Camping at Lake Vermillion

 This past weekend, we camped at Lake Vermillion with the Hinners. It was the first fall camping of the season, and we got some beautiful weather for the weekend. 

On Friday evening, we got set up, unpacked, and then enjoyed a supper of tacos. It got really chilly on Friday evening, so we were bundled up and sitting really close to the bonfire. It was a beautiful fire, and it felt great to sit close and feel the heat. We actually had to run the heater in our camper overnight because it got so cold. 

We woke up on Saturday morning to 37 degrees. Brrr. Luckily I packed some warm clothes and stocking caps, and we all survived. It ended up getting up to 80 degrees later in the day. John and I enjoyed a nice (brisk) morning walk. We walked down to the water and then through the campsites just enjoying the morning. In the late morning, we went fishing. The kids were really into it for a while. Carter caught two fish right away, and after that we didn't catch a thing. 

After fishing, we brought some really hungry kids back to the campers and had some lunch. We had naan pizzas, which ended up turning out really well. The kids all played together in the trees for most of the afternoon, and us adults enjoyed some visiting and card games. John and I learned how to play cribbage. I feel so old. 

For supper, we had pulled pork chili and cornbread, which was delicious. Then we enjoyed another beautiful evening with a fire. It only got down to 50 degrees the second night, so it was a much more comfortable evening to sit outside. 

Sunday ended up being a really hot day. It got up to 87 degrees. We enjoyed a wonderful pancake breakfast, and then forced the kids to go on a hike with us. We went fishing again, and didn't catch many fish. And the kids also got to paddle board and kayak and play on the beach for a while. It was such a nice day for the end of September. 

Once we got back to the campers, we figured out how to get some football on the TVs outside, and we watched some football while camping. We painted some pumpkins and just enjoyed the day. The Vikings didn't play until 3:00pm, so we started packing up around 2pm and headed out at 3. Then we did the usual unhook at Jim and Barbs, unpack, and do like 4 loads of laundry. It was a really fun weekend, but man it was a lot of work. 

While we were camping and having fun, we decided we wanted to do one more weekend of camping. So, we booked this weekend at Lake Vermillion as well, and we leave tomorrow for another weekend of camping. I am excited, but tired of all the packing and running around. So, one more weekend, and then we are parking the camping until next year. 

This week has flown by. We had soccer sprouts, choir practice, camping grocery shopping, homework, and we went and watched Malia's volleyball game. John is at a work retreat right now, so the kids are out at Jim and Barb's for the night. And then tomorrow, we head to Lake Vermillion. Oh, and Meditech Expanse goes live tomorrow at work, so that's going to be nice and super stressful. Our lives are so crazy right now. 

Hopefully we have another excellent weekend of camping ahead of us!!

Getting into the swing of things

 We are 4 weeks into school, and we are finally feeling like we are getting into the swing of things. We have gotten into a pretty good routine of homework/supper/piano lessons once we get home. Then, I usually mandate some outdoor  or exercise time, and then we let the kids relax with a little TV or Ipad time before bed. 

We have completed 3 cross-country meets. Emma didn't really enjoy them, but she ran in all 3 of them, and had a pretty good attitude during them. Elliott doesn't really mind them, but he kind of lolligags around and doesn't try his hardest. But, they had fun and participated in all 3 races. 

Elliott is participating in Soccer Sprouts right now. Every Tuesday for the next 6 weeks he plays soccer at Tomar Parks. He really enjoys it, and it's fun to see him get to finally play on a team after patiently watching Emma play over the last couple of years. He really enjoys soccer and does a pretty good job at it. 

Last weekend, we got free, last-minute tickets to a Jackrabbits Football game in Brookings. So, of course we decided to go. I packed some books, notebooks, and colors for the kids and they did a pretty good job entertaining themselves during the game so we could actually enjoy the game. It was a beautiful evening for a football game, and everyone had a really good time. The Jacks won 52-7, so it wasn't much of a game. But, it was still fun. We got to see the Pride perform at halftime, and the kids really liked that. At around the 3rd Quarter Emma got on TV doing the floss, so that was a big deal. We left in the middle of the 4th Quarter, and made it home by around 9:30pm. It was a really fun evening, and I was glad we could make it work. 

Sunday was a busy one. John had to usher, so we went to the early service, and then we had Sunday School after church. After watching the Vikings lose, we went to church to set up for the bean bag tournament. It was a pretty fun afternoon. We had super nachos for supper, we had a football game on outside at church, and we played some bean bags. The teams were randomly drawn, and Joel Connot and I ended up on a team, and we ended up winning the tournament. So, that was pretty fun. And Elliott and Katherine won the kids tournament, and Elliott was pretty proud of that. So, I have that trophy proudly displayed in our Sunday School room. 

