Hockey hair don't care…

So… I never played hockey. Up until recently I didn't know there was such a thing as 'hockey hair'. Best as I can tell that means long, but not too long, hair that is purposefully kept somewhat… unkept. 

Below we have the before and after hockey pictures.  The first is from Mathias' first day of 2nd grade. The second is from the first day of 3rd grade after a full year, including the summer, of ice time.

What a difference a year makes… 

The party

Johan and a half dozen of his friends celebrated his birthday at the pool at the local hotel today.

Being a Sunday afternoon in a small town hotel there was nobody else using the pool. So the birthday partiers had the whole place to themselves.  We partied hard for 3 hours and everyone was on their best behavior. Afterwards, dad took a couple of aspirins and a nap. 

Johan - 7!

Not only did Johan roll into first grade yesterday… But today he also turned 7!

It is the year, 2015 and the Minions are all the rage with the elementary school set.  It seems that both Angry Birds and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are on the downslope. 

True to form, Johan brought minion cup cakes to school this morning. He also got a couple of minion toys as presents - but not the minion fartgun he has been saving up for. He'll have to keep saving for that. 

He also got is very own fishing rod and a sleeping bag. Looks like there will be fall camping coming down the pike! 

It is amazing how quickly the year slipped by. It seems like just yesterday he started kindergarten and turned 6!  The big pool party to celebrate the birthday is Sunday!  

Finally summer: let's...

oh, wait… it's time to go back to school!

Yes, summer is done and I think even though they wouldn't say so both boys are ready to head back to school again. They had the opportunity to meet their teachers last week.  So there are no surprises there. After the first day they both came home excited about the upcoming year.  That's a good start!  First and third grade; here we go!  

Finally summer: let's camp

This summer we have taken a couple of camping trips. One of the 'car camping' kind where you can bring with you some of life's necessities - like a cast iron pan for making pancakes for breakfast. And chairs to sit on. And a  big tent. And bikes for getting around. And a cooler full of stuff to eat and drink. That's a rather comfy way to camp.

We have also taken what we termed the 'starter backpacking trip' we hiked a mile or so to a camp ground - far enough that nobody wanted to make a second run back to the car to bring anything. So it was one trip with all you can carry in a backpack. The boys pretty much carried toys in their backpacks… For this trip we also used or very small 3-person tent and it was the hottest day/night of the summer.  That makes one appreciate AC!