Stories of the Swiderski Sisters (and their parents): Koepkes, Martins and Stelljes

2 reasons whey I am loving this summer:

It has been amazingly hot
We have spent a ton of time at the cabin!

Most recently we spent a weekend with Koepkes (their 2 kiddos) and Martins there, followed by 4 days with our fantastic DC family.

Part 1: Koepkes and Martins

Claire is obsessed with babies. Here she is kissing Jackson.

Jackson is truly enjoying the booze cruise.

Oh yeah, so are Kristi and Kristin!

There's the whole gang! And Nonnie reading her Kindle. Apparently we're not very exciting.

Love...

A hug/kiddo in one hand, a glass of wine in the other. Nice job Tinny.

Boat ride tradition. A kiss for the driver....well only if it's Papa.

Stylin.

Again, Jackson is thrilled.

We got the buckets out again so Isaiah and Claire could paint the deck. Ryan is a genius.

First time fishing!

Claire is pointing out the fish we should be aiming for.

Daddy decided to come show us how this fishing thing is done.

First fish!

Claire gave him a little pet.

Then he jumped out of Daddy's hand and back into the lake.

Time for more worms.

I didn't know there was huging during fishing!

Daddy tried to convince Claire to give the fishy a kiss...

..here is her response.

I had to get this on camera. Someone may have commented that there are "no pictures of Claire hugging/kissing Nonnie". Done.

Part 2: Stelljes visit

GGma Ilene sent along Playdough for the girls to use. The loved it. So did the cracks in the deck. Uncle Dan spent a good amount of time cleaning Playdough out with a knife!

Lunch cruise with Auntie Kristin.

We did start Thomas off in a life jacket. He loved that. So this is where he ended up.

Auntie Molly showing Claire and Liz the fish under the boat.

Time for some toe splashing!

This is a hilarious progression. To the naked eye, it might seem adorable, Claire loves her cousin! ...

...what you may not know, is that Liz does not enjoy hugs in the form of a head lock and therefore will push/run/get away from Claire.

Claire decides to settle for a kiss on the shoulder.

Awwww!!!!!

Claire thought she'd give it the old college try...one more time!

Booze cruise...complete with snacks.

Awwww (#1)

Awwww (#2)

Which one is the pacifying toy?

This is a new noodle game: sing or say something through the noodle to your partner.

And then it was pudgie time!!! Unfortunately it was about 107 degrees with no breeze. The swarm of flies helped to cool us off though.

Claire and Liz thought it was a great time (and temperature) to have a dance party to their favorite computer generated song (1, 2, 3, 4, 5678, 9 10, 11...12...13 14 15 16....17.....18....19....20 yeah!). I can sing it for you if you like.

Still working on the pudgies. We started with pizza pudgies and then worked our way up to steak and cheese pudgies. Mmmmm, mmmm!

Perfection!

Nonnie Ellen thought it would be a lot of fun to make your own ice cream...maybe I'll let her do this with the girls next time :)

P.S. Don't tell Papa some of it leaked onto the pontoon...

Waiting in anticipation for the cream to be iced.

We never did make it onto the lake for a post-dinner booze cruise. Here is the front that was moving in (insert thunder here).

And that was it for the cruise!

Part 3: From EP to St. Cloud to Canada

We thought the cabin was a bit too large for 2 families, so we decided to head back to EP to all stay together at our apartment...ha!

In addition, since we hadn't traveled enough (mainly speaking of the Stelljes clan here), we thought it would be fun to go to both St. Cloud and Canada. Not all together. The "men" headed off to drink beer - ahem, I mean catch fish, while the women stayed back to tend to the home fires - ahem, children.

I took the girls to story time at the library. They quite enjoyed themselves!

Waiting in anticipation (on their self-selected rugs) for the next song to begin.