We had a busy summer this year…here are some of the fun things we have done!

I signed Nolan up for a few single day morning camps (9-12pm) at our nearby Cave of the Mounds. This turned out to be one of the best summer investments. The kids learned lots of new info, took a cave tour and toured part of the gardens/grounds near the cave to look for evidence there is a cave below (including some newer sink holes) every camp day. They also brought home a souvenir related to that day’s topic: fossils, rocks/minerals, etc. Nolan started out as a cave pro this summer and now I think he’s considered a cave dictionary!

Here is a map of the grounds surrounding the cave. If you look closely you can see the trails as well as where the sink holes are located, etc.

While he was in camp one of the days I played with my camera…

and found some wonderful things to photograph inside…

and outside of the cave! (If you want to see more cave photos view the Cave of the Mounds album on the ohshoot website: www.ohshootphotos.com.)

Nolan was also in a “tweaked” version of Snow White. He and another kiddo were skunks that had to “spray” the queen away.

There were more animals than dwarfs in this version…

and of course no kissing! In fact, the prince was instructed to “touch” Snow White’s shoulder to wake her and he (like a true 3rd grade boy) reached out with his pointer finger and “poked” her. Despite the rolling laughter from us parents in the audience (during the dress rehearsal) the play’s director had to pause the practice and ask the prince to use his entire hand next time.

We also made a slightly last minute trip to MI to attend Kelly’s 92 year old Grandmother’s funeral. The 9 hour drive went surprisingly well…

and of course we stopped at our favorite park along Lake Michigan in Gladstone, MI.

We found creative ways to keep fidgety hands and feet busy—Nolan was quite the hula hoop show off!

And Grandpa Bill surprised us with a really cool remote control helicopter. It kept everyone’s hands/arms busy making sure the darn thing didn’t land on our heads! (It was a little hard to control inside, but not meant for outside use!)

Nolan became reacquainted with a fun Michigan cousin, Mary Ellen—don’t let the pictures fool you, he loved the attention!

We also stopped by to say hello to Kelly’s dad and answer all of Nolan’s 273 questions. This was started in part by us talking about going to a funeral and Nolan asking, “What’s a funeral” and us realizing he was right–he hasn’t had to learn that word yet! It’s amazing what all we have to learn about life!

WARNING: The following pictures may induce periodic laughter–take meds now, before viewing, to prevent injury or illness! :))

Grandpa Dave, Kelly and Nolan went on a fishing expedition. Step was a trip to nearby Black Earth Creek. This was a good place to set up the fishing poles, lines, etc. and practice casting.

Kelly showed Nolan a little one, two, three process…Then of course Nolan wanted to do it all-by-himself…

and he preferred to use his tippy toes as he reeled the line back in…

and as he realized it was reeling in something big, he called Papa over to help…

Unfortunately it was not the snack we were hoping for! Note: This photo can also serve as a reminder as to why I can rarely get photos of either Kelly or Nolan with their mouths closed!

We also journeyed out to the Wisconsin River for a second day of fishing over Labor Day weekend. I am hoping to post some of those pics in a fall part 2 post soon.

This summer Nolan decided that the simple and slower ice skating lessons he’s been doing are no longer enough. So, we signed up for a shorter summer program of hockey skills, drills and 3 on 3 partial ice scrimmages. I was apprehensive about hockey–mostly because of all of the stereotypes. But I have officially learned that I don’t really have much to worry about until he turns 9 and the games become more competitive.

In addition to all of this we signed up for the summer hockey in early June and as we found ourselves in one of our hottest summers of the last 10 years or so, I became increasingly thankful for the constant 40 degree ice arena we were entering twice a week! In fact, as the heat increased outside in July I got to wear I could sit in the arena for an hour (in sandals, shorts and a t-shirt) and not need my usual fleece and gloves! Okay now…on to the photos!

Believe it or not, these two photos were Nolan’s idea!

Nolan made a huge transformation this summer. He went from ice skater to speed skater with some hockey stick and puck control too. I couldn’t believe it. It was so incredible to watch the changes right before my eyes. I’m hoping the following photos will show at least some of what it felt like to watch him grow and change. Oh well, and of course there were hints of the old Nolan too—like this one where he is the only player not looking at or listening to the coach!

These two photos are showing some of the drills they had to do. In the first one they are supposed to weave the puck in and out of the spaces forward and then back down again. In the second photo they are to simply hit the puck back and forth under the red “bridge”. In order for this to work you can’t hit the puck too hard (or too light) and you have to lift your stick up in-between—it’s all about puck control!

The next 7 photos are like a series. It was one of my favorite drills they had to do. The object was to power skate, then drop to their bellies and slide under a stick, get back up on their feet, short skate, drop to bellies again slide under second stick and then back on their feet and keep skating. This whole process is fairly fast.

The very first time Nolan did this he was extra cautious, dropped to his knees first and never remembered to drop his butt—so he and then stick proceeded to move forward! The second time he did this exercise he dropped to his knees and then his belly and because he took longer he lost all of his momentum and stalled out under the stick. He had to act quickly as another kiddo was coming up behind him, but he figured out how to do a wacky sort of army crawl on the ice to get out from under the stick without touching it.

I don’t know how well this will translate in photos, but it was really fun to watch. There were mistakes and corrections and lots of laughter!

Power skating toward the stick/cross bar…

dropping to knees…

dropping to belly and stalling under stick.

Power skating toward stick/cross bar…

dropping straight to belly this time…

and gliding all the way through! Whew—got that down now.

And of course that’s not all! In between all of the dropping down to ice and getting back up again the kids would have to skate around and then jump three times over three different sticks on the ice. This too was a process for Nolan. At the beginning of the summer he was doing a step jump, but by the end he was jumping like a pro!

Jump!

Did I tell you they were skating fast???

A silhouette of concentration!!

Well, this mega post must come to an end. I hope you all enjoyed the photos!

And then there was first grade, a total of four teeth lost and a goofy open mouth! Until next time…