The annual "Back to School" post

 In the spirit of "Hurry UP! So I can take your pictures!", I bring you Back to School Fall 2012 in the traditional we.are.almost.late Lindgren-Style.

Angelique (Kippy - "Redbull with legs") headed off to her first day of school and also her last year at Our Lady of Victory. Just saying that outloud makes me yearn for the bouncy days of super-sized crayola crayons and washable markers of years past.  Kippy has Mrs. Jenc as her 6th grade teacher and is part of an intimate class of 8 (5 girls/3 boys).  She is excited to get back to school to be with her friends.

Abby was ready early enough to eat breakfast, so we all consider ourselves very lucky! (Normally, it is breakfast on the go in the vehicle as her dad rushes her to school.) Abby missed seeing her friends over the summer, but isn't too excited about the "work" part of school.  She heads off to the adventure of her Sophomore year.

 The air was noticeably cooler this morning and there were a lot of crunchy leaves scattered around the yard. Fall is fast approaching and there are many activities on the Calendar for both girls:  Pep Band & Dance for Abby; Soccer, Piano & Dance for Angelique.

 I am looking forward to a more peaceful work environment in my home office during the day, and driving the girls to their various events after school.

 Wishing both Abby and Angelique a school year full of fun, friends, memories and great experiences!

10 Years in Fergus Falls

Our family moved to Fergus Fall from Marshall, MN on August 23, 2002 - 10 years ago today.  It was a huge change for us as we had lived in Marshall for 11 years.  Marshall was where Steve & I began our married life together in 1991.  First in a two bedroom apartment on Saratoga Street where we lived for 6 years.  Next, we bought a tiny, sweet little 3 bedroom house on Hill Street, where over the next 5 years our  family expanded to 4. Marshall was the town Steve & I got our first jobs after graduating from Northern State University (Steve at Tholen Auto Sales as a salesman and me at The Manifest Group as an Account Executive).  There were a lot of growing pains, milestones and changes during those years in Marshall.  We developed a wonderful network of friends, who still mean the world to us.  However, after the girls were born in 1997 and 2000, the dynamics shifted and we began to crave living closer to our extended family, who lived 4+ hours away.

When the opportunity came up for Steve to become a counselor at the Fergus Falls High School, we took the leap of faith and moved our family.  We were lucky to have been able to sell our home in Marshall and buy a new for our family in Fergus Falls within 4 very short and hectic weeks.  Abby was 5 years old and we had 1 week to get her enrolled in Kindergarten and we chose Our Lady of Victory School, which was one of the best choices we made for our family.  Angelique was 1 month from 2 years old when we moved, and she doesn't even remember her home town of Marshall!

Now Abby is starting her Sophomore year at Kennedy Secondary School; Angelique is in her last year at OLV as a 6th grader; Steve is teaching Psychology at M-State; I am still employed at USBank where I continue to telecommute from home. There have been so many blessings, changes, ups and downs, twists and turns in our lives since moving to Fergus Falls 10 years ago, but one thing I know for certain - we are exactly where we are supposed to be!


*Interesting fact:  Since we have been married, we have lived in three different locations, but our home on Park Street is the place we have lived the longest of all.

A tale of two camps

Angelique had a fabulous experience back in February when her 5th grade class got to go to Long Lake  Conservation camp in Palisade, MN for 3 days.  Ever since, she begged to be able to go back to Long Lake for their summer camp session.  She selected the Outdoor Explorers camp which ran from July 15-20.  As it turned out, 2 of her fellow classmates (Lexie & Brooke) along with one of her former classmates who had moved away the year before (Tina) had also signed up.

Since this was Angelique's first camp experience, I thought she would want me to help her pack and prepare.  I was wrong.  She was so independent about preparing for camp.  All I did was print the suggested supply list and she went in her room and got prepped.  She had a few items that we needed to go out and specifically purchase (hand sanitizer, bug repellent & sun screen), but everything else she was able to gather herself. (It was very difficult for me to not double check by going through her bags.)

Since the 4 girls had registered together, they were able to stay in the same dorm room.  Steve & I drove 3 of the girls up to camp, while Tina met us there.

Look at how excited these 4 shiny, happy faces are to begin their adventure together!!

We were able to stay for a little while, checking out the facilities, which were very nice.

But all too quickly, Angelique wanted to get rid of us and get to spending time with her peeps.

The girls said good-bye and never once looked back.  Angelique absolutely loved camp!  In fact, she ended up being awarded "Camper of the Week", which was a honor given to 4 of the campers chosen by the staff (2 girls and 2 boys the 2 age groups). In addition to being with her classmates, she also met other kids she became friends with and had some awesome adventures. The description on the camp website turned out to be very accurate:

You'll find life-long friends and life-long memories at Long Lake. Each six-day Explorer session is filled with outdoor activities, games, and enjoying the camp community. Canoeing, archery, bog trekking, Challenge Cooperation Course, and much more are led by enthusiastic counselors and naturalists.

One week later, Angelique attended a 2nd camp (Legionville) which ran from July 29-August 3.  The camp was sponsored by the local American Legion and 3 students from OLV's 5th grade class were selected to attend.  This camp was located north of Brainard on North Long Lake.  The camp was focused on School Safety Patrol Training and was much larger than the first camp Angelique attended.

The girls (Angelique, Brooke & Maia) stayed in a large bunk house and quickly selected upper bunks to stay in.

 

And just like the last camp drop off, the girls were anxious to get rid of Steve and me. Although, this time I was more anxious because we had to leave Angelique with 3 different prescriptions due to a virus she had contracted which caused her to have severe bronchial spasms.

As it turned out, Angelique loved the second camp even more than the first camp.  Hard to believe!  The activities kept the girls very busy and they bonded well with the staff and other campers.

