Here Comes Summer!

It's the last week of school here, so we're looking forward to starting our summer!  The end of the school year always seems so busy.  Remy finished pre-school and visited kindergarten for a half day.  His preschool teacher gave each student a CD with pictures from all the fun activities they participated in.

 

Building with big blocks

 

Birthday hat

 

Easter Bunny masks

 

Hat Day

  

Pajama Day

Playing at the playground

 

Jackson celebrated his 13th birthday.  Barry took him with four friends to Adventure Zone for mini golf, laser tag, batting cages and pizza.  Then they went to watch some racing in Superior.

Raina's birthday is next week, and she's having her first ever friend party on Saturday--a backyard birthday party.

With the weather finally warming up (and producing many inches of rain in the last week), I'm restarting the Couch to 5K program.  I've already completed the first week of alternating 1 minute runs/90 second walks and it's not as hard as when I first did the program last summer.  I'm trying a different route that is uphill the first half and downhill for the second half.  I never did participate in an actual 5K race last year, so it's my goal to find one at the end of the summer.  You can read about my C25K journey here.

Barry and I built three 4' x 8' garden boxes to expand our garden this year.  In between the rain, I planted tomatoes, watermelon, beans, peas, carrots, beets, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, lettuce and cabbage.  I also have some pepper seedlings started that aren't quite ready to be transplanted yet.

Not much to look at yet

Swimming lessons start next week already.  Jackson is looking forward to going on the road with Barry this summer.  I am excited to go to Colorado with my mom and sister in June for my youngest sister's baby shower.  I'm also thrilled that I got a new bike so I can finally try out some of the bike trails up here.

Add in lots of hiking, grilling, arts and crafts, and warm weather, and it should be a great summer!

Up Close and Personal

We had a butterfly migration move through at the end of last week.  The small, black butterflies with orange and white markings are now gone, but I tried to take some close-up pictures while they were here.  I couldn't get too close before they flew away.

(Click to enlarge)

While looking for butterflies, I also saw a bee on a dandelion.

I found it much easier to take close up pictures of stationary objects, like budding leaves on the trees, a piece of driftwood, and wildflowers (aka dandelions and wild strawberry blossoms).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

  

While I was taking pictures, the boys were busy playing in the sandbox

Ah, Spring!

We've had many overcast/rainy days lately.  Finally this week, the hills surrounding us have become noticeably green.  Spring is slow to come in the north.
 

Lilac buds, still no leaves

So when the sun shines and the weather is decent (not quite warm, yet), we like to be outside.

Hiking by the lake in Two Harbors:

 

Picnicking by the lake:

 

Yes, people surf on Lake Superior

 

 

 

 
Flying a kite:

Exploring: