Sophie's 5th Birthday!

Hard to believe that Sophie is already 5 years old!

More party pictures here and here.....

Hanging out

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Sekapp Orchard (Pumpkin Time!)

Beef Jerky Donut

Henrik came up with this amazing idea while making beef jerky this weekend. I'm doubting it will catch on.....



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Henrik's 10th Birthday Party

Photos from the party.

Cheerleading

The new cheerleader.



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Henrik's 10 years old and It's official..... I'm old....

I was having a discussion with Sophie tonight, and she referred to my younger days as the "olden days"..... Hmmm..... Plus Henrik hit double digits today, Happy Birthday Henrik!

Ice-cream at Cold Stone tonight, yum!

2d meets 3d

State Fair

Sunday we attended the State Fair, it's been a lot of years since I'd been there, and the first time the kids have been. It turned out to be a beautiful day, not to hot and not to cold. Of course we partook in lots of bad food, worked our way through the crowd and saw some interesting people..... The highlights of the day were the birthing area, the horses, the bungie trampolines and last but not least the rides. We will definitly attend again next year!

More pictures (how could I not include these...).

Sophie!

Just some random pics of my favorite little girl!

Things that I never got around to posting this summer (but should have...)

The Gilbertson family reunion. More pictures.

Twins Cubscout sleep over at the Metrodome. Lots-o-kids!

2nd grade baseball. More pictures.

Canada Fishing 2009

We had a great time fishing again this year in Canada. I believe this is the 7th year with the entire family heading up to Cairns Lake. We had great fishing once again and the weather cooperated except for one day of rain. Highlights: Sophie catching 'a' fish, Henrik catching the big fish of the trip, a 36 inch northern (unfortunately no pictures :-( ..... ).


More pictures from the trip!

North Shore Trip

We headed up to the north shore over the long July 4th weekend! We set up camp on Thursday at a state forest campground near Finland just off of highway 1. It was a great campsite with a small river behind it. The kids spent a lot of time in the water playing around and catching crayfish. Friday we spent at Lutsen riding the Alpine Slide. There are a couple of videos below of the fun. Ethan and I ended up with a few scrapes due to our 'need for speed'..... might have to rethink our strategy for next year! If you ask the kids this was the highlight of the trip, even though we hit Sven and Ole's in Grand Marais, Shovel Point, Palisade Head, Split Rock Light House, Gooseberry Falls and Canal Park in Duluth! It was a busy weekend. Instead of staying for fireworks in Duluth as originally planned, we headed back to Rochester on Saturday and made it just in time for fireworks!

I hope everyone had a great 4th!

Chuck

The Alpine Slide facing forward, Sophie rode with me. We were racing Henrik during this run.

This is us again on the Alpine Slide, I filmed this facing Sophie (I love this video)

The British Invasion hits the North Shore.......

The poor mans lobster (these actually tasted pretty good)

Henrik, Ethan and Sophie on the gondola at Lutsen.

I figured I'd better add a silly picture considering the kids like posing for them better anyways....

Sparklers just before the Rochester fireworks....

Baseball

Rochester city baseball has started this year, and it's starting out to be a lot of fun!  Ethan is playing games on Monday and Wednesday and Henrik is playing Tuesday and Thursday.  That's baseball 4 days a week!  So far the kids are thoroughly enjoying their time on the field.   A few assorted pictures below.   There are sure to be more on the way!

Chuck

 

 

 

 

Sunday, Baseball and the Como Zoo

We headed up to St. Paul today for a picnic with the Daugherty's at the Como Zoo.  It was the kids first time to meet their new niece Indigo.   After playing at the playground and having lunch, we headed over to the baseball diamond for a few swings of the bat.  The kids won 36-0 (last I heard!) against John and I.  I didn't help we were the only 2 on the field and we were never up to bat!   Lydia and Indigo watched the action from left field.  Gammie joined us later at the zoo.  The highlight of the zoo ended up being the gold fish!  Oh and the carousel!  (very cool, built in 1914).  

Chuck

 

Sophie checking out the tree!

 

Safe at 3rd!

 

Caterpillar extravaganza (they were everywhere)

 

Bat girl....

Cub Scout Rocket Shoot

Yesterday was the annual Cub Scout Rocket Shoot.   It was a pretty windy day so we spent most of the time hunting and searching for rockets.   Luckily we only lost one.   The boys (and Soph!) all had a lot of fun.  

Chuck

 

 

 

 

Transportation Fair

We hit the Rochester Transportation Fair today.  A bit chilly, but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.  There was lots of free candy, so there was definitely a thumbs up from all!

Chuck