Renaissance Festival

Garek and I were lucky enough to go on a field trip to the Renaissance Festival last Friday! When we first got there and we were waiting by the entrance, Garek said to me " Mom, look at all these people wearing their Halloween Costumes!" We did a lot of walking and looking at the booths. We also shared a turkey drumstick- YUM! Some of Garek's favorite activities included:

Hiking through the Enchanted Forest. We had to do this several times in a row!

Swinging on a ship (he called it a pirate ship). It is a person powered swing, each person has to pull the ropes above them to make it go back and forth. Once Garek had the hang of it, it was good.

Garek also hunted in a maze for a gold coin so he could slide down this big slide. He went in the maze alone (making me a little nervous) but he found his way out! He told me later that he had to sneak under a wire, because he could not find the way out. I guess it is handy to be small...

We also watched a joust. We were cheering for the green knight. He fought in a sword competition and a joust. We did not win.

His favorite thing I did not get a picture of, and that was cracking a dragon egg (otherwise known as a geode). He has it sitting on his shelf in his room and wants to show everyone! Garek fell asleep in the car on the way home, exhausted!

Fall = Apples = Yum

I love fall baking! We end up going to the apple orchards and grocery stores at this time of year and buying lots and lots of apples! Why? So we can make apple sauce, apple crisp and apple pie of course! Garek helped me make applesauce on Monday and on Tuesday both boys helped make an apple pie. I have determined it only takes about twice the prep time with helpers, but at least this way they will know how to make fall treats too! They have really good memories and can tell you what you need to put in your apple pies!!

I also included a picture of Matt, doing his last minute email check before work. :)

Fall Fiesta!

So, each year (at least in recent history) our church (Church of Saint Peter) has an annual Fall Fiesta. This is a celebration of the fall harvest season, and a major fundraiser for the church. There are the typical fall festival activities including a roast beef dinner, crafts and baked goods for sale, a Beer Garden with Bingo hosted by the KCs, and many activities our family is typically involved with:

Mass is always amazing since there is usually only one morning mass, and the youth are heavily involved with contemporary music. A few pictures that I took including Garek going up to give his offering as part of the "Miracle Mile" of coins- an offering for the little kids of the Parish.





Of course, the fact that I had a camera with me in the pew during mass taking pictures had the boys wanting to help out (We typically let them take pictures as you have seen featured on the blog). Our Church is going through the process of updating the Church directory and several parishioners (including myself) bemoan the lack of pictures from the day to day great things that happen. So I am doing what I can to help change that!




Gigi typically volunteers with the kiddie games (this year she worked at the Fish Pond- I think the boys are behind the "water" helping out)


The Boys are big on all the games, and in particular there are typically several clowns out and about making balloon animals (or of greater interest for all the boys in attendance were the balloon swords that they were all running around with)

Gavin was paying close attention:

Even Garek was into the balloons (he is in the back closest to the camera in the dark blue shirt)


As for me, my typical gig is volunteering at a photo booth of sorts where we (myself and a few others, thanks Chuck and Paul) take pictures and print of free copies on a less than photo quality color printer. Something we are trying new this year (because people have always enjoyed the fact that we do this and want to give something to the Church as well as have the pictures as actual prints or files to use for Christmas cards or Web sites) is to offer the pictures for sale via the Riverbend Weddings photo processing site. Click here if you are looking for these pictures (proceeds go to the Church), or go to www.riverbendweddings.com to find out more about Riverbend Weddings.

Some of the pictures from the day include one of Gigi and the Boys (the boys were acting silly)

and here's another of the awesome second grade Sunday School teaching team (Gigi and her co- teacher Ann)


All in all a very fun day, but now I need to get pictures edited and posted.

College Football

On Saturday we all went to a Gustavus Football Game. It was a great day for it, albeit a bit hot. (I do not recall football games being hot). It is really great going to games at GAC. We ride our bikes over to campus and then we sit on the grassy areas around the "bowl." It is a lot of fun for the boys. They do not feel as confined as bleachers and they have room to move around. Because the stadium is closed in and we sit near the only entrance, Gavin and Garek also get to be big boys and go buy their own popcorn. It is nice that Gavin feels confident enough to go and find out how much things cost and the concession stand so he can figure out how much money he needs. In addition, Gavin is starting to ask more questions about how football is played and he is now good at being able to tell what down we are on and how many yards are left to go. Today the Gusties also did us the favor of winning their game as they defeated Hamline 21-14!

Garek's Favorite things... (kind of)

I asked Garek if he would like to make a favorite list and he said yes and then he started rambling...so although this is not a list, it is what Garek says when you ask him what his favorite things are.

