friend

Miles and Olive tearing up the back yard.  They are taking "turns" playing with the car.   Well sort of taking turns.  Miles is more than a little territorial of his toys in the back yard but he did push Olive in the car a couple of times.  Although when she tried to climb in with him, he didn't exactly slide over and welcome her in.  We're working on it...  Either way, they still have a great time together.  Probably because Olive is so generous!

sprinkler time

Sprinklers really are this fun, and I recomend everyone try it some time soon.  Miles certainly thinks its fun.  He runs and laughs and screams and the faces we caught in these photos tell it all.  He can say sprinkler "spinky" and he can say under "undie"  so he runs and shouts "spinky undie" and laughs and then he yells "mommy undie" which means its my turn to join the fun.

just like Dad

Miles uses his watering can from Nonna to help his Dad water the garden.  These pictures are so sweet!  He followed Mike all around the yard watering plants as he went.  What a cute little helper.  I am pretty sure he is in his diaper because he just got out of splashing in the pool with his clothes on. 

pool

Tho pool has been the highlight of our summer.  Everyday we play in the water in some way.  Some days its watering with the hose, some days its running in the sprinkler, but almost everyday its splashing in the pool.   Here Miles is mastering his hose skills while he fills the pool.

Nonna's Garden

After our 4th of July visit Mike and Miles headed up to Fargo for an afternoon with Nonna and Poppa.  Miles had a great time exploring all the little wonders in Nonna's garden.  He helped water and pick tomatoes.  And you should hear him say tomato!  So cute it melts your heart.  Nonna gave him his very own watering can which he has continued to use to water our garden at home.

at the lake

We spent the weekend following the fourth of July at Travis and Tiff's lake lot.  It was so much fun!  Miles got to experience the fun that goes along with having 16 cousins all under the age of 10.  Seriously, that was a lot of little ones.  Tiffany has an awesome family with tons of kids.  They all play together, care for each other, and have tons of fun.  Miles was in awe and mostly just did a lot of research on all the things big kids do.  But he had fun making friends with the cousins and running around.

Also, Miles was so excited to see his big cousins jump off the dock that he wanted to jump off too.  No fear, he certainly would have just jumped had we not been holding onto him.  He loved the lake and going down the slide. He loved splashing and jumping off the dock.  He loved watching the boys fishing for sunnies.  He really liked the pontoon, but was a little nervous about the "loud boat."

He also got down with a fair amount of junk food, doritos included.  The little guy loved his chips and the cutest part was hearing him as for "chips."  He is doing so much talking and it is oh so sweet.

Travis, Matt, and Nate put on an awesome fireworks show.  Miles wasn't too interested, he preferred to play in the car where it wasn't as loud.  Spending time with family is always so joyful on so many levels.  Partly because I love to spend time with my family and partly because I love to see Miles enjoy time with his cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents.

fourth of july

The fourth of July was hot, hot, hot this year!  The best way to cool off was to just get down to business and get wet!  Adults and kids alike enjoyed the baby pool and sprinkler to cool off.  Miles had a lot of fun meeting some friends of ours and spending time at Kelly and Mark's place.  He also enjoyed a little pool time with Mabel.  We went to two back yard parties and thought we would just keep going.  We put Miles in the bike trailer as soon as we got home and headed out to Powderhorn Park to see the fireworks.  Miles loved seeing all the people an the excitement of running around at night, but as soon as the large fireworks started it was another story.  Mike and I caught a few of the fireworks through the trees on our bike ride home, and Miles solidified his discomfort with loud noises that started in Duluth!

similarities

In case you were wondering just who Miles looks like...

Duluth

During our camping trip we took a day adventure to Duluth.  We spent our time in Canal Park.  There were no big ships coming in but plenty of boats using the canal.  We watch the bridge go up and Miles was shocked by the loud blow horn that sounds when it goes up.  He talked about it for weeks.  Saying "Boat, Loud!"  over and over.  This also lead to an association that all boats are loud.  We are working on that.  Talking about how some boats are quiet like a row boat and some boats just have a quiet motor noise, like the Nagel's pontoon.  But there were many other highlights while we spent the day in Duluth.  Miles enjoyed throwing rock in the water at the beach, chasing seaguls, seeing many boats and even the old train that runs along the lake shore to Two Harbors. 

This is Miles' response to the blow horn as the lift bridge went up.  A little concerned.

Banning State Park

We took a family vacation up North.  We started our trip with a stop in Sandstone, MN at Banning State Park.  We stayed in a state park camper cabin.  This was our second time staying in one and it is fast becoming a favorite way to camp! Miles loved the cabin, especially the deck leading up to the front door.  Miles also learned about misquitos on this trip and tried his best to swat the bugs as they landed or buzzed around him.  Poor guy just basically slapped himself in the head alot and then laughed about it.  We did a good amount of hiking as well, taking in awesome views and historical mining sites along the Kettle River.  Another first for Miles was his first smores.  Yum!