Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Top Summer Activities

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.





Looking back over our summer it amazes me how, on one hand it flew by so incredibly quickly, while on the other hand the moments seemed to drag on forever and ever!  While I am more than happy to be going back to a more regular routine with our kids, there are some moments this summer that have been completely fabulous and our summer wouldn’t have been the same without them.  On the very top of this list are the two different camping trips our family took, one to Itasca State Park and the other to Lake Carlos State Park. 

When we were first married, Monte and I had talked about how much fun we both had as kids when we took various camping trips with our families.  We also said that we wanted to make camping a regular part of our family routine, as it is something that we knew our kids would thoroughly enjoy.  Unfortunately, our first summer as a married couple and a new family was so chaotic and busy, we never ended up taking a camping trip.  We are so thrilled that we remedied that this year with two separate trips and we already have next year’s camping trips in the making!

One thing we’ve found to be extremely necessary with camping is to make sure that all of our meals are planned out and appropriately packed before we leave.  By now, it’s no secret that we are a cereal-loving family, and that doesn’t change when we’re camping!  We love that we can pack a gallon of milk in the cooler and have a relatively easy breakfast with the most difficult part being having to choose out which cereal we’re going to eat!  We usually bring along two different options of cereal, both of those almost always being Special K with Red Berries and Frosted Flakes.  There’s just something about enjoying cereal in the screened tent with the morning breeze that makes me smile and want to never stop camping, even when we have a new baby with us (though we will certainly wait until summer to take the newest bundle of joy out in our tent)!

Don't you think our new baby will enjoy sharing this room in the tent with me and Monte?!

Camping tops the list of summer activities that our family did, what activities top your list? 
--
Here's the fun part!  With this review, I get to give away a $100 Visa Gift Card to one of you fabulous readers!  It's incredibly simple to enter, and you can have up to two entries.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post to enter.  To get a second entry, you may either tweet or blog about this post (including a link to the giveaway) and leave a second comment here, including the URL of your tweet or blog.  This giveaway will run from 9:00am PST (11:00am CST) today, Tuesday September 7, 2010 through 5:00pm PST (7:00pm CST) on Monday September 13, 2010.  The winner will be chosen using www.random.org.  To view the official sweepstakes rules, visit www.blogher.com/kelloggs-rules-5.

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117 comments:

  1. We enjoyed the pool and the beach this summer.

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

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  2. Warm Sunday mornings with loved ones in the back yard with bees buzzing around the rose bushes and table piled high with blueberry pancakes, ripe strawberries and fresh squeezed orange juice.

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  3. Hanging out at the local farmers market with my mom every saturday.

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  4. My favorite thing we did this summer was our road trip to Santa Cruz. When we go on vacation we usually go as a family, but this short trip we went with friends. We had a blast with good company and got to see the beautiful California coast. Couldn't ask for more!

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  5. Favorite summer memory was sleeping in every weekend!

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  6. The hightlight of my summer was kayaking among the migrating shorebirds in Cape Breton. They didn't mind my presence at all. I was able to sit quietly among them when my boat beached on their sandbar and get lots of beautiful photographs. ~karen

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  7. Two major highlights: Camping in Northern CA with my family and family friends that I grew up with and visiting Seattle with a girlfriend.

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  8. I had 2 things that were memorable this summer. My daughter participated in her first triathalon and I went with her. It was a wonderful weekend in Traverse City with my oh so grown up (22yo) daughter. The second thing was a few days away with my hubby in the heart of Amish country (Berlin Ohio) just the 2 of us. Great giveaway!
    mamaspark@gmail.com

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  9. I was able to enjoy the great weather with my 9 month old twin girls! WE found out they LOVE the water and spent as much time as possible in the pool and the lake! They looked adorable in their matching swimsuits and floaties..I could not ask for a better summer as a first time mom!

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  10. The highlight of my summer was moving!!! From Germany back to the states! It feels like we are back home now!

