Swimming + Summer

 Brynn's friend boards her horse at a stable and Brynn tagged along out there one day. Brynn with Cheeto. :-)

Making good use of Clara's pool. We've had some hot days lately.

Brynn has been taking some private tennis lessons through this summer.

We were able to take in a Redhawks game on a most beautiful night. My dad and Dana's parents were able to join us as well.

Clara discussing apple trees with our neighbor, Gayle.

I was a guest judge for the cooking competition at the Northern Crops Institute's Ag Academy 

where they host high school students interested in food or animal science careers for a week long education experience. One of the tracks focuses on food development in which the students are tasked with creating a recipe and making the finished product. Through the company I work for, we provided our chickpea flour and milled flax as ingredients for the food challenge. The students were required to use both products in their final creations.

The three teams created hummus and herb cracker sandwiches, brownies, and chocolate-covered cookie dough bites. They were all so creative and really tasty! The kids were all impressively knowledgeable about food safety and current trends. It was such a fun time. I actually did feel quite qualified to be a judge based on all my past Cousin Camp Cooking Challenge judging experience!

Had to...

Clara had her friend Cora over to hang out and swim.

Speaking of pools and swimming, Fargo Parks recently completed the remodel and upgrade of the Island Park pool. It has had a long history in Fargo, dating back to the early 1900s. I was just talking to my dad recently about the updates and how they used to have an arena (that housed winter sports and ice skating) and the original pool had grandstand seating, as you see below.

This is what the outside front looks like that still has the remaining arena facade.

I'm unsure of the date of this photo, but this is almost what it had looked like still before the recent updates. I can't really see the diving boards on the far north end, but I know this photo must not be super old because in college I worked at that Bank of the West building in the background, but at that time it was still Community First.

Here is an almost identical viewpoint of what it looks like today. I see they kept the arena facade.

I love Fargo and learning about its history, so I kind of nerded out going down this rabbit hole. 

When Dana and I went out for our anniversary in 2017, we walked through Island Park a bit and took some pics of us on the stadium bleachers that are still remaining. They are no longer part of the pool area, but instead are on their own, looking toward some tennis courts.

Another bit of personal history, Clara took swimming lessons there when she was little. She was very nervous to jump of the diving board, but ultimately did it!

Here are a couple more shots of what it looks like today. They have some fun slides, a lazy river and still have some diving boards and a regular pool area. It's so exciting. Brynn was able to be the first in our family to check it out this past week with her friends. She wasn't able to get any pics since they were swimming and all, which is kind of what led me on this tangent. 

I think this was a rendering of the new facilities. 

I think Nanny Izabell and Clara want to try and get there this summer sometime as well.

Anyhoo - that concludes my history lesson.

Dana and Clara were busy planting trees in our backyard today. I was working from home, so I was able to keep an eye on their progress. It was supposed to be 90 degrees and sunny today, but what a blessing for them when the clouds came out and a few drops of rain came down just as they were getting started.

She was pretty tuckered out and dirty by the end though.