I like lizards, ones that are very fast and you know iguanas well they are lizards that go ont he ground and climb on rocks and they go into the flowers. When they are cold they cannot move and there is one more thing...you need a glowing light what's special so you can see tehir footprints...and that is one more thing.

To get back on track after the lizards I ask "What else do you like?"
Snakes
Playing with friends
taking pictures

taking care of animals and put them back in the zoo, like spiders, little bugs, little butterflies and even like little ants. I could take back a big elephant.... take care of animals and feed your pets and know where they belong and thats all the things I know.

[Gigi's comment at this point...he must have watched an episode of Go Diego Go where they had to bring a zoo animal back and has transferred that onto all animals and insects. He also has concluded the topic of this blog should be all the things Garek knows]

Here are some pics Garek took of random things in the house....

Swim meet

Tonight we went a swim meet at St. Peter High School to watch our friend Sarah swim! The boys liked watching the swimmers and hanging on the railings next to the bleachers. For me, it brought back memories of Junior High and High School when I swam on the girl's swim team with Central High School. It is fun going back down memory lane and really makes me want to go swimming! It was fun, and Sarah did a great job!

RASH?!

I just spent a moment or two worrying about a purplish rash that has appeared on Garek's face, right below his lips (I tried to get a picture of it). First, I tried to scrub it off, then I started looking up information online to see what it might be, since it was not there when he woke up. Being a mother who worries with health issues, I am thinking, is it contagious? Will it keep spreading? and so on. Garek did say it did not hurt. Suddenly, after taking another look at it, I had a new thought. I asked Garek... "Did you try to stick your milk cup to your face when you were drinking it at breakfast?" His reply, "No, mama. But I did drink some water our of one of the play cups and it stuck to my face and it was funny!!"... So essentially my five year old gave himself a massive hickey with a cup!!

First day of preschool

Today was Garek's first day of preschool. He was so excited to go to school he asked me all morning if it was time to go yet. (He has preschool in the afternoon). He had a lot of fun. He told me about sharing time, drawing a puppet of himself, and of course, meeting new friends. He was already planning out his sharing item for tomorrow!

These are my favorite things (by Gavin)

Gavin would like to share things he likes....

Family

Family fun night

Video games

Bike riding

Mokeybartv.com

Watching movies like Star Wars

Friends

Violin

Dudley the Dragon

Playing Nerf Wars (using nerf guns) with Garek

Playing games with my Godfather

Swimming

Soccer

Going to Duluth

Going to the cities

Traveling

Here are some pictures of Gavin and Dudley...

Fall golfing

Most of you know I have not been a golfer until this year. Today after my school board meeting, we went golfing. I must say, fall golfing is pretty nice! It is not so hot as it was most of the times we went throughout the summer and there are no bugs like there are when it is a bit cooler on summer evenings.

Garek was a champ! I think he normally gets hot when we play in the afternoon. He must have played 5 holes out of 9 (a real record for him!) However he was disappointed that daddy and mommy kept missing the sand traps because he really wanted to try hitting a ball out of the sand trap! Gavin is getting better too, he can hit the ball longer distances and is better at keeping on working the ball all the way to the green. Gavin is also very supportive of Garek. On the way home, he said, "Garek, you played some good golf back there!" It was so cute...way to melt a parent's heart!

Anyways, I am sure we will try to squeeze in a couple more golf excursions, and next time we will bring a camera!

Happy Anniversary!

It is my mom and Jim's anniversary today. Yes, on September 11th! Luckily it gives our family a reason to celebrate when the date roles around each year! Fifteen years ago mom and Jim got married on a Saturday evening in the presence of many family and friends. It was a lovely wedding and I am glad I was part of it. So... Happy Anniversary mom and Jim!

New Dobo Mobile

Last week, after a long search for a different vehicle, we traded in our van for a Saturn Outlook. We were not having good luck with our van, it has already had numerous repairs and so we decided we need to ditch it before the warranty went away. We have always had good luck with our Saturn vehicles, so we went back to visit our friendly Saturn dealer, Mark Goodwin. We got rid of some of the bells and whistles on the van (DVD, sunroof, self opening doors) in an effort to have a more reliable vehicle. On Saturday, some of the other Dobosenski's had the opportunity to test it out as we carpooled to Corey Dobosenski's wedding.

While we were at the dealership, the boys were testing out their future rides...it was pretty cute, except the part that included Gavin shutting Garek in the trunk of a car in the showroom...luckily it took only moments to free him.

First Day of School...

