Washington DC

Mitchell and his cousin Lincoln were lucky enough to take the trip of a lifetime to Washington DC right after school got out with their Grandma and Grandpa Benson. Mitchell is a American History buff as it is, so this was certainly a great trip for him to reinforce what he already knows and acquire more knowledge with his history-loving Grandma and retired history teacher Grandpa! From the sounds of it, they did ALOT of walking and many many memories were made. What an amazing gift from Grandma and Grandpa Benson, for Mitchell and Lincoln.

More Summer Traditions

We continued on with the Atwater/Spicer 4th of July traditions this year. We arrived in Atwater on Tuesday afternoon, and the we got in some boating, swimming, tubing on nearby Diamond Lake. With temps at about 100 degrees, that is really about all we COULD do! Joel went faster on the tube then ever before and Grant just wanted to keep it SLOW.

Spicer Parade... some things never change:) Although Joel didn't appreciate the loud horns on the trucks, there was no crying about it this year, he just covered his ears and moved back a little bit. So nice to see progress:)

Thanks to Grandma Benson arriving at the parade 2 hours early each year, we always have our great seats!

Attempting to keep cool.

Candy collection in full swing:)

A quick swim to cool off after the parade. It was HOT!!!

Green Lake Fireworks.

Waiting for the fireworks to start

Just for fun, a throw-back pic from 2009, Aunt Dar covering Joel's ear for him:) I was hoping I could find a picture from every year with Joel's ears covered, but looks like I didn't get on in 2008, and in 2010, the blog said he didn't mind the horns! I didn't remember that.

First time this year!... it was a great day for the BIG slip n slide. I just don't think this will every get old. Definitely going to be an annual tradition around here for many years. This picture was taken just before a herd of neighborhood kids arrived. Kallen Prell, one of my good friends son, I am pretty sure has asked me each and every time I saw him all winter long, when it was going to be time to put the big slip n slide up again:) Lots of good memories everytime this thing goes up...

Grant's Playdate

Grant got to have a special playdate last week, while Joel was away for the night for a special visit to cousin Lincoln and Jayna's house in St. Cloud! Bennett is Grant's little buddy and they always have a blast playing together and best of all, they are always SO good together. There were NO fight, NO yelling, NO crying, nothing. Just lots of laughs and fun.

Soccer!

I am embarrassed to say I have forgotten to bring my camera to soccer each and every time so far this year. I WILL get some action shots before the year is over! The boys are enjoying soccer. Neither one of them are overly agressive about getting the ball, but they are at least always running with the pack, back and forth across the field.:)

Hibbing Visit

We had a great visit to Hibbing last weekend, visiting with the great grandparents. Mitch was in Washington DC with Grandpa and Grandma Benson, so he was not with us. (pics from his exciting trip to come later). The highlights were a visit to Uncle Dan and Aunt Kathy's cabin for swimming and nice visits to each of the grandparents homes, where I got to hear interesting stories from their pasts about their parents, their immigration from Croatia to the Iron Range and other interesting facts from the past. Jeff and I went home on Sunday and the boys got the stay the ENTIRE week in Hibbing. It was VERY quiet around here last week... talk about a nice way for me to prepare for Grandma's marathon (which was yesterday). I am looking forward to posting some pictures from my mom's camera showing some of their adventures in Hibbing last week. Those will be coming soon!