could handle.