Our Final Camping Trip of the Year

Every year we spend a weekend camping with a great group of friends. The guys talk hunting, the kids run and play and the ladies go wine tasting :)! For the last 2 years we have made a trip to the Cannon River Winery in Cannon Falls and each year are not disappointed. This year I found a new favorite in their Gunflint Red. Also had to buy a bottle of their Bootlegger which my husband and I will share some cold winters night. It was a great weekend with great company, great food and great wine!

Our Time These Days...

...has been spent watching our oldest play his first season of football and he is really liking it. He is the starting quarterback and I have loved watching him build up his leadership skills as well as work on his self esteem and confidence.

Our star quarterback

And every great player needs a great manager...

Summer Garden 2010

Well the garden is growing along. I am not as happy with it as I could be. Didn't help that I spent a good portion of July feeling under the weather. We have harvested quite a few green beans, some broccoli and cucumbers, have 2 eggplants growing away and the tomatoes are really starting to ripen and make their way into roasted tomato sauce for the winter.

(This tomato was the size of a small pumpkin - amazing!)

Forts!

One day as I was doing housework my boys decided to make forts and I LOVE them! They made them all on their own and then spent time reading and resting in them. What better way to spend part of a day!

My Little Creating Corner

I have carved out a little niche for myself in the corner of our dining room where I can go and create while still being accessible to the family. With a few acquisitions this summer I finally having the room looking and working as I like. The green cubby shelf above was found by my mom and I in Buffalo and I love it! It provides storage as well as style in my little corner.

Here is a view of the overall corner including the little table that my mom and I also found in Buffalo. Our favorite part about it is that the drawer has a little spot for an ink well complete with ink stains! I love when things show their past lives.

The little shelf that came from my in-laws antique shop now has a new home in my craft corner versus in our kitchen and I think it is perfect here. Fits folded fabrics perfectly!


Here is a view of the whole room and I love how it works. There are still a few things to add including an inspiration board above the desk but I love adding as I go.

Flekkefest Weekend

This past weekend we made our annual trip to Flekkefest, the annual celebration in the small town where my husband's mother grew up. The town was settled by Norwegian settlers so all over during the celebration you see little reminders of that from the Norwegian flag flying to the food served (my favorite is rommegrot, a Norwegian flour pudding served with cinnamon and melted butter on top - YUM!). In my mind there is nothing like a small town festival - a handmade mini golf game, used book sale at the library, sidewalk sales on the main street and craft sales on the City Hall green - all rounded out with a parade full of tractors and fire trucks and Shriner's driving little cars topped off with more candy thrown than any one child can eat in a year. So much fun!!! We also were able to see Grandma give a tour of the old town site where her Great Grandfather had a flour mill. My children were the 6th generation to be in the one-room school house where the tour was given. They also walked around the museum where they are able to see the forefathers on my husband's side represented. I love that they are learning about their own history! I enjoyed the quilt exhibit of signature and crazy quilts that my mother-in-law helped set up. Such amazing handwork! And what better way to wrap up a wonderful day on the prairie than holed up in a Target store sitting out a Tornado Warning. A couple did touch down east of us but the worst we saw was a tree down over the road by my in-laws which we took care of.

A Busy Week Last Week...

We had a busy week last week!

It was Bible Camp at our church and that is where my oldest and I spent our mornings and had a WONDERFUL time. We had a High Seas Expedition!

While we were at camp my youngest spent the mornings with Grandma and had a wonderful time creating chalk cities on the driveway for his little cars.

We also have a science experiment going in our kitchen window. On Friday afternoon my oldest came running in and told me to come see the HUGE caterpillar on our front porch. When he said HUGE I had no idea it was 3 inches long! I have never seen a caterpillar this large! We decided to keep it and see what happened and by Saturday morning it had changed into a cocoon. We are now waiting for the arrival of what we think will be a Sphinx Moth.

Camping Trip #2 - Haycreek (Red Wing)

Camping in the hills around Red Wing

The beautiful, historic town of Red Wing

The chickens of Haycreek

The ponies of Haycreek

Field Trip Day With Grandma - Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park

The power of water

Last Thursday my mom and I took my nephew and my 2 boys to the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park. We had a wonderful time! We explored the great visitors center where we saw some local snakes, frogs, toads and turtles. We then played on the rock beach and searched for agates (even found a couple little ones), had a picnic and ended our time there with a walk across the dam. What an impressive site! All that power from our great Mississippi that we cross over every day. The boys even got a lesson from a Pollution Control Agency employee who was collecting samples from each side of the dam to see if the dam made a difference in e-coli growth. They were very interested in how he collected the water and how it was tested. It was a wonderful, impromptu science lesson.

Grandma and the boys

A local resident

Trying to wrap themselves around a 350 yr old Burr Oak tree

Rock hounds with the dam in the background