It must be summer!

Our favorite season has arrived, and we are loving it! Gardening, mowing lawn, boating, playing T-ball, and taking walks across the pasture to Grandpa and Grandma's house are just some of the activities that have been filling our hours recently.  We can't seem to get the kiddos to bed before 10pm because the evenings are so long and mild! Here are lots of random pictures that I have been too busy to blog.

I had just left for work Thursday morning, and looked back to see a rainbow directly over our house.

Our big T-ball player!  Note the grass stains!

Nora and a sparrow eggshell we found in the yard the other day.  The eggshell is blurry, but I love this photo for so many reasons: 1) Nora's wavy hair from the humidity, 2) Her swimsuit- she would live in one all summer!, 3) Her grubby hands from playing outside so much, 4) If you look closely at her cheeks, she took a purple marker and gave herself "freckles", 5) The peanut butter on her face- my kiddos would eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches only if I let them!  There is so much I love about their ages right now and just want to remember!

Summer means enjoying Minnesota's beautiful lakes.  We spent 3 evenings last week at lakes. Tuesday night we took our boat out for the first time of the season, ate supper on the boat, and did some tubing and wakeboarding.  Thursday evening, we met my parents at their lake and took them for their first boat ride on Lake Cowdry.  Friday night, we headed to the local swimming beach to cool off after Dane's T-ball game.



Sunset on Lake Cowdry.



Sunset on Elk Lake.

We saw a dog go for his first tube ride!

The kids just love the boat!

On Wednesday, Mike and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.  As a gift, he hung this beautiful swing in our front yard.  He made this swing in high school shop class, and it is still in perfect condition! I have a hard time getting chores done because this swing is always just pulling me over to sit and swing a while!

Kiddos on the swing! Oh, how they love each other- when they aren't tormenting one another!

Sprinkler time!

The view down the driveway from my tree swing.

We found a robin's nest in an interesting location.  It is on the end of Grandpa's sickle mower in his shed.

Beautiful eggs inside.

 I take too many flower pictures:

I saw a bunch of these fluttering around the lilac bush last week and thought we had hummingbirds.  When I looked more closely, I realized they were hummingbird moths instead.  Since then, I have also seen a pair of actual hummingbirds hanging around.

A bouquet of flowers picked from our pasture.

Peonies!  I wish I could somehow pass along the smell!

Nora loves to pick my daisies.

The grass in the pasture is growing so tall that it is hard to see the calves when they lie down.