The Unofficial end of summer...

Labor Day always signaled the end of summer for me-when I was a student, it meant school started the very next day, and when I was working outside the home as a teacher, it also meant school started the very next day. So, although the weather is still hot and sticky, my mind is telling me that summer is unfortunately over. We wrapped up our summer with a long weekend up at the lake.

Our weekend started out with a bang...literally...My poor Mom broke her nose not more than an hour after arriving at the lake. For several hours after her accident we all debated on the status of her nose-was it really crooked, was it just the swelling, etc. She finally decided that the only way to know for sure, was to head to the hospital for an x-ray. So, off my parents went to the hospital and my mom even had a smile on her face. They were gone quite a while, I was in a goofy mood, and to be honest, we really didn't think she had a broken nose, so Jeff, Graham and I headed off buy a "Get Well" balloon and chocolate...we had a special delivery to make! I wasn't sure the hospital staff would allow us into the emergency room, but sure enough, hospitals in small town America are VERY lenient with their rules! My mom was very surprised to see Graham peek around her curtain and it definitely put a smile on her face! She needed to be cheered up because shortly after we took this picture, she learned the fate of her poor nose....broken!

Graham and his Grandma in the Spooner Emergency Room

My mom is quite the tough lady, and despite her nose issue, we went on with the rest of our weekend as planned. On Saturday morning we took Graham to the farmers market. He was very interested in these beautiful gladiolas!


We then wandered through some of the cute shops that Spooner has to offer. Graham thought this teddy bear hat was pretty funny when I tried it on him. In fact, he growled at it (communicating with the bear I guess) when I took it off!

When we're away from home, Graham doesn't sleep. He LOVES his crib at home and despises any other sleeping arrangement. He falls asleep easily in his pack-n-play while we're up at the lake, but he always wakes up exactly three hours later and REFUSES to go back to sleep. This makes for some very long nights as Graham insists on "sleeping" between Jeff and I. As a result of Graham's sleepless Saturday night, he enjoyed some quiet time on Sunday morning.

After Graham's morning rest, he found this hat on a stuffed animal and thought it was hilarious! He ran all around the house laughing and screaming with glee at the top of his lungs!


Since our last trip to Duluth was a complete wash-out with rain and temperatures in the 50's in mid-July, we thought we'd try it again this weekend. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for a day to explore the shores of Lake Superior!

Throwing rocks into the lake

The view is much better from Daddy's shoulders


Graham really didn't want to be posing for pictures at this point-there were too many rocks to throw and boats to watch!

Here is a cute video of Graham experiencing the frigid water!