Alex's "friend birthday"

Alex got to pick a few friends to take mini golfing.  They had a little bit of fun :)

Squeezing the last bit of summer

One of our last beach weekends

It's cold and chilly today so these pictures seem like such a long time ago even though it was only a couple weeks!

Photo diving .......

Looking at old pictures lately.  I guess feeling nostalgic with both kids having birthday and the first day of school where they both are going full time.
So here is Alex's blast from the past:

August 2004, coming home from the hospital.

August 2005, his birthday dinner on his 1st birthday

2nd birthday 2006

Birthday weekend 2007 - 3 years old

2008 4 years old

5 years old 2009

birthday party in 2010 6 years old

mini golfing for birthday in 2011 7 years old

This year, on his 8th birthday.

There's been a lot of fort/tent building going on here

Lots of variations with the clothesline and sheets.  The day after we built this one they added their appliance box clubhouses on either side so they could each have their own rooms in addition to the tent "living room".

Along the way Alex turned 8

He bought himself a skateboard with his birthday money.  He got a lot of Legos.  He's a happy 8 year old!

Saturday August 4th - Party Day!

Lunch time birthday party for Alex and my mom.  Afternoon/ dinner time picnic party at the Pines for the annual Wing Thing then night time party at Pig in the Pines to watch our neighbor Bob play with the Ides of March.  

The Wing Thing is always fun because it's a chance to hang out with all of our great lake neighbors.  The kids always find plenty of other kids to play with and I always meet someone new from the lake.

Going to watch the Ides of March is always fun too.  Last time we went Maya was a bit young and got really tired towards the end.  This year she was totally into it and in fact was a dancing fool by the end.  Alex, having taken guitar lessons since last spring was mesmerized watching them play.  

Pig in the Pines is a BBQ fest.  They had one vendor that was gluten free but was running out of food.  All they had left was chicken which most people were really irritated about so they were giving it away free.  I was perfectly happy with free gluten free bbq chicken!

Great party day but Sunday meant it was time to go home.

Home...and back again.

Isn't that similar to something from the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings?
Anyway...Tuesday the 31st I headed for home mid-morning.  The kids stayed with my mom at the cabin, with plans of maybe going to Green Bay or maybe not.  I went home to go to work on Wednesday and then kidnap Ben and force him to stop working for a few days to come back to the cabin for the weekend.
We sneaked in a "date night" on Wednesday evening.
Thursday during the day I got in a yoga class and took care of some things around the house until mid-afternoon then I picked him up at the office on our way north.
We got in later Thursday night with enough time to get a good night's sleep and have a full day to play on Friday.

Friday was an all day swimming day.  Charlie loved being at the lake.  He did a good job staying in the yard and not wandering too far down by the water.  He walked in the water a lot but didn't really seem to want to all out swim as much as he did last year.

Monday July 30th

Happy Birthday to my mom!  We had to get up "early" again because Alex and Maya were going back to the Discovery Center again.  Mom and I went to the flea market in St. Germain while they were at their class.  We'd heard about this flea market and had never gone....wow what an experience!  There were tons of people and the booths and tents seemed to go on forever.

We got back to the cabin in time for Grandma Ruth and my aunt to stop over with pie for mom's birthday.  Then we all went down to the lake swimming a little way down the shoreline where it's more shallow.  Some other neighbors joined and we all played for several hours.

Just as we were heading home the other neighbors invited Alex to go tubing with them.  It was his first try and he was nervous but really excited.  He liked it at first but when it got bumpy he got a little nervous and just wanted to ride in the boat.

Up to the house for dinner then we went over to a neighbor's house for a boat ride.  Their boat wouldn't start so the kids just started playing around on the dock and in the water and ended up having a great time!