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  11. This year we took the new baby to the beach and this was the first time we have been in about 4 years

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

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  12. tweet
    http://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/23872030736
    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

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  13. I LOVED taking my children to the beach for the first time this summer. We had an amazing time and look forward to many more family vacations!
    Jenny B

    jennyhasquads at yahoodotcom

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  14. I've been cleaning and fixing up the house this summer, I guess that tops my list! :)

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  15. Tweeted the giveaway:

    http://twitter.com/calidreamin87/status/23892307875

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  16. Finding out mom is cancer free was the highlight of the summer for me :)
    adrianecoros(at)gmail(dot)com

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  17. Tweet! http://twitter.com/LAMusing/status/23895587392
    adrianecoros(at)gmail(dot)com

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  18. Watching the meteor shower from the back yard, Smores around the fire pit, the State Fair.... The list goes on and on.

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  19. Tweet:
    http://twitter.com/swisspotluck/status/23896426794

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  20. We loved camping by the lake. We also love to swim. The kids had swimming lessons, so we swam a lot this summer!

    leahforlove(at)aol(dot)com

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  21. My daughter and I would have a girls day each week and we would scrapbook, chat, listen to music, and learn about each other!
    BLEATHAM*AT*GMAIL.COM

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  22. tweeet
    http://twitter.com/sleatham1/status/23908228489
    bleatham*at*gmail.com

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  23. Camping and hiking with our friends and our dogs was the highlight for me!

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  24. We had a great camping trip this summer too.
    We even shared the fun with our parents.
    It's not easy to have all your teens together at the same time these days!

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  25. We took a beautiful trip to the Oregon coast this year and went to lots of parks and the zoo!

    pittsy82@hotmail.com

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  26. Tweeted http://twitter.com/pittsy82/status/23923314112

    pittsy82@hotmail.com

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  27. Spending a week on the lake was our favorite this summer.
    nuthouse(at)centurytel(dot)net

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  28. tweeted: http://twitter.com/KerryBishop/status/23929248618
    nuthouse(at)centurytel(dot)net

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  29. We love going to the cabin, or just sitting on our patio at home and watching the skyline as the sun sets.

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  30. We had a great time go camping and trips to the beach! The kids loved it and were sad to come back home!!!

    hottmomma_03(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  31. Tweeted!
    http://twitter.com/hottmomma_03/status/23932686184

    hottmomma_03(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  32. We loved going to baseball games (my son's and pro!), not having a set schedule, and I enjoyed reading to my heart's content (well, almost). ;)

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  33. I loved taking my baby on walks. Also, hiking and camping, basically just being outside and enjoying the nice weather.

    alli38@juno.com

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  34. i love Special K too. thanks for sharing your story.
    songyueyu at gmail

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  35. i tweeted http://twitter.com/syytta/status/23963218238

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  36. We went camping...did a lot of hiking, swimming and driftwood collecting.
    digicat {AT} sbcglobal {DOT} net

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  37. My favorite moment was going to the beach, and also going out on our boat on the river.

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  38. I would love to win! thanks for this great chance!!

    jenn14_85 at yahoo dot com

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  39. tweeted!
    http://twitter.com/jennjp0518/status/23979418807

    jenn14_85 at yahoo dot com

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  40. I've never been camping...we did enjoy swimming, library visits, watching movies and just hanging out
    disintegratingstarr@Hotmail.com

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  41. We took a week-long family vacation to the mountains in TN! We also spent many mornings at the pool or the local library!

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  42. I tweeted - https://twitter.com/GirlstoGrow/status/24019144461

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  43. Wow- I think your tent is bigger than my bedroom!! Neater, too :-)

    Email address is in blogger profile

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  44. I tweeted http://twitter.com/bsw529/status/24046330877

    Email address is in blogger profile

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  45. My highlight was spending quality time with my cousins on Long Island

    scoopster (nospam) at yahoo dot com

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  46. Tweeted the giveaway at:
    http://twitter.com/LuigiFranco/status/24048241367

    scoopster(nospam)at yahoo dot com

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  47. My favorite summer family moments are when my grandkids come to visit...just talking with them and playing with them is so enjoyable

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  48. My favorite was going to the beach and to Sea World.

    livelovelaughwithleslieblog at gmail dot com

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  49. tweet.

    http://twitter.com/laughwithleslie/status/24050560417

    livelovelaughwithleslieblog at gmail dot com

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  50. My favorite moment was taking our daughter and son to the new city pool and watching our daughter develop a love of the water. She started out a bit timid at first, but after a few times, she was swimming under water.
    nbalogh522 at gmail dot com

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  51. tweet
    http://twitter.com/maybaby522/status/24052097666
    nbalogh522 at gmail dot com

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  52. My favorite memory from summer is trying to find the Big Red lighthouse in Holland, Michigan!
    kmassman gmail

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  53. This summer I got to take my boys to my parents summer house for the weekend and we had a ton of fun. We went blueberry picking, fishing, boating and swimming. It was great time to spend with my both my kids and my parents.

