Meadow Park

We took the neighbor girls, Nora & Grace, friends of Natalie and Jamie, with us to Meadow Park where they played tag, hide & seek, e...

Shady Oak Beach

We went to Shady Oak Beach twice this summer - later in the day so we could get the discount. Natalie, Jamie and Gloria were the only ones w...

Lake Life Sendoff

Lauren and Katie got to go to the Lake Life Retreat for a second year in a row with the Mills Church Youth Group. These are a few shots from...

Cheesemaking

I bought a cheese-making kit last year but didn't get a chance to use it. It came up in conversation with a friend of mine so I invited ...

Lauren Driver's Permit

Lauren took driver's ed this spring through Safeway at Minnetonka High School. She really disliked her instructor but didn't have an...

The TARDIS

Lauren, Gloria and Natalie got to go to a 3D printing class at the Maple Grove library last month. They got to use Google Sketchup to creat...

Coon Rapids Dam

We were going to go to the Coon Rapids Dam earlier this week but it didn't work out on our schedule, so we rescheduled until today. It w...

Deephaven at Dusk

I'm not really sure why so many people are commenting that it's almost the end of summer when it's only the first week in August...

Bees and Flowers

~A couple favorite photos from a friend's garden: interesting pollinators and beautiful blooms.

Summer Serve at FMSC

We got to participate in another Food Packing Session at Feed My Starving Children. We have been here enough times to be able to get into a ...

Image Transfer Class

Lauren, Gloria, and Natalie got to take another really great class at one of the Hennepin County Libraries today. They learned how to do a ...

Miranda Camp 2015 - Natalie's 11th Birthday

A couple months ago when Natalie was making her birthday plans, she found out that her favorite YouTube star, Miranda Sings, would be in to...

Lauren

Son Spark Labs VBS at Mills Church 2015

What would summer be without VBS? This year, we had even more family volunteer participation, which was wonderful. I led the crafts team, ...

Aquatennial Fireworks 2015

We enjoyed another round of fireworks viewed from the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. This pyrotechnic show is by far the best around here...

Deephaven Beach

Just a slightly random photo I took at Deephaven Beach on another wonderful summer evening. Someday this won't be part of our usual summ...

Gloria's Photo Experiment

Gloria shot these interesting photos in the summer. What a cool effect and great idea!

Excelsior Trolley

Natalie and Jamie wanted to go on the Excelsior Trolley again since they remembered it fondly from last year. We looked at the museum for a ...

Minnehaha Falls and Ford Dam

We visited Minnehaha Falls today and parked in a different area than usual. This enabled us to cool off in the little wading pool and also c...

Storm Damage

A big storm blew through town and caused this branch to fall on our family room. We were amazed that there was no damage. Justin helped Jim ...

Mille Lacs Family Camping Trip

All our photos are in this video on youtube:

Caponi Art Park

Today we went to Caponi Art Park for the first time. I chose this day because there was supposed to be a family-friendly art activity and sh...

Ice Cream Perfected

I think I've completely perfected homemade ice cream in our ice cream maker. Only a few ingredients: half + half, vanilla, sugar, pepper...

Garden Harvest

I honestly didn't do a great job planning the garden this year AND we lost almost all our sugar snap peas to local bunnies. I heard from...

Backyard Chickens

Jim lets the chickens out every single afternoon and watches them for a little while to unwind from work. They are so interesting to look at...

Fourth of July at Taylors

It was a great party at Jayne and Dan's this year because a bunch of the little cousins were there. The girls loved playing with the Ort...

When Life Gets Busy

Sometimes, we get so focused on getting out the door to go to something like gymnastics, we end up with someone who forgot something importa...

Second Harvest Food Bank

We did another volunteer session at Second Harvest today; Jim was able to go for the first time, too. This time, in addition to repacking bu...