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Making some changes.

2009 Year in Pictures

Spent most of today in my jammies working on this. I learned a few things while reviewing these pictures.

1. We did a lot this year.
2. My kids are getting big.
3. I need to take more pictures.
4. I will take more pictures with our new camera.
5. We are extremely lucky and grateful for a wonderful year.

You can see the new camera show up in the Thanksgiving pics. Total improvement from the iPhone! Looking forward to next year with better quality shots!

The music is "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks. Seemed ever so appropriate.

Weekend Vacation

This past weekend we took all three kids up to Lutsen. You can see some pictures here. Pat and I decided a few weeks ago that we should do some sort of family vacation before school starts. We knew a long weekend was our best option because of work schedules, and we knew this would be a car trip. Once flight is ruled out, I'm pretty much set on the North Shore.

I have a theory that because I grew up in Duluth, next to Lake Superior, I don't feel comfortable unless I have a body of water nearby. When I first moved to Minneapolis I would make fun of these people and their so-called lakes. I mean, c'mon - they are really more pond-like. Our house in South Minneapolis was very close to two of those ponds, and my apartments before that were also within walking distance of some really nice trails. Our current house is near water, but it's not immediately accessible - or at least I haven't found the path yet. Maybe that's why the Shore was calling my name. I needed to refuel and get my water time in.

I only got 2 and a half days on the Shore of my favorite Great Lake, but it was fabulous. The weather was perfect - sunny but still comfortable with a sweatshirt. (Chilly weather makes me so happy!) The kids tried very hard to put all the shoreline rocks back in the late. They tried from at least 4 different locations. Don't worry - they didn't succeed. Still plenty for everyone. We ate fantastic pizza at Sven and Ole's in Grand Marais, and we even worked in a few hikes.

We got home late Sunday after dealing with the traffic, but I felt great. I felt like I had spent some time with an old friend and we were all caught up. The kids are already talking about going back. Jake says next week. I'm thinking it will be next summer, but we definitely need to go back and spend time with a real lake.

Schedules

I haven't been writing here a lot lately because I spend most of my time on Facebook and Twitter. As we've all heard, there are a lot of channels out there to keep updated. I do like the fact that on FB and Twitter I know who is reading, and they are more apt to reply/engage in conversation. I only have a vague idea of who reads this blog - I can see how many visits I get from where in the world, but that's about it. Turns out, however, that there are a few people who actually enjoy reading my randomness. One of them even told my mom she misses my posts (Hi, Marsha!) - isn't that just the nicest?

So to re-introduce myself to my blog, it seems appropriate that I write about what's been keeping me from writing. Simply put: over-scheduled days. More specifically, the schedule we maintain for the kids. July was an absolutely crazy month with TBall Mondays and Wednesdays and then swimming Tuesdays and Thursday. We were all completely exhausted by Friday. We chose this sort of schedule knowing it was for only a month. Pat and I wanted Abby to try TBall and we wanted both of them to try a new swim school. We figured we could trade a crazy July for a calmer August. It worked out fine - Abby loved TBall and they both made incredible improvements in their swimming. And the summer days always make me feel like I have more time. More so than in winter when I tend to be hibernating by 6pm every day.

Tonight Pat and I sat down to plan the fall schedules. Jake is now old enough to participate in group sports, so he'll have his intro to soccer on Sundays. Abby will be playing Mondays and Thursdays. And then we'll have swimming again on Tuesdays. I'm hesitant to schedule so much, but soccer is only for 6 weeks, so we won't be doubled up for long. It's a tough call parents have to make these days. We want to expose our kids to everything so that they can find something they really like. But with full days in daycare and mom & dad at work, it gets to be a lot.

This scheduling issue is something I think about often. I want my kids to try everything, and I want them to be active. I do wonder how things will change as they get older. I have noticed that there are options earlier in the day. Maybe better for them, but how do working parents handle it? Will we get to the point when we need help? If so, who will help? I'm not sure what we'll be doing in 3 years, but for now my approach is 2 activities max and we'll stop at any time if either kid seems overwhelmed. And we'll take it all a season at a time.

Too Many Channels to Keep Updated

I'm thinking I should just turn my blog into a Twitter/Facebook/Flickr mashup. I never seem to have anything to say here. Just way too many characters to deal with!