So Thankful

Liam is doing a skating camp with two coaches who train the WILD players.  He is doing it with his buddies, Adam (left) and Aiden (right)

Aiden and his buddy, Callen, after their 3rd place win

Nice work Aiden!

Liam and Luke at Liam's AAA tournament with a 3rd place win!

Happy Birthday party supplies

Luke on the ice

Fun day at the manmade beach with friends

Liam's 3rd place win

All of us!

Way to go Boys!  This is Liam's team with 3rd place.

Liam's 2008 AAA Euro Blue hockey team

BIG NEWS!!!  Aiden learned to ride a bike.  After much apprehension and then no desire to try, he finally did it!

Mom's birthday at the pool!

A few mom friends joined me to celebrate

Our last few weeks have been busy and fun and I am so thankful we have had a great summer.  We have so much to be thankful for in the friends that we have and the opportunities the boys have to do fun things.  They are living the life this summer, that's for sure!

I celebrated yet another birthday last week and enjoyed a full day of no other activities and spent the day with friends at the pool.  Granted, we had 15 kids in tow, but they all played well and we had a great day in the sun.  We managed to have my favorite weather with heat and humidity which doesn't happen often in Minnesota.  I am sure if I still lived in Arkansas, I would not enjoy the heat and humidity nearly so much.

We have had three hockey tournaments since my last post and this has managed to keep me quite busy on the weekends.  Tournament #1 was for Liam's AAA summer hockey team.  Luke was able to sub as a skater (not goalie) for the team and loved getting the opportunity to skate at a high level.  He has lost some speed after being a goalie for a year, but he still managed to score three goals and played awesome defense.  Liam also had some very good games and scored three or more goals over the weekend.  He is still super fast and can beat just about anyone down the ice.  Liam's team came in 3rd place for their tournament and played so well as a team.

Tournaments #2 and #3 were the following weekend after Liam's.  Aiden was asked to sub for a team because a few players were either out of town, sick, or had other commitments.  He played with a couple buddies and also did well.  His team came in third place.  And finally, Luke's team didn't have a stellar weekend in tournament #3.  From the start, the team didn't play their best.  We are chalking it up to 10 year old hockey!  Sometimes they come out and play well and other times they don't, but we learned from the games and hope to do better next time around.

Lastly, Aiden finally learned to ride a bike!!  This has been an ongoing process (and dilemma) for us. Aiden simply didn't have any interest in learning to ride.  We finally convinced him to give it another try and he was riding within 10 minutes and now he loves it.  Next on the list is a new bike for Liam so Aiden can use Liam's bike!

I read this statistic in a hockey magazine and thought it was interesting especially since every weekend in August we have a hockey tournament for at least one of the boys (if not more than one).  I am not suggesting we will have college or even high school hockey players, but hockey is definitely a big sport in Minnesota.

This past year alone, the State of Hockey produced:

• 18,839 8U players (a new state and national record)
• 419 NCAA Division I and Division III men’s players
• 486 NCAA Division I and Division III women’s players
• 57 NHL players
• 9 U.S. Olympians (including 7 gold-medal winners on the women’s team)

Finn's 5th Birthday Celebration and Camp

The jumping house in the background and Liam, Finn, and Jack playing at the table.

Finn went on a fishing date on his own with Daddy while his brothers were at camp and Aiden and I hung out at home.

Arghh Matey!!  Finn and his Godfather, Kevin

Luke and Liam's cabin at camp!  This is the only update we have gotten in a week.

Finn and his buddies

Finn and his very dear friend, Erik

Finn's gift from another good friend of his, Madeline (pictured is Madeline's mom)

Pirate costume from Finn's godparents

Enjoying his cake

Yum!

Getting ready to depart on the bus for camp

Aiden at VBS with his buddy, Ellis

Three sets of Twins heading to camp!

See you in a week!

Finn and his pirate camp

We have had so many fun things since my last post that I could probably break this up into three separate posts, but I will do my best to summarize the highlights.

