There are no outdoor pools in our city, probably because it isn’t that warm that long in the season and there are scores of natural creeks and pockets of water to swim in, not to mention a gigantic freezing cold lake so big it almost feels like the ocean.  When…

She sees my camera and asks me to take her picture.  I’m thrilled to oblige, and then the two of us have fun looking at the images in the view finder.  She loves to jump and twirl.

YaYa had been waiting for an entire year from the day she left International Music Camp to go back this year.  She was thrilled to go back.  We drove from Minnesota to Grandma Kathy’s house in Valley City on Saturday last week, and then on Sunday I drove her up…

After about ten days of being apart (he was at a conference and visiting family in Iowa, and the rest of us were traveling/music camping in North Dakota) we were pretty excited to see this guy and celebrate Fathers Day. Simply put, he’s an awesome dad.  He helps people work…

On our first day of summer vacation we went to check out a new spot along Amity Creek.  We discovered it for the first time last fall, and I knew the minute I saw it that it would be a terrific swimming spot.  We arrived in the middle of the…

Our summer vacation started a week ago, officially, and we have embraced it with open and welcome arms.  When I was a kid, and especially a teenager,  I absolutely abhorred summer. I think there are a few different reasons why I disliked it so much.  Some of the most obvious…

Dr. Peds had spontaneously taken Mr. SP, The Banana, and Mr. TOF to the cabin to meet up with Auntie Dot and the cousins.  YaYa was at youth group at church, and at the last minute before the sun disappeared, I decided I would go to the beach after all.…

A lot of the kids in our neighborhood play soccer, and for more than a year now, Mr. Trouble on Feet has been waiting to join their ranks.  He plays with his soccer ball in the yard every single day.  He located Mr. SP’s old soccer cleats a long time…

Mr.  Trouble on Feet is great at sleeping in.  Unlike all of his older siblings who were up at the crack of dawn from infancy until the time they started school (when they suddenly wanted to sleep in and had to get up early), Mr. TOF sleeps regularly until 8:00…

Mr. Trouble on Feet likes to do things with people.  All the time.  While he’s doing things with the people he loves, he enjoys chatting.  He talks about everything and anything and never stops at all.  Mr. TOF does not like it when his parents nap in the middle of the…