Exploring Clear Lake Park

Last week we decided to take a nice, long walk as a family, before the horribleness of the heatwave moved in.

It was a surprisingly cool Tuesday. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze. We had no idea that a heat wave was coming, because the weather was awesome.

We got to the park, and Claire spent some time swinging.

And taking in the view.

Grayson spent some time running. If you look closely in the first picture, you can see David chasing him in the background.

We spent a little bit of time being fascinated by the fish in the lake, who are completely unafraid of humans and will swim right up to the dock in enormous schools to await whatever snack you want to feed them.

They are, however, not fans of rocks, which was all Grayson wanted to feed them.

And then we went for a long walk.

We took a path that we had never taken before. In the almost 5 years we've lived here, we've never really explored the park. We found a path that goes through the woods. We came to a bridge, and when we crossed the bridge, we found this.

We never even knew it was there. It was beautiful. And there were just tons of dragonflies in the air, landing on us and on the rails of the bridge.

I wanted to explore more, but the kids were hungry and wanting lunch, so we headed back home. I'll get back there though, and wander through the woods more. Camera in hand for sure.

Now I'm Going To Give You Stuff::Uprinting Giveaway

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Uprinting has kindly offered one of my readers the opportunity to win 250 Nightclub Flyers/Flyers.

Here is what this prize entails: You will receive 250 Nightclub Flyers/Flyers. You have the choice between a 4.25"x5.5" or a 4"x6" flyer in 14 point cardstock gloss, front printing only. Please be aware that if you have won a uprinting prize in the past 6 months, you are NOT eligible for this giveaway.

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Main entry: You must be a public follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know you are.

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Clear Lake Days

Once a year, every June, the carnival comes to our town. It's a big event. There are yard sales everywhere. Craft sales. Parades. All kinds of stuff. It's also an extreme rip off to ride the rides. We go on bracelet day so our wallets hurt a little less, but at $16 a pop, it's still pricey. Especially when you have to buy 2. Soon, we'll have to buy 3....Owwww.....

This year we headed out early to check out some yard sales, hoping we could find some clothes for the kids or some other interesting find. There wasn't a whole lot. I found a boppy for my friend for her new baby for $2, but that was about it.

At 12:30, we headed to meet David's sister at the carnival. We had lunch. Some hot dogs and the thing David waits all year for, fried cheese curds. They were giving out free ice cream. The small ones were all over that.

We got in line just before bracelet time. The line was long. Grayson was not impressed.

We eventually got the bracelets and took Claire and Ethan over to get on a ride. Claire, however, was not into it this year. She literally screamed her way off of EVERY ride we put her on. They stopped them and David took her off. So, Ethan did lots of this.

And Claire did lots of this.

And lots of this.

We were lucky though. I went to the ticket booth and explained the situation. They were very nice and gave me scissors to cut the bracelet off with and refunded our money. It was weird, because Claire LOVED it last year. She couldn't get enough rides. I guess there is always next year.

David and his sister ended up leaving early. David took Grayson home, while I stayed with Claire and Ethan to let Ethan finish up his time on the wristband. They're only good for 3 hours. Claire and I watched Ethan ride the ferris wheel.

While we played in the grass.

When wristband time was over, we walked home talking about our time at the carnival. Ethan talked nonstop about next year and all the fun he had and how he couldn't wait until our annual birthday trip to Mall Of America for his and David's birthday week.

It was a long day, and it really tired all of us out. Even Grayson, who didn't walk the entire time we were there, but managed to welcome me home to this.

I can't wait to see his reaction to rides next year. Hopefully it won't be anything like Claire's.

Chicken...Pig...Same Thing

The school that Ethan attends has a great summer program. A week after school lets out, they offer three weeks of summer activities. Three hours a day, three classes a day and one field trip for three weeks. The price is great ($6 plus field trip costs), but we've never had to pay for anything but the field trip because Ethan's teachers always sign him up for an educational class. This year he did math club. Last year he did book club.

The last week of summer school, they do a visitor's day. Parent's get to come in and see what their kid's have been doing for 3 weeks. Last year I couldn't go because Claire was sick. So, this year David watched two healthy small ones while I went to visit Ethan. His first class was The Great Outdoors. He was learning all about plants and animals. They made s'mores one day and he came home with chocolate smeared on his face and marshmallow in his hair. How he made it through 2 more hours like that is beyond me, but at least he had a good time. He showed me the bean plant he was growing, which survived another hour and a half, because we brought it home and Grayson pretty much mauled it.

His second class was drama. They were doing a play about Old McDonald. He was thrilled, as made apparent here.

Ethan played a pig.

The he played a chicken.

The play was very funny. Ethan did a great job remembering all of his lines. He was especially excited that they gave him 2 chocolate chip cookies. I took him home after the second class because we had errands to run, but I loved going to see him at school. Hopefully next year he still thinks summer school is fun and wants to do it again. I'm sure he will since his field trip this year was to a water park.

Love!

For some reason, I've really gotten into America's Got Talent this season. I don't know why. But, I'm glad I did, otherwise I would have missed this.

I think he's amazing. I can't wait to see more.

Pure Joy

David is a terrible photographer. I mean, terrible. He has an obsession with taking pictures super close to my face. Some pictures are blurry. They are almost always unflattering. I mean, I'm no professional either, but I can at least point, focus and shoot. David points and shoots. He doesn't have time to focus.

David is also horrible at using our camcorder. He didn't record most of Ethan's kindergarten graduation because he only wanted the parts where they were talking about Ethan. This I can understand if Ethan was in a bigger school and they were announcing 100 kindergartners at once, but Ethan had 28 kindergartners he was celebrating with. David was banned from filming school events after that.

But, sometimes, he gets a gem. A really good picture of one of our precious small ones that I just love. Like this one he caught of Claire when we went to visit out friends to see their new baby and their new house.

I guess I won't ban him from taking pictures...Yet.