Friday, August 23, 2019

Camp Carlson

Abby had a great week down in Iowa with Miriam at "Camp Carlson".  Norah and I brought her down on Sunday, and enjoyed a delicious spaghetti dinner made by Scott.  We played some cards with Miriam and Norah made brownies. 

The next morning, Norah and I headed back to Minnesota where we would meet my mom so she could bring Norah to Rochester.  Abby and Miriam were headed to the quilt ladies' group in town to make her quilt.  She had a busy week--she went to Adventureland with Keith, Sarah, and Gavin on Tuesday, learned how to make cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls, went to the movies, took Great Grandma Nass to Sweet Treats for ice cream, did lots of crafts, and enjoyed meals made by Scott. 















Sunday, August 18, 2019

Afton State Park

About a year ago, we booked a stay at a yurt at Afton State Park.  We headed over after Dave got off of work, but had to stop to pick up his car first (he had gotten new tires, spark plugs, and a transmission flush, and then the car had leaked transmission fluid on our driveway, so was back getting that taken care of).  I drove the big car with the new bike rack.  We really enjoyed having our bikes along, and biked the trail that follows the river on Saturday morning.  Both evenings were pretty nice, and it rained/stormed overnight on Saturday night.  After biking and having lunch on Saturday, Dave's parents stopped by on their way home from the airport/dropping Tracy off.  We went to Afton with them to have some ice cream at Selma's.  They have so many flavors there!  We relaxed back at the yurt after Dave's parents headed home, and went down to the beach area after awhile.  It was close to 5, so most people had left or were packing up.  We caught the last sunlight at the beach and floated in the river--it was so nice and a perfect way to cool off after a warm day.  We enjoyed supper over the fire and another short bike ride, where we saw a couple of deer.  On Sunday morning, we packed up and parted ways--the girls and I had to head back to unpack, do laundry, and repack.  We were headed to Iowa to bring Abby to "Camp Carlson".  Dave was headed to Red Wing to look through his uncle's house.  We enjoyed our short trip to Afton, but decided we liked the camper cabin better (and missed having a shower, since Afton was lacking this).  We did love the biking, swimming, and ice cream, though!









Monday, August 12, 2019

Fun with Tracy!

Tracy came home for two weeks, and we were able to see her a few times.  Two special days were spent at a Twins game and at Valleyfair.  The Twins made it exciting, but unfortunately lost.  After the game, we met up with Jenny, Wade, and Grace and Abby and Grace ran the bases.  We took the light rail back to our car and had dinner at Shake Shack with Jenny, Wade, and Grace.








The very next day was Valleyfair.  The weather was perfect, and the crowds were light.  We didn't have to wait much at all for any rides.  Jenny and Grace joined us as well, and we had so much fun!












Friday, August 9, 2019

Ears pierced!

Norah has been wanting to get her ears pierced for awhile, and she finally took the plunge while we were in Rochester for a quick trip back for my eye appointment.  She was very solemn the whole time, but burst into tears when it was all over.  After she recovered, she was very proud!





Thursday, August 8, 2019

Swimming lessons

The girls enjoyed swimming lessons with friends again this year.  Unfortunately, I was only able to go to half of the lessons this year.  My parents went to the first two, while Dave and I were at a bed and breakfast.  Then the last two, I had a training to go to, so between our friends Kaysie and Tiffany, the girls had places to stay and rides to swimming.  Here are some photos from the last day with all of the friends (our sweet friends even took the girls out with them to DQ):



Unfortunately, the girls didn't pass their levels this year (level 2 for Norah and level 5 for Abby), but they still worked hard!

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Fair time

The girls had a successful year at the fair, even though we didn't have time this year to do any baking or submit any photography.  Both won two grand champion ribbons in the floral hall (Abby for a collection of vegetables and a some peppers and Norah for flowers and a fairy garden).  Overall, Abby made $88 and Norah made $99!






We spent Friday night at the fair checking out the girls' entries, watching the pig race, touring the campers, and enjoying some fair food.  We also attended out first fair concert, Casting Crowns.  It was awesome!