8 kiddos

8 kiddos

Sunday, June 29, 2014

A week at the Lake

Water, sunshine, family, coffee & ice cream.  Thankful.
















Michigan

A relaxing week in Michigan filled with great friends, a film production of "Robin Hood", sand dunes,  kayaking, biking & stories.

 





















Monday, June 9, 2014

State Meet

Hannah ran two great races at the state track meet this past weekend.  Posted a 12:07 2-mile and a 5:29 1-mile.  So fun to run at the big stadium with the "super fast" girls.  Go, Hannah!







Sunday, June 8, 2014

Luke's birthday

Missed the photos of Luke's birthday last month…

We had a fun, energetic group of boys here to celebrate Luke's 11th birthday - his Golden birthday.  It was one of the first really nice spring days, so the boys were delighted to spend the time outdoors.  Megan helped to make the special apple pies.





Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Catching up

We're back!  Just got busy with life and failed to post photos to document the fun, adventures, messes, struggles and successes of our crew.  We survived one of the coldest, snowiest winters on record in Duluth.  More than 75 days with temperatures below zero.  Snow drifts so high that our driveway looked like a bobsled run.  Hannah had a great first season of varsity skiing for Proctor, and our family participated in a few ski races together.  The Birkie was a highlight of the winter - my first full-length ski marathon, Hannah's first half-marathon and Matt qualified for the elite wave.  Fun times.
We managed to stay pretty healthy this winter with the exception of an ambulance ride for Megan with a high fever and a prolonged migraine headache for Luke that landed him in the hospital for a few days.      Matt crashed on his skis during the Pepsi Challenge race and got to wear a knee brace for 6 weeks.  Hannah knit a bunch of stocking hats.  Megan and Hannah went on a great downhill adventure to Utah with grandma and grandpa.  We made a lot of maple syrup.
Anders learned to crawl and walk around the furniture by mid-winter.  He loves to eat and be the center of attention.  He's happy as long as someone is carrying him around or playing with him.  I think its safe to say that he gets more attention and interaction than any of the others did as babies - one of the perks of being number eight!  This afternoon he took several steps on his own - sure he'll be running around in no time.  Speaking of running, Hannah has been running in circles at a pretty quick pace.  She qualified for the state track meet in the one-mile and the two-mile race.  So fun to watch her set goals and see her hard work and dedication pay off.  Many life lessons learned along the journey.  The younger kids (especially Rachel) spend time playing "track meet" in the driveway (or basement if the weather is bad).  Look out, they're getting faster!  A few photos to fill the gap...