Listen to THIS

James McAvoy voices this ad for Samsung. Mmmmm.

Purple and Pink

Dylan just finished his 6th season of summer soccer with Parks and Rec. I like their program because what it lacks in organization, it makes up in equal playing time and fun. I'm glad he still enjoys it.

Where My Bees At?

I just returned from Brainerd (for the second time in a week) where I attended Just For Kix Directors Convention. One of the highlights was a class I took from Casper Smart, a star in the Hip Hop dance world. He is funny and very nice and has some truly amazing skills.

I missed my opportunity to get my picture taken with him, so I'm posting this video instead. It's a PSA for Help The Honey Bees, using a play on the Hip Hop term B-Boy. Casper is in the white hat. His line at the end makes me laugh every time. Enjoy!



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Minnesota Lake Country

Each year, Rachel returns for a visit to the States, and we try to meet while she's here. This year, her whole family invited us to join them at a campground/resort north of Detroit Lakes.


The whole gang


Rachel's three and my two. The kids all got along well.


They had a blast playing in the sand and the lake.


Dylan got buried.


Benno


Partway through our stay, we had a change of plans when we got an invitation to stay with friends of Norman and Sylvia's who have a lake home on Gull Lake near Brainerd. This definitely was a step up in accommodations. Their home is new and beautiful and huge, with beds for 9, plus a loft with room for 10 sleeping bags. Amazing.


Sunset over Gull Lake.


I could get used to this.

We are so grateful to the Kempf clan for this opportunity. This trip meant so much to me, and I hope the kids remember it as a special time in their childhoods.

Raging Rivers

When Dylan got invited to a birthday party there, it was our first time at Raging Rivers Water Park. It happened to be the hottest day of the summer so far, and the place was packed, but we still had a fun time. I'm sure we'll be back.

Sound Check

Now that Dylan has started playing drums, Brad has an assistant at sound checks. At least, those not in bars. When Rift played for the U-Mary 50th anniversary celebration and all-school reunion out at Buckstop Junction, Dylan got his first chance to rock the kit through the big stacks. It was a proud-mom-moment for me, and pretty cool for Brad because he rarely gets to hear how his own drums sound.

Art

The boys recently finished their summer art camps. They had a good time and brought home some great new pieces. Now I need to get them framed.


Terminator, Dylan



Ink Eye, Dylan



Abstract, Connor



Shape Bird, Connor

Happy Birthday, Leah!

My niece turned two yesterday! We celebrated with taco salad and lots of cakes. Yum!

Potter Premiere

What an exciting day at our house! Tonight was the premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and we took the boys to the 6:10 show. They dressed in their Harry costumes, a big hit with other movie-goers. I had bought our tickets earlier in the day, but we still got there an hour early, which paid off because we got great seats.

It was pretty exciting for us to see the movie in the theater first. Since the last two movies were PG-13, the boys had to wait for the DVD to see them, so we could skip the scariest parts. Half-Blood Prince is rated PG, which seemed about right.

In preparation for the movie, I had been reading the book to Connor, and we just finished on Sunday. There are a few differences from the book, but that's to be expected. All in all, a great movie.

They're making two movies out of the seventh book, Deathly Hallows, because they want to do it justice. They're scheduled for release in 2010 and 2011. Can't wait!

Extreme Home Makeover

We've lived in our house for nine years. That whole time I never liked the color, but we've had our hands full with other projects...until now.


Before - Clearly, we waited too long for this project. The paint was peeling off in huge patches all over the house.


Scraped and primed - The scraping took me about a week; the priming took a day.


Done! - I love the color, and so do many others, who pulled over to shout compliments from their cars. It's hard to describe - somewhere between dark brown and dark gray, depending on the light. As far as I can tell, our house has been three shades of green in its 50 years, and I can see why. Changing colors is a lot of work with a coat of primer and two coats of paint on the whole thing!

Connor was excited that Brad took him up on the roof to paint the peak,

and he did great.

