The Galvin Family

What a soggy end to our vacation at Lost Lake. Rain and drizzle persist. We pulled out  of Lost Lake and headed to the Mall of America for some mini golf. Claire has been saving her money all year to make her biggest purchase ever, a Kanani doll from American Girl. Garrett talked dad into a Dinasaur Lego set.  Spent the night at a local hotel with a large hot tub and pool for the kids to play in. Tomorrow we head for the Minnesota Zoo and then home to Ames. Please say it’s not over yet.

Blah – more rain rain and rain. The Lost Lake dock is under water. Cabin Fever lead us into town for some shopping and bowling. We returned back to the camp for supper followed by a rain-coat hike around the Lost Lake to find the hidden medalion which thanks to Laura we found much to the kids delight! Determined to not let the rain stop the fun we still spend some time at the beach, played shuffleboard, and took walks in the rain. Checkout is tomorrow already, the time has passed quickly.

Rain rain, go away. Weather turned wet and cold. Since we cannot get wet at the beach we headed into to town to a local waterpark for some an afternoon of fun. Kids loved the Paul Bunyon themed water park and slides, though what in MN is not Paul Bunyon themed? Wrapped up the day with more games and smores by the fireplace. Maybe tomorrow will bring better weather.

Another great day. Weather forecast was questionable but the sun came out. Started the day with a bike trail ride and some ice cream. Afterwards we did some shopping, tick removal, and then back to the camp so kids could play at the beach. Garrett took his first solo kayak ride and did great! Claire worked on making a series of lakes in the sand. Wrapped up the day with a fire, smores, and games in our cabin.

Today started out great as my kids surprised me with some hand made Fathers Day gifts. Weather was cool but we played on the beach all morning. Dad took a great nap down at the beach. Lunch was dads choice so Zorbaz it was. The sun finally came out so we headed back to the beach in swimsuits for boating and water fun. Mom and dad managed to get nice sunburns. After supper and some games it was smores by the fire and a late bedtime. Perfect Fathers Day.

Mrs. Lindsy

What an exciting week. This is the last week of Preschool and Daycare for Garrett as he prepares to start Kindergarten next Fall.  Yesterday he got to ride around town on a CyRide bus.  Today was the year-end picnic for kids and parents. He’s had such a great year with the best preschool teacher ever!  We are going to miss Mrs. Lindsy and the other teachers at Northwood that made for a fantastic year. Who else could have taught Garrett to like chocolate mint ice cream!

Sunday we had an unexpected surprise at Laura’s office.  A deer took aim at the north window of her office and jumped.  You can see the saliva in the upper right.  As the deer slide down he sliced his neck on the lower jagged pieces (not visable from
this angle).  The fatally wounded deer took off running for 12 blocks before dying from it’s wounds.  We arrived just before the police and they asked Laura to “step back from the crime scene”.   With this much DNA evidence I’m sure they’ll have their man in no time. On the bright side Laura got to buddy up with the tatoo folks at the other end who
reported the alleged “crime” for us.   She’ll get her deer tatoo later this week.

Kids had a week of Spring Break so we took the opportunity to hit the Twin Cities for some fun. We spent the time swimming, site seeing, and shopping.   The kids enjoyed visits at the Children’s Mueseum, the Science Mueseum, and playtime at the Mall of America carnival. One special event was lunch at American Girl.  What we didn’t plan on was walking out of there with a new baby doll. Garrett is now a proud new daddy!

This has been an interesting week.  Monday the kids had no school because of parent-teacher conferences so we had a dad-day and went swimming.  Tuesday was Garrett’s school conference. He’s great and is doing everything right, good kid.  Wednesday both the men’s and women’s basketball teams dropped out of the Big-12 tournament with close loses. Thursday was another dad-day and Claire’s school conference. She’s doing great and has improved steadily. Dad took the opportunity to go swimming in Story City again.  On the way there Claire read an Andy Shane chapter book to me. She did such an amazing great job I’m sure the old truck with glowing with daddy pride.  When we reached Story City we spotted a pair of bald eagles sitting in a tree, so we stopped to admire them and snap a quick picture. The kids were intrigued and more so after explaining their symbolism in our government.  Now we’re onto Friday and another dad-day as we prepare for a weekend trip to the Mall of America with American Girl dolls in tow for a dinner reservation at the AG store. Topping it off, Garrett has it in his head that he’s getting Bitty Twin dolls. Oh brother.