  I'll have to say, I really missed my Kippy-girl.  I swear she grew inches in the time that she was gone and I couldn't get enough squeezes in when she was finally back home.

Sioux Falls Shenanigans

 And when I am with my sister chicks, shenanigans ALWAYS happen!  July 20-22 was in the planning hopper for several months, but come Hell or high water, we were determined to make it happen.  This time we brought our man-guys along with us.  I am sure they are still shaking their heads in disbelief at the retelling of our Saver's adventure, I know it haunts my dreams *shudder*.

I do think our husbands were very impressed with the "Meat on a stick" dining at the Carnival Brazilian Grill.  We definitely got our fill and had to finally tap out.
 
 Heather and Derek...



Jim and Lori....

me and my man-guy....

Saturday morning, we headed to the Falls Park before the temperature reached sizzle.  The guys were much more adventurous and made good progress even without hiking boots.

They were good sports about entertaining themselves, while the sister-chicks got in some serious shopping and bonding time.  I believe they went to a Classic Car show as well as going to the BatMan Rises flick.  For sure, all three of our husbands were the objects of attention from my new best friend, Gilbert!!

As always, there is never enough time together and the weekend just flew by. I am forever grateful to have these wonderful women in my life.  The memories are treasures and I always get a smile on my face remember the shenanigans!

I am always captivated by water falls, and had fun messing with my new camera to find different ways to show the water in motion.  This picture was my favorite.

And look at this picture carefully.  I swear I can see a face looking out of the water falls.  Upper left portion of the falls. It is rather creepy to me.

Summer swimming

 

This summer marks Kippy's second season of swimming on the Fergus Falls Flyers swim team.  She started swimming the first week in June.  Her age group swims 4 days a week M-Th for 45 minutes each day.  With Steve teaching summer school and my work schedule, Kippy has had to ride her bike to the pool.  It is pretty obvious that she loves swimming because she never complains about going nearly every day. 

This photo collage is from the Alexandria swim meet on June 23rd, which was the first time she swam the 100 breast.  She did really well and got 6th in her heat of 8.

The chlorine has really done a number on her suit as it is so very faded, but her joy of the water has not diminished a single bit.  Her favorite stroke is the breast stroke.  She competed in 3 swim meets in June, but won't be able to make any of the swim meets in July because of going to Long Lake Conservation Camp.  That suits Kippy just fine because she doesn't care for the meets AT.ALL!

An update on the Lori-love (RAK)

I am happy to report that more Random Acts of Kindness have been spread as we count down the days leading up to Lori's 40th birthday! We are over half way through our 10 day count down to June 28th and having a wonderful time focusing on doing good deeds for others and spreading Lori-style love.  Here is what has happened in the past 6 days.

Day 1: Delivered 4 loaves of fresh baked banana bread (made by Abby) to neighbors, who were happy and surprised, although one loaf ended up being gifted on the front step of an unsuspecting acquaintance.  Hopefully it was enjoyed as well!

Day 2:  A large donation of clothing and household goods was taken to Goodwill.  Inside 4 clothing items I stashed Random Acts of Kindness cards with $

Don't you just love when you find surprise $ in a pocket?   I hope others feel the same!

Day 3: Kippy was a helper for Day 3 acts of kindness.  We went to Target and got 4 gift cards and planned to hand them out to random shoppers.  The first shopper gladly accepted the "Act of Kindness" and was so very grateful.  Kippy then went off on her own to give two more cards away, but had a little trouble working up her courage to approach a stranger.  In one case, Kippy had a kind woman actually refuse the gift card telling Angelique, "You just keep it."  Not to be deterred, Kippy finally found additional willing recipients while I browsed through many books and cards waiting.  Both Kippy and I have the "stranger anxiety" gene, but we both felt so good after delivering the gifts that we wished we had $MM more we could give!

Day 4: Kindness this day was centered all on supporting a family whose son has a heart condition and requires open heart surgery in the near future.  So, Lori-style love was spread on silent auction items as well craft items and free-will donations.

 Day 5:  I handed out Flower Packets to 4 mom's who were helping with concessions and selling programs at a swim meet in Alexandria. I told them it was a "thank you" for all that they are doing for the swim program.

These women were so excited about the whole concept.  I feel confident that they will be paying it forward in some way in the future.

Day 6:  We started our Random Acts of Kindness by picking up trash on the River Walk in Fergus Falls.  Steve, Kippy and I ended up with 2 bags of trash and we are ever so grateful that Steve had the forethought to wear gloves! (Let's just say there was some seriously disgusting items I am so happy are now properly disposed of). 

Additionally, I was able to give out Lipton Green Tea in citrus flavor to 4 random people.

I am looking forward to the next 4 days because spreading kindness is rather addicting!!  Lori, are you feeling the love??  Hope so!

Celebrating 40 Lori-STYLE with RAK!

 

My sister-chic, Lori, is going to be celebrating the big Four-Oh on June 28th.  Miss Lori shared her ultimate birthday wish with Heather & me several months back.  She wanted to have her birthday honored with Random Acts of Kindness.  I aim to please, so I am following her instructions and starting the celebrating EARLY to spread the love "Lori-STYLE".

Heather hooked me up with these super cute cards from Pinterest, so I engaged some help from my oldest daughter, who whipped up a batch of yummy banana bread.  Now I will get these delivered and begin plotting additional random acts of kindness to spread the love all the way to Lori's birthday.

Lori, I hope you feel the love surrounding you every minute of every day!  I'll keep you posted on other RAK done in your name.  I love you to the moon and back!!

If anyone else wants to join in on the celebration - please do!  The more Lori-STYLE love we can spread, the better this world will be.  I promise!