A neat experience we did in February was go to the ice caves off of Cornucopia in northwest Wisconsin. These caves are very popular during the summer months for kayakers, but for a limited time during the winter people can travel to the caves across the ice by foot or cross-country skis. We had a great time that day. The caves were really fun to explore and we met some nice people.
Will and Ilee were introduced to another first last winter, tennis. Arrowhead Tennis Center offered group lessons for kids on Saturdays. They had fun hitting the ball around each Saturday. Kim was able to take some lessons at the same time with other parents. The kids had a good time and continued with lessons at the beginning of the summer. Too early to tell if they will be in the Olympics in 2020.
Ilee continued with her dance class throughout the year with the big dance recital in June. We were pleasantly surprised the recital was less then 3 hours and actually went very fast. Her group's costume was Tinker Bell-esque. Ilee was a Dancing Queen.
The K & K fun factory (Kim and Kyle) ran Grandma's half-marathon. We were happy with our times considering our training and the hot temps (yes it actually got hot in Duluth). This was a first that we ran together the whole race.
Moving into summer the kids played T-ball. Will decided to give the T one more season and it was Ilee's first. The nice thing is they were on the same team (love that!!) We saw great improvement in both kids over the two month, twice a week season. Not too many times did we have to stop them from building sand castles in the infield.
After T-ball ended the kids went right into soccer. The best part was they were both again on the same team. They had a lot of their fellow players from last year's teams. It was a fun season with both kids looking forward to next summer. Unfortunately they will be on separate team
(we're being selfish). We'll see if Coach Kyle can handle two teams again.
Other highlights over the summer:
The kids and Kyle went camping a few times through out the summer. Their favorite place is to go to Fish Lake just North of Duluth (25 minutes) and camp on Bianchi Island. We had some great times fishing, sitting by the camp fire and cooking up s'mores. Will caught his first fish trolling!!
One of the biggest firsts of the year was a trip to Vegas. Kim surprised me with a trip to Vegas for my 40th birthday, which was in Oct. Kim had an accomplice, our friend Shonda, who helped plan the trip because she and her husband Mike, who turned 40 this past December were going. Both Mike and I had no idea our wives had planned this great trip. We had an awesome time. Those who have been to Vegas know how big and fancy all the casinos are to walk through. We took a day trip out to Hoover Dam, which was very cool. Mike and I got to play golf one morning. It was a lot of fun , even though we ended up at the wrong course. Mike and I got to play with a local, Roosevelt Toston, who showed us where to try and hit.
While it wasn't a first, we did get down to the MN State Fair after a 3 year absences. We were able to spend the day with our good friends the Erickson. A highlight was watching the kids in the butterfly house. Another hit was the big slide!!!
We had a great ending to summer on the professional sand volleyball circuit. After about 13 years of competition, Gables and Ivy final won the whole thing. "We are the CHAMPIONS!!!" Dry fits next year.
With fall comes the first day of school. Ilee was now in kindergarten and Will is in 2nd grade. Both are enjoying time at Lowell Elementary School.
Will began another first in the fall, piano. He has been going strong for 4 months and is enjoying it check him out with his first recital.
5 comments:
Great recap of your year! The ice caves look amazing. I think the Sullivans may have to go on a road trip and check them out. We loved the picture of the kids (and the dogs) in your card. We're looking forward to seeing everyone at the Super Bowl Party. Let's hope that it will finally be the Vikings year!
Mary
p.s. Don't forget my FF check! :)
Hey Smith’s. Happy New Year! Great blog. Whenever we’re together it seems like we never have time to chat about the fun family stuff….adventures , kids activities, etc. It was a nice read and I enjoyed the pics (and video).
-Mike
Thanks for the comments. I will bring most of the money. The rest will come from people trades. Thanks for the volleyball picture. I took it off you page.
Hey great blog...nice recap of the year but I think you were missing a certain fun filled fourth of July! I will give you full disclosure...I will be lifting some of these photos.
love ya
Hey guys. Thanks for the card and blog link. What a great looking family. You guys sure are busy. Hope all is good and healthy with you. Drop us a line when you have a free minute and we can catch up. Hope to see you at the reunion. cjburress@aol.com
CJ
Post a Comment