Grand Getaway

A week ago today we girls...

 ...headed off on an overnight getaway to...

That's where Mindy's roots are and we'd never been there even though her family has been this direction many times. We wanted to see the area and take in a new golf course with her nephew, John.

It was a beautiful course and would be really pretty in the Fall as would the state park that's very near there.

 We were able to hook up with the rest of John's family and Mindy's mom and dad too. The curious part is that Mindy and the kids were down there at the same time. This was a getaway of their own that happened to work well with our schedule. Mindy gave us a tour of the town and we all went for supper at Mrs. Lady's near Lake Okoboji. Arnold's Park was almost right across the street so we got a good look at where the kids would be having rides later in the week. After our Mexican meal a little ice cream hit the spot! 

 It was a beautiful (but hot!) evening for the bunch of us near the lake.

 Then the grand plan was to drive up to St. Peter to spend the night at Brian and Kate's cabin...which we did, and we also had a tee time for 9:04 at their golf course but the weather didn't cooperate. It was rainy overnight and still soggy in the AM so we spent our time picking vegetables from their garden in our pajamas instead. We had a great meal of fried zucchini Saturday night courtesy of Kate and Brian!

Brian's got this "little" project going that they'd like to have done before their baby comes in about six weeks so we had to check that out.

By the time we left the skies were so clear and the sun was so bright we maybe could have golfed. But it was also very steamy and I think the ground would have been soggy as well as us by the time we got done.

The last time we stayed at their place was back in March when this was what we saw out the window.

Now it's so lush and warm! 

Kate was able to take a break from the book she's writing and Brian got away from Menards to meet us for lunch. Everyone's got to eat, right?!

I suppose having a burger at a wing joint is like have seafood at a steakhouse. In retrospect, I wish I'd subscribed to Kate's theory that when you eat at a place called Buffalo Wild Wings you probably should have the wings!

T(ball) For Two...And Two For T(ball)

We've had a chance to go to some T-ball games this summer. Both Claire and Natalie were on teams this year. The kids are so cute when they put on the batting helmets which are just huge...

Does anyone remember the Great Gazoo from The Flintstones?

 That's what the kids in their helmets make me think of!

Both teams had pretty interesting defensive lineups. You had to be ready to chase after a hit because everybody else had the same idea.

It was almost lucky if you were the first one to the ball. Then, of course, you have to know where to throw it.

It was all just a lot of fun!

The Wonders Of A Small Town

As we headed to the cars from Harvey's swim lesson Mindy's ears perked up to the sound of the ice cream truck that comes around their neighborhood in the summer. We couldn't catch him there but flagged him down in the street right in front of their house. The kids hadn't had supper yet but since life is short we had dessert first!

Swim Lesson Of Sort

After lunch with Chuck (E. Cheese!) and a haircut in Pine Island we went up to see Harvey at his swimming lesson. Good thing Mindy's a teacher because neither the instuctor nor a lifeguard showed up. So Harvey spent most of the time doing a "big jump!"...

 ...and had great fun doing it!

 Jill and Natalie and I entertained ourselves on the sideline and I just had to include this picture for the great smile on Natalie's face. (Made me pretty happy too!) 

Helping With The Summer Bucket List

Yesterday Jill and Mindy collaborated to spontaneously arrange lunch at Chuck E. Cheese. Jon was going to meet them for lunch after music class anyway...we just changed the location. We hadn't ever been to one of those places before and were pleasantly surprised with the pizza and the fun. It wasn't busy so the kids (little and big!) had plenty of activities to choose from.

Harvey headed for the school bus...

 ...and Natalie made her way there too.

Harvey drove the firetruck...

...and Natalie had to put up with going on bumpity rides with the old ladies.

There was a lot of color and sound. And for doing well on some of the games you could even earn tickets to turn in for cool (in the eyes of a 4 year old!) prizes.

 Redeeming the tickets was almost as much fun as some of the games.

 Chuck was onstage and cooperated for a picture with these two girls.

