More Pictures from the Lake

This is Lake Washburn up in Outing, MN; Bear Paw Resort....we've been here before two years ago and C-man loved it then and he loved it even more...his sister took follow and loved it as well. The pictures below show the nature, the great outdoors that we enjoyed all week. We enjoyed the water, sand, and sun.....(not so much the mosquitoes, but at least I could wear Deet this year, last time I was pregnant and couldn't)





Lake Washburn at sun down..............................................The Bald Eagle sitting on her gigantic nest



Here's the Loon that makes the monkey noises at night....Miss O would hear them and ask, "do you hear the loon, do you hear the monkeys?"

C-man and Mommy taking a spin on the go-karts or what C called them Mario karts. He thought that I was a crazy driver after the race.

Dragonflies were very prevalent at the lakeshore........the last day we witnessed the life cycle of the dragon fly.......watching the nymphs crawl from the lake to the side of the beach railroad ties where they latched on and molted right there in front of us and then the brand new green dragon flies squeezed out of their shell and sat there for awhile then flew away....while the ants would start to carry away the molten shells.....it was very fascinating....we had biology lesson up close and personal!

Grandma's with their grandchildren there were 14 total children at the lake 9 years and younger!
Nice little fam picture....
Another family picture
AHR! thar me Matey! We went into Brainerd and did some mini-golfing and go-karting.....C was proud of himself he joined the "hole in one club" this year!


Miss Mar-Bear loved the water!
typical 5 yr old face these days.....
O loved, loved, loved the water, she had no fear!
C-man getting VERY comfortable in the water......

Go ta' Minnesota!

Miss O is enjoying her first s'mores
R family boat ride on the fishing boat, we also rode a pontoon this past week.
Lover floating with little bear and C-mand and Miss O enjoying the lake
Miss O sleeping in her bed with the mosquito net, she never had any bites, neither did Daddy.

C and I had gazillion bites!

Coyote Den, our cabin in the woods
The one closest to the beach
C-man waiting for the big one
Hance, Katie, and C-man digging to China

We had a fabulous week up in northern MN; in the rustic cabin, fishing, beach bumming, lake floating, smore's eating, and mosquito slapping.

On Standby

This blog is on standby for awhile......
#1 it's too nice outside to hang out on the the computer
#2 I'm way behind on pictures from the past week and I'll have another week full of pictures to bring you, you'll just have to wait....
#3 It's been way hectic and busy getting prepared for vacation


Quote of the week from C-man after finishing the first day of Safety City at his school, "Mom, school was good and I didn't even go to the Principal's office." After he met his principal he made sure to tell him that his Grandma went to the Principal's office for wearing too short of a dress!! Yes, they will never forget and then use the information at the most interesting times!

Quote of the week from Miss O, "I need a help!" After she dropped her fork on the floor from the dinner table. She also asked the dogs, "what you looking for?" When they sniff at her ankles while she's eating her snacks.

Highlights in the past week:

• Mario kart
• C-man's Birthday party on Saturday
• Father's Day brunch
• C-man went to the police station and fire station this week
• I found out I have four bulging discs (L2-L6 which means I have an extra lumbar vertebrae!!) and am going in for a cortisone shot tomorrow in my back and hopefully no more pain in the back, butt, or legs!!!
• Getting ready for vacation!!!!
• Connor graduates from safety city tomorrow!

Power Lab: Discovering Jesus' Miraculous Power

VBS

C-man's got Jesus in his heart!
Group 7: of the Nutty Neutrons...taking their fears (balloons) and......
sinking them in the water.........
Group picture of most of the children; there are 121 kids and with the volunteers there's about 200 of us all............

C-man has been able to talk about the stories that we've learned this week so far:

Day1: When Jesus healed the 10 Lepers and only one came back to thank him. Jesus gives us power to be thankful!

Day2: When Jesus healed the blind man. Jesus gives us power to be helpful!

Day3: When Jesus walked on water and when Peter walked on water. Jesus gives us the power to be brave!

