Viking Festival

Jeffrey's dream come true:  he spent the whole afternoon as a Blacksmith's assistant!!

They made "Thor's Hammer" and Jeffrey got to keep it as a necklace!  It's his prized possession.
We were over the moon happy for him!!

watching a Viking battle

post Viking battle!

calligraphy 

wood carving

an early birthday present for Mickey- a drinking horn!

 

stone-grinding wheat

Needless to say, we LOVE the Viking Festival!  Why have we lived here for 5 years and never been to it?  It is definitely on our list of must do activities in the summer from now on.  If you've never been and you live near here- go!!

beaches & bunnies

Today we went to Buffalo River to swim at the watering hole and play on the beach- our friends came with us and the kids had a blast.

Jeffrey does this every time we go- digs a big hole and then sits in it.
It's hilarious.

Sometimes he can get other kids to join him.

BFFs

here's the watering hole- looks brown and dirty doesn't it?  it kinda is but it's warm and the kids love it!

Then, this evening at our Community Garden, a nest of bunnies were discovered under a huge pile of straw.  They were so tiny!!  Two of them were accidentally killed before anyone realized they were there and that really broke the heart of our animal lover.  He was crying and crying and then worrying about what was going to happen to the rest of them, knowing that the mommy may abandon them after they were messed around with so much.

 

Poor little guy.  Our friend Cadence was so sweet, she sat with him and placed her hand on his arm to try and make him feel better.

they sat like that for a long time, just watching the bunnies and making sure no one stepped on them.

Jeffrey grew attached to one in particular.  A kind man from the garden offered to take them all home and nurse them for the next week.  Jeffrey felt a lot better.  We can wait to see what they look like next Thursday!  Jeffrey is pretty sure he will be bring this little guy home eventually...

 

Meet "Blaze"

so, it rained last night

 

 

it was as if God opened the sky and all the water just fell out.
why can't the weather here EVER be normal????

the pool & a police picnic

so we have family passes to the pool this summer because it came with our Courts Plus membership and we are excited to use them!
did you know you can get icees there for only 25 cents??  how great is that!

we are looking forward to tons of water fun this summer(if it stays hot that is!)

then this evening we headed to Island Park for the annual Police Picnic- free chips, ice cream, entertainment, and fun!

these drummers were from Africa- they were so talented!!
everyone was mezmorized.

MB and I got henna tattoos- she LOVED that :)

the Marines had a chin up bar station and if you could do 20 you won a tshirt.
not surprisingly Mary Beth wanted to give it a go(even though it was only grown men that we saw participating thus far!) and wouldn't you know it that little peanut did it!!  no one could believe it- except her family- of course we know how strong she is!

sadly they were out of tshirts so after all that works she just got a lanyard!  oh well.
we were all proud of her!

Jeffrey and John gave it a go then... they did great but didn't hit the 20 mark.

 

The end of the night showcased some wonderful Native American dancing but they hurried up and we kinda ran to the car because a big thunderstorm was heading in.
Can't wait to go again next year- we always have so much fun at this event!

movie in the park {Island Park}

Tonight was the first movie in the park of the summer- they showed The Lorax.

 

we are so grateful the Fargo Parks and Rec does this every year- free popcorn, pop, and an outdoor movie- it's so fun for the kids!

trying to take a picture of the "super moon"

 

 

 

 

 

 

why did a second bright circle keep showing up?? anyone know?

super day!

today was pretty super... an awesome garage sale find for MB(it's full of dance attire!!)
luckily she had just enough birthday money left to buy it!

and tonight was the super moon!!!
which is very hard to photograph for some reason but I gave it my best shot!

Release the butterlies!

We had nurtured these little guys since they arrived as tiny caterpillars...
but the day had come... they had to be set free.

We were so sad to see them go but it's always fun to release them and see what they do. 

One last look and a pep talk.

They were really hoping that some of them would stick around our yard for awhile so we could watch them(that's happened before) but we couldn't have anticipated the joy that was about to occur.

 

A couple of them stayed on us and on the flowers we were by for a long time!
The kids were so happy and thankful for the extra time they got with their butterflies.

 

kisses!

 

 

 

 

 

A farewell belly tickle for Mary Beth.

 

They didn't seem to want to leave!  I think they loved us... :)
We order caterpillars every year and it's always exciting, magical, and educational.
It has definitely become a spring tradition for us and we look forward to doing it for many, many more years to come.  Who knows?  Maybe next year their new baby sister will be holding a butterfly in her hand too!  We keep talking about all the things we are going to do with her and we look forward to adding many new traditions as well!