excitement

there was some excitement at our house this week.
we're in uncharted territory around here now::

thankful thursday

Today I'm thankful for the fabulous time we had at Family Camp at Trout last week. Last year was our first time at Family Camp and we had the best time. So, nearly 6 months ago we signed up to go again this summer. I will admit that family camp is more fun when you are not pregnant and when it's not super hot and extra humid. But, even so, we had a great time once again. A few of us weren't 100% health-wise while we were there, which was kind of a bummer, but we made the best of it and all had a great time anyway! I really do think that family camp is the best family vacation around!

The kids loved their classes. Joey even "performed" in the 4's & 5's program this year (rather than standing on the stage looking extremely grumpy) and was a complete ham. Anna was quite a bit more of a participant than she was last year and felt completely comfortable at Trout by the time our week was up. A tad too comfortable at times . . . like when she just decided -- more than once -- to take off on her own. Once we found her in the chapel (which reminded us of this passage), once she was heading back to our cabin and sometimes she was just out for a leisurely stroll. Thankfully, we never found her in the lake! We played in the water, we ate lots, we sang crazy camp songs, we learned lots, we mini golfed . . . and after one extremely uncomfortable, really hot night we even (we, meaning Kirb!) commandeered a fan for our cabin (thanks to my large belly and current "state"). What a blessing!

Speaking of the heat, when we returned home after being gone for 5 days we turned our air back on (no sense spending a fortune cooling a house no one is in) only to find that it didn't work. It was 87 degrees in our house and we were all crabby and miserable (and, need I mention . . . overtired!). We still have to get another opinion, but it pretty much looks like it's shot and we might as well just replace the whole business. Not a huge surprise, since the AC is probably between 15 and 20 years old. But a bummer nonetheless! So I am very thankful for the drop in temps we had overnight on Tuesday and the lower humidity too. The weather yesterday was about as close to ideal as you can get, if you ask me.

I won't make you look through all of them, but here are a few pictures highlighting our time at Trout (I am thankful that I have any pictures at all, since our camera had a little run-in with some water and was completely out of commission for about 24 hours. But, it seems to be back to something close to 100% given a few days of "healing" time). Enjoy::

sisterly love::

{if you look carefully, you can see Anna about to go down the slide}::

our cabin is right through those trees
{obscured from view by our enormous van}::

my extra-brave, adventurous husband climbing to the top of a telephone pole for "The Leap of Faith" {you climb to the top -- harnessed in, don't worry! -- and then steady yourself on the top of the pole with no platform or anything, then you jump off and try to catch yourself on a trapeze bar, then you let go and they lower you down} This is something I will not be trying. Ever. Watching him was more than enough adventure and nervousness for me!::

Adventurous activity #2, the "Zip Line".
Climb the platform {harnessed, once again} and jump off and "zip" down a cable where you go for a long ways and drop about 70 feet in the process. Kirb is the guy on the far right and the building on top of the hill is the new Timber Ridge dining hall. My dad has done probably 95% of the masonry work on it -- foundation, block work, fireplaces, a huge chimney on the opposite side of the building and all the exterior stonework.
I believe I will try out the "Zip Line" the next time I am at Trout in a non-pregnant state. It looks like fun! Both Jacob and Lydia did the zip line too {they have a slightly smaller scale one for anyone over 8 to try) and they LOVED it, but that was during the cameras recovery time, so we haven't got any photographic evidence of their bravery::

Anna at the beach
{the last picture taken before the camera troubles began}::

Jacob on the rock climbing wall::

and back at the bottom::

Jacob & Lydia climbing {I think Jacob got to the top 4 times and Lydia did it 5 or 6 times . . . the little monkey!}::

Rebekah's climb::

Joey and his class performing "I am H-A-P-P-Y"::

Hot chocolate is a great way to start the day::

View of the lake on the boat dock side::

All the kids by the sign . . . notice how torn up Anna is about leaving camp::

It was a great week and we all look forward to next time!!

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here.

"One Thousand Gifts":

747. planning underway for next June's big family vacation
748. more than 24 consecutive hours spent with wonderful, wonderful friends
749. nice ER doctors {who remind the injured child of their favorite teacher} who staple your head closed again . . . and the dads who go along so the moms don't have to endure the emotional pain of watching staples go into skulls. YUCK!
750. tummy x-rays showing no more coins in Anna's tummy {we must have missed it on its exit during our week-long, thorough poop checks somehow . . . glad we went to much of that super fun work unnecessarily!}
751. surviving my nearly 9-hour long 8-kid day last week {9 kids if you're counting the one I'm carting around in front of me}
752. Schaeffer Christian Carlson
753. the hours at the front-end of the day, before I start waddling {by the end of the day, I can't do anything to stop the waddle . . . believe me, I've tried}
754. more than 32 weeks down, 8-ish left to go
755. life-long friends
756. sleepovers
757. birthday parties {happy 2nd birthday, sweet Ava!}
758. the anticipation of family camp
759. 3 days until the fair starts!
760. seeing the Elliott's {the circumstances under which we saw them boggle my mind quite a big, but we're thrilled to see them nonetheless!}
761. the laughter of kiddos
762. a trip to the zoo
763. a couple more things to check off on our summer list . . . and a few more extra fun ones to come in the week ahead
764. a safe 400K bike ride for my no-longer-in-his-30's {or even 40's or 50's} father . . . way to go, Dad. You're one of a kind!!
765. the little hint of fall in the air {but only for one day} we had last week
766. contentment
767. a big week for my brother's family::1 new baby, 30 years of life for Jenn, 6 years of marriage for Mr. & Mrs. Carlson {and before next week, 2 years of life for Haddon!}
768. the excitement of kids when given their very own cameras! {thanks, Elliotts!}
769. my grandma {it's her 84th birthday today!}

