What a busy summer! July 14, 2009

What a busy summer we’ve had! Seems like we’ve hardly had time to rest and relax, not to mention taking time to write here! We’ve been off and running more times than I could count!

June went so fast it almost seemed that it wasn’t here at all. We had our 2nd Anniversary on the 9th, and spent the day together, just enjoying ourselves. Shortly after that, Junebug played at O’garas. Scott visited us for a few days in early June, to drop off Mark and Diane’s dogs, Rx and Ringo. We were able to see The Big Wu at an outdoor concert series called Alive After Five. On Father’s day, we drove to Hendricks to see Mark and grandpa Allen, as well as Harvey and Dee and the rest of the family. It was nice to spend the afternoon with family. We brought Michael back to Minneapolis with us as he wanted to spend a couple of weeks.

We spent a great week hanging out around Minneapolis with Michael. We were able to go see Up in 3D, and do all sorts of things, including the Como Zoo, Nickelodeon Universe, and we also went to see Year One. After Michael had been here for a week, Liza’s dad came to join us for the Minneapolis Gay Pride Festival. We had a fantastic time going to both the festival and the parade. Also, Junebug played at the festival itself, so it was a fantastic time for all of us!

July has also flown by, so far. Michael was still here for the first week, and we all traveled together to Aberdeen for the 4th of July at the Bait Cafe. We had such a wonderful, relaxing weekend. We spent most of it on the beach, taking boat rides, reading in the sun, and just enjoying not having anything else to do. We even took a chance and tried to see if Wicket would be willing to go for a swim. He’d never been in the water before, but we had him walk in a little ways, and before we knew it, he was swimming! It was amazing to watch him let his instincts take over and teach himself to swim. We spent a lot of time in the lake, and it was a great weekend all around. We even had a chance to see Anthony and Katie and some other friends as well.

After the 4th of July, we headed back home again. Michael came with us, as he had Zoo Camp starting on Monday the 6th. He spent a fun filled and exciting week at the Minnesota Zoo, spending each day learning about various zoo animals, and going behind the scenes at the zoo. He really enjoyed it, and we were all glad that he enjoyed it so much.

Michael’s last day of Zoo Camp was Friday. Friday was also the long-awaited Basilica Block Party! It was an early day for us, as Tony and his band mates had several television appearances in the early morning. Liza drove him to the Basilica to be interviewed by news stations, and to do a little bit of playing as well. The afternoon passed rather quickly, as Liza’s parents came to Minneapolis because it was time to watch Junebug play at the Basilica! Everyone was so proud of them, they had worked really hard to get that far. We all headed to the Basilica in the afternoon, and we able to find spots to sit and watch Junebug.

Junebug played a wonderful show at the block party! They were able to open for the JayHawks, which was very exciting! We also watched a bit of the Black Crows that night as well.

Saturday was a fun-filled family day. We got up early and headed to the zoo, where Michael was able to show all of us the things that he had learned during his week at zoo camp. It was a lot of fun to listen to all of the tidbits he’d picked up, and we know he enjoyed it as well.

The Kollmans went back to the block party on Saturday night, as we had gotten comp tickets to that night’s show. However, we weren’t able to see or hear that much of Counting Crows, so we called it an early night and headed back home again. Sunday morning we all slept in rather late, and headed to Petco before Mark and Diane and Michael left for Aberdeen. Michael had gotten himself a hamster on Craigslist, and supplies were needed!

The Johnsons headed back to Aberdeen Sunday afternoon and the Kollmans spent some time relaxing. It was nice to just have some time to ourselves!

We’ve spent this week getting ready to head off on our next adventure. We’ll be heading to Aberdeen for Liza’s 10 year high school reunion, followed by our trip to Canada for our good friend Amy’s wedding. We’re excited for our trip, as it will be our summer vacation!