Mom's birthday present

Way back in May,

in lieu of gifts,

Mom asked for some home projects 

to be completed instead.

Well, now's as good a time as any!

First up,

the hearth room fireplace.

It's nice and all,

but as Dad pointed out,

all the tile in our house is the same

(fireplaces, kitchen backsplash,

bathrooms...)

So we headed to Lowe's

and got to work

The demo was pretty easy,

except that Dad

had to replace some of the boards

because there were big gaps

Ready for tile!

8 hours later...

walah! 

Turned out pretty good, huh?

Reading minutes

With the start of school,

we're trying to get back into the habit

of reading at bedtime.

All the snuggling makes it

a bit easier to enjoy.

10 years already???

Mom celebrated 10 years

at Children's Mercy this month.

Wow.

That's a lotta time.

Wonder if she'll be one of those

40 year people some day?

Just a little more lake time

Having Grandma and Papa Kim down

this weekend

has been awesome.

We've had lots of snuggling time

We've also been playing a lot of games

which has freed up Mom and Dad

to get other things done

We've done a lot of boating too!

We busted out Jerry today

Man, we love this thing.

Great for wrestling

or just relaxing

There's been a lot of relaxing

this weekend

chatting

and lounging

We've done some fishing too!

We caught a little shad

when it jumped in the boat.

Dad put it on a hook

and then we caught a white bass!

Sadly, it broke the line

before we grabbed a picture

No matter.

The-one-that-got-away

can't spoil this great day!

Not even a pee break

can stop our fun

We got out the new tube again today

No worries.

I may not be on it,

but I had an important job to do

all the same!

Now they're just showing off

All this fun

is exhausting

But being sleepy

leads to snuggles

and more snuggles

is always a good thing

We topped off the weekend

with a trip to the

St. Clair County

Saddle Club Rodeo

Grandma had never been to a rodeo!

It was a nice night for one

With a lot of good company

There were broncs

and bulls

and clowns and barrel racing

and all the good stuff

that comes with a rodeo

That kinda describes the weekend--

filled with all the good stuff

that comes with the Cabin.

It was a perfect end

to an awesome lake season!

Labor day with the whole fam

We had Grandma Phyllis and Papa Kim

down to the lake for the first time

this year, just in time

to wrap up the summer.

There were lots of things to do

around the cabin--

the toolhouse, 4-wheelers,

games and puzzles--

but we were really excited

to show them our new boat

I promise we were excited.

We are also a bit tired from starting school

and just being 3

We did some riding and relaxing

and a lot of swimming

A LOT

still swimming

you get the picture

I did some surfing

So did Mom--

she even rode the wave

without the rope

for a few seconds

Dad, as usual,

made it look easy

I did a lot of driving too,

with Mom's help

Dad got to sit back

and ride for once

Hope you trust your captains!

It's always fun to get a picture

of the boat crews:

So THAT'S what we look like!

Did I mention

Ranger was there too?

We got to celebrate Grandma's birthday

with a whole lotta ice cream

and chocolate shell

And I taught everyone how to play

Exploding Kittens.

The game got pretty intense.

All that boating time and bonding time

made for a heck of a day.