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

summer list::

I've mentioned it before and some of you were curious, so here's a little more info on our "summer list" tradition. {better late than never, right?}

For the past few years, we sit down as a family near-ish to the beginning of summer and brainstorm our "summer list" for the year. Anything that is spoken will be written down. If Jacob says he would like to "go to the moon" this summer, I'll write it on the list . . . although the chances that we'll take a summer trip to the moon are pretty much nil! Then, as we are looking for ideas of what to do with our days during the summer, we consult our list. Often during our list-making, one idea leads to another which leads to another. Many times we do really fun things that weren't even on the list {like last Saturday when we went to Split Rock Lighthouse and visited Duluth, or the weekend before when we went to the Kelley Farm}. Many things on the list remain undone by summer's end. But, we like having the list to consult from time to time. I try hard to write down dates of things from the list that we've done, so we can remember that, contrary to what the kids often say and think, we do do fun things. Things they wanted to do in the first place!

Here is our list for the Summer of 2010 {click on the pictures to enlarge them so they are big enough to read}::

How do you decide what fun things you will do with your summer? {We do a similar -- although abbreviated version -- for other breaks too::Christmas winter break and spring break, for example}

You'll notice there's still lots of stuff that we haven't done yet this summer that they kids would like to do. Hopefully we'll get around to a bunch more of them in this last month of summer break {we will go to the State Fair, no question about that. It's a given. You just can't go until the 2nd Thursday before Labor Day, so we still have a few more weeks until we even have opportunity to check that one off!} We never intend to do them all, but it's fun to dream big. Also, some of them are givens that we do very often, if not every day::play outside, family walks, etc. I don't even bother writing dates on those usually, but, trust me, they're getting done! So, yup, we do eat supper {which was an item someone wanted added to the list!} . . . most every night even!

Here's to a fun last bit of summer for us . . . and for you. Enjoy!

super dad!

on the boardwalk along Lake Superior::

our newest {and biggest!} addition to the family

We are the slightly embarrassed, scared, Jon & Kate plus 8-ish looking proud owners of a new vehicle.
a 12-passenger Chevy Express 3500 -- pretty cool, huh? I bet you wish you had one too!

Since we are due to outgrow our mini-van as soon as #6 arrives on the scene, we upgraded to what I like to think of as the "maxi pad". You know :: mini van . . . maxi pad. Plus, won't that nickname make great roll-the-eyes, embarrassing childhood, weird parent stories when the kids are older? Yup, I thought so! Great for the sibling bonding, I tell you.

The kids {Superman included} are really excited!

They never have to share a row with more than 1 other kid. No more 3-kids-across backseats with lots of "He/she touched me" and fighting. Oh, I'm not naive enough to think their won't still be fighting, but at least they won't be pressed up against one of their siblings.

I, on the other had, am a little intimidated. I passed the "Chuck Sorlie School of Church Van Driving" long about the early 90's, but haven't driven anything this large and beastly for quite some time. YIKES! Watch out Roseville, here I come {for your safety, you'll be able to spot me from a mile away}! So far I've driven it down the block {to pick up Joe from preschool} and back. I did successfully park it . . . although there were no cars on either side of my chosen spot, nor was anyone parked in the spot in front of me or on either side of that spot. So really, it's not at all impressive! Not impressive at all, in fact.

Well, there's no turning back now. By about a week from now our "little" mini van will be gone and the "maxi pad" will be my only choice. I'm excited, don't get me wrong. It's just going to take a little getting used to is all. The lady that sold it to us said that I'll be used to it in no time and it really isn't all that hard to drive {but, sweet as she was, she obviously had something at stake and wanted for us to buy it from her . . . although she was one of 11 kids and her dad owned the dealership we bought it from and has for years, and a couple of the other family members work there too, so that made her quite a bit more endearing and I kind of believed her even}. Speaking of the dealer where we bought the van. They were fabulous to work with and if you ever need a car {or monstrous van!}, I'd recommend them in a second.

Alrighty, that's all! I hope you all appreciate your smallish, easy-to-drive vehicles. I sure am thankful for my super-huge one . . . even considering my trepidation.

Walking to preschool

. . . and back home again::

Our weekend

9 people
2 vehicles
36 hours
800 miles
on 4 hours of sleep {well, not all of us slept that little . . . but 2 of us did!}
=
lots of great memories

We headed out early on Saturday morning. We drove east and caught a beautiful sunrise as we went. We left the 2 "littles" home with my parents and took the 3 "bigs" {along with some friends} and went on an adventure.






Can you guess where we went and why we were there? In case you're not good at guessing chances are good that I'll fill you in on some more details when I'm a little less tired!