Hey Everyone, I'm 5!

We had an exciting day on June 9th, C-man's special day! First we attended our first day of VBS and met new friends and had so much fun! Then after a special Coney Island's Lunch of C-man's choice, we went to the zoo with G. Michelle, Aunt Angie, Little M and we brought Little O along as well.

Connor was in denial of being 5 at the beginning of the day and stated that he would turn 5 after his birthday. When he talked with the kids at VBS, he was convinced that he was 5. By the time we were driving to the zoo, he was yelling out the window, "Hey Everyone, I'm 5 today!" He also made a comment, "I can't believe I'm 5 today." By the time he came home from a big day of VBS and the zoo, it was time to open presents and he was not in a good mood, the pictures are priceless and you'll see on his face that he decided he didn't want to turn 5, because he doesn't want to go to Kindergarten. But after a little chill out time, he was into his presents and blowing out 5 candles on his cake. The rest of the night was occupied of Mario Cart Wii! Imagine that?!

Going over the swinging bridge!
Miss O, C-man, Miss M
Feeding the swans in the pond

Blowing out the candles, He did not tell us his wish because he wanted it to come true.
Getting sprayed by the elephant (not the real one, but we did get sprayed by her too)
Rosie doing tricks for us.

Connor at this point was telling us he didn't want to be 5, didn't want to open his presents and didn't want to be videoed or have his pictures taken.
Opening the presents and trying not to show any emotion while doing it!

All in all it was a good day, it was a very filled day and a day of many emotions!

Even Mommy was dabbing a tear because her baby boy is starting to be grown up and sassy at times.......is that the new 5???

weekend wedding pics

Here is Brandi & Luc cutting the cake.
Their First Dance as a newly married couple!
Our two pretty girls, climbing around in their fancy dresses!
C-man had a blast. He met new friends (the whole bridal party!) He showed off his dance moves and he learned a few new ones too........at one moment of the night a groomsman gave him his vest and tie and he was the main attraction on the dance floor!

It thrills me that he is so social and loves to meet new people.....it also thrills me that he likes to go out on the dance floor and boogie and not worrying about making a fool out of himself......I hope I'll always have a dance partner!

High lights of the weekend:

1. going out to eat with G. G. Donna at Applebee's
2. eating Whitey's ice cream!
3. C-man declared that he would watch out for Brett and vice versa at the wedding (C-man was his wing man)
4. Miss O falling asleep during the YMCA song!
5. playing basketball with Uncle Phil and swinging on the porch swing
6. When the Priest told us at the beginning of the wedding there was a tornado watch!
7. C-man walking on the sky walk with GG Donna, Phil, Patty, and Angie.
8. Fireworks at the end of the night! (baseball game was just ending!)
9. The best high light is when C-man was talking to his new friend "J" (25 yr old mind you) and "J" said that he had dated a girl from our city who had blonde hair and blue eyes and C-man says, Oh I know her it was my sister! We all had a nice laugh out of that one.

Misc. Pics

Weee! O climbing up the slide that she and Mommy went down on....we had a picnic at the park and then played and went for a "bear hunt."
C and O racing to see who will slide down first......C-man won!
Look how grown up my little man is getting to be!
Our house sided.....it only took the men 5 days to side the house....it is taken me almost two months to post to pictures and as you can tell, the rain has postponed out painting the cinder blocks sandalwood color.
The front of the house, we are going to paint the maroon strip underneath the windows green and pain the white thing at the porch green like the front light pole.
Miss O played in the dirt and daddy got pictures of her, she looks quite proud here, but when she actually saw her face in the mirror she about cried, she does not like to be dirty or messy in any way and she doesn't like to make messes and will cry if she spills things...we have to reassure her that it's okay to spill and make messes.....
C-man got his head shaved yesterday, he finally consented to it....Daddy started with a #4 and C said he wanted it shorter, so they did a #2! C-man and I did Daddy's hair at a #1....he's practically bald!