This past week was busy with meetings, soccer, the last cross country meet and some late nights at work. So, just another busy week. We just had a nice weekend at home to recover. Friday night, we went on a bike ride to George McGovern Middle School. It was a gorgeous evening to go for a bike ride, and the kids really enjoyed it. 

Saturday was a super busy day. We started the day with mowing lawn and catching up at home. Then, I took the kids to a free health fair at the Pentagon. There were about 80 booths set up with different health topics and a lot of freebies. We had a lot of fun visiting all the booths and learning things and getting free things. We also got a free lunch while we were there. We spent a good 2 hours wandering around there, and then we finally went home to pick up John and then head to Brandon for their hometown celebration. The kids had a lot of fun here. There were bouncy houses, a science area, disc golf, balloons, laser tag, live music, a gaming trailer, and face painting. It was another nice day, and we spent a solid 2 hours here as well. The kids did not want to leave. But, eventually we left, got home at around 4:00pm and just tried to relax the rest of the day. We had meatloaf for supper and the kids enjoyed some quiet time while John and I went for a nice long evening walk. 

Today was a great Sunday. We went to church, Sunday school, and then spent some time cleaning the house. We even had the kids helping clean the house. Katie came over to watch the Vikings game (they lost, by missing a last second 35 yard field goal. Shocker). We ate some fajitas and cheese dip, and visited with Katie. 

Now, I'm catching up on things before a new week starts. Tomorrow, I have the day off. So, I'm going to drop off kids, go to the gym, and then work on my Nutrition class I am teaching at Bethel school tomorrow. Hopefully that all goes well. 

Well, I'm thinking it's time to go to bed. I'm pooped. Here's to another week!!

Labor Day 2021

 We have had a very busy, very successful Labor Day weekend. I'm pretty sorry to see it go. The weather has been beautiful, we got a lot accomplished, and we had a lot of good family time. 

On Thursday evening, the kids went out to Jim and Barb's for the evening since they didn't have school on Friday. We dropped them off at the farm, and then stayed and ate supper and visited for a while. It was a beautiful evening to be outside. The kids were excited to be out on the farm, and they enjoyed driving the honda, spray painting, and playing at the new park at Lake Vermillion while they were out there. 

On Friday evening, the kids stayed again at Jim and Barb's so John and I ran to Costco and Walmart to buy some necessities. We ate supper at Pancheros, and then we headed to the Levitt to see Tonic-Solfa. It was really fun to see that group again, and it was another gorgeous evening to be seeing some live music. We had a fun adult date night. 

Saturday was one heck of a day. We woke up around 6:00 am to get packed up and pick up the kids on the farm by 7:00 am. Then, we headed to Huron to go to the South Dakota State Fair. We all had a really good time at the fair. We walked most of the fairgrounds, spent some time with the Hinners, saw Emma's projects, and got a lot of freebies. It was also "Thank a Farmer" Day so there was a free pork loin lunch. We also watched Gavin and Carter do their Robotics presentation, and then just had fun exploring the fair. The kids did really well with all the walking and crowds, but they were hot and tired by the time we left. Emma did really well on her projects. She got two purple ribbons, and two blue ribbons. She was pretty proud. We finally left around 4:30pm, and enjoyed some air conditioning and being able to sit down for awhile. 

We ate some supper in Mitchell and stopped at Cabela's on the way home. We made it home by 6:30pm and got unpacked and settled back at home. 

Sunday was a catch-up at home day. We went to church, and then we took Emma's bunk bed apart, which was quite the project. We took it apart, carried it into the garage, and then cleaned Emma's room from top to bottom before rearranging and setting up the room the way Emma wanted it. It was a pretty task, but it took up a good chunk of the day. John eventually moved on to mowing the lawn and cleaning the garage, while I finished up her room and also cleaned Elliott's. The kids also found a new neighbor girl to play with names Chloe, so they spent most of the evening playing with her. We ended the evening with a nice walk around the neighborhood on another beautiful day. 

Today was a fun Labor Day. We started with a really good brunch of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and potatoes. Then, we decided to pack up and go hiking at Pallisades State Park. The kids really enjoyed the trails and climbing rocks. We had another really beautiful day, and we stayed at the park for a solid 2 hours and worked up a really good sweat. We stopped at Walmart afterwards for some birthday gifts for this coming weekend, and then we finally made it back home. At home we did some tasks around the house, ate some delicious Teryaki Chicken and then played some soccer with the kids in the yard before calling it a night. 

We had a really, really busy weekend. But, it was so much fun. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and it was nice to do something different this Labor Day weekend.