Josiah's big catch

 We just returned from a fun three days at our local Bible camp for "family camp" which is a great way to enjoy family,  the beautiful outdoors, some enriching spiritual time and friends.  Oh, and did I mention fishing?  That was a highlight for lots of our little grandsons and their friends.  As I was walking around with my camera, this handsome grandson was happy to offer a smile ... and right after that smile this happened.......

 

 a northern pike!  He caught his first northern!

 

 Everyone was excited and big brother and cousin had to help get the fish landed..

 

 There was no small amount of celebration and "yeah!!" and "congratulations" offered to the proud fisherman!!

 

 Before Mr. Northern was returned to the waters, he was carried around a bit to be shown off..

 

 I'm not so sure the northern liked this part, but the very excited little fisherman sure did...

 

 Cousins offered advice.

 

And after a few final looks, the fish was happily released to his home. 

Phew.

 



Sweetness at 3

 A three year old really understands when it is their birthday!  And this little miss was one excited little granddaughter because it was HER birthday celebration!

 

 The theme was "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast and her momma had made an adorable cake and cupcakes!

 

 Some of the gifts included a "crown" and "wand"..

 

 Since I have been busy in the sewing room lately, I made this cute little dress for her.

 

 Here are some cookies I made too.  Belle's fancy dress is yellow.

 

 I found cute fabric that had Belle and Cinderella on it so I made her a pillowcase.  Very easy!

 

 Our little princess.

 

Celebrating with some of her cousins; some from her mom's siblings and some from her dad's siblings.

 

Summer parties are the way to go!

You Rock

Nothing like a good compliment to make you feel great.  

Riverboat dinner cruise

 The St. Croix river runs between Minnesota and Wisconsin and the town of Stillwater, Minnesota is a quaint little river town with nice dining, cute shops and activities on the river, including this dinner cruise on one of the riverboats. 

 

 We boarded the Avalon, ready for a nice evening cruise.

 

 The meal was served buffet style and the food was tasty and plentiful.

 

 We chose a seat by the windows.

 

 We could also watch some activity on the other riverboats (before we started the cruise) - and near us was a wedding party boarding.  What a fun wedding reception that would be!

 

The water in the river was higher then normal. 

 

Here is a view of our dining room.  There was dining and a full buffet on the first and second floors and open-air table seating on the top/third floor.

 We had a fun dixie-land style quartet playing during the evening.  They roamed the ship.

 

 More view of the diners.

 

 They added a lot to the evening!

 

 After dinner we enjoyed the remainer of the cruise on the top deck. The weather was perfect.

 

 It was a nice night for sailing.

 

 The riverboat with the wedding reception. 

 

 After being asked to take pictures for two different groups of strangers, I was happy to have them use my camera and take a picture of the two of us together. 

 

 Following the cruise, we checked in a motel in St. Paul - on the Mississippi River.  And we had this wonderful corner room!

 

 Our view from our room was great.  We woke up the next morning and took a brisk walk in the town and went for breakfast at the iconic Mickey's diner.  I forgot to bring my camera for a picture of it but I copied one to share here.  You may have seen this diner in a movie; I can't remember which movie it was in, maybe more then one, actually.
 

A nice little weekend getaway.

Loving the lake...

 Our fun middle son knows I have the camera.... so he poses for a picture, showing his expression of happiness at being on the lake today!

 

 So, this son of his decided it was a good pose....

 

 And then so did this little daughter...

 

 Soon most of the family got into the act...

 

And finally turned around for grandma's camera!

It was another perfectly lovely ordinary day....

Door County Vacation

 It's been a long time since I last blogged.  Facebook seems more interactive and easier, but I still enjoy sharing over here on my blog.  So I thought I would share a few pictures of a sweet little vacation trip to Door County, Wisconsin; a place on our "bucket list" that others have visited and said how nice it was.  It is a penisula with Lake Michigan on both sides; very quaint and no large motel chains or big box stores in sight...  Just lovely little towns with picturesque waterfront scenes.

 There were lighthouses and state parks and hiking trails.

We spotted this deer while enjoying the outdoors...

 

 And abundant stands of beautiful blue "forget-me-nots"...

 

 We also found a little patch of trillums.  That was a big treat; we were not familiar with them before.

 We climbed the look-out tower...

 

And enjoyed the beautiful view!

 

The sunset that evening was lovely and we enjoyed these kayakers coming in at sunset.

 

 We took a ferry to Washington Island and visited the Stave church; a replica of an old Norwegian church.

 

The inside was magnificent.

 

 Everywhere you looked there was a peaceful scene.

 

And some cute shops too! 

 

We ate at the famous Al Johnson's swedish restaurant which is known for its grass roof and the goat who is often on it!

 

But our vacation meal was breakfast at the White Gull Inn in Fish Creek.  We had the popular french toast; it is a stuffed french toast... stuffed with cream cheese and cherries!  DELICIOUS!



In fact, it was SO good, I had to try my hand at making it myself! 

We enjoyed every bite!