Rock Wall Climing in Albert Lea

What great fun was had by all!! The foursome of Cory, Macy, Emma, and Logan wanted to do something fun before school started up for their 10th grade year! Yes they are all in 10th grade! I am having a hard time with them growing up so fast, but such is life! Okay, so anyway, I found a rock wall climbing facility in Albert Lea, threw the idea out to the mom's, collected "yes" from the four children and a "yes" from Shirley to ride shotgun and we were off! We ate at Applebee's restaurant...Shirley and I sat 3 tables down and one row over from the foursome...leaving them space to chat. Then we went to the rock wall climbing facitility where they all suited up and were off. Later that night the guys that were helping the four asked them if they wanted rock wall climbing shoes to put on...all said it was much easier after they put them on. I was amazed at how hard they worked to get to the top. The one instructor suggested a game and they all had fun playing that too. It was a great time and I think we will be returning there for Christmas with all of the Malakowsky grandchildren in tow.


#1 - Cory reaching, #2 - Cory doing the "side wall" and Logan "spotting",
#3 - Emma doing a great job!, #4 - all done and all tired out!

Fishing...a Malakowsky thing

What a beautiful day to go fishing! The girls had Bailey and Shelby Haseman over for a fishing trip....which was originally supposed to be just a boat ride. What fisher girls these four are! They did not want to quit! The first boat ride was with Maren and Bailey. They didn't come back for 45 minutes! Jeff shows up and something from the bucket was splashing him as he was driving his boat in. It was the large mouth bass pictured above...may not taste the best, was a fleshier fish to chew on than a blue gill! Morgan is asking for a repeat adventure today.

Because it has taken me so long to do my blog, I am not sure what order things happened in so some of these entries are going to be random. Cory and Macy Coleman played in a tennis tournament as a mixed doubles team. They seemed to have a great time and, as always, it is so fun to be an observer....it was a warm day and I was so thankful for the apple slice from Lisa Shellum towards the end of the early afternoon!!

Morgan has a green thumb that is out of this world! She received a spider plant sprout from Mrs. Anne Olsen at the end of the school year. By late June we had to put it into a larger pot. Then in July, while visiting Uncle David in Sioux Falls, she was told to put a little bit of Miracle Gro in the pot....I am not sure what happened as she did it by herself but the next morning the plant had died. It was so sad!!!

So, she moved on to the plant that her mother killed. I recevied this beautiful geranium from Lisa and Mark Collier for a graduation gift. Morgan clipped off all the dead flowers, watered the plant, and voila! look at it now! It is gorgeous! A week after she cut off the dead flowers a beautiful red flower appeared. We were both so excited! So, I stay away from the plant and she is taking care of it herself. What do I do with it during the winter time?????

Morgan has been given a hand-me-down camera from her dad...it was our first digital and it got dropped so it doesn't have a flash, but it still takes great outdoor pictures. These are a few of her pictures she has taken over the months. She totes it with her everywhere we go. It has a long handle on it so that she can sling it from right shoulder to left hip. She has about 50 pictures of Hunter alone, her favorite subject when she can get him to sit still! Speaking of Hunter and Morgan, she has taught him to "race". She says, "Do you want to race boy?" and he gets crouched down and ready. She says, "Let's go!" and the two of them race around the house. Of course, so far, Hunter always wins.....unless he gets sidetracked by the bunny rabbits in the garden.

The Sand Box is Filled!!!!

Oh happy day! We have new sand in the sandbox....and only a few (thousand) granules travel through the house on the way to the shower....if only there was a warm water hose outside...hmmm. Morgan was ecstatic to see the dump truck bring in her load of sand. She had been asking all summer and we were so busy that I never got around to it until this week, the last week in July! The little boy in the picture is Jose, who lives on the corner. He came running across the yards and slapped his hand over his mouth and his eyes got really big...it was hilarious to see how excited he was to see Morgan's filled up sandbox. The two of them have been in the sandbox both days, making ramps for cars and digging up holes. No water traps so far.

Annual Relay for Life/Visiting Mitch and Jenny

Every year I buy bags in memory of my mom, Betty, and in honor of my dad, David, who have been through cancer experiences. We lost Grandma Betty in 1995, but Grandpa David lives on and is healthy to this day with a full recovery....we thank God for that! After making the bags we discovered the Grandma Laura is going through surgery on July 31 and we pray for a full recovery. Next year there will be a bag there to honor her too. This is the first year I did not attend the Relay for as long as I can remember because we went North to visit Jeff's family.



We arrived at the resort late Friday night and spent two glorious days there with Mitch, (Jeff's brother), Jenny, and their three boys - Luke, Alex and Nick. It was Luke's birthday on Saturday so we celebrated with cake and gifts. He turned 8!! Maren, Morgan and I went to a beading class that was held at the clubhouse. Maren made earrings, Morgan made an ankle bracelet and I made a wrist bracelet. We had a great time and it was fun to experiment with different beads to find just the right look. This is my third piece of jewelry from this resort as this is the same place that we have had the Malakowsky girls' weekend! We also went swimming, played mini-golf, went on a paddle boat ride, had camp fires nightly, played cards, and Morgan's favorite....drove the golf carts around and around the entire resort...she couldn't get enough! If I was thinking I would have taken a picture of her in the golf cart driver's seat....her dream is to drive when she is old enough! What a girl!

Vacation Bible School at First Lutheran

What a great week the girls had with their friends at Vacation Bible School! The camp counselors were fun and energetic and the activities were engaging and fun. The girls especially liked tie-dying their shirts and being able to wear them during their worship service on Wednesday night. Every year is an adventure at Bible Camp!!