Kyler's First MLB Game

Erik has been wanting to go see the Minnesota Twins play in their new stadium since it opened last season.  Target Field is an open air stadium and replaces the Metrodome where the Minnesota Vikings still play.  So in August, Erik found some cheap tickets and invited his dad to a game on Sept. 22.  Erik, Kyler, and Craig got up early and headed out the door at 7am for Minneapolis.  Kyler watched movies on the way up because he was too excited to sleep.  Target Field looked great and it sounded like they had a great time.  The Twins won with a walk-off double in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Seattle Mariners.  Here are a few pictures from their trip.

Target Field before the game

Kyler and Grandpa before the game

This is where they sat, there were more people during the game.

Some action

Checking out the field after the game

Labor Day at the Lake Part II

As I mentioned in the previous post, my parents and brother got to the cabin really late Thursday night, so we didn't see them until Friday morning.  After we said good bye to the Reisetters, we were able to spend some time with my family for the long Labor Day weekend!  

Friday was a day of just hanging out and doing some odd jobs around the cabin.  My parents had just laid a new brick patio at the end of the summer, so they needed to add some sand to the cracks.  Kyler thought that this was pretty fun and enjoyed dumping the sand in the cracks and brushing it with a little hand broom. :) 

Kyler with many hats and Uncle Ben :)

Saturday was also a day of odd projects around the cabin.  My parents worked on putting some cedar siding on one of the sheds.  Kyler was again working on the sand, and was helping out with the nails for the siding.  Saturday night we all went out to eat to celebrate my parent's 30 wedding anniversary.  It ended up being kind of late, but both kids did great!  

Kyler with his nail apron ready to go!

Sunday was more of the same.  My dad and Ben went golfing in the morning and then we kind of hung out and did more odd jobs in the afternoon.  We also started to get ready to put everything away.  Sunday evening we took one last boat ride.  It was pretty chilly out, so we had to bundle up, but we couldn't put the boat away without taking one last ride!! :)

Kyler and his "bling" :)  aka: Grandma's necklace :)

Mommy, Kyler, and Norah in the boat

Grandpa and Kyler on the boat ride!

Uncle Ben and Kyler

Our Family!

Monday morning we headed over to the neighbor's place for "Breakfast at the Pot".  If you have ever read any of my other posts about the 4th of July, Labor Day, or Memorial Day (we usually aren't in MN for Memorial Day), you know that this is a long standing tradition.  We cook eggs and bacon on a big kettle over open fire and then bring other goodies like fruit, cinnamon rolls, potatoes, etc.  It is definitely one of my favorite meals!!  

After breakfast, everyone goes to work!  The boat has to be taken out of the water and taken into town, the canopy comes off the boat lift, the dock comes out of the water, the fishing boat gets turned upside down in the woods and the motor taken off, the paddle boat gets covered up in the woods, tubes get deflated, etc., etc. to get the place ready for winter.  It's kind of sad watching everything get put away and knowing we won't see it again until next summer.  

They finished up everything early afternoon and then my parents and brother headed back to Iowa.  We decided to stay until Tuesday to beat the traffic.  So, we enjoyed one last evening at the lake.  The weather was perfect, so Kyler got to spend a little more time down at the beach.  There was no wind, and the water was like glass (we wished we would have had that weather the previous night!), it was a great last evening at the lake!

Cooking breakfast at the pot

Kyler, Norah, Erik, & Ben eating breakfast

My family

Erik & Ben taking in the lift canopy

7 Months Old!

Labor Day at the Lake Part I

Once again, we spent the week before Labor Day weekend up at the lake with the Reisetter family.  We left town Saturday, August 27th and began the trek to the lake.  We made it there by dinner time, only stopping twice-the first time to eat lunch and feed Norah, and the second time to just feed Norah.  We made dinner, unpacked and then got ready for bed.

Sunday was a pretty nice day, as we were able to spend some time down at the lake and playing on the beach.  We did some more unpacking and organizing while we waited for the Reisetters to arrive!  The Reisetters arrived just in time for dinner, so we all sat down and enjoyed a meal of spaghetti together.  After dinner the Reisetters got unpacked and settled in and then it was already time for bed.  

Norah and Daddy hanging out!

Kyler playing on the beach!  He could spend all day out here if we let him!

Monday was a beautiful day!  It was so nice that the kids were able to spend the day playing down at the beach most of the day.  Mason started working on building a waterway all the way down the beach.  Soon it became a group project with several different waterways all leading into one.  Of course, we also had to try it out and make sure that water could flow down all of the waterways into the lake!

Hanging out at the beach!

Working on the waterway!

Tuesday started out kind of cloudy and then started raining in the afternoon.  Even though it was cloudy in the morning, the guys & Jillian decided to go on a canoe ride.  They looked up on Google Maps how to get down a channel from our lake to another lake and to another channel to yet another lake...(Sounds like a great plan doesn't it?!?) :)  Anyways, they were gone for about an hour and a half and made it all the way to where they were parked, so it was successful! :)  The afternoon was just hanging out and taking naps since it was raining.  After dinner it cleared off a bit, and the guys and Jillian went fishing for a while.

Dinner time!

Norah's bath in the sink!

Watching an airplane movie on the computer

Wednesday morning it was still raining quite a bit, so more time was spent hanging out inside.  Then in the afternoon, after naps, we decided to head up to Itasca State Park where the headwaters of the Mississippi River are!  It's about a 30 min drive to Itasca from my parent's cabin, so we made it up there early evening.  We had a fun time playing in the headwaters for a while-Mason even wore his swimming suit and submerged himself under the water!.....(I wouldn't have said it was THAT warm out but....) :)  After the Mississippi, we went over to the lodge to order their awesome milk shakes to take home with us and have after dinner.

Norah's first time at the Headwaters of the Mississippi!

Kyler in the Mississippi!

Thursday was another beautiful day!  It was actually hot out too!  The day was definitely spent down at the lake, building sandcastles and playing in the water.  We also took the big boat out after lunch so that Mason could tube.  While we were out there, Jillian decided she wanted to tube too!  So, Mason and Jillian rode the tube for a bit while the rest of us enjoyed a nice boat ride.  

Norah enjoying the beach!

Paddle boat ride!

Late Thursday night my parents and brother snuck in and crashed on the couches.  Then on Friday the Reisetters packed up and headed for home.  We had such a fun week with their family.  Kyler loved playing with Mason and Jillian and having other kids around.  Two funny stories from the week...1) Jillian brought a couple pairs of flip-flops to wear while she was up at the cabin.  Kyler (who didn't have any flip-flops) thought they were the best thing ever and decided he had to wear Jillian's flip-flops all week.  So, it was a great thing that she brought more than one pair!  But the best part came at the end of the week, when she was so kind and gave one of her older pairs (that didn't really fit her that well any more) to Kyler so that he could keep them!  Kyler is still wearing Jillian's flip-flops today! (And yes, we did get him a pair of his own at Old Navy when we got back) :)  Story 2) Kyler has had a difficult time learning to pronounce Jillian's name.  Even before we went to Minnesota, he would call Jillian "Dee-Dong", which sounded a lot like "Ding-Dong".  So all the time we were in Minnesota Jillian was known as "Ding-Dong".  He wasn't saying it to call her a name, or be offensive, that's just how he said her name.  Since we have been home, we have been working on pronouncing "Jillian" normally and he now calls Jillian "Jillian". :)

We always enjoy spending time with this family and this week we no exception!  We added one more kid (Norah) to the mix this year and everything just went so well.  We can't wait to do it again!!