Summer Fun: Toppling Towers

I'm always looking for ideas of things to do during the summer so the kids don't get bored.  This week we tried Toppling Towers, an idea I found in Family Fun magazine.

After we gathered empty cardboard boxes and assorted recyclables, each kid built their tower.  It was interesting to see the different strategies each kid used in building his/her tower.

Next, each kid had a ball to throw at the other towers to knock them down.  Ollie was intent on knocking down Jackson's tower.

After throwing their balls, they had to leave the towers undefended to retrieve a ball to throw.

Jackson tried to keep Ollie away.

Standoff between Jackson and Raina.  These two lasted the longest, as Ollie lost interest quickly and Remy was frustrated with his bad aim/inability to hit towers.

Raging Rivers

The sun is shining today, but earlier this week we had rain upon rain upon rain for days in a row.  Although flooding in the Duluth area has caused millions of dollars in damage, up here the damage was minor.
Barry and I took a drive around to check out the rivers in the area.

Beaver River
The Beaver River is a few miles south of us.  It empties into Lake Superior.  In the summer it's usually a small stream with a slow flow.

 

Gooseberry Falls
I've been to Gooseberry Falls many times since we moved up here.  Even during spring run-off, I've never seen it running so fast.

 The water flow was stripping the bark off trees.

 Splash!

Baptism River
The Baptism River is north of us and runs through Tettegouche State Park, also emptying into Lake Superior. 

A small little waterfall by a foot bridge

Lake Superior looks brown from all the run-off.
 

 

   

 

I hope this camper stayed dry through all the rain!

 

Always lots of interesting things wash up on the shore of Lake Superior.  I like the pattern of these pieces of bark.

At the Pool with Remy

We go to swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  While Raina finishes her lesson and Ollie and I are in the pool for Aqua Tots, Remy sits on the sidelines and plays games on my phone.  Apparently, he also takes pictures.