Laura Ingalls Wilder's Home!

Annie had been reading the Little House on the Prairie Books, so she really wanted to go see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home, which turned out to only be 20min. from the lake house.


The general store turned out to be the most fun. It was a hands on place, so the kids had a lot of fun!



Charlotta had just as much fun crawling all over as the rest had at the store...



Then we headed out to the original site of their dugout house and the kids got naked and actually swam in plumb creek.

Skylar was so interested in the place, that she came home and started reading the Little House on the Prairie Books-she just finished On The Banks of Plumb Creek!

James' Birthday!

As always, start the day off with doughnuts!

Then, it was off to Sioux Falls for some fun at Chucky Cheese!

Everyone got into playing the games!


Even Lotta had fun on the little car ride!

Charlotta cheering James on.

Then we headed back to the lake house for James' knight party!


Can you tell which brown-eye is which?


First up, sword play!

The Papa's enjoying the action.


"Mama, I have such a BIG sword..."


Kellen just fell in love with Maria and wanted to do everything with her. She even had to be the one to put him to bed at night (an honor bestowed on very few)!

Charlotta really wanted to get in on the action.

Next up, pinata!
Skylar, not so patiently waiting!

Pinata, pre-beating...


Post-beating...

Enjoying the spoils of the pinata.


Brother and sister love!

The whole crew.

Next up, cake and presents!


Of course, a queen must rule over her knights...

Girls day out!

After a couple of days playing in the lake, we decided that we needed a girls day out. We figured the boys didn't really want to come with to get their nails done or spend hours in the store, so we left them at the lake! It was quite an experience getting our nails done! The girls and I got seated right away and had a great time, Maria on the other hand waited and waited. A guy finally came in to help out and it turned out he was brand new and took twice as long to do everything. He asked her if she wanted decoration and she shouted, "No!" because she did not want to sit there for another hour (the guy and Maria also noticed the daggers I was throwing at him with my eyeballs!).

After a long while, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. Delicious!

I think that we were just a bit too successful with the shopping! Skylar and Annie got matching bags and hats, so now they can think of each other everyday as they go to school!

The Swedes have arrived!

The Swedes have arrived and we were immediately into the lake! The kids were instant friends even though they could not really talk to each other. It is funny how quickly kids can figure out how to communicate!

The Swedes are here!

I have no camera cord to upload my pictures, but Maria and Johan are very good at documenting everything! If you want to keep tabs on us, follow their blog for a few weeks!

http://www.swedishsweethearts.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

The annual Goslinga visit!

We have our good friends the Goslinga's up to the lake house once every summer and it is that time of year. We did a lot of boating, swimming and playing Kubb.

The Kubb pitch.

James and Papa against Micah and Dave.

Kellen watches from the sidelines.

Charlotta playing on the beach.

Brenne fishing on the dock.

Then it was time for a bit of reflection.


Kellen and his "wife." Kellen and Annika have a great time together and this year the older kids staged a wedding for the two of them, complete with kiss and everything (the adults were unaware of the "wedding").


Austen, Skylar and Annika spent a lot of time on the trampoline!

It was a wonderful weekend! Next up, the Swedes are coming!