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  54. tweeted
    http://twitter.com/fairydancer35/status/24055975812

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  55. We are not campers so good for you! We went to China instead so that we could bring our daughter home!

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  56. We love to camp, although we gave up the tent a few years ago...these old bones just can't take sleeping on the ground anymore, so we have a small travel trailer. If we'd had a bed like yours, we may still be in the tent!

    someluckydog at gmail dot com

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  57. I tweeted about the giveaway!
    http://twitter.com/someluckydog/status/24087305223

    someluckydog at gmail dot com

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  58. I never went camping while pregnant, good for you hun. Thanks for giving your readers this opportunity! bearabledeals@gmail.com

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  59. Camping is so fun! We haven't been in years, but I think we'll make time for it next year.

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  60. i loved playing chalk and bubbles with the kids!!

    hancoci_s at msn dot com

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  61. We would love to camp more often! We've actually only been once..my husband and son went together with the scouts. We're hoping to all go as a family to the next scout campout.
    ljatwood at gmail dot com

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  62. tweeted
    http://twitter.com/ljatwood/status/24120425083
    ljatwood at gmail dot com

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  63. tweet
    https://twitter.com/Grandma3710/status/24122756428

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  64. We spend a good deal of our summers as a family cheering on my 10 yr old daughter at her swim meets!

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  65. I tweeted! http://twitter.com/amweeks/status/24123772930

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  66. Our favorite times this summer were the ones we spent in nature. We got Jenna (4) a pair of binoculars, and we went to parks, botanical gardens, forests, lakes, etc. She collected rocks, leaves, & pine cones everywhere we went, and we all collected memories.

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  67. My favorite this summer: slowly drifting down the American River on our raft, sipping a cold beer and soaking up the sun!

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  68. Oh my gosh, how fun! We love camping :) We went camping this summer an ate a TON of s'mores ;)

    shevilkenevil1 at aol dot com

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  69. Tweet:
    http://twitter.com/lipstickncandy/status/24142956275

    shevilkenevil1 at aol dot com

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  70. http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/24161684243

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  71. We really enjoyed pool time this summer!
    sazzyfrazz at gmail dot com

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  72. We had many great family moments at the beach.

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  73. Just love the summer nights, warm air and roasted marshmellows!
    gmissycat@yahoo.com

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  74. Just Tweeted!
    http://twitter.com/gmissycat/status/24178717497
    gmissycat@yahoo.com

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  75. Sitting around the fire, drinking coffee and talking with my dear husband! These are a few of my favorite things!

    ~eunice b
    tigergal01 @gmail .com

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  76. http://twitter.com/tigergal01/status/24188437613

    tweet

    ~eunice b
    tigergal01 @gmail .com

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  77. My brother and sister came for a visit. Hadn't been together for 13 years.

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  78. We went out of town to visit our families who we haven't seen for a while

    s2s2 at comcast dot net

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  79. http://twitter.com/susan1215/status/24221811575

    s2s2 at comcast dot net

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  80. Going to Sixflags was the best part of my summer!
    evil_eva12 at hotmail dot com

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  81. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW ADDITION. I WISH I COULD GET PREGNANT BUT I HAVE PSOC =( kytah00@yahoo.com

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  82. TWEET http://twitter.com/kytah00/status/24242938899 kytah00@yahoo.com

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  83. my fav moment was our trip to alaska and seattle! scg00387 at yahoo dot com

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  84. http://twitter.com/DesMoinesDealin/status/24248598683

    scg00387 at yahoo dot com

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  85. We had a big Fourth of July party with family and friends during our visit to Southern California. Good times. :)
    ja9elizabeth at yahoo dot com

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  86. I love camping too but unfortunately haven't been able to go in many years now. Need to fix that asap!

