I was trying to show comments and accidentally deleted all of them. So, please, send some more. But I still don't know how to show them.

School's out for summer!

Summer has been busy already. Kayla is working 6 days a week at Sunrise Assisted Living and has been promoted to Shift Leader.

Maya graduated kindergarten. On "I Can Do Anything Day", one student brought her sugar glider. It's a marsupial that makes machine like clicking noises and soars. Another student brought a bow and arrows, one brought fishing tackle and cast off in the classroom, one told a dirty joke. Maya danced in a homemade toucan costume to "I Wanna Party" from the Rio soundtrack. She refused all suggestions of choreography.

The weekend after school let out, Jake & I got to get away to Bayfield, WI to see Trampled By Turtles at the Big Top Chatauqua tent. Thanks to Becky & Leif for babysitting! We had so much fun.

Luna proves that she really is a Mountain Dog (right). Dylan quickly realized that she is a chick magnet, on our recent walk into Excelsior.

Anna has her driver's license! She's been driving herself to work at the dry cleaners and around town. We're sharing the '98 Camry with 272,540 miles on it. She's broken a door handle and scratched the rear bumper, but that kind of damage on a car like that is barely noticeable. Except when I have to roll down my window to reach the outside door handle to get out of the car.

 Maya's loving summer! Pictured here at the Excelsior beach, Grandma and Grandpa's pool and in her own pool. You can see someone's arm on the left in Maya's pool, but no one can prove that it's Dylan:)

New garden and solar powered globes. Not done justice here.

Catching up

Our spring break zoocation: We went to Como, MN Zoo and Sea Life at MOA.

Sorry I don't remember what this plant was called. Let me know if you know.

 Leafy, cool sea dragons at the MN Zoo

This is the sequence of events whenever Maya invites Dylan to join our Go Fish game:

Final score: Dylan 19, Maya 6, Steph 1 (and I helped her get all of her 6)

Moral: The odds are always in the favor of the one with the better vantage point.

Guess what? We were going to get chickens. We've enjoyed the eggs from Mike & Jen's and we got the necessary permission from the city and most of our neighbors. (Not the neighbor who has only waved back to me once in 17 years, mows his lawn in the dark and was on his roof during the lightning storm and tornado warning last night, but all of the others were enthused or at least accommodating.) Now we have a puppy, which I knew would be less rewarding than having a human baby, but I guess I had forgotten just how much less! She is  learning to go for walks without lying down and to bite the blanket instead of me. When she can figure out where she's supposed to eliminate, then our chicken conversation will resume. 

Maya recently received several new outfits from a friend, had several to choose from, and went straight for Bieber!

Not a Bieber fan. In fact, she has been busted listening to Bob Dylan recently. The times they are a changin'.

A winning photo of Kayla and Sam at yet another losing Twins game.

I looked at this picture a few times before I noticed Lily lurking enviously in the background.

She has growled more in the last 12 days than in all of her 12 years.

                                                       

                                                       

Greetings!

 On a Tuesday night in May,we made a roadtrip to Radcliffe, Iowa to pick up Luna (formerly "Mable"), an 8-week-old Bernese Mt. puppy. The Berner breeders had 6 adults, 2 litters of pups, a St. Bernard and a white Mustang with pink accents and door handles.

 After a long shift at the nursing home, Kayla meets Luna for the first time.

 Anna and Bruce. We have many pets, but Bruce is not one of them. He is a long time resident of the Fish Guy & Pet Supply store which Anna frequents.

 First daffodil bloom, my favorite flower. Jake planted bulbs for me 2 years ago.

 Esther "Essie", our most recent feline acquisition.

 At the rest stop on the way home, before the incessant crying and biting and eliminating on the freshly cleaned floor ensued.

 Uh...