Happy Birthday Justin

Happy 18th Birthday on Friday, July 31

to my GREAT nephew, Justin.

The eagle scout, the graduate, the soon-to-be college student..

the brother, son, grandson, nephew ...
We wish you a wonderful birthday!

(and you're getting this post a day early since we are going away for the weekend)

This was from our day in New York City .....


and this is from your facebook!
I thought it'd be fun to have Jackie on here too.

(plus, I thought it was a pretty cute picture)

Seriously, what can I say?

You meet all kinds on the streets of Manhattan..

Speaking about all kinds.....

This is just perfect because isn't the mascot of your college

the raiders? You look like one here!

Happy Birthday and get packing now for college!!

It once was lost... but now it's...

My faithful printer usually looks like this - the paper tray is in place with the paper ...

Rarely do I ever close the paper tray ... and rarely do I ever....

look behind the printer!!!

Look what was there!

For SEVEN months...

.

and... I think I was the one to put it there too!

Mea culpa

Macho Nachos!

Today we had another lovely warm and sunny Sunday! We decided to take the boat to Zorbaz - and pull up at the dock and order some delicious food!

So that's exactly what we did.
Daniel and Meghan and the children joined us.

And here's what I was wanting!

Macho nachos!

What a tasty pile of nachos and sundry items.

yum yum!

We also ordered a pizza as well.

We weren't taking any chances on going hungry.

I wanted to get a good picture of everyone smiling.

Well, almost everyone cooperated....

So I tried again.

Thank you Daniel.

Then we found a little private sandy beach area and beached the pontoon so that the children could play in the water and sand.

They loved it and most especially loved collecting shells, snails, clams..

whatever they could find was such a treasure!

If we could only all see the little things of life as treasures just like children...

Exploring.

Brooklyn

Preston

Sean Patrick!

Let's hope that next weekend,

when we are all at family camp at Inspiration Point Bible Camp,

the weather is also wonderful!

Pontoon fun

It was beautiful this past Sunday, sunny, fresh air, warm but not humid - and a perfect day for putting the pontoon into a lake.

So we headed for the public access of one of our favorite lakes.

In Minnesota, we have LOTS of lakes from which to choose!

This one was close to home.

Soon to join us were two of our sons and 5 of our grandchildren.

(Our oldest two grandchildren, Timothy & Brooklyn,

were sleeping overnight at Bible Camp for the first time!)
All the children had their life jackets on and could move around freely on the pontoon boat.

Of course, this grandma was a bit of a worrier, but hey, someone had to worry so I did it well.

We brought along a sweet little grill and some supper.

Wally grilled some good brats - as in bratwursts - not as in naughty children.

There were no naughty children on this boat.

The moms enjoyed the sun.

Then some of the grandsons got to steer the boat.
Josiah took it seriously.

So did Luke.

Preston is very observant... what does he see here?

Ah! A Pelican...

but the name of this lake was....

Swan Lake!

Indoor fun at Grandma's

Because of the weather, it was necessary to keep little ones busy inside.

We decided to try some play-dough and it went fairly well.

The two littlest ones were confined in the high chairs and, as long as they weren't eating the play-dough, they seemed to enjoy mushing it around.

Then we got out orange juice ice pops - grandma style.

Do you remember these tupperware things for making your own

frozen treat?

Luke likes it.

Hannah likes it.


Josiah likes it.

Preston likes it.

Sean Patrick likes it!

Here's a picture of the playhouse that Wally built years ago for our sons. We think it's time to spiff it up for our grandchildren. We started by re-staining it and I painted a dark red trim to add some "punch."

We have to clean out the interior and make a few repairs to the railings before we feel it is safe and sound.

There is a little deck on the side of the playhouse that you cannot see. The playhouse hangs over an embankment and the river is way out there - some of the "white" area of the picture is actually the river.

Hopefully we'll have it finished soon....

Happy Birthday brother John!

Happy Birthday today to my brother John. I may have been a slight bit annoying as a little sister (though I really don't remember....), I am glad we grew up to be good friends!

I thought you'd get a kick out of the picture above on my wedding day - when you had the awesome responsibility of giving me away in Dad's place.

Did I ever thank you for that?

I always thought this was a cute picture of us in our hats.


Remember our vacation in North Dakota?

Here we are in front of that teeny cabin where we all slept!

What an experience, to be sure!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday today.

Baseball fun

This evening Wally and I went to watch our oldest grandson play baseball! Is he really old enough to be on a team? He sure is.

Here he is playing somewhere between 2nd and 3rd base and the outfield. Somewhere.

There were many little baseball players on the field so it wasn't exactly clear "who was on second" ... if you get what I mean...




Every child gets a chance to bat each inning, so innings do not end when there are three strikes, but when the last player bats.

In the picture above, Timothy is safe on first base.

And he surely knew that it was a good thing to run fast towards second base!

Lastly, I snapped a picture as he made his way to home base.

He's a natural.

Timothy, we're so proud of you!

Fishing with grandpa

On Sunday grandpa took four of his grandchidren fishing. (It seemed prudent to limit the number to only four...) Adam and Daniel accompanied grandpa to give a hand with their little ones and to enjoy the fishing experience. It was the first time this summer that we have gotten the pontoon in the water and the day was just perfect for it.

Grandpa went shopping for some good fishing poles for little hands and some new life jackets as well. And away they went... 3 men and 4 children - ages 6, 6, 4 and 3.

No Moms. No Grandma. No one to worry.

The fishing was good too!

Preston caught fish.

Luke caught fish.

Timothy caught fish.

and Bro0klyn caught fish!

Everyone was happy!

Adam kept a close eye on his boys.

Looks like Brooklyn might have some action on that line!

Timothy reels another one in!

And, of course, the rewards of all that fresh air and fine fish is a little fish fry.

While I was out on a pizza run, Grandpa cleaned the fish and began to prepare them for frying.

Of course, it always helps to have a little female help.

All the children (and some adults) had some of the fish and they all liked fish!

What a fun day.