American Heritage Girls

Elyana really wants to earn an Outdoor Cooking Badge. She has to earn a Fire Safety Badge first. Since the girls missed their summer camp this summer, we are trying to have an occasional backyard fire pit fire and work on some of these things.  I need some kind of a contraption for us to boil and cook some Raman noodles over the fire.  I am still trying to talk Nate into letting me build a neat fire pit with benches in our backyard.  I have the plans all drawn up and believe I can do it in a weekend...

First days of 4th and 7th Grade!

Here starts another school year! I can't believe how fast they are growing up, especially Mikayla.  We didn't get a lot of photos of Mikayla this year. I blame the crazy early mornings. I am not a morning person and the 6:30 alarm is still an adjustment.  Who can fully function when it's still dark outside?!

Elyana lucked out this year. Her favorite teacher from 2nd grade moved to her new school and is her new 4th grade teacher!  I feel like she is in safe and caring hands.  Her teacher adores her!  I am still getting used to the zillions of teachers Mikayla has. Even trying to figure out where they post their assignments online and what/when assignments are due can be a battle.

Just got her hair cut for school ID picture day/schedule pick-up

Waiting for the school bus with Daddy!

I went for a bike ride and met Elyana at school to make sure she found her teacher okay. She was just fine!

Art

I have had the opportunity to take a few evening classes at Canvas and Chardonnay downtown. I learn new techniques each time I go and have a blast.  I am trying to schedule a class every few months. 

I had a great time painting with Jen and Sarah!

I did this one on my own for the girls' bathroom. It was inspired after our first trip to Florida this summer.

This is one of my favorites I've ever painted!




I painted this one with Jen Pauley on her birthday!

Last Days of Summer

Our last few weeks of summer was spent trying to cram lots of things into our days that we hadn't gotten to yet.  We had a lot of backyard pool days, we went to a public pool, and some of the girls' favorite parks.  At the Soldier's Field park, they have installed a giant checkers/chess board. I love this idea for a backyard!

 

Barbies

Often I begin to clean up in the evenings and find the Barbies in some interesting ways. I would love to know what the kids were pretending in some of these!

Time for a picnic on Ken?

Someone told me that this photo reminds them of their college days in the dorms.

Barbie sits alone in a glass house!

This is an older photo from our previous house. I believe the kids said this was a Lord of the Rings reenactment where they were all traveling. I just want to know what the guys are doing in the back there?

The Girls' Creativity

The girls have an enormous imagination and come up with crafty ideas. This summer we often would make mini doll furniture.

These spools of thread and large bead make a nice lamp.

A bookshelf and a vanity/cabinet.

  

Some foam board, wooden hearts, foam, and lace make a nice cradle.

A sofa and lamp (beading/earring materials). I love the sofa legs that are beads.

This is what happens when your sister is into recycling and makes you a complete outfit!

 



Elyana needed a bookmark and grabbed what was nearby--a yard stick.

 

Chloe's Birthday Party

The girls and I actually threw a party for my mom's dog, Chloe.  We found a giant Happy Birthday dog bone, a dog scarf, and a squeaky toy on clearance for a total of $5!  She loved all her presents!

 

 

The Olmsted County Fair

We haven't been to the local fair in years and decided to check it out this year. We had such a fun day. The weather wasn't too warm either. The only annoying thing was they were giving helicopter rides at the fair and once in awhile, the wind/dust was intense.

Mom petting the Clydesdale Horses.



Mikayla and Elyana got to ride a horse backwards!

And forwards.

  

Baby animals!

 


Mikayla in a giant ball!

 

 

 

Bunge Trampoline Jumping

  

When the girls got off of this ride, they realized they forgot their seatbelts. Elyana was on top of Mikayla!

 

My view on top of the Farris Wheel!

  

Clearwater, Florida!!!!

The girls have wanted to go to Clearwater for a while to visit the dolphin, Winter, from the movie, Dolphin Tale. Mikayla is still interested in marine biology so a visit to an aquarium there was also a bonus!  We used my mom's timeshare and got a condominium in Indian Shores, FL. We were snug between the bay and the beach. We island hoped each day on new adventures.  We all wished we could have stayed longer as there were still things that we wanted to see.

The girls playing barbies on the plane to Tampa Bay, Florida.

The even thought the airport shuttle train was fun!

Our place is the building in between the umbrellas. We rented one of the umbrellas for a day.

 

A baby pelican landed on our beach one day.

 

The girls and my mom riding the waves.

 

Relaxing under the umbrella.

 

 

The girls walking the beach at sunset before bed.

What seaweed looks like before it dies (I think).

This is a Blue Button Jellyfish. Mikayla was eager to research some information on it!



Pretty flowers that grew on the beach.



The condo pool that we spent almost more time in than the beach!

Cute little lizards would scurry around the pool area.

A very impressive sand castle Elyana and I built together.

We had quite the path to dig for water to fill the mote...



Pirate Cruise! We weren't too thrilled with this. It was a very hot day and there was not a lot of shelter from the sun nor wind to cool us down this day. Mikayla was also a bit too old for the activities.  I did have fun with the water gun fight though!



Roasting in the sun waiting to board.



Love this sign!

Limbo!



 

Found these on the beach one day and Mikayla knew what they were...moon jellyfish. I thought they looked like breast implants. They were not harmful. A little girl was playing with them, trying to skip them in the ocean like flat stones...



Feeling Winter's prosthetic tail at the Clearwater Aquarium!

Dolphin showing us his tricks.









We got really splashed!





This is the type of bridge that you can drive to each island over.








A few marine biologists took us out on a boat ride to do their daily specimen catch.

The girls got to collect shells while the biologist tallied.

 

 

Time to experience a real hurricane!

It's getting windy.

 

Winter's home.

This is Hope, Winter's friend.




Rescued sea turtles

Rescued otters.



Souvenir



This is the girls on a snorkeling cruise!

Tortoises roam Egmont Island.

They used to keep prisoners on the island.

We explored the island and found a beautiful side!

 

We were excited that we found a manatee on this side of the island.

We met a family from England on the boat. The girls were about the same age!

One of the boat crew showed us how to feed sea birds Cheetos.

Going out to dinner.

Selfie!



We found an artsy store and I got some great ideas...

Lots of things I can do with extra shells!

 

Very easy to paint!

We loved seeing the different birds.

This church had a crucifix with Jesus handing dove down. I had to drive closer to it because at first I thought it was a fish he was throwing down. We all laughed at that.

 

We loved our evening beach walks. So relaxing and fun.



Fun writing our names in the sand!

 

 

 

I got pretty good this summer at learning to braid Mikayla's long hair. This is a combo of a French braid and a fish tail braid.

Breathtaking!

 

 

This is my favorite vacation photo! I have plans to paint it.

 

Can you tell I missed Nate?

 

Our flight waiting area had a kids play area.



The wings that brought us home. See the awesome bridge we flew over? Amazing that people built that!

Ready to come back home.