Watermelon Days

We headed down to Sanborn to celebrate Watermelon Days with my parents. The little town does it up right with a kiddie tractor pull, kiddie parade, rides, food, firefighter fights (similar to tug of war with water and a barrel), a huge parade and lots of candy. The kids had fun with their cousins, aunt and "Gamma" and "Papa".

Eme's celebration

From Eme's celebration

Click

Eme's celebration
">HERE for pictures of Eme's special day.

For breakfast, we went to the local airport fly-by pancake breakfast. We saw all kinds of airplanes, old cars and had yummy pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

Then we had friends and family over for Emerson's birthday. She's two this week! Thank you all for a special & memorable day and great gifts and birthday wishes. She was thrilled and is enjoying playing with the new toys.

Emerson at 2 years old
Loves hopping, dancing, reading & looking at books.
Stands up for herself
Likes what ever her brother likes
Snuggy
Friendly
Loves going to school & Jeanne's house
Crazy about Grandma & Grandpa and her big brother
Shy to new commers
The light of our days and dream of our hearts.  

Caterpillar Time

From Drop Box

This is the perennial, Butterfly Weed.  I've heard a caterpillar can live it's whole life on it. Our plant is right outside our basement living room window.  We can see the undersides of leaves and go undetected from the little critters.

From Drop Box

Here is our biggest caterpillar (they are all monarchs). They range from tiny to medium, big, larger and largest.  I wonder if it'll be only a few days till the largest turns into a cocoon?  We'll wait and see.
Meanwhile I've been talking caterpillars with friends and my good friend, Jenn called with news that they found swallowtail caterpillars on their carrots!  They pulled them off and their kids, Ella & Claire have been watching them in a fish bowl.  So after we said our good-byes off we went to look at our carrots.

From Drop Box

This is all we found (actually many more carrots we haven't dug yet).  A little disappointing until Jenn texted they can wipe out the host plants if you aren't careful.  Now Claire and Ella will have caterpillar hunting chores.  A fun chore I'd say.  How about you, have you seen any caterpillars?

summer is...

hanging with family

playing with water

trying new things

cool treats

playing with friends

The modern/vintage feel

Here's the new look. Our "new" vintage couch.

Lamberton Triathlon

Another year of racing in the Lamberton Triathlon.  Team Nickel succeeds.  This year we were not as ambitious and created two teams while Troy did individual race compared to last year, the big kids formed a team and the 6 adults each competed indiviually.  Maybe next year we can shoot for individual races again.

As you can see the little kids and Grandma and Grandpa were big supporters once again.  Thank you!

If you are interested in trying a triathlon the Lamberton Tri is a great race to start with a 2 1/2 mile run, 9 mile bike and 200 yard swim.  Entry fee was $3 per team or individual racer.  So get those running shoes, bike & goggles and start training for next year (ok, wait for next May to start, you'll be fine).

Vacation- Part Two, Bemidji State Park

Upon talking to the locals about our camping plans for the rest of the week, we got the feeling we should check out Bemidji State Park since it was only a 20 minute drive.   We arrived and drove through to pick our site.  We lucked out with a great wooded, private sight.

We borrowed this great pop-up camper from Sue and Steve Hansen (Thank you!) and it suited us well.  Comfy beds, storage for clothes, food, and all the camping goods.

So we began our weekly schedule:
wake (8ish, what a treat!)
make breakfast
hike, swim, or just hang out
lunch
nap
hike, swim, or just hang out
supper
hike or bonfire
settle down (took about 1 hour each night)

What a good time.  At Bemidji we enjoyed the Bog Walk, trails, and beach.  Sarah (Keir's cousin) & Seth along with Tessa, Isaiah and Micah came for a visit one evening for supper, smores, and Bog walk.  Thanks for filling us in on all the local trees, plants (esp. poison ivy all around our camp) and just getting to know you better!  You guys are great.  We truly enjoyed out time with you.

Vacation- Part One, Family Reunions

I believe I said this two years ago, but I really never thought I'd look forward to and enjoy family reunions (esp. those of my husband's family).  But again, the Hood family reunion was the exception.  Thank you to Mary & Jim Hood for so graciously hosting and allowing us to set up the camper on your farm for the weekend.  It was a great home for those three nights and we were sad to leave.

