Fishing

Fishing was a good blend of old traditions and new experiences this year.  One of the new experiences was staying at Rose Ridge Resort for the first time, due to issues in the past with the previous resort we've stayed at.  Even though our cabin was pretty tiny, we had great beachfront property and really enjoyed the resort.  Next year, we are excited that they have an opening for us in one of the bigger duplexes, so we will have a little more space.

As usual, we caught lots of fish and enjoyed being out in the boat.  We visited the bridge several times and Norah loved taking photos.

One of the days, Dave's mom and I brought the girls to the community center in Detroit Lakes to play at the indoor playground and swim at the pool.  We also enjoyed paddle boating and doing a little bit of swimming at the beach at the resort.

We even changed up the menu one night after having fish most nights--we ordered a pizza and ate it at a park in Detroit Lakes.  On our last night, we had a bonfire at our resort and made s'mores.  It was definitely nice to mix it up a little bit throughout the week, but still have a chance to enjoy fishing at Bud's as well.

Dave and his parents were hoping to take the girls back once more in August, but it just didn't work out this year.  Instead, he went up with a friend.

Last day of 3rd grade!

I can't believe how fast Abby's 3rd grade year went!  She loved having Mr. Dietel for a teacher this year, and had many great friends in class this year.  She is sad that this will be her last year at Jordan, but with Norah starting kindergarten next year, we decided that it's time to have her switch to New Prague.  We will also miss our amazing daycare provider, Lori!

Last day of preschool

Norah wrapped up a wonderful year of preschool a couple of weeks ago.  She's gone every Tuesday and Thursday from 9-3 this year and had such an amazing teacher, Ms. Jodi, and a wonderful para, Ms. Jenny.

Unfortunately, it was stormy the night of their end-of-year picnic, but the kids had a pizza party/indoor picnic on the last day of school.  Even though it was a little chilly, we were still able to attend the district's ECFE picnic on the last day of school.

She has also attended WRAP before and after preschool this year.  It's been a lifesaver, since we wouldn't have been able to transport her to daytime preschool without it.  She went an extra Monday after preschool was over since our daycare was closed for a day:

Norah is excited and ready for kindergarten!

Recital weekend

Dance recital weekend this year was extra busy!  Norah was in the Friday night show, Abby was in the Saturday afternoon, both were in the Saturday night show, and Abby was in the Sunday afternoon show...whew!  My mom, Abby, and I watched Norah in the Friday night show, and my mom took Norah home at intermission when she was done.  Abby had fun staying and watching the other dancers.

I dropped Abby off for the Saturday afternoon show, then that evening, Dave, his parents, and I were all able to watch both girls perform.  Our daycare provider, Lori, was also able to come watch.

I helped out with Abby's group at the Sunday afternoon show.  She has had such a sweet (and small!) group of girls and a great teacher this year.  My sister was able to come watch Abby perform.  Since this show was only made up of competition groups, it went pretty fast.  Abby was definitely tired by the end of the weekend, but sad that a fun year of dance was over!