Vacation!

The first week in August, we took a Minnesota vacation. For the first two nights, the four of us camped for at Bearhead Lake State Park, near the Boundary Waters. Aside from a terrific thunderstorm during our first night in the tents, the weather was beautiful!

The boys swam, fished, had lots of fun watching two snapping turtles swim around the dock. We canoed in a couple of different lakes and saw otters, a beaver lodge, a golden eagle and a bald eagle!

We visited the International Bear Center in Ely and met Aunt Debbie and Grandma and Grandpa Cook there. From there, we drove to Lutsen and spent four nights in a townhouse. During the days we explored the North Shore: Grand Marais, Temperance River State Park, Cascade River State Park, hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail.

The boys swam in the pool every day. They swam in the freezing waters of Lake Superior as well as wading/swimming in the rivers.

As you'll see from one of the photos, Jonah discovered cliff-diving and spent part of an afternoon jumping off a high rock into a deep pool into the Temperance River.

Some of us (Debbie, my Dad, Jonah, and I) rode the mountain tram up a ski hill. My 73-year old Dad was the most gung-ho hiker of the group, outpaced only by Jonah! Dad was always willing to go on the most difficult trails and actually pushed to go on a much longer hike than we had time for!

We took turns cooking supper in the evenings and celebrated Toby's 8th birthday on vacation!

Time spent relaxing, with family, and in nature was the perfect way to refresh and renew! We thoroughly enjoyed our family vacation!

Happy Birthday, Toby!

Toby, eight years ago today we were meeting you for the first time and just beginning this journey of getting to know the wonderful sweet son that you are!

What an eventful year this has been: you learned to swim and ride a bike. You mastered cross-country skiing and love sledding and tubing. You have discovered a passion for origami and love to create cranes, ducks, dogs, etc., as well as teaching others (namely me!) to do origami. You still love your "guys": your extensive collection of stuffed animals that continues to grow. Your newest passion is Pokemon: the cards, the DS game . . . it is all above our heads and although you talk about Pokemon incessantly, Dad and I don't understand a word of it!

You are, as always, my sweet extravert. You love to cuddle and be with people; you are sensitive and thoughtful and you love to share your thoughts and experiences. You take pride in following rules and you get frustrated when someone does not do what's expected. You love to know how things work and ask lots of questions, especially when you do not understand something. Cooking and baking are still interests of yours and I love your help in the kitchen.

You have a great group of friends and your friends' parents often tell us how well you play together. Jonah has become your best buddy this year and it is wonderful to watch the two of you together.

You had an incredible team of teachers this year for second grade: your beloved Ms. Heidi for most of the day and Mr. Templeton for reading and math. Your love and respect for these giants in your life led you to work hard, challenge yourself, and make incredible gains in school! More importantly than the hard reading, writing, and math you've done this year, you've gained an enormous self-confidence and a strong problem-solving skill set that will remain with you throughout your life.

Your face does not always reflect what's going on inside your head; your teachers tell me that you're often very stoic in classroom activities, when in fact you come home and tell me how exciting that very activity was and what you learned and loved about it.

We have been slowly realizing this year how much anxiety lives inside you. You don't always let on when you're feeling worried, and you've talked yourself over a few worries recently (biking over the Osseo Road bridge, canoeing, swimming in deep water, water slides). I promise I will always keep an eye out for signs that you're feeling anxious and try to help you work through your worries.

Today is the day you have decided to give up thumb-sucking. It will be challenging, I am sure, but I know that you have an iron will and you can do this!

Happy 8th Birthday, Little Guy! I love you!

Mom