J went to a birthday party...

Not to be outdone in the birthday department, Johan got to go to a birthday party at the Edina Aquatic Center with great friends Landon (the birthday boy) and Taylor. Johan had a great time on the water slides although the surfing simulator was a little bit harsh on him.  Oh, and dad got severely sunburned…
The kids are setting a high standard for birthday parties nowadays.

M went to a birthday party...

Mathias had the privilege of going to a birthday party at a friend's house.  It was set up as a 'inflatables' party. And that was no lie.  No doubt the kids had a great time.  It seems the standard for birthday parties are going up...

New pads

Now that he has started part-time goalie-ing we'll call him Mathias Hilmer Tretiak! Tretiak, incidentally, worked for the Blackhawks. So there's another thing they have in common! 

Summer vacation in Bemidji - swimming

In between Swedish camp and fishing, the boys spent a lot of time splashing in the lake. Mathias was especially fond of a giant inflatable ball that one - with sufficient arm strength - could climb up on; just so you could slip and fall back into the water...we also rented a Jet Ski for an afternoon and towed a tube around the lake, which put a lot if smiles on faces! 

Summer vacation in Bemidji - fishing

Most of the evenings were spent in pursuit of a fish or two. Mathias caught his first ever walleye and a couple of nice bass. The boys also caught loads of sunnies of various sizes.  Dad spent most of his time keeping the boys fishing an was (almost) skunked. At least there is no picture evidence of me catching anything...

Summer vacation in Bemidji

We spent a lovely week in Bemidji on Turtle Lake. We stayed in a slightly odd shaped cabin with a terrific view of the lake. On the weekdays the boys headed to Swedish camp at the Concordia Language Village where they swam and played with some Swedish instruction sprinkled in. While the boys were at camp mom and dad tried to do as little as possible! 

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