Finn celebrated his 5th birthday.  Yes, his actual birthday is on the 29th of July, but we celebrated a few days early because his brothers were heading to camp (more on that).  Finn wanted a "Pirate Party" so we bought a few inflatable pirate swords, some eyepatches, and pirate decor.  We rented a bounce house with water and John smoked several pounds of pork for our BBQ.  Finn loved it and had such an awesome time.  He enjoyed his friends, the attention, the gifts, his pirate cake, etc....

Luke and Liam left for camp on Monday after Finn's party on Saturday night.  This was their first overnight week long camp.  I don't have details yet on what they thought because we will be picking them up this weekend.  They went to Covenant Pines Bible camp about 2.5 hours north of the Twin Cities.  About 15 of their friends also attended camp so I would imagine it was WAY too much fun!!

Aiden attended VBS at our church this week with several of his buddies from school.  He, too, had a great week and it was a good distraction while his brothers were away at camp.

Overall, it has been an easier week in terms of laundry and cooking and other things around the house.  But, I know we are all four very excited to pick up Luke and Liam from camp and hear how their week was.  

Soccer and Golf

A beautiful evening at the golf course

Finn's first soccer practice and first team sport

Last morning tee time for Luke and Liam

Our basketball goal is finally in the installation process!  Mimi bought us a goal over Christmas, but it has taken awhile for it to arrive.  The cement should be strong enough on Friday to put up the hoop!!

We have enjoyed some different sports over the summer and its been a nice break from hockey.  Luke and Liam have golf lessons on Wednesday afternoons and a tee time every Thursday morning since school let out.  They have really enjoyed the golf lessons and have learned a lot.  As part of their class, they were able to play the big championship course one evening for free.  We put together a foursome and they played 9 holes.  It took about 3.5 hours so its a good thing we didn't plan to do 18 holes!

Aiden is also doing lessons and a tee time with his buddies.  He has lessons on Tuesday mornings and a tee time on Thursday afternoon. He is still doing his lessons so I need to get a few pictures.  It a bit less organized with five eight year olds trying to keep track of their golf score.

Lastly, the highlight of Finn's week was beginning his summer soccer.  He is playing on a very recreational league that all three of his older brothers have done.  Its very inexpensive and only two evenings per week.  He loved his first practice and was by far one of the biggest and more aggressive kids out there despite being the youngest on his team.  Should be fun to watch this season!  Aiden is also playing soccer with some of his buddies.  I didn't make it over to watch much of his practice on the first night, but he enjoyed it as well.  

Fun Times in Colorado

Colorado River

Getting ready to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain in Vail

The views were amazing

Bike ride for John and I

Fly Fishing with Grandpa

Celebrating Grandpa's 75th Birthday

Checking out Golden, CO on our way to Vail

Sweet Baby Graham

Finn

The big boys

Grandpa and his grandsons

Checking out the views

Chasing Chipmunks with Calvin

Skating outside in the summer at Beaver Creek

Liam fly fishing

White Water Rafting with our amazing guide, Cash.  Jane took this cool picture from the bridge above where she biked down to watch us float up the river

So fun!

Aiden left for camp the day after we returned from Colorado.  He loved it and can't wait to go back!!

We spent the 4th of July week right outside Vail in Avon, Colorado and had a wonderful time.  My dad rented a condo for the entire month of July so we drove out for a week and met my sister and her family there.  The boys had a wonderful time with their cousin, Calvin, and enjoyed holding their baby cousin, Graham.   We exhausted Ms. Jane and Grandpa with many games of Old Maid, Chase the Ace, and Murder in the Dark.

Despite a burn warning in Colorado, the weather was gorgeous with cool mornings and evenings and warm sunny days.  We did many things for the first time like white water rafting and fly fishing.  We rode a gondola to the top of one of the mountains in Vail and did a little hiking before stopping for lunch and riding the gondola back down.  John and I were able to enjoy a solo bike ride through Vail similar to what we did virtually every weekend pre kids!

The boys LOVED Colorado and we all enjoyed doing some different activities and spending some time together in a beautiful area.