Lake Vermilion - two

 Kneeboarding.

 Kneeboarding on tummies.

 First the V-man was up.

 He did a great job!

Elin was amazed.  And she was begging to kneeboard too.

 Then Svea asked for a turn.

 I was thinking . . . really?
She also went to the big kids Sunday school this week.
What is happening to all of my babies?

So there was some prep.
"You can let go of the rope any time you want to stop.  Remember, you can let go."

She was holding on so tight to that thing.

And then it really happened.

Wow.
  

That's our big girl out there.

Elin begged and begged the entire time Svea and Viggo were kneeboarding.
Please could she kneeboard.
I told Elin she had to have more swimming lessons first.
Please could she have swimming lessons right now.

Svea, who would not let go, went around a couple times more.
We had to practically pry her little fingers off the rope.

Lake Vermilion - one

Breakfast at the lake.

Breakfast in long johns . . . food just tastes better.

A walk in the woods with Dad.

We were on the lookout for Stacy the deer.

I did not capture a photo of Stacy, but here is a drawing from a credible eyewitness.

I love it when trees grown in trees.

This was a mammoth spiderweb I spotted.  I could not find the spider that went with it, so . . . so I took this picture and quickly moved on.

Viggo found a snakeskin.

Elin got a canoe ride with Grandma.

Nate cooks some hobo dinners.

And these fabulous banana/marshmallow/chocolate chip/cooked in foil/ creations.

Please note how incredibly tall Viggo's fishing pole is.  It's a cane pole.

Svea wasn't satisfied with just fishing off the dock.
I use the term "fishing" loosely . . . I'm not sure what was happening, but for awhile she was trying to avoid leeches.

Fishing turned into swimming.

And thankfully, there were no leeches.

Elin has noticed that Viggo is really good at turning any object into a pretend weapon.

She got all the bad guys.

And they never came back.

Svea makes her marshmallows just like me.

And we tried a new-to-us s'more method:

Reese's cups inside the s'more.

We highly recommend the Reese's.

Elin is 3!

Somebody little here had a birthday!



 Elin woke up a couple of weeks ago to a pile of presents.  Birthday!!

Cheese omelets for breakfast.
I forgot to buy juice (sorry, third-born child - hey, I was planning a trip up to the lake at the same time) . . . so I made blueberry herbal tea, added a significant amount of sugar and tried to pass it off as "blueberry juice."  She wasn't buying it . . . but the strawberries more than made up for lack of exciting birthday beverage.

 We let Elin open the really big stuff right away in the morning.

 What could it be?

 Could it be - ?

A pink and orange plasma car!
Viggo and Svea love their plasma cars.
Elin loves Viggo and Svea's plasma cars.
Nate and I had to do something about that.

 Then another big present from Grandpa and Grandma Daisy.

 Oyf.  It was heavy.

 A pink seat!

It's a Skuut.
We've never had a Skuut bike before, but we are excited to see Elin have fun with it.
Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma!

 Then we went up to the lake.

Elin loved climbing up and down the pontoon ladder.

In and out of the tire, up and down the ladder.
Ten thousand times.

Svea was having so much fun swimming around.  She is getting to be quite the fish.

Viggo had already been up at the lake for three weeks when the rest of us came up on Elin's birthday.  And he had some new skills to show off.

It was so nice to see him again!!  I missed my guy.

Tire-stacking and crazy jumping.

So much fun.
I'm so glad Elin has a summer birthday.

Time for dinner.

Elin wanted hot dogs and fruit salad.
I love that she's so easy to please :)

Then Elin watched Grandpa Zeke whip up a pineapple upside-down cake.

And she watered the garden.

Getting ready to bake the cake in the Dutch oven.

While the cake was baking, time for presents.

Gummi bears!
Imported - from Fleet Farm. (We buy all our gourmet food there.)

 At long last, Elin has her very own name plate.  And it's orange!
Birthdays don't get much better than this.

Well, yes they do - pink cowgirl boots from Grandpa and Grandma Zeke!
They're the real deal.  And it has been so fun watching Elin walking around in those things.  She quickly became efficient at navigating the tall heel on them.

After gifts, Viggo impressed us all with the ceremonial blowing of the Swedish birthday bugle.

 Cake is done and flipped over!

Elin loved it.  I think the cherries were her favorite part.

Three already?  I still call her my baby.  Although I wouldn't recommend that - she gets a little irate if she's called a baby.  She always corrects me right away and lets me know that she is not a baby.

 Elin modeled her boots, complete with cowgirl hat with feathery pink trim and her new fairy wings and tutu.  This was a standard outfit for a few days.

After Elin went to bed, Viggo and Grandpa assembled Elin's new playmobil Noah's ark so she could play with it right away in the morning.

I love birthdays.
Especially Elin's.

When we were expecting her, during a routine ultrasound there was a dark spot found on her heart.
It could have meant Down's, or some unknowable fate, and the doctors didn't tell us much.  Then three weeks later, we went back in for another ultrasound and the spot was gone.  I am pretty sure those were the three longest weeks of our lives.  We even had to sit through a painful genetic counseling meeting, where we were informed there were "options."  And then she was born, and she was perfect all over.  I feel amazingly blessed . . . many parents don't end up with a happy ending like we did - and we are grateful for God's grace in Elin's life at so early an age.

So every time Elin's birthday rolls around, I think the angels celebrate with a little extra gusto.  I know I sure do.

We love you, Elin, and we are so thankful for you!  May God bless you with an exciting year of being 3!