This is the second house we've painted. The first was our old house on 7th Street, which we painted in 1999, and which still looks smashing. Hopefully, this paint job lasts as long.

Dancing Divas

Tuesday and Wednesday were the Kaleidoscope shows, and they were terrific! The Chorus Line did two numbers:

RESPECT

Stayin' Alive

These gold costumes looked gaudy in daylight, but onstage they really popped! If I get my hands on a video, I'll post it.

I've been doing this since 1996, and this group of gals is so fun. Believe it or not, three of these dancers are grandmothers! Betcha can't guess who.

Thanks for another great year!

Camping Capers

My parents took us camping at Sibley this weekend. It was very hot and humid, but still fun. That is, until the storms arrived the second night and chased us home. We bugged out just in time to hear the tornado sirens wailing as we raced home up Washington. Here are some pics from the first night.


Curt provided the best entertainment of the weekend when he tried to pop a Jiffy Pop over the campfire, despite direct warnings on the pacakge not to heat it over an open fire.


It mostly worked, however, even after falling into the fire toward the end. We then entertained ourselves further by throwing the unpopped kernels into the fire and watching them pop out.


Mom and Kassy


Curt and Kassy

Thanks for a fun time, Mom and Dad!

Kaleidoscope 2009

Live music! Dancing! Fun!

Kaleidoscope is Tuesday and Wednesday, and you are invited.

The Chorus Line looks dy-no-mite! We're doing two numbers: RESPECT and Stayin' Alive.

Get there early because it usually sells out.

Scout Oath Bike Ride

Tonight was the Scout Oath bike ride, which ran along the riverfront trails for a total of about 10 miles. Dylan and I mostly enjoyed the event, although it was sometimes difficult in a group of 52 bikes. There were two more groups of about 50 behind us, so it was a big event.

It wasn't too hard to make it through the ride itself because there were five pitstops along the route. The toughest part was the ride home, which was all uphill. I hadn't ridden a bike for years, and had to borrow a bike for the ride, but I did ok. We'll see how I feel tomorrow!

Lemonade!

The boys and a friend put up a lemonade stand on our corner yesterday. There were four garage sales on our block, so there was loads of traffic, and the weather was hot enough to bring many, many customers. My job was to keep the lemonade iced and flowing.

Many generous people paid more than the asking price, and the boys thought it was pretty cool when a police officer stopped and bought a cup. They had a lot of fun, even providing car-side service to those drivers who just pulled up to the curb. After three hours, they each netted about $10 and the satifaction of a successful business venture.

Little Drummer Boy

Dylan starts band this year, and he chose percussion as his instrument. No pressure from us - honestly! I do think he's made a good choice because he's got great rhythm.

He's taking a few lessons from Brad this summer, so we got him his snare and bell kit this weekend. He was so thrilled that he didn't even mind posing for pictures.

Day Camp Fun

This week was Cub Scout Day Camp, which was a complete success.




Archery


BB guns - Dylan's favorite activity





Climbing wall - Connor's favorite activity


Egg drop. Since this is Dylan's last year of day camp, he intentionally packed his egg so that it wouldn't survive. He got his wish.


Connor's egg survived the drop, and he earned the special iridescent bead.

Two Wheels

Today was the day! Connor learned to ride his bike.

He had not been very interested in learning, but on about his third successful ride down the sidewalk he said, "You were right, Mom. This is fun!"

I doubt I'll hear that line many more times.

Double Chocolate

When Connor found a recipe for chocolate cake in his cookbook, he HAD to make it. With a little supervision and guidance, he did almost all of it himself, from scratch. The only thing I did was to frost the vertical sides of the completed cake.


He was so proud, and it was delicious!

Mother Hubbard's Cupboard

Connor has taken a sudden interest in helping around the house. He loaded the washer, folded laundry, vacuumed the car, and helped me clean out the cupboard above the fridge, which I can't reach very well myself.

I wonder how long this phase will last? He certainly won't fit in the cupboard much longer.