Well, the obvious comes to mind right off – Canada Day and Independence Day. We celebrate both, of course. Canada Day (HERE) always makes me a wee bit homesick. July 4th (HERE) was fun as well. July is also Grandma’s birthday up in Canada. And full blown summer fun here in Minnesota.

We lucked out and managed to make Home Depot where the kids made little bowling alleys. Which were PERFECT for the 18 inch dolls, I am told.

I managed to finish a prayer shawl for the Catholic church down the road, along with a pocket prayer shawl.

We spent TONS of time at the YMCA.

Emanuel got over his fear of the slide

Walked back and forth for ClubY.

We hung out in the hammock.

Played outside whenever we could.

Had movie nights.

Ken made the girls a reading corner in the sunroom out of fabric and a hula hoop!

Hung out with our homeschool friends at the park as often as we could.

Made sure to document all the pretty flowers.

Visited our godson Anthony after emergency appendix surgery.

Met a brand new baby! Congrats Cory and Karen!

We even snuck in time for homeschooling.

Echo even went to Evan’s birthday party SOLO with dad!

We watched soccer.

Watered our garden.

Celebrated Alex’s birthday.

Experienced the County Fair. (see the county fair blog post)

Were ditched by the boys who went to the cabin (too many mosquitoes for our allergic girls).

Even on our day off we made the walk to the YMCA.

Mosquito bites

Basically we made this month COUNT and then some!!!!!

Our track star.

Gavin working on art.

May tends to be absolutely lovely here so we try to take full advantage with LOTS of time outside. 

And in the sprinkler.

We got started on our planter boxes as well. Tomatoes and cucumbers this year. 

Plus Ken and I snuck out for a wedding.

Congrats you two!

I even had my very own Mother’s Day (not professional of course) photo shoot! 

We had a field trip to a local museum with homeschool buddies.

We broke out the freezies.

And worked on our meager landscaping skills.

Climbed trees.

Went on long walks. And learned our route to the YMCA.

Had lunch outdoors.

And started our Canada unit. 

We even managed a visit with the Schwartz family.

And S’mores on the bbq… improvising!

One of the things I love about May in Minnesota is that it does warm up. And this year we took full advantage!

Ok so NOT as long awaited as DECEMBER… which I WILL cover BEFORE this December comes about… I hope! But I figured before I shared my Mom and Step-dad’s visit I REALLY should cover Karyn and Lauralee’s. The intrepid duo drove from Red Deer, Alberta all the way down to the Grand Canyon and back again. With a stop off of a week at our house in sunny Minnesota – in the summer – when Karyn is NEVER here (for some reason MOST of her visits occur in the middle of winter… who goes from ALBERTA to MINNESOTA in the winter? Well one of the most amazing aunties ever of course!).

We made sure to show them a little bit of the state – our favourite beach of course.

Karyn and I ducked out for our usual extensive Mall of America shopping – sadly one of my favourite stores is gone now BUT we did manage to find some hidden gems, spend a little cash and walk ourselves into the ground. SO – good day!

Did NOT purchase

BUBBLE TEA

We 3 adults joined Ken for an adult lunch. And some MORE shopping (poor Lauralee).

On my birthday (June 24th) the ladies watched our kids so we could go out for a lovely dinner.

First flowers that are REAL since our wedding!

Karyn drove us to the YMCA a few times and spoiled us horribly. So workouts and playing did not falter. Seriously, this has to be the healthiest summer EVER for this family – 2 miles either way, lots to do while there. ALL GOOD!

Karyn brought us a marvelous car full of gear. Canadian stuff, stuff from her childhood. Which put Trinity right over the moon. (the shirts she brought for us are in our Canada Day pictures on the post for Canada Day of course.)

We checked out the Como Zoo – because really when we did a comparison the animals at the pay zoo were not enough to make the donation only zoo less impressive. PLUS they had BUTTERFLIES!!!!

Trinity snuck off with her god mommy and Lauralee for ice cream and Mommy snuck off with Karyn and Lauralee for frozen yogurt. So there was even some sneaking around! 

It was a wonderful visit, and as usual, not long enough. But then again, I doubt there could be a visit that we would feel was “long enough.” I am just so grateful they added us to their pilgrimage south. Now enjoy the rest of our pictures! I couldn’t resist adding more!