Welcome to CAMP SHAMINEAU !!!!!

Look at my nice bright and cheery morning rising camper..It is alot of fun to be in the camper altogether, altho you do want to be the first one asleep, that way you hear no critters and can avoid the snoring....

Josh was getting ready for Bible...

His first time on a trail ride by himself and without mommy.. He has a BLAST...

Christopher enjoying a little down time, often the boys would go to open gym which was within a hearing, walking and seeing distance and the boys would play for HOURS on end, and we would just sit in front of our camper and veg or talk with the other friends we went with, and they also were within hearing, seeing and jumping distance...=)

This older gentleman took an interest in Josh and helped him make a belt, they were not suppose to but he let us, only cost 10.00 for a genuine stamped by Josh himself belt..Josh did an awesome job on it with him name engraved like branding a cow..

Think camp is wearing him out, this is late in the evening down at the mess hall they had load a pizza for 5 bucks night..

can you say OPEN GYM MEANS TIRED BOYS!!!!! they spent all day wanting to go play ball games, rock climbing, basketball but this one particular game they just wanted to play nonstop..

This is during chapel times, all the kids sat in fun bleachers in the very back and watched the funny skits and worship, then they went to their own age appropriate classes while the parents heard a message each morning...

Zack is playing with some kids after his chapel class..

Nick the "Craft Man" When he wasn't in the gym, he could be found at the local craft spots that were manned by some college girls and they really took an interest in helping them, he made so many neat things...

Last but not least, the potato race or spudcar, they gave you each a potato, four wheels and four nails, you had to make a car and they would line up to race their cars...There was some really well made fancy spuds...

Hiking, state parks, and picnics... what fun !!!!

We hit two state parks and hiked our butts off, it was fun to walk the St. Croix river with the boys..we saw lots of beautiful sights that day....

this is us hiking along the st. croix river...
the boys wanted to throw big rocks in to make a large splash...

Here Nick is carrying a rock from the campsites to throw in the river...

This is the barn that is old and abandoned, we came upon it on our hike through one of the loops...

Here Chris and Josh are convinced we need to head that way.. I asked them what, which way , and both of them pointed to the left, little did I know.....

All these picture are taken along the St. Croix River, a beautiful, little chilly day...

Zack and Nick ran ahead in the campsite and posed, soooo cute those boys...

Easter, birthdays, and broken arms, oh my!!!!

We have had a very eventful beginning of the month, we had Easter, Josh turned 11 (Egads!) and Nick broke his arm, at his brothers birthday party.. But just look at him, still all smiles..

This was his precast, we got the real one the next day..
Here they boys are finding Easter Eggs in our backyard...

Here Zack found one on the feeder...

Josh and the day of his birthday.. We had his big cake at the airsoft party out at our friends house, the Browns...

Josh with his basket, he just woke up. (Can you tell =)

This was a basket of out monster eggs starring at you.. !!!My sister painted cute flowers, little bunnies and they used acryllic paint, took their time and I get monsters and dad rocks eggs, no mom rocks.....oh well, dad gets all their attention..that's ok with me...

One tough cookie...

I would never have dreamed that Nick would break his arm on the day of his older brother's birthday, I believed he would do it one day, just sad we missed Josh's party.. Nick fell off from a very high tree swing and lost his grip, landed on his wrist bent.. He broke both bones.. I would never had known he broke it though, he picked it up and said , "look mom I can still bend it, meanwhile his wrist looked like an S.. he was so brave at the hospital, he warmed my heart. He never cried once at the hospital, picked his arm up himself for x-rays, thanked the nurses when they would give him something.. What a brave and sweet patient, so easy.. I have only given him motrin 4 times in 3 days, I would want morphine..

the cast is orange and red, but is covered by an ace bandage.. the doctor gave him a shot in the bone to numb it so he could set it while they were putting the cast on.. The shot hurt worse than the break and when he squeezed it while the cast was hardening, it hardened too tight and cut the circulation off his fingers. as we were walking out the doctor took one last look and said, I am not happy with this, we need to cut the cast on both side, it is too tight and will return the next week for another layer of the cast, to make it tighter.. here is the hard part, the saw that they use to cut it open shakes and vibrates, you ever had your broken bone vibrated.. that part hurt and I could tell he was trying to be brave, but it really hurt..yet he didnt cry..

Here aunt Liz and nana sent him a crayola basket loaded with candy, coloring books, bubbles, silly string and lots more.. he is in love with it and is very excited to have it. he carries it everywhere he goes...

relaxing on the bed with his new friends..

He is Risen..... even with the egg monsters...

Easter is upon us.. It will be here tomorrow.. Here the boys are intently decorating their eggs. This year they wanted to decorate their eggs as monsters and speckled.. year 2010.

Nick's yellow cyclop..He's friendly though...=)

By the end of decorating 36 eggs, their hands were so stained that no amount of scrubbing would budge it...we gave up on those silly wire hooks they give you in the kits, they don't hold a jumbo egg and wow did we crack alot before they gave up and used their fingers. and did that bring back memories..

Nick Turns Seven.. My baby is 7 and no longer a baby...

I love my new owner. Happy Birthday Big Guy.. I sure am glad your mom adopted me to be your pet.. You rock and by the way, I love the lettuce you give me..

Signed.. Zed..

Nick turned 7. What a joy he is to everyone around him.. He is a servant and has a heart the size of the grand canyon...
He loves to help around the house and even as he is getting older, he is helping even more, not less...

When Nick got out of bed, he came down and found this groovy looking entrance into the kitchen. His theme this year was bowling, in which we had pizza and went to a new bowling alley called Pinz.. He didn't bowl, but played lots of games like Chuck E Cheese has..

Here is my new seven year old, he is very handsome...

What a fun cake, I wanted to make his cake this year, but I just couldn't beat what the professional bakers could do...

Nick with his seven year old candle...

Nice hair Josh and on the right is Brian Donohoo, which is probably Nick's closest friend...

The clan..We bought small Boboli pizza crusts and let them design their own toppings..

Here we are at Pinz.. Nick looked so cute with his head in this big yellow simulator.. He had such fun....

see how cute and big it looks compared to him.

Zack Turns Nine... Yeah....

Zack's 9th Birthday.. My thanksgiving Baby.. He is my favorite turkey tho.

I can't believe he is turning nine..What a joy..

He is my spiderman boy..

They love when I make a huge poster advertising their birthday...

Mommy loves to make a big deal and they love to wake up to decorations.. Of course they are spiderman colors...

Zack also beside spiderman, loves his second favorite fun is Legos...

Look how big and handsome he is becoming...

Nick watching Zack in anticipation and probably very excited his is coming soon too.. We are planning on a trip to Mall of America sometime after the Holidays to finish celebrating Zack's birthday.. He wants to go to LegoLand and eat lunch at The Rainforest Cafe...