Where did the Summer go?

Wow! Did I have a busy summer. So busy that I haven't managed to sit down and type up anything with Dad (my fearless stenographer) since the end of May.

So, once again I'm just trying to catch up. Three big events:
- We went to Chicago for a family reunion with Dad's parents and brother and my cousins! We were actually outside Chicago in a place called Galena, which is apparently where Mom & Dad got married, way back a long time ago. We didn't go see the church or anything, but they seemed to think it was a big deal.
My two boy cousins (Luke & Adam) are older than me, but they were really nice and we played together a lot. They have a little sister Sarah who is just starting to walk so she didn't really keep up as much. One of the neatest things of the trip was finally seeing fireflies! I'd been reading about them since I was a little baby, and even have a special book that lights up, but I'd never seen them in person. Dad and I stayed up late one night and then went out and caught a bunch of them in a jar. That was the coolest thing ever! I spent the rest of the trip demonstrating to anyone that would watch how Dad was catching them.
After we left Galena, we went to see my Grandpa Petrow, Uncle Wes, and cousin Makayla that trip, which was really cool.

Luke, Me, and Adam (my boy cousins)

Me demonstrating how Dad catches fireflies

- Mom, Grammy, and I went to visit Grammy's dad at his lake cabin in upper Minnesota (Dad didn't have enough vacation days to go). Great-grandpa's cabin was really cool and I had a lot of fun playing at the edge of the lake. Though in general, I think I missed Dad or something because Mom says I was "quite a pill" for most of the trip. Not sure what that means, but I don't think it's good. On the plus side, I learned that if I scream long and loud enough, Mom lets me sleep in bed with her! Sadly, that only seems to work when we're away from home.


- Lastly, I had another early birthday party! It was a lot more fun this year because this year I understand what the whole present thing is about. We decided to have everybody help open the presents so that all the other kids (Vanessa, Elijah, Vera, Jessica, Chloe, Tenaya, Alyssa, and Kiernan) could be involved, but I still got to do a lot of it. I got all kinds of cool stuff!

I did a better (or worse, depending on your perspective!) job with my
cake and ice cream this year.

So are you wondering why I'm having an early birthday party again? Because we're off to Russia for my real birthday! Last year we had my real birthday on the Great Wall of China, and this year it's going to be Red Square in Moscow. No, I'm not being raised a Communist - they're just cool places to go see! Though Dad did say something about not going to another Communist country for my next birthday. I'll have to see what I can come up with.