All in a day's work...

Wally loves fruit trees. Here is his cherry tree!

This time we put a net over most of it so the birds didn't get the cherries.

Nice red, ripe, plump and juicy.

And very tart.

I have collected cherry pitters - the old kind is the small one.

The shiny ones are the expensive ones - I bought two so that two people could both be pitting cherries at the same time..

But! the cheap white plastic one was the BEST.

Today's cherry cobbler.

Can you smell it?

Maybe if you scratch and sniff....

Our little cowgirl!

The Red Horse Ranch, which is a state-of-the-art facility here in our area, is hosting it's 5th annual rodeo this coming weekend. We totally love the rodeo! It is just a wonderful event each year. One of the features of the Saturday evening rodeo are some children riding sheep - called "mutton bustin'!" - and the preliminaries were tonight. Any child under a designated weight (so that they aren't too heavy for the sheep) could give it a try. I think about 50 children did so and the top 5 or 6 advance to the Saturday night rodeo in the big outdoor arena ... and yup! .. you guessed it... our little cowgirl made it to the big time!

You will get a kick out of this video. You can see how the staff hold the animal and assist the child in position and then.... zowie! they're off! After Brooklyn's turn was Preston. They ask the child if they want to give their animal a name and he said "sharky" (he loves sharks!) You can see them place him on the sheep and then you see his head shaking "no.... don't think so..." and so they set him back on the ground. Maybe next year, buddy.

And hey! She won tickets for her parents to Saturday night. That's huge!

Congratulations cowgirl!

Happy Birthday Sara!

Happy Birthday to my sweet daughter-in-law, who has been a sweet lady from her early years to

today. Oh, so sweet.

Now she's a big city girl.... with...

that knowing look....

And her best job so far, after being a wife, is being Mom to this special fella!

May you have a happy birthday and look forward to many more wonderful days!

Faces and Flora

Seems like family camp at Inspiration Point provides lots of smiles.

Here are some ....

well, maybe not a smile, but still blog worthy!

ah.... one way to explore the world around is to taste, eh?

I thought this picture (above) was cute - especially Hannah, posing!

And now, some pictures of the nature around camp..

There were water lillies everywhere.

and even beauty in the lowly dandelion...

even when it goes to seed..

I'm sure there's a sermon in that somewhere...

A few more pictures from Family camp weekend

Pictured above is the main building of our Bible camp. This building is called Lakeview Lodge and houses the dining hall, gift shop, main auditorium room for meetings, a lounge and about 10 sleeping rooms. There are a number of lovely buildings all spread around the campus; a gym, an arts and crafts building, more dormitory/sleeping facilities, etc. Also, a climbing wall and other cool things; plus the lake and water activities. It was a cool weekend so the swimming was only for the hardy. And there were some of those.

Here is a view from the second floor balcony of Lakeview towards the lake. Of course, the playground was a big draw for our young grandchildren.

Here we are standing in two lines awaiting the delicious meals that were prepared for us.
And they were delicious, too!

Tobias seems to think so.

Hannah looked the part of a little Diva in these sunglasses.

She is a real little girly girl. I love that!

And this fella is ALL BOY!

Don't let that long hair fool ya!

Here comes Tobias, showing off his walking skills -

he is so close to letting go but so used to holding on...

And some really were hardy with water sports.

Daniel spent around 2 hours out in the cool water trying to learn the fine art

of this sailboard.

It was pretty hard and I was tired (and cold) just watching him!

What a guy.

What determination.

I remember that he showed that determination as a little boy and

though it was not always so welcomed,

I knew that it was a good characteristic to have in the long run.

I think I was right.

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!

Happy Birthday today to my "baby" brother Jeffrey!

Here you are preparing a fine Thanksgiving feast for all of us!

I remember well the day you came into our home - wow, did things change fast!

I was 16 and I won't say how old mother was...

but how many babies became Uncles when they were 2 months old?

(For those who don't know, my oldest sibling was married

and had a baby 2 months after my mother had my baby brother.)

Isn't this sweet? Jeffrey and Ann-Margret as the host and hostess

last Thanksgiving.

Have a Happy Birthday bro!

Family camp

What a wonderful weekend we enjoyed at our church camp. It was a weekend designed for families and we hope to make this an annual weekend together.

Our three fine sons attended... and they each have a family of their own..

John and Sara have Tobias.

Adam and Andrea have Timothy, Luke, Hannah and Josiah.

Daniel and Meghan have Brooklyn, Preston and Sean Patrick.

So we made a cheerful attempt at a family photo.

They are now learning that it is far better to cooperate and get.it.over.with ... then complain!

But one of the great features of family camp is that it is not just our family alone!

Meghan's mom and dad and sister enjoyed camp as well.

They have been campers for many years..

We missed her brothers.. maybe next year, you guys...

And not only our entire Berge family enjoyed being together, but it was an added special bonus that the entire Levang family, who have been our friends for years were at family camp also.

It is so much fun to now enjoy our grown children and their children - and to have our families together to continue to make memories!
You'all might want to come too next year!