A Tribute to Andrew

Well, the long awaited tribute to Andrew is here. Andrew had his 12th birthday in early July (we won't give out the date). Let's just say that it was in the first one third of the month. Andrew is our first and oldest grandchild. That makes him king of the clan. Here he is with the happy Mom and Dad.
He was soooooo tired that all he wanted to do was sleep. They usually do.

If you look at this picture of Logan, you can see that his hair resembles Andrew's. It is all sticky-outy. There must be a sticky-outy hair gene somewhere in the Larsen line.

See Andrew's hair. It is the first sticky-outy hair in the family. He has learned to tame it; in fact it is quite long when he attends school but real short during summer. His Uncle Kyle, Aunt Tiffany and cousins Ellie and Erik will be moving to Tianjin, China for at least a year. So he decided to try on Kyle's China hat, with the long pony tail.

Andrew also got his first music lesson from Kyle. He gave up the guitar for the trumpet and he plays a mean horn.

Maybe there is something to the "Born with a silver spoon in his mouth" saying because he has one.

This is Andrew at his first birthday. Doesn't he look excited?

Andrew had his first flying lesson when he was vary young. He was barely walking but still took to the skies in this WWI replica of the Red Baron's plane.

Now we jump ahead to Andrew's second birthday where is is actively engaged in removing paper from a gift.

Andrew is measuring himself to a fire hydrant. This was a milestone for him because now he can run with the big kids (all those that equal the height of a hydrant).

Flash forward to birthday number three. The wind is about to put out the candles.

Andrew started out fishing at a young age. Here he is pulling out a big one while ice fishing in the cold Minnesota winter.

He took part in many school plays and concerts. Here he kind of looks like Don Diego DeLevega (Zorro).

He likes to swim. His dad is giving him a little boost.

Here is a joyful Andrew with his first gun, a Daisy BB gun. "You're going to shoot your eye out," Another one of Andrew's school concerts, where he is singing out his heart.

On Andrew's 10th birthday, grandpa gave him a ride in an airplane, where he sat at the controls, along with the pilot Fred Larson. This was his second flying lesson. Remember his first one was reported earlier.

Here he goes, up, up and away. His dad was in the back and says he will never go in a small plane again. It was bumpy and worse than the Wild Thing at Valley Fair. Oh well. They are still fun to fly in. Congratulations Andrew for being in your last pre-teen year.

Andrew had a birthday

So I was reminded that I have not updated my blog to include a tribute to Andrew on his 12th birthday. I would never forget my oldest grandson's birthday. I have been very busy the past two weeks. Well Brett, Andrew, Brandon and I were going to go to Valley Fair on the hottest day of the year and decided to postpone it for a cooler day. Well the cooler day will be on Jul 21 (right now the forecast says that it will also be in the low to mid 90's that day also). I was going to include pictures from that trip to the amusement park. I will have a great tribute to ANDREW in a week. I will be gathering pictures (maybe some of them will be embarrassing????). So be patient and amazed - well maybe not that amazing. So here is a snippit of photos. Isn't he adorable?
Andrew was at the Earle Brown Days parade that runs in front of our house in 1998 and he was in charge of all the Mock Judges, who were judging all the participants. You would rate them from 0 to 10 (worst to best).

Jesse Ventura happened by during the parade but I never got shots of his scores. So you can guess.

The 4th of July at the lake

Kathy was our hostess, as usual, for the fourth of July festivities at Big Lake. She always makes assignments for delicious food and desserts and nobody goes away hungry. This is just part of the group that attended this year.

Liam had some Cherrios and finger jello. No big thing for him. It is just food.

Logan on the other hand just loved his finger jello. It was kind of hot and with him trying to pick it up and get it to his mouth, it started to melt. Look at the fingers. His shirt looked just as bad.

It was too much for the Dudes and they had to take a nap. But there were several others that naped also.

Gigi just loved the water. She was so relaxed in the floaty chair and would move with the waves. A couple of times, big waves pushed her right into shore and she "bottomed" out. But she would be content to stay there all day and turn into a prune.

Lorelei never liked that floaty chair, so she doned her life jacket and water shoes and got her legs wet. Well, a couple times dad took her way out in the water, which she didn't like all that much.

Joe was mister play in the water. He was in the water all afternoon and just loved it.

This was great fun for Logan. He loves to splash and thought he was special to be "way out in the lake".

Liam - this is no big deal. It's just water. It is just like our pool at home but much bigger.

Judy and Lenna decided to take a ride on the "TUBE". Not sure what they were synchronizing. Maybe they are trying out for the nationals.

Two of them left the dock on the Tube.

Then there was one. Where is Lenna? Looks like Judy is trying to move over into her spot.

Tana and Joe decided to do the tube also. They had no problems and came back safely.

It was a great day at Big Lake. There was a 20 minute sprinkle in the middle of the afternoon but that didn't stop the activities. The weatherman did forecast a passing shower and we got the only one that popped up.

The Dudes are 1 year old

It's the Dudes, long awaited first birthday and lots of friends showed up, for their party. It was a great day. The Dudes were not as thrilled at the quiet gifts they got as much as the noisy, talking, musical electronics they got. They did try to open the stuff themselves, but had help.

Logan got one of the best gifts, the book "Dangerous Book for Boys". "Dad will you teach me to read sooner than Liam?"

Mom does a really good job keeping the house clean for my brother and me. Dad, you could learn a lesson or two from her in keeping the garage floor cleaner, but after all it is the Man Room and we should not be so concerned with cleanliness. So I won't tell if you decide not to clean it.

Liam started cake eating by squishing it and feeling its texture. He was more interested in the ooziness of it rather than the taste of it.

Logan on the other hand, took a small piece and ate it. He wasn't as messy as Liam but in the end they both had equal amounts of cake and frosting all over themselves.

Liam's end result.

Logan looked like this.

Then it was time to head to the front lawn for a hose bath. That was fun! It kind of took my breath away at first but then it was no different than playing in the pool, and the temperature of the water was the same too.

The Dudes and cousin Nora tried out the new Radio Flyer, two seater, wagon. We all can fit if we sit sideways with the seats down.

Then it was time for Liam to take a spin on his new Kawasaki off-road machine. "I really know how to push all those buttons, and it will be really loud in the house (this might have to be an outside toy only)."

Logan tried out his new H2 Hummer Police car, with a working trunk to put the bad guys in. "I learned how to start it, squeal the tires and turn on the siren. Pay no attenting on that Nukky that I am sucking on. I am a big boy now."