Gunderson Adventures.... where all 6 of Us live life to the fullest!

Grandpa, Andrew, Grandma and Micah reading a story! Nana and Drew hanging out together! Mommy and Micah at "Pump it Up!" We had a wonderful week in the cities visiting family. This year we stayed at Kyle's parents house and hopped back and forth between family gatherings. We are always so thankful to have family that is so flexible and understanding. It was so nice to spend time being together with loved ones. Andrew and Micah enjoyed seeing Nana and spending extra time catching up on snuggle time with her. It was fun to go to Chuckie Cheese, Maple Grove Maze and "Pump it Up" in Plymouth. The boys have slepted great since we've come home from all the fun they had with Nana and GG! It was also fun to see cousins Callie and Joey for a few days! Andrews favorite gifts were the Matching Game, Puzzles, Basketball G...

Our boys are such a great blessing to us each and every day, but when we need them to stand or sit still for a little while to take a picture they just can't.  We tried or should i say Anna really tried a few times to get a good picture for our christmas card.  here are a few of the non winners!

We headed for Duluth last Sunday after church to take the boys to the EdgeWater Hotel and swim at their incredible water park! The water park is perfect for kids under 5 years old. The boys had a blast swimming and going down the water slides! Andrew was going down head first until he got into a little trouble from the Lifegaurd. Totally not like our well mannered Drew to be so adventurous! Micah loved the splashing water and swimming on his tummy in the shallow water. It was so good for all of us to leave home for a few days and refresh! Here are a few pictures of us having some great family time.

This weekend i had the opportunity to go out and take part in my very first deer hunt.  I went out friday night with my friend Dan Ruelle and his son to his shack about 40 miles from town.  We hung out for the night and i asked a ton of what if questions, and they laughed at me with my lack of hunting knowledge.  We had a great time hanging out.  In the morning we woke up so early i did not realize that that time of day existed, but it does.  We headed out to our stands at about 6AM and sat there for about 3 1/2 hours.  I headed in to the house and saw a deer way off but not a good shot so i let it go.  after lunch we walked around the woods hoping to spook something up but did not see anything.  I went back to my stand at about 3 PM and sat until dark.  The sun set at about 4:40 and the gun fire was all around me, but i still saw nothing.  Just as the frustration of a cold day in the woods set in, a buck walked out of the woods about 50 yards to my north.  As i got set up for the shoo...

Here are our little Fire Fighters! They went to the Fire Station a few weeks ago with ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) and were sold on becoming Fireman! We have taken down several fires (pretend) around the house in the last week. The boys had a blast trick-or-treating with GG this weekend and pretending they were true fire fighters!

Here are the beautiful displays this year! Good luck topping these great pumpkins this year Mom and Dad, Ben and Jesse!

Our sweet little Micah continued to be a crabby bear throughout the week and I began to rethink it was just teething or nightmare scares. By Thursday night he was running a fever of 102 and continued to be really restless that night. By morning he held on to the 102 fever so I called the doctor, after running all symptoms by my wonderful sister-in-law Sara, to take him in to check for ear infection. Sure enough, the doctor said his ears looked pretty sore. Sometimes it is so hard to know what in the world is going on with little ones. Kyle and I are so glad to be sleeping again and having our little sweetheart back. 

Oh Boy the last few days have been an extreme challenge for both Anna and I with the boys.  The boys have not been behaving the best and have been pushing all the buttons.  To add to the mix they have not slept well as Micah has not wanted to sleep at night or be in his own bed.  The other night he just sat and screamed for about 20 min.  This meant that all four of us were up until about 11 o'clock.  Finally at about 11 some how i thought that maybe he would sleep if he could lay with Andrew.  It worked, Andrew in his own fashion began to pat Micah's back to calm him down.  Just a few min later they were both quiet.  they were so cute sleeping together.  The last 3 nights now Micah will not sleep in his own bed but has to sleep with Drew and they love it.  We have great kids, just quite a week.

Check out the blog writing and other video below, but here is one more video of the boys and their leaf pile.

This past friday the boys and I had a day together.  Mom took off early in the morning for a day trip with the ladies to Bemidji for some shopping and lunch.  We took this as a guys only day and made the most of it.  We went to n at McDonald's and met our good friends Skip and Jim for Lunch and time to play.  The boys loved the time and spent an hour climbing up the towers and down the slides.  We went home and all took naps, what a relief!  After naps we woke up and raked a pile of leaves in the back yard, not for yard work, but to jump in of course.  Andrew then wanted to go to the library and play some computer games, read stories, do puzzles, and put on stickers.  After the library we headed home to meet mom and have Papa Murphy's pizza that she had brought home.  It was a very full, but great day.  We all slept great at night.  Check out the movies of our leaf pile.  Andrew and Micah would love it if you would leave them a comment about their leaf jumps so we could read th...