I just realized I did not put any information about the first day of school for Gavin. Gavin started 3rd grade on Tuesday September 2, 2008. In St Peter that means he gets to move from South Elementary that serves grade Pre-K through 2nd grade, up to North Intermediate, a 3-6 grade school. Gavin also has a new teacher, Miss Lehman. She is a brand new teacher with a lot of energy, and with those third graders she will need it!

The first couple of days were the hardest for Gavin, as some of his neighborhood friends are 2nd graders and they did not need to start school until Thursday. With the first week of school under his belt, Gavin certainly feels like it is all part of the normal routine at this point. He is also doing much better about sitting down to homework, hopefully this trend lasts.

Sakatah Trail

There is a really cool bike trail that goes through Mankato and is called the Sakatah Singing Bike Trail (It is on my 101 list). It actually connect Mankato to Fairbault. Today Garek and I went on this trail with some of my online students. It is a great trail and I wish I had brought a camera. It runs along some lakes, creeks and ravines. It also had picnic spots complete with picnic tables and benches to rest on. There were even little wooden bridges to cross. Now we need to take the time to do the trail as a whole family.

The 10 hour Triathlon

This weekend I participated in a 10-hour triathlon with co-worker Cathy and Amanda (sis-in law Jody's sister). The object of the 10 hour triathlon is to complete as many triathlons in a 10 hour period of time as possible. We entered as a three person team, so we each had to do one event out of the 3 legs during each triathlon. For instance in the first one I swam, Cathy biked and Amanda ran.

This was an interesting experience! It was held in Pattison State Park, just south of Superior, WI. it is a really beautiful park with waterfalls and trails on Wisconsin Highway 35. The swim was in the dam created lake that had a consistent depth of about 5-6 feet, the bike was a route on highway 35, in which the biker headed out 7 mi, made a u-turn and headed back, and the run was a 5 K on a trail that went around the lake and out to some of the waterfalls.

Overall I am really proud of how we all did as we completed 6 triathlons and we came in 4th place! In total I swam a mile, biked 28 miles and ran 5 K. But let me just give a few reasons why didn't quite squeeze in 7, although we were close....

1. The water was a balmy 63 degrees!!
2. The weather was 60 degrees with rain every once in awhile
3. At mile 14 in the bike ride was the biggest dang hill!!
4. The trail run was truly a trail run...there were branches hanging down, roots to trip on, wooden steps to climb, and oh, yeah it all seemed to go uphill!!
5. By the end of the sixth race, we had been poured on, cold, and none of us wanted to swim, bike or run anymore!

But even with my complaints, this was a great end to my first ever triathlon season, and I certainly plan on doing it again next year. Thanks Cathy and Amanda for making a great team!

Out of the mouth of babes...or Gavin

So Gavin has been giving us lots of laughs, and always mean to remember things he says and does to put them on here...

So yesterday I was reading the newspaper and commenting the Palin's daughter's boyfriend was in the pictures of the family. Matt said "I wonder if they have shotguns in Alaska" (Implying a shotgun wedding of course). Gavin sits there for a minute and then goes "Dad I think a shotgun would be too big." Gavin was not referring to a shotgun wedding (I don't think), but it is funny in context and he could not understand why daddy started laughing.

Earlier this week Gavin informed us at breakfast that he would like to have Salads at school on Fridays, since they are an option this year. He says, "Mom, they have salads at school, I think on Fridays I should have salads, think about it." And he walked out of the kitchen. Apparently he has been watching too many movies or something.

Last week were looking a new vehicle (more later on that), and I told Gavin we were looking a couple of different options, neither of which would have a DVD player like the van currently has. Gavin looked up at me and said very seriously "Let's go then mom, we need to go someplace else so that they have a van with a DVD player."

Gavin in talking about playing with neighborhood friends... "I like playing with COlton and Lucas it is especially fun when they dress in flamoucauge and blend in with the grass!" Matt and I started laughing (to ourselves of course). It brings me back to last year's Apostrofairies.

There are so many funny things kids say, I just need to remember them all!!

September Preview

This is what we know September has in store for us (I am sure more will come up)....

First Day of School...for all of us
Boys Dentist Appointments
Pick up our new car...will be a later blog
Gigi Participate in 10 hour triathlon
Cory Dobosenski's wedding
Gavin and Garek start violin lessons
Gigi Class Agent Meeting
Planting of Apple Trees
Stain the deck (I hope)
Paint chairs boys made
Finish harvesting and "winterizing" Garden

Lots of fun coming up for us!!!

New blogging pal

I added the Oachs Family to our blog list today and I just wanted to point out that they have a dunk tank entry too!! How funny!