 And Natalie's getting her photography skills down pat and agreed to take this group photo at the end of our morning. 

From The New Dictionary

oppressive   (uh-pres'-iv),  adj.  1. hard to put up with; burdensome.  2. causing physical or mental distress.  3.  Minnesota summer weather 2011.

Belated Post And It's ALL My Fault!

We've been back from a family vacation in northern Minnesota for two weeks now and I've yet to post a blog entry. The main reason is I was procrastinating going through over 1100 pictures. So even though this is a long post it's the condensed version of our week in Remer.

Everybody was able to make it for at least part of the time. Our gang took up the whole resort so it seemed like sort of an exclusive outing. Here we all are for our traditional group photo.

 More specifically, in that group are Brian...

...and Kate...

...Mindy, Harvey...

...Jon and Natalie...

 ...Tony and Tricia...

 ...Great-Grandpa and Grandma...

 ...Jill, Alan and Cher...

 ...our good family friends, the Lassigs...

 ...and me.

 Everybody had fun swinging...

 ...Harvey played a lot of t-ball...

 ...and there were other shenanigans going on too.

(shades of Hans and Franz!)

 We saw quite a bit of wildlife. This is the eagle with something for her babies.

 There's a family in a nest that's been there for many, many years. This time we just happened to get in on the two young ones she's raising.

 There was a heron...

 ...and what would a vacation on the lake be without seeing a loon?!

 I think we only had one rainy day so there were some pretty sunsets.

 We came home on the 2nd of July so we were somewhat effected by the government shutdown. We ALWAYS stop at the Forest Lake rest stop on our way back down south but this time we just had to wave on the way by.

 I'm glad we were going in the direction we were because everybody, and I mean everybody else was headed the other way.

 Now, if we can survive this heat, we have to get started on some Summer projects around the house. We haven't crossed much off 'the list' yet!

Gettin' Our Kicks Down By The Riverside

Last Sunday was the first outdoor concert down at the park. Paul Revere and The Raiders is the group from the 60's that performed. It turned out much better than I expected! I thought I didn't know very many of their songs but there were more than I realized. They did some covers of other 60's music too, and sounded good doing them. Cher, Jill and I had taken leftovers for our supper and we were in good shape except for forgetting to bring plates. Don't worry...when it comes to food we'll make do! 

The leader, Paul Revere, is 73 years old!  But I think it's a case of you're only as old as you feel. He was funny!

He said "Indian Reservation" was their biggest selling hit...

...but when I think of their group I think of "Kicks".

Don't Mean To Scare You But...

I believe this is a maple tree that's just up the street from us. How about those Fall colors?! In truth, it has recently been transplanted so I wonder if it's timetable is a little off. This week I see it's even dropping those leaves.

Hard to believe it's already the middle of July. Soon we will be talking autumn. School supplies are in the stores. I'm expecting to see Halloween displayed at Menards any day now. And I noticed on one of the electronic billboards around town they're already advertising the Festival of Trees which isn't until the end of November. I had a little chuckle when I saw that!

Mutiny At Work?

What am I to think when I hear Claire in the back entry plotting with Cate, and I quote, "you go shoot Laurie!" Turns out it's not as bad as it sounds. They got new pretty impressive water guns for their upcoming vacation at the lake and they just wanted to show them to me. Whew! 

They're He-e-e-rrrrrrre!

A year ago a young couple from Alaska came up our drive and wanted to pick our brains about the house for sale next door. Turned out they liked it well enough to buy it and while we were on vacation this past week the whole family got moved in. We'd emailed back and forth a fair amount in the past year so we went out for supper together on Sunday night. Their oldest boy was a little camera shy but if you look hard enough you can see a bit of him behind his mom.

We're so glad to have new neighbors!

I'm #1!

Back around April 12th I put Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I DVD on hold at the public library and I was 68th in line. I just got notice that it's come in for me.

Part II comes out in the theatres in just a couple of weeks. I've watched all the others here at home but I may just have to go see the grand finale on the big screen.