Yoga Weekend & More!

on saturday, slade took the kids to the state fair. i went to a yoga retreat thru the school, Lake Country School in Minneapolis, yet another Montessori school we have been at.















Here are the kids with some of their winnings. Slade seemed to be amazed by Cody's ability to win ever game he played. I guess there are a lot more stuffed animals around the house then I have seen!



Here are some pics from the yoga weekend I went on. It is an event called a "Great Gathering." This is a fundraiser/community building event from LCS - families come up with event ideas and donate them. Some people have parties at their house, this one was a weekend at our Land School (the farm component to our Monteesor school) to do yoga, women only.

I remember being the last person to sign up for it. There was a limited number of slots 10 or 12? It was really fun to get to know old friends and new. The yoga was great. But taking the time just for me was the best.

I started going to a personal trainer two weeks ago and knew that I needed to add yoga back into the routine. The three hours spent on yoga were perfect to remember what I love about doing yoga, and actually remembering the moves without looking at the teacher. I still won't try head stands. Or rolling on your back to sit up. My back does not want to do those things.

But I have put it on my calendar to do yoga with Michelle this Thursday. That is the instructor who presented the weekend and who many folks go to. One thing I really liked about the yoga sessions at the LS was doing it with folks that I know and like. It was almost easier to get into my poses, knowing what support each of the women in the room would give any of us. Needless t say, it makes one want to do more yoga.

Here we are sitting outside after doing two hours of yoga. Some of us had changed and we were all drinking wine and eating yummy cheese and olive bread, and something with a yummy fig jam.












At some point five of us went to pick corn for dinner.









We then had a wonderful dinner outside. It was one of those perfect weather, perfect food. And a family from the school stoped by that was spending the night in a cabin of some sorts and then doing work at the farm the next day, we invited them to stay for dinner and it was a really wonderful meal and great conversation.



Here we are this morning doing a one hour session, after having coffee and breafast - even with the food and drink I could of gone for the second hour.



Here is how Bryan, Issiah & Rena spent the hour of yoga this morning (Nadine who did yoga with us along with Bryan and kids lives at the LS year-round). Rena was a few weeks old when Cody did his residency at the LS this past spring. Graham will do his after the Odyssey trip NEXT WEEK.



Tomorrow is Cody's first day of high school. Graham goes to school on Thursday and Friday this week for orientation to their trip to Mississippi for two weeks. They will study marine biology. Since Cody is gong to a christian high school, his first day tomorrow is a retreat for 9th graders. It is 9am - 7:30pm. Seems like a good way to get to know some folks. Cody is very excited about starting. He did drivers ed this past June and got to know mostly juniors and seniors, then he started soccer two weeks ago and has met a ton of freshman.

Summer is almost over!

Once back from the lake house (August 6) we have been wanting water. Not just the lake that is 15 minutes away, but right in the yard water. So, we went to Target and bought an on-sale pool. It is the biggest pool we have ever had. It has a pump/filter and a cover. I had to put our step ladder out there so the boys can climb in and out. Cody and Graham have no interest in it, but for Seby, Zane and I it is wonderful. Slade sits on the lawn chair and reads while we "swim."



Cody and Graham were at a sleepover last Firday night and we decided to walk to a favorite new restaurant find - Christos (Wes, remember going here when you visited?). When we first went here, the week of the robbery for the boys, we wanted to walk but didn't feel comfortable. This time we felt safer going. Zane and Seby love to dress up for occasions, tonight Zane picked quite the ensemble - shorts, button-down, tie, boots! And Seby with his shorts, button-down, tie, and blazer looks awesome with his favorite small bear - named Bearie Junior (after a larger bear named Bearie of course).



Last weekend we did our first bike ride to Lake Calhoun. It is about a 15-20 minute bike ride, just enough to break a sweat, but not get you out of breath. We had lunch at a great "restaurant" on the lake. It was actually really good food. And made in a healthy way, even better. Slade and I each got a fish sandwich and the boys got the chicken strips. The chicken strips were homemade and very good. Cody and Graham were still at their friend's house from the sleepover - otherwise we would have pics of them too.



After our lunch we went to the beach. Seby & Zane played while Slade and I sat and watched. Then off we went to ride home. I think we bought the pool that afternoon.



This past Friday we went to a "Great Gathering" for our Montessori school. They have these events called Great Gatherings that are a fundraiser and a community building in one. At the last school auction you could sign up for different events. This one was a Beatlesfest. Parent Paul Umbarger and his wife Caren put on this great event. Paul's band plays only Beatles music and provide desserts and drinks. It was awesome. Our kids all love the Beatles and have listened to the music for years. It was pretty to watch Seby & Zane sing and dance along. Here Zane is resting before spending most of the evening running to the front of the yard and back to us. He went to sleep in the car on the way home!

Dean, stay away from my sister!

Hurricane Dean is heading right to my sister (and hubby Jamie, kids Jesse, Pike, Sissy & Ellen).
They are in PaaMul (south of Cancun).
They are heading to Cancun right now. I guess that is because there just isn't enough time to get off the Yucatan. They say there are some concrete structures that they can get to. You can keep tuned in to her story at her blog: www.hopalog.com
My sister bought a palapa (which is a shelter you can pull an RV up to). They have been working on said palapa, fixing previous hurricane damage - so it is very clear why they need to get out of there!

