Garden update.

Wanted to update everyone about the garden. Things are growing. We have radishes and lettuce so far. The radishes have been rather hot and no one here is much of a radish person. The lettuce has actually been very good. Had a piece on my sandwich today and made a salad with my dinner. Nothing yet regarding tomatoes ore peppers. Kim pulled up a carrot which has a ways to go. I included a few pics.

Camping on Fish Lake

On Tuesday of last week I took Will and Ilee on an overnight to Fish Lake. Fish Lake is about 25 minutes from our house. This is the main lake we fish on usually. Will and I camped on an island last year on Fish Lake. This was Ilee's first time camping out. The tent in the pictue is one we bought two years ago for "family" camping. Will and I tried to set up the tent on Saturday in our living room. We realized quickly that it was not going to fit. The tent was 13 x 13. On Sunday we set it outside. On Tuesday the whole family headed out to find a good island to camp on. Kim came with us to help set up the tent, because it is too big for one person to set up. Unfortunately Kim wasn't going to stay because someone needed to stay home with the dogs. She gladly volunteered. We found campsite number 8. It was a great site for camping. See pic.



After getting the tent set up we took Kim back to shore and headed back to the island to make dinner. We had hot dogs and mac and cheese. We then went out to fish from around 7:00 until about 9:00. Will caught a nice crappie. We headed into shore before it got dark. We started a fire and had smores. It was a cold evening and fairly buggy. We hit the tent around ten and quickly went to bed. Ilee woke up a few times but Will slept through the night. We got up and had breakfast cereal and scrambled eggs. We then started fishing around 9 until 11:00. Each kid caught 4 fish each. I caught none. I was acting as a responsible guide and let my client castch the fish. We had a great time and hopefully will get out one or more times.

LaCrosse for History camp

Last week (July 14th-18th) I was in LaCrosse for my 3rd year of a Teach American History grant. This is actually the third TAH grant I have been involved in. They have been the best professional development for history then anything I have done. An exception might be grading AP exams. The time in LaCrosse went well. Kim and the kids were suppose to come down at the beginning of the week and stay a couple of days. On Saturday the day before we were to leave Kim's mom had surgery because her appendix had burst. Kim and the kids stayed in Duluth to help her out. One of the highlights, besides all the history I learned, was going mountain biking at the top of the bluffs. See some pictures below of the bluffs and where I rode. Love Google Earth.. I will include a few pictures later. Came home Friday just in time for Will's T-ball game. Will went 3 for 3 with out the Tee. He only has 1 more game left which is this Friday.

Last week (July 14th-18th) I was in LaCrosse for my 3rd year of a Teach American History grant. This is actually the third TAH grant I have been involved in. They have been the best professional development for history then anything I have done. An exception might be grading AP exams. The time in LaCrosse went well. Kim and the kids were suppose to come down at the beginning of the week and stay a couple of days. On Saturday the day before we were to leave Kim's mom had surgery because her appendix had burst. Kim and the kids stayed in Duluth to help her out. One of the highlights, besides all the history I learned, was going mountain biking at the top of the bluffs. I will include a few pictures later. Came home Friday just in time for Will's T-ball game. He only has 1 more game left which is this Friday.

Soccer Camp

This week has mainly been about soccer, at least in the morning. We signed the kids up for a soccer camp at East High School. It is a neat how it is set up for the kids. They run a morning session and an evening session . The kids have been in the 10:30-12:00 session. The camp is run by two English players and one Australian player. They are assisted by the East girls high school team. The camp is a fund raiser for the girls program. We were not sure how the kids would respond to the camp. On Monday morning they both were dressed with shin guards on by 9:00a.m. ready to go on Monday. You will notice Will is wearing his new Nike green shirt in some of the pictures. He liked the shirt so much he wore it the first two days. (we did wash it Monday night) Ilee has really gotten into playing soccer. You will notice she is one of the smallest on the field. They combined the 5, 6, and 7 year olds in one group. As many of you know, Ilee just turned 5 on the 28th. Will continues to get better. He is more reserved with his intensity. They both have enjoyed it and I think it will help when they start playing in August.

Heading to Mankato for the 4th

On Wednesday the Smith family headed down to Mankato to spend the 4th at my sisters house. We had stopped by her house last summer on the way back to from New Mexico and went to St. Peter for a 4th of July parade.

On the way down we stopped by the Tanger Outlet mall. for about an hour. Will actuallby liked a shirt from the Nike store, which is unusual for him. When we find clothes we think he will like he usually will say "I'll think about it" You will see the shirt later. We got in Wednesday night and had pizza. On Thursday the whole group went to Waseca Waterpark. The waterpark was fun. The water was fairly warm, but there was a good breeze which made the air cold when you got out of the water.

The next day we went to St. Peter to watch the parade. The parade lasted about two hours. The kids got a lot of candy and saw lots of interesting vehicles. My sister took the pictures so you can follow the link if you want to see us at the parade.

View parade pictures

4th of July in Mankato

On Wednesday the Smith family headed down to Mankato to spend the 4th at my sisters house. We had stopped by her house last summer on the way back to from New Mexico and went to St. Peter for a 4th of July parade.

On the way down we stopped by the Tanger Outlet mall. for about an hour. Will actually liked a shirt from the Nike store, which is unusual for him. When we find clothes we think he will like he usually will say "I'll think about it" You will see the shirt later. We got in Wednesday night and had pizza. On Thursday the whole group went to Waseca Waterpark. The waterpark was fun. The water was fairly warm, but there was a good breeze which made the air cold when you got out of the water.

The next day we went to St. Peter to watch the parade. The parade lasted about two hours. The kids got a lot of candy and saw lots of interesting vehicles. Below are some pictures taken from me at the water park and the parade. The other slide show is from my sisters

Munger Trail

On Tuesday June 30th we went out to the Munger trial. The Munger is an old railroad track that has been converted into a paved trail. The trial itself goes all the way to northern part of the Twin Cities. Sometimes Kim and I will rollerblade to Carlton which is about 17 miles from Duluth. We didn't go that far on Tuesday. We had a nice 10 mile round trip. Kim pulled Ilee in the two carrier and will rode a tandem attached to my bike. We brought picnic lunch and ate on a nice overlook.