Dylan's Turn

Dylan started his last year of pre-school this week. He's the tallest in his class. I measured on our "wall of fame" this week and he's just a hair shorter right now than Cayden was his first day of Kindergarten! He's ahead, height wise, by almost a year!

Off to 1st Grade

Cayden started first grade today which was much more difficult for mom than for him. He was very excited to go and he looked so grown up (especially with that tooth missing)!

Here his is with his great friends ready to head in. Landon and Lukas Bakke are headed to kindergarten and Hadley Sarkela was off to 1st grade also.

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MN Landscape Arboretum

We headed out to the MN Landscape Arboretum to scope it out since Vokal Photography is doing their portraits in the park there this year (shameless plug).

Right before we left Cayden decided to pull out his front tooth! He looks so different now. :)

Our friends the Sarkela's came with also and all the kids had a blast. I couldn't believe how much fun they had just running down paths and watching the waterfalls.

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Kayaking Reward

I created a summer reading challenge for Cayden and he got to choose a reward after reading 2.5 hours out loud. This was the second one this summer and he chose to go kayaking (thanks to testing it out at Mike and Jenny Hon's cabin).

We are off under the bridge into Lake of the Isles.

Dylan got his own also!

Cayden had a great time.

Jan having fun...

You have to love what is available so close to downtown Minneapolis!

The whole family...trying to maneuver for a picture which was quite comical.

Kristen, Matthew, and Thomas Gendreau came with too.

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Best 12 Days of Summer

Wow - I can't say enough about how much fun the MN State Fair is. We trekked through it for 12 hours and still left talking about all the things we missed!

Our traditional breakfast - Scotch Eggs. Hard boiled eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried for a crispy outer layer. Dip in a ranch and horseradish mixture and your are all fueled up to see the fair.

The boys testing out some hats

Lunch! Not sure what the guy at the end of my sandwich is doing...but now his head looks like a little meatball laying in cheese :)

The boys loved this robot guy walking around...he had a funny sense of humor too.

We stopped in the butterfly house for the first time ever - the boys loved it. Cayden had 12 butterflies on his shirt at one point.

And Dylan had a couple of guys perched on his fingers almost the entire time.

Grandad and Mima had almost as much fun as the boys on the Giant slide.

Cheese curds are also a must every year.

At the Gander Mountain tent you could take your picture on a green screen and choose your scene to put it on. Cayden was terrified..

Dylan relaxed with some owls.

Being from Wyoming, Rick and Jo weren't too afraid of the MN bears.

And Jan and Chris brought in the big catch.

(Almost) Everything comes on a stick at the state fair...even beer - which makes you happy.

But just like the fair, everyone is sad when it's gone...

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Birthday Visitors

Rick and Jo were in town for a long weekend to visit Jo's parents, see the triathlon, hit the state fair, and celebrate Rick's birthday - which happens to be tomorrow (9/8).

We thought it would be good for them to see the new Target field for his birthday so on a whim we found some tickets on the street and caught what turned out to be a great game!

Dylan clowning around.

After the game we got a cool picture with the view of downtown.

They are Twins fans - a little, so the small hats were appropriate.

Birthday dinner on the porch.

And a birthday fruit pizza - yum-o

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Dare to Tri

On August 27th we competed in the Maple Grove Dare to Tri triathlon which is our favorite because we see so many people we know and we have great fans that come and watch (Gendreaus, Bakkes, Sarkelas, Vokals).

This is the transition area just after dawn - when we got there at 5:30am it was pitch black.


Me coming out of the water (I look faster in still photography thank goodness).


Kristen coming in from a blazing swim - 2nd fastest in her division (notice the guy she passed who started in the wave BEFORE her!)


Jan heading out for her run.


Macca (Chris MaCormack) raced in the TriStar 111 race at Maple Grove and the girls talked to him for a bit and got a picture. He is a two time Ironman World Champion - he won the Kona Ironman Triathlon in 2007 and 2010.


Our Tri trio - we have done all our triathlons with our great friend Kristen Gendreau. I was looking at this photo and the one above with Macca and noticed that the girls switched out guys for lighter skin and a darker hat...guess I should let my MN body see the sun a little more in the summer :)


Jan had an awesome race and ended up getting 1st place in her age division beating out 46 other women. These were the top three in Jan's division (L-R 3rd, 2nd, 1st)


I had to get a cool one of Jan since she won.

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