{ memorial day weekend }

We kicked off our Memorial Day weekend with a Friday night bike ride to Lake Harriet.

The weather wasn't great but it was nice to get out of the house and not deal with cooking/clean up!

Saturday morning we hit the road to head to the Lodge for the long weekend. First thing on Oliver and Stella's agenda was "candy apples". One of their favorite shows (Max & Ruby) talked about candy apples on an episode last week. For some reason they got it in their heads that Grandma & Grandpa C were going to make them and have them at their house when they visited. Well, Grandma & Grandpa didn't disappoint.

While the weather was so-so (mild but at least no rain!) and there was definitely no swimming, we managed to burn off kid energy other ways. Oliver by dancing with the Gopher.

The infamous tree swing.

Fishing! Which Oliver and Stella seemed to really enjoy this year. Or maybe it was the fun of kissing the fish after catching it. Or, for Oliver, "kicking" the fish back into the water.

Playing with old school toys, circa 1970s.

First boat ride of the year!

A visit to a nearby horse ranch, where the owners were nice enough to let us bring carrots to feed the horses and pet them. All of the kids (and adults) got a kick out of it.

Stella was especially excited about it and I think she, if not all of them, could have stayed there for a lot longer visiting them!

We counter acted trying to burn off their energy by having campfire s'mores.

Last but not least, a highlight was watching Stella ride her balance bike. She has gone from hardly being able to ride it a month ago to being super comfortable and cruising down hills on it. I think the motivation of having older cousins riding around on their bikes helped and it was just a matter of getting past the frustration.

She rode down this small hill on the road over a dozen times. She might need a new pair of shoes in a few months since the "brakes" are her feet!

Anna was great about "racing" with her and riding down the hill.......which takes patience and skill since she had to try to stay out of Stella's way.

A great weekend and kick-off to the summer (which judging by this week's weather, is never going to officially arrive)!