The Bleeker Mishpakha: Cade's Summer in Review

Cade was "poking" around on the blog the other day and realized that I had not blogged any summer events. He asked me why and so I told him. I told him that I had gotten behind on the blog and the thought of going back was overwhelming. I explained that after much thought, I decided to start up with fall and go from there. In not so many words, he told me that it was a bad idea and he would like to see some summer pictures. He is right. A few summer picture would be nice. So, I am going to do a review of each child's summer. I will start with Cade. Hopefully I will have them all done by next summer:)

We will start with our trip to Florida with wonderful family friends! None of our kids had seen the ocean before this trip. They saw both sides (the Atlantic and Gulf) by the time the trip was over. This picture is of the ride (by ferry) to Caladesi Island on the gulf side. It was a beautiful beach, known for it's shells. This is the beach that we got the best look at dolphins too.

Can you see them?

We went to the Atlantic side with the Van Es family. The kids had so much fun playing in the waves and in the sand. We set up "camp" at the Lori Wilson Park. This area of the beach was wonderful, plus the parking was free! If you find something in Florida that is free, than you have really found something!

Two days were spent at Sea World. The ride pictured below is the Journey to Atlantis, a favorite ride of all the kids! The best part about this ride...the air conditioned gift shop right next to it! Romee and I spend lots of time in there resting, cooling off, and observing the fish in the aquarium. The week we were in Florida they had record setting temps. We were so proud of how well our kids handled the heat and exhausting days. We came prepared with spray misters fans and LOTS of drinking water.

On to Big Sand. We spent two weeks in a row at Big Sand this year. One with the Bleeker's and one with the Franken's.

Cade's big accomplishment was getting up on one ski. As you can see from the pictures, he had two very good teachers...the other is driving the boat:) He decided one afternoon he was going to give it a try and by the next afternoon he looked like he had been doing it for years. I love his face in the picture below. This is his "intense, concentration face". He looks just like Bryan when he makes this face.

One of the many fish he caught over the two weeks. I think this might be a large mouth bass. As you can tell, I am not nearly as familiar with fish species as he is.

Here are our two little fishermen. These two are inseparable at the lake. If they are not in a boat fishing, then they are on the dock fishing, and if they are not on the dock fishing, they are reading their "Minnesota Fishing Guide"...studying up on the fish they anticipate catching on their next outing!

Uncle Chad won "Uncle of the Year" this year. He got tickets to see the Twins play in their new ball park. The tickets were right behind home plate, about 14 rows up!