Say "Cheese!"

 Look at how big this girl is getting!!  I can't believe she's almost 16 months old!  Juliana loves the camera, and the camera loves Juliana!  Anytime I take it out, she's all smiles.  She's just so lovely too.{Happy sigh}

Kari's First Day of Preschool!

Both girls, ready to go!

 Today, Kari started preschool!  Wow, is she really old enough to start preschool??

This year we chose to try a different school called "Little Lites."  It's actually one I considered originally with Emily, but since we joined the Y, we ended up sending both she and Christian there.  But, now that we are no longer members, I wanted to try it out once again.  We have had so many friends who have said really wonderful things and, based on Kari's first-day report, they were right!

Isn't this picture just too sweet?!

On the front steps, trying her best to give me a natural smile :-).

Ready to "just go in, Mom!"

Kari was very excited, and very brave.  When we pulled up to her school, she said, "Ok, Mommy, you can go now.  I can walk in by myself."  I said, "I'm pretty sure your teachers want me to come in to drop you off."  Rolling her eyes, Kari says, "Okayyyyyy...."

Her teachers are Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. "A" (she has a long last name.)  They both have a lot of experience and are also very sweet.

When I picked her up, she was singing the "Hello" song and told me she really liked it when they sang, "Hello, Kari."  And then they painted and played play-doh and learned to sit in a circle all together.  She said they also played outside and that she got all sweaty.  (We're having a heat wave and it was 80 degrees at 8 a.m.)  Oh, and Kari also insisted that she has preschool everyday, rather than just twice a week.

I think she's going to like this whole preschool thing...

Canoe Trip

Sovie is ready, folks

 Our last full day we ventured out for a canoe trip!  It took quite a bit of planning (mostly by Sara's husband, Kirk) to make sure everyone had rides at various drop-off and pick up stations and to make sure big kids/little kids all had places in the canoes.

 I was a part of the first leg of the trip, and Kari and Christian were in our canoe.  It was really beautiful and fun and the hour ride went by very quickly.  Both kids really had fun.  We even saw a bald eagle swooping around!  Very cool b/c they are BIG birds.

The big strong guys, hauling the canoes down to the water--go Grandpa!

Off we go!

Looking good, kids!

Shawn, Berkley, Sovie, and Whitney

 At the drop-off, Whitney and I got off with Kari, Berkley, and Sovie.  Emily and Reagan hopped aboard and Luke and Amy took over in a canoe for the second half.  The boys, Christian, Kaden, and William (along with Gpa, Bethany, Shawn, Kirk, Sara, and Cubby) all kept going!

Now, since my part of the canoe trip went so smoothly, I assumed the second half would be similar.  Not so. Apparently, there were some very fast waters and two of the canoes actually tipped, giving a couple of the big kids (and adults) a soak and giving everyone a bit of a scare.  Luckily, the big guys were all out on the water and were able to help get the canoes turned over and hoist the kiddos out of the water and back into the canoes.  Aunt Sara and Amy were also pretty impressive as Sara went under and held Emily up and Amy kept her balance a midst the water and a clinging Reagan!  Meanwhile, Christian was over on the bank of the river, watching them right the canoes, sucking his lollipop.  (Cubby had told him not to move and, for once, he listened.)

I was just so thankful they were all safe and no one got hurt.  It was quite the experience.  When we asked the kids if they all wanted to do a river rafting trip at our next reunion, they didn't think it was a very good idea.

"Pets," Play-doh, Tie Dye, Bubbles, Hairdoos, and the Pool

Over the next few days, we had lots of fun doing lots of outdoorsy stuff!

The kids found a couple of toads down by the river and became obsessed with taking care of their "pets."  Amazingly, there was only one casualty the whole week and the surviving amphibians were released into the wild at the end of the week.

Berkley, Christian, and Reagan--all very proud of their pet toad

One evening we had a tie-dying extravaganza.  (Rather than making reunion t-shirts for just the kids like I did last time, we all go in on the fun and did tie-dye.  Alas, the next day when everyone wore their shirts, no one got any group pictures.  Sigh.)

Juliana enjoyed a view from above with Gpa.
For some reason, I wasn't about to trust her around gallons of colored dye....

Miss Sovie Jane played with bubbles while all of the dying action was going on.

Another fun time was had in the master bathroom's jacuzzi tub.  The boys were hi-larious with all of those bubbles.  Berkley looked like he was drowning, but really, he was just swimming.  This tub fun happened more than once.

 Aunt Amy arrived on Tuesday and brought with her tons of fun girly stuff.  She learned a new way of using straws as curlers and Reagan and Emily (and even Kari) had Amy do their hair with them.  (Reagan and Kari were both very patient...Emily, well, being Emily was not.  Imagine that.)

 The little kids enjoyed playing play-doh while the big kids were out running wild.

Can you tell that they're cousins?

A couple of the afternoons we ventured into town, which actually had a very nice pool.  The weather was coolish, but the kids still had fun.

Shawn and Berkley, goofing around

Kari and Cubby (Kari not wanting her picture taken)

This was the slide that was at the pool--not bad, but they would only allow one person down at a time--so that meant no little kids could ride on a grown up's lap.  Kind of a stupid rule, I must say.

Aunt Amy, braving the water with the girls

Lindseth Family Reunion 2013

The Lindseth Family Reunion 2013 took place in the small town of West Union, Iowa on the last week of July.  We stayed in a large lodge home that was perfect for our large extended family!  The weather was perfect and the view, well, take a look at the picture above.  (It's the view from the back deck.)

The inside of the house--upstairs there were two bedrooms and bathrooms and a loft to play in.  The main floor had the master bedroom, living room, kitchen, and dining area.  The lower level had 3 more bedrooms, bathrooms, and play area.

 This post will highlights from the first day.  We basically all got acquainted with our surroundings!  The kids were all thrilled with the river that was at the bottom of the hill.  (The hike down was great...the hike back up?  Well, not as easy as the way down!)

Going down....

Coming back up!

The boys begged various adults to take the down the most (although the girls weren't far behind). The biggest lure (pardon the pun) was fishing!  The whole week, though, Christian was the only one who caught a fish!  He listened to what the grown-ups told him about where to fish and how to hold his fishing pole and he ended up with a fish!  A proud moment, indeed.

Kaden and Christian, showing off his big catch

Our little fisherman

Christian, William, and Kaden

Kari and Kaylee had a great time playing Barbies and horses together.  Kari was so thrilled to have another girly-girl to play with!

All the girls got in on the Barbie action :-)

Kari and Berkley had fun bonding with the Kindle....

...And then Kari got all tuckered out.

Emily and Reagan built a fort

And Grandpa got some snuggle time with Henry and Juliana

A good group photo of the kids!  Amazing!

 Later that evening it was time for s'mores!

Christian LOVES s'mores.  Can you tell?

This may or may not have been his 2nd or 3rd one.

And Kari just ate the chocolate :-).

Grandma helped everyone get their marshmallows going...

It was such a beautiful evening!  More to come....