I will add some photos to distract myself.

shit shit shit

so tonight i'm sitting on the couch that is on the 2nd floor back porch. i'm on the laptop doing i don't even remember what. then i see two guys walking thru the yard! now it is 1am, and we have a locked gate that they had to jump. so i grab the phone and call 911, while i'm on the phone with them i see them jump the fence in the back. it totally freeked me out and i'm so glad that i had the outside house lights on AND that the alarm is set. slade just happens to be away in new york. then, i go to bed and start to open this blog and the FUCKING phone rings. scares me that it is the alarm company saying they are getting an alarm signal (it has happened before). it is the cops. they just caught two guys two blocks away that fit the exact description i gave them. i could come down and make a citizens arrest for trespassing. slade isn't home, i can't leave the kids and do this. last week i had to call 911 for hearing and then SEEING gun shots in the alley. i couldn't wake up cody (and graham would wake up too) and tell them this. they would be freaked the whole time i was gone. i would be freaked going to the car and driving to and from there. ugh. i know some of you think we should move from this neighborhood, but the more this happens the more it makes me want to stay. some sickness i have, but it's my neighborhood too. i love the diversity of the folks that live in our hood. sadly it makes me feel privliged to have only these violent experiences in our lives. when i think of what goes on in other countries, how some families have to live with extreme violence and death. too much cnn. i wish i could of done my civic duty, but i was too scared. just more reasons to get more involved in the police and their efforts in our hood! once school starts i'll figure out where i could get involved. i'm calmer now and can go to bed.

Melnarik Week

We had a great week having my sister, Christina, hubby Chet and girls Catie & Becky out. There wasn't that much trampoline time - but lots of water/dock sitting. It was great to fine-tune the art of doing as little as possible.

Here is our lovely pet eagle. It is always such a joy to watch the eagle up at the lake. I've never seen more than one at a time, but we have seen a couple nests. This afternoon we got a great show of this one flying around. It kept sweeping up and down the shoreline going down for fish. It was awesome.



With Slade taking off all the previous week for his family to come out he went back to Minneapolis for three days of work before getting back for a a four day weekend. Here is Seby loving up his Uncle Chet. He was really missing his daddy and loved having another daddy around to cuddle with.



Here we are calling Slade to see when he might arrive. Everyone just had to say hello to him on speakerphone.



Sadly in Minneapolis this evening was when the bridge collapse happened. Luckily it wasn't a route that Slade, Cody & friend Ryan had to take to get to the lake. They actually were all on 94 crossing the river south of this collapse. Slade called me right away when he heard to radio news coverage. I was able to use the handy-dandy internet on my treo to google what had happened.

Here is Zane sitting in a "new" club house off the deck. Seby overheard us talking about this place and chirps in "that is where Liam and I pee." Yikes. A new club house no more!



Here are Catie & Zane playing a "dinosaur" game in the water. We have a bag of plastic dinosaurs and they played a game of hiding them in the water and then finding them. They kept a count of how many they had and did an amazing job of finding all of the them.





I bought two mermaid toys at our church's holiday fair last year. I intended to mail them to the girls for christmas, but never did. Luckily I brought them to the lake and gave them now. The girls had a great time playing with them. Ironically they weren't a water toy, but they visited the water with Becky here on the dock.



Seby & Graham had a great time playing an underwater game at the lake this afternoon. They would go underwater and speak, trying to figure out what the other person was saying.




We gave Seby some Astrix books for his birthday and everyone got into reading them. Here is Zane reading one. He hadn't been interested in reading them before - but this trip he really got into reading them. Slade grew up reading these books and loves reading them to the boys - thank goodness because I can't stand reading them.



Seby is playing with his new helicopter he got from his b-day. GrandAnn had given him a fancy "shooter" fishing pole that broke quickly. We returned it to Target and he picked this helicopter instead. Luckily this hasn't broken at all.


Here is Slade pulling Catie, Becky & Chet on the tube. Catie was in command of how fast the boat went, needless to say it was a slow tubing ride.



Zane was able to get Auntie Chris to tell him lots of made up stories during our week.



Minnow catching was a big hit with the kids. Here is Seby holding one of his finds.





More Astrix reading.



Seby enjoying Astix while warming in the sun after a swim.



A favorite of Slade "rock fishing" - here he and Chet clear more rocks from our swimming area. It sure is nice to go out in the water and not trip on rocks. Just the soft sand. Thank you rock fishers!



I just had to document my new usage of having the internet on my treo. I was reading a book review from the New York Times and just had to order it. I think Alex is right that it goes against my rules of no electronics up at the lake. We will have to figure out if we really need to have the availability to it while up there. It sure came in handy when we were trying to learn about the Minneapolis bridge collapse.



Here Catie, Seby & Zane are comparing favorite rocks that they have found.


Christina cleaning up the bathroom they used while up at the lake. She did a more detailed job that it has seen. Thank you!!



More Astrix reading



This is really the best picuture I have of our group pic. Maybe Chrissy has a better one?



Chet started to grow some long sideburns while here and Slade was joking about he is getting ready to buy a big motorcycle - here they are all "riding" their big hogs!



Mei Mei and Puppy Puppy (Catie was calling me Mei Mei - which is chinese for little sister and I was calling her my puppy puppy)



Chet, someone was looking for you and Chrissy after you left.



These are the only pics I have of Ryan being up at the lake.





Zane on the boat while we tube Cody & Ryan.