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  87. http://twitter.com/tnshadylady/status/24257802782

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  88. Going to florida and watching the sunset over the golf every night.
    marybug2@yahoo.com

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  89. tweeted giveaway
    http://twitter.com/marybug2/status/24292390783
    marybug2@yahoo.com

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  90. My favorite family moment this summer was when we went camping and visited our grandparent’s family farm and rode horses and milked cows.
    My favorite breakfast moment was cooking free range eggs from the farm. I guarantee you they taste better than the ones you get from the grocery store.

    pauleyd68 (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  91. http://twitter.com/lpauld68/status/24301345948

    pauleyd68 (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  92. We enjoyed hanging out with friends, especially at the campground.

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  93. http://twitter.com/won2x/status/24313018520

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  94. My favorite family moment this summer was being able to pick up my niece in Florida and take her with us to our big family reunion because my sister and her husband just couldn't make it this year. We had a great time with her along for the ride.

    avennett AT verizon DOT net

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  95. Our entire family got together at my brother's house for a cookout/game night. We had a blast laughing and talking. Money was tight this year for all of us and nobody took a vacation but it was much more fun to just enjoy each other's company. I laughed so much that night my face hurt from smiling.

    shel704 at aol dot com

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  96. Tweeted;
    http://twitter.com/auntiethesis/status/24321904373

    shel704 at aol dot com

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  97. Our favorite memories are all kept in journals we did all summer! We have illustrations and a few words of what we did! It is so neat to look back over it all (zoo, park, moving to a new state, vacation, etc) It made it so easy to bring all those fun summer memories back!

    kclements2001 (at) hotmail (dot) com

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  98. We were able to take a wonderful trip to New York city and had a wonderful time taking in the sites.

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  99. tweeted http://twitter.com/carogonza/status/24324723443

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  100. so sad summer is over but looking forward to a healthy fall and winter :)

    dreamzz12{at}Aol{dot}com

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  101. http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/24326180288

    tweeted!

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

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  102. What a great opportunity! Your picture in the tent makes me crave a night camping outside! We tried a couple times early in the summer and got rained out both times. We'll have to try again soon!

    mattschmunk at gmail dot com

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  103. We didn't get to travel much this summer due to my husband getting laid off, but we found a lot of memorable moments just being together as a family. Lots of trips to the movies and lots of family DVD nights.

    THanks
    jamesmadison1974@gmail.com
    or
    jamesmadison1974 at gmail dot com

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  104. i had a great time visiting the village fire station with the boys

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  105. One of our favorite times this summer was getting to enjoy my great aunt's 100th birthday with her. :)
    roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com

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  106. I love it that being pregnant and having a baby doesn't stop you from doing things like camping! You rock!! :)

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  107. Tweet! http://twitter.com/stillmiss/status/24351961885

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  108. Thanks for the chance--we've had a great summer and cereal is a must when you're on the go!
    lkziegler[at]gmail[dot]com

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  109. Itasca State Park caught my eye, because my in-laws took me there several years ago. All I really remember about that trip was getting bitten by mosquitoes.
    I'm not much of a camper, so I didn't go a few weeks ago when my husband took my son and a friend camping at Crescent Lake. They went geocaching and stumbled upon a nudist gathering! Needless to say, my 12yo son was traumatized!
    aleq13@gmail.com

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  110. I didn't go camping this summer but my daughter did with her grandparents and had a great time...except for all the bug bites she came home with!

    kt1969 at comcast dot net

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  111. Tweeted:

    http://twitter.com/Skaketgirl/status/24409800568

    kt1969 at comcast dot net

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  112. We spent the summer at the beach.


    charisscharity at yahoo dot com

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  113. I loved seeing my son at his graduation this summer.
    whitbrit AT gmail DOT com

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  114. We had lots of fun camping this summer

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  115. The best part of my summer is all pool related... Fourth of July pool party and cookout with lots of relatives and lots of swimming the rest of the summer--relaxing and no pressure.

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