Pioneer Day

Darin and Cindy hosted their annual Pioneer Day party, and as usual, it was lots of fun.

Bryce assisted with the important Root Beer production process.

The boys loved throwing water balloons.

And the fireworks are always a big hit! 

Bear Lake

Bear Lake with the Thomsen family is becoming something of an annual tradition. And with Ryan and family in town, it was a no-brainer to go. We enjoyed tubes, boogie boards, and building sand castles.

Jack loved spending time with his favorite cousin, Haley.

There was even time to geek out and play Pokemon Go!

We ended our trip by visiting the Minnetonka Caves. Luckily, neither Bryce nor I had to carry any kids this time! Although Jack did keep asking if the end of the cave was a portal to the Rainbow Planet. (This is a current obsession of his. The Rainbow Planet is filled with unicorns and all manner of fabulous creatures.) I think our fellow tourists were wondering if we were part of some sort of cult.

Another great trip in the books!

Fresh From New Zealand

Bryce's brother Ryan and his family are back in town from New Zealand.  We're excited to spend some time with them while they are here!

From bottom left to top right: Cindy, Haley, Andrea, Mitch, Cole, Bryce, Darin, Ryan

From left to right: Eliza, Matthew, Peter, Jacob, me, Jack

Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July from the Thomsen boys!  

DC and Me

Work conference can suck.  Usually, you sit in a chair all day and listen to people drone on and on and eat lots of food and drink lots of caffeine to stay awake. 

However.  When my boss told me I got to go to SHRM's (Society for HR Management) annual conference in Washington DC, I was excited.  First.  Washington DC.  Second - a huge conference about my work with actual good classes?  I'm in. 

I flew in on Saturday with some coworkers and got all checked into my hotel.  That night, my boss Chris and I walked down by the National Mall and got some dinner.  I mean, this view:

And the White House.  Barack Obama lives there!  And Michelle Obama!  They are amazing wonderful people!  I felt inspired just gazing across the lawn.

The next day, Sunday, we had all morning to explore before the conference started.  I rented myself a bike and pedaled down to the museums.  (I make it sound so simple, but it was actually complicated and super humid.  But, it still made me happy in my heart.)

 I made a stop at the museum of natural history.

 And the air and space museum.

Spirit of St. Louis

Planets!

I got to listen to this handsome man.  Mike Rowe spoke about the need to acknowledge blue collar workers and understand the contributions they make to the economy and the country.  And he was really funny.  And handsome.

There was yummy food to be had.  Like this delightful plate of seafood.

And lovely old buildings to see. 

It all made me really want to go back with Bryce and the boys.  It was a great little trip and a whole mess of fun!

Club U

Cole and Jack both got to be in Club U this summer!  I was a little nervous - Jack is just 5 and they pretty much go all day long.  It's a busy day, especially in the heat, but he did great!  Here they are on the first day of camp.  Cole was very excited at the prospect of spending all summer with Isak.

As with last summer, the class selections were just phenomenal.  Cole's favorite class was break-dancing, which inspired some dance parties at the house.

He also loved the day where he got to make his own rock-star outfit.

Jack maintained his favorite activity was eating lunch. 

My little campers.  I love seeing groups of kids running around campus in these cute matching shirts.

 It's going to be another wonderful summer!

Trip to Missoula

Before Cassie and Jonathan moved to Missoula, Montana, I really had no idea such it existed.  (See, even now, my auto-correct squiggly red underlines it.)  And while I would never want to visit during the long, cold Montana winters, it was such fun to visit in May.  Nearly all of the Barber clan went up to see Jonathan graduate from law school.

Before we left on the drive, we surprised the kids with their own Kindle tablets (for both their sanity and ours) as the trip would be 8-9 hours long.  

Unfortunately, we picked up a little addition on our drive.  Namely some sort of kind of large bird that got itself enmeshed in our front grill.  Let me tell you what a joy that was to pull out.  Luckily, I have a lovely husband who took care of it with only a few disgusted grimaces.

That night, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a local Italian restaurant and got settled in our hotel.  (With an attaching door to Pa and Nana's room, of course!)  The next morning, we got dressed up and headed to the graduation.  It was a lovely ceremony.

Theo, Jonathan, Cassie, and baby to be!

Isn't Cass just gorgeous?

The boys were pretty good, but I could tell they were ready to release some energy, which included chasing around the oddly friendly and definitely chubby squirrel population on campus.

While there, we hit the local museum, which included lots of trains, and a really cool forest ranger look-out.

We braved the rain and did a small hike, which was just beautiful.

We walked over the bridge, did some local shopping, and played at the most amazing park. 

We enjoyed lots of visits to this place.  Oh yummmmmmm.

Left to right: Bryce, Cassie, Pa, Jack, and Nana

And of course lots of visiting with our wonderful family.

Left to right: Danielle, Randa, Jenny, Cassie, Tammy, Carol, and Nana

Anytime we travel with family, we have a great time and this was no exception!