A week at Balsam Lake

By Mom of TJB and MMB July 13, 2015

My first swim in the pool!

After a wonderful week in Chicago with Daddy's family (update by Daddy here), Mommy, Theo and I hopped a quick plane ride up to the Twin Cities to see Mommy's family. We were well-behaved for Mommy on the flight and luckily for her (traveling alone with two kiddos) it was only 45 minutes! We landed and headed to Lake Harriet near downtown Minneapolis to see some of Mommy's friends who were in town for her 10-year college reunion.
Later that day, we had more of Mommy's friends over for a pool party at Auntie Annie and Uncle Eric's house. Theo was eager to jump in and he immediately saw the white plank at the end of the pool and asked, "Mommy, is that a diving board?" Mommy said, "Yes" and he said, "My want to go off the diving board, please." He had never gone off a diving board but he had watched the "big kids" at the local pool go off and he was wearing a life jacket so Mommy said "Ok". He climbed out of the pool and ran to the end, climbed up and just jumped right off! He swam/doggy paddled over to the ladder and climbed out and did it again, and again, and again. He went off at least a dozen times before we had to go inside for dinner. He was hooked!

Wild man jumping off the diving board!

The next day we had more fun in the pool - even I got to go swimming! Theo jumped off the diving board again and learned how to do cannon balls, belly flops, backwards jumps, and even started diving(!!) all on his own. He's a quick learner (and quite fearless, I might add) and minimal instruction, he put his hands over his head, leaned over, and dove right in (see pic below and click on the first video below too)! I don't usually brag about my brother but he's pretty awesome. Do you know any two-year-olds who know how to dive off diving boards?!

Theo's first dive - head first and all!

Sibling love

We drove up to Balsam Lake, WI on Tuesday night and spent the next week relaxing in rural Wisconsin with Grandma JoJo, Grandpa, Auntie Annie, Uncle Eric, little cousin Evelyn and the dogs, Winnie and Louie. Theo continued his fearless streak by swimming out to the new water trampoline and jumping off of it with all the "big kids."

Lauren, Theo and David jumping off the trampoline

We had lots of guests come visit - Maggie, Marit and baby Endre, Andrea, Mitch and baby James and the extended Rocheford family. It was like the 4th of July without the fireworks! We went on lots of pontoon rides to see the three bald eagle nests, loons, the public beach and the ice cream shop, and just be together. Theo also went to Fawn-Doe-Rosa wilderness park and got to feed the deer, goats, llamas, geese, ducks, rabbits, and saw a peacock, elk, porcupines, coyote, foxes, mountain lion and miniature horses. We had a great time and can't wait to go back next summer!