It has been awhile since we have updated everyone. We got home from a pastors retreat in Dallas TX about a week ago and it has been super busy ever since! I will BLOG later about our trip to Dallas, but more importantly I wanted to let everyone know that Andrew turned 3 last Thursday! We celebrated with family when we were in the cities before Kyle and I took off for Dallas, and Andrew was completely thrilled! He smiled all night long and clapped after everyone sang for him. Again Grandpa made an amazing cake for Andrew's birthday. Our theme this year was Mickey Mouse since we will be going on a Disney Cruise at the end of February 2009. Andrew loved his special night with Grandpa, Grandma, GG, uncle Ben and aunt Kara, cousin Kaylee, and Great Grandparents Jean, Dorothy and Curt. On Thurday October 9th we had a fun day with Drew on his actual birthday. For breakfast we had donuts and eggs with daddy before he went to work. Midmorning we went to storytime with Drew and Micah's ...

The boys came with me on my run today and brought along pacies and blankies! They are so funny to me because they just snuggled together the whole trip. Andrew was rubbing Micah's back while he slept in his lap. So priceless! It is so fun to have two little boys so close in age. They truly are best buddies already!

We have had a blast as a family flying this $1.50 Spiderman kite! Kyle got creative and tied to kite to Andrew's fishing pole so it would be easier for the boys to hold onto!

Here is a short video of Andrew singing his new favorite song "These are the days of Elijah" He love the song and the actions.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us this week! Andrew and Micah always love to jump in bed with grandma and grandpa when they wake up in the morning. I can still hear them singing songs and laughing as they roll around in bed together. Mom and dad were introduced to the Wiggles videos for the first time! Mom said she still has "BBQ on the Beach" in her head! We had such a fantstic week together. As the days continued we got into a fun routine of piling into Grandpas truck and taking off to go on a boat ride and picnic at our own private island! This was really fun as no one else was around and we could go swimming and picnic all by ourselves! One island we really liked was called MIO Beach. While Grandpa was with us we had him help us with some much needed yard work. Kyle and dad worked hard but also found time to go fish for Walleye. They say they caught close to 50 walleye together total! Mom and I were so impressed. Grandma is always helpful in the kitchen and looking for...

We had a blast with Nana and GG this summer while we were down in the cities and at the cabin. The boys and I had a great time at the Annual July 4th party at the cabin with some good friends from our previous youth ministry church in Maple Grove. We also had fun going to parks, out to ice cream and sliding down the ever famous water slide Nana purchased for us last summer! The boys continue to talk about Nana's glorious slide! Nana and GG are so special to our boys. Micah talks about GG while swinging at the park or at supper time with us! Drew always loves his nana and enjoys eating Power Bars with her when he has a chance. Though we will miss our Nana as she headed out to Denver Seminary for one last semester, we are cheering her on from the sidelines. Christmas will be our next visit with Nana and we can't wait for that great moment! Nana we are so proud of YOU! Enjoy the pictures of us enjoying our Nana and GG this summer!

Today we had a chance to spend the entire day together as a family. We started by heading out of town to a river for some hiking, rock throwing, and a picnic lunch. This took the entire morning and was well wortht the 40 mile drive to see the boys fall in the river as they enjopyed throwing the rocks. After our return trip home we all took a well needed afternoon nap and slept like rocks. Micah woke us up with his familiar call for "juice". In the evening we had a short family walk to the grocery store, time in the new front yard swing, and of course filled our evning watching the Olympics. Andrew and Micah love the water sports, swimming and diving are just the greatest to them. What a day! Make sure to watch the video above of the WACKY swing!

This summer we have enjoyed spending time with grandma and grandpa. Andrew gives grandma and grandpa lots of high fives saying "Buddies Forever!" Grandma and Grandpa return the saying and get the biggest smile. It is so fun to see how Drew and Micah bring so much joy to their grandma and granpa's life. We are so thankful for the many ways they continue to create such great memories for our boys. Here are some pics of the boys with grandma and grandpa!

Andrew had a blast this morning finger painting! Can you tell what his favorite color is? Have a great day!

Micah is always teaching Anna and I how to laugh in what could be seen as stressful times. He also taught us that there is more than one way to eat jello. Here are a few photos of how Micah ate his dessert last night!