This is what O's bed looks like after she wakes up from her naps and also gets a hold of a kleenex box......she usually hoards everything into her bed; toys, books, C's shoes, her shoes.......always have to clean up after her naps.
Liz, "Murin," Miss O, and C-man swinging on Great Grandma Donna's front swing.
Our toy room is finished! A project we started in January, took us about 4-5 months with painting, organizing, cleaning the floors........the kids love to play in the room now!
Another view of the toy room.....still need blinds and Daddy is gonna put frames around the windows some time.....

Well, that's all the pictures I have. Just wanted to share them with ya'll. Also want to share that our neighbors now have 19 new ducklings!!!! There was another nest we didn't even know about! The kids love watching the ducklings scatter about the back yard.....Neighbor said that they know people at the zoo and might be donating some of the ducks.

Summer memories..

Ahhh, those summer days and nights.....

Woo-Hoo! Look at those legs! I really love the mullet that I'm sporting too!

Age: ??? 11-12 ish???

Aw, look how cute I was! This was 5th grade or 6th grade ball.
Jolyn and I get some kitty cats from our neighbors, looks like I'm squeezing it to death with my face that I'm giving! The cat's lives were short after the semi trucks ran over them....Looks like Jo was about 5 and I was seven????
There's Jo and her fancy red bike...I was always a bit envious of the banana seat bike that she had but I did have a pink huffy! She was probably 9 there????

C-man and the neighbor girl have been spending the last two afternoons together......he can't wait to see Sarah in the front yard or the back so that he can play with her. Yesterday, while I pulled weeds, he and Sarah rode their scooters, played super heroes, and rode their bikes. Today, the kids played in our backyard on the playground and sandbox and looked for bugs.....I told Paul that it looks like C-man and Sarah are going to have a nice little summer friendship. What is cool is that Sarah will be in 1st grade at the same elementary school that he is going to be going to.

Anyways, it made me think of movies and how kids have summer adventures, or summer friendships.....well on the farm it was hard to have a summer friendship, but we sure had our summer adventures:

• Lots of bike riding in the drive-way and when we were older on the highway (with no helmets, I can't believe I let semi's drive by 60 mph! without a helmet on)


• running in the sprinkler


• playing on the slip n slide


• water fights


• mowing the lawn in my bikini


• mowing the hay, getting to drive the tractor with my bikini on and getting a nice sun tan at the time....now I'd be lathered in sun block and asking for an air-conditioned cab with a large cushion seat!


• catching lightning bugs


• smushing dandelions in Dad's vice grip in his tool shed....I think we were making potions


• walking beans


• picking up rock in the fields


• helping load the hay on the elevator that would take it up to the hay mow........and people look at me funny when I call it a hay mow...they've only known it as a hay loft.


• playing in the barn with the cats


• playing softball with Jolyn


• playing cops and robbers with Jolyn


• Jolyn and I thinking we had a clubhouse with the old wagon full of logs and mice and bugs


• Swinging and singing and seeing how high we could fly and if we could swing high enough to see Feldman's


• playing lots of softball as a child all the way up to High school


• Rouging corn


• playing in the creek and the Culver


• golfing at the country club


• swimming at the country club


• watching summer thunderstorms


• catching REAL ladybugs by the rock


• playing on the rock


• playing behind the machine shed and calling it a forest


• Helping Mom garden, snap peas, snap beans, pick strawberries, pull onions, dig potatoes, pick asparagus, and husk corn as well as freeze corn.
• Vacations to Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia, Wisconsin, Missouri, etc.
• camping trips
• sleeping in the camper out in our yard

I'm sure I could go on and on, but I know that we were rarely bored and if we told Mom that we were bored, she would put us to work and then after our chores, we'd have another idea or thing to do.......never do I and never will I resent living on the farm....it was a chance to use my creativity and why I love the nature so much. Going to visit Mom and Dad is what I call a retreat......a time to slow down and take in the fresh farm air.....unless there are easterly winds....we stay in...don't like that pig smell so much!