Bear Lake

This past weekend we had the chance to spend a few days with some friends at their cabin in Bear Lake. I first have to say that the cabin was amazing! It was beautiful and had a breath-taking view of the lake. We spent two and a half days playing hard.

The day we planned to go to the Lake began dreary and rainy. We got the troops ready to go (there were three families -- and nine kids among the crew), but set out uncertain about why we were going in such weather. We got there and the rain stopped. The day was a bit overcast, but wonderful. The sun peeked out occasionally and the weather was great. The kids had so much fun swimming and playing in the sand.

We spent the whole day at the lake. By the time we finally convinced the kids to come out of the water, they were exhausted, water logged, caked with sand, and deliriously happy. We had dinner (during which three children fell asleep), and then went to LaBeau's for Bear Lake Raspberry shakes.

The big outing the next day was Minnetonka cave. It was really cool. Now here is a sidenote for anyone who is not familiar with Minnetonka cave... the tour is a treacherous workout! The cave was awesome, but the tour kicked my hind end. There is not one less than two bazillion stairs in that place. Yes, it's a cave. Yes, one would expect a bit of a decline and or incline. Honestly though, it was a hike! I had Bailey in the front pack and felt awkward trying to navigate the steep and slippery stairs. Steve carried Rachel who fell asleep on his shoulder. Yah, he wins bragging rights. By the time we reached the end, we had jelly legs, and poor Bailey was probably getting motion sick bobbing up and down as I was sucking air.

Our little trip to Bear Lake was wonderful! We are grateful to our friends for inviting us.

Car Wash

Matthew, besides being the budding writer and computer whiz, is and has always been quite an entrepreneur. The boy loves money. Now, he is not at all greedy -- he's planned far ahead to earn money to buy Rachel a birthday present for her birthday in September. He just loves money. I kid you not when I say that he started saving money as a preschooler and began to understand interest as a five year old. Matt went into Kindergarten able to count by fives, tens, and twenties. He could count to 100 backward and forward. This wasn't because we had spent a lot of time sitting down with him and working on numbers. It was merely because he loved money and loved to count money. His all-time favorite game is Monopoly and he has at least 4 versions of the game. He has asked for play money for Christmas every year since he was about four and has owned a wide assortment of banks, miniature atm machines, and cash registers. A few years ago he even became the very proud owner of a real, true, honest to goodness cash register.
Last week Matthew came running inside at full speed to make the glorious announcement that he and some friends were going to have a car wash. One of our very dear neighbors had been letting the boys earn money by helping her weed her garden. I'm not certain how the whole thing transpired, but this brave and wonderful friend offered to help the kids. They put up signs and even went door to door on our street. They had a blast and even made a little money -- thanks to kind and generous neighbors who didn't mind the wash job of 8,9,& 10 year olds and were good tippers.

More summer

Gosh, I'm not even sure where to go after that last post. Matthew originally wanted to start his own blog which I discouraged because... well, he's nine. We compromised by promising him he could occasionally post on our family blog. There you have it.

About a month ago we went on an impromptu walk/hike with some good friends. We found ourselves in a field full of poppies and iris.


We have not been able to do a whole lot of traveling this summer. Having a new baby has changed our routine and then having her so sick - we have just not gone anywhere. Steve's work schedule has also prohibited summer wanderings. So a few nights ago while I was trying to convince my girls to go to sleep, I was thinking about how my children are so deprived and missing out on some big ol' summer vacation. I really shouldn't be worrying about stuff like that, but I'm really good at "mother guilt." Then, very recently I reconnected with a friend from my teenage years and she wrote a great post reminiscing about summers of her youth. It brought back a flood of memories for me. It was then that I realized that I do have fond memories of summer vacations. (Kudos to my wonderful and very brave mother. She planned and executed family trips with six kids!! I can barely make it through Walmart with three.) I have even more sweet memories, though, of the good every-day stuff. I love thinking about summer days. Riding the red bike with the sparkly banana seat. Staying up late and playing red light / green light on the nextdoor neighbor's hill. Late evening walks to 7-11. Watching shows like "Into the Woods" and "Singing in the Rain." There's just too much rolling around in my memory to even get the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but in the end it's just a wonderful jumble of sweet summer memories.


I guess my hope is that life doesn't ever get so busy and hectic that we forget the good summer stuff. I hope that my kids will grow up and have great, happy memories of family vacations, but that they will also have just good, comforting memories of summer.

What is with Rachel? -By, Matt

Rachel, can be a loving little girl, then again, she can turn on a dime. You see her rock her baby dolls and think, "how sweet." Then, it doesn't take her very long to get VERY naughty. It processes in her head like this, hit... ok. This is how everything naughty goes in her head. Also, she loves to sing, but unfortunately some of the times its not for a good reason. If she does something naughty, Twinkle, Twinkle little star.......... She sometimes sings poor innocent, good songs, like this one, for her naughtiness. I am just like those poor songs. She beets me up. Hmmmm...... who is older.... me, but I don't wanna fight as much as she does. I have always been the "sweet angel" as I like to say. I love Rachel but she is............. she is................ hmmm............ should I say a little naughty lately. Hopefully this wont continue.. or will it? -By, Matt

Summer

It seems that we wait all year for summer. I adore having Matthew out of school so we can all be together. I long for lazy sunny days and a less hectic schedule. At the same time, I think about and plan all the outings and educational activities that we will do. No joke, I actually bought a book last year entitled something like, "365 Science Experiments" and planned to tear through that book with the kids this summer. Hmmm... summer is zipping by, and truth be known, I have no idea where the book even is.

We are having a wonderful summer, though. We really are enjoying lazy-ish days of just hanging around and playing. In fact, I think we have set a record in that we are still using the dinosaur wading pool that we bought for Matt six years ago. He is a great sport and has spent many afternoons playing in the water with Rachel. I love to sit on the porch with sweet, chubby Bailey on my lap and watch them running in the sprinkler and splashing in our faithful green dino. When I listen to their laughter and hear Rachel's absolutely delighted squeals, I think that maybe it's not such a tragic thing that I can't find "365 Science Experiments." We can make salt crystals and a homemade barometer another day.

Up and Running

Thanks to our genius son (direct quote from Matthew), our blog is officially up and running. I have been a selfish blog-reader, and I'm finally joining the world of blogging. Hopefully this will be a good way to keep in touch with family and friends. Forgive us for the simplicity as I'm a bit technologically challenged -- case in point, my nine year old created the first post.

Baby Bailey

Our New addition to our family April 3rd 2008

WELCOME!!!!!!!!

Hello. I am Matthew Foster. We were going to start a long time ago, but due a sick 3 mo. old, and a very naughty 2 yr. old, we have not had a chance. We are sorry if we caused any inconvenience. You know the sick 3 mo. old, her name is Bailey. She got .R.S.V. The naughty 2 yr. old is Rachel. She has been through many hard times since Bailey was born. Well, thats about it for now. Hopefully I will post something else.

-Matthew

.P.S. My mom does not know about this. Would you be kind enough NOT TO TELL HER??? Just kidding... This is going to be a surprize for her to see that the blogs up. :)