We enjoyed all the festivities and visiting with relatives from all over (Bemidji, Cities, Michigan, Illinois, Utah, & Wisconsin).  The picture above is the young two generations (not included is the older 2).  So there were a lot of kids there.  Griffin & Eme made some great friends.  I enjoyed being able to socialize & sit around the fire while my kids slept a hundred feet away.  I'm also proud to say I finally made the family tree in my mind and know where everyone belongs.

After all the hoop-la was over and most went home, we stayed one more night.  That night, Mary Hood (there were 4 Marys there) brought us through the woods to their daughter's houses (one on each side, less than a mile away) and the deer shack.  We all enjoyed the four-wheeler rides and wish we would have gotten a picture of the kids in the car seats on the back.  When we started to go fast, I looked back at Eme and she looked a bit hesitant, but upon giving her a smile, she quickly decided it was fun.  On that ride we saw deer and the beautiful northern MN woods.

Sarah also suited up Dandy for a cart ride.  The kids were thrilled (and me too).

Ride On, but we'll hold our breath while you do

Watching our son do this at Itasca State Park made us hold our breath.

Vacation is wonderful

Here are some pics from our vacation.

Vacation 7-10

Farmer's Market

A visit to the local farmers market is always like a breath of fresh air

From summer2010

From summer2010

tempting

From summer2010

and inspiring

From summer2010

From summer2010

From summer2010

From summer2010

Keir' writes: "Protecting our home from evil doers between the hours of 7-12 and 2-8, Capt. Imagination and his sidekick Pectoralis Minor keep an ever vigilant watch.

Cousin Grace upon viewing photo: "Oh!  Emerson!  She look like dat biter-man.  And Griffie!  He
look like dat (pause) guy!"  (Said with the utmost enthusiasm....)

Enjoying Summer Days

Need I say more?

this is farm country

I was raised on a farm, so farming is close to my heart.  Luckily we live close to many farms & fields so we watch the crops grow, the farmers work in the fields and look for special looking farms.

From summer2010

On a drive through the country last week, we saw this special barn.  

From summer2010

It had corn cribs on the ends, is attached in the middle and was made of brick.

Here's what the corn looked like that day. I love seeing the new rows.

From summer2010

After talking to a farmer friend last week, he says farming is looking "too good" this year.  We'll pray it continues to be a great crop season.  Will the corn be knee high by the fourth of July?  My guess is it'll be hip high.  What's your guess?

1st Dentist trip

From summer2010

Griffin had his first trip to the dentist.  He did great and thought the "vacuum" part was pretty cool (when they suck all the water from your mouth).

Here's pics from our visit to the Fire Station last week. Thanks, Kim, for setting it up. We had a great time. Our favorite parts were playing with the hose roller (bottom left pic), seeing the fireman slide down the pole (see the "improved pole" in top right corner, when pulling on the pole, the door opens from one floor to the next), sitting in and on the fire trucks and of course, the cake! Thanks!

Welcome Baby!

The day came and there was supposed to be a baby coming. So my ear was to the ground as I waited to hear of the news. I checked my phone, texts, email and Facebook.  Nothing!  Time to put this energy to use, so I finished these hooded towels.  Grandma Janis made Griffin, Eme, Maya & Grace hooded towels for Christmas one year and they are our favorites.  We also have one from Grandma Mary that a lady up at MSU made.  So looking at ours, I made one for each big sister, Claire and Ella.  And the last one I had to wait on the name.  Was it a girl or boy?  My guess was boy.  But finally, the text came.  Ashlynn Ray was born.  By the hair on this baby, you can guess it's Nate and Jenn's.  She has Nate's hair & isn't she beautiful?  In the texts from Jenn that day she had spelled Ashlyn and I said wait a minute, one "n" or two?  We don't know yet. So I left two.  We went to see her on Thursday night.  They are all doing well.  And Jenn loved the towels.  I think I'll be pulling the last "n" off. The two of them never talked about the spelling of the name.  When we were there the nurse, Jenny (who I coached in volleyball), came to ask her on the spelling.  Here Nate spelled the middle name Ray, and Jenn was thinking Rae.  So how did it turn out Jenn & Nate?