Annual Trek

Favorite vacation of the year! It started out with awful roads from home to our first stop...which, fortunately, was only 12 miles away! So the weather's been grand. We swung into Jay Cooke State Park on the way to our destination.

You might remember, about a year ago the northern Minnesota rains took out the famous swinging bridge.

But it's back and even sturdier than ever! It was c-o-o-o-ld out there in that wind.

There was a ship just coming under the bridge as we came down the hill into Duluth so we saw one from a very different perspective. I tell you, when we were here in late August it was 95 degrees and full of people. Now it's in the 30's and nearly deserted! But it's lovely any time of year.

They're even making it easy for us to come park as we chase the ships.

After we unpacked all the stuff that we could just barely cram into the truck we went back down to Duluth for supper at Fitger's. We took the scenic drive and pulled over to watch one of the boats who'd just left their dock.

The boats on Lake Superior are all shapes and sizes.

One came by closer to shore than most so we were pretty sure it was going into Two Harbors just up the road. So Cher and I went to watch it dock...and got there just in time to wave as it went past!

But we hiked down to the end of the breakwater and have this picture to prove it!

I love the early mornings and late afternoons. The lighting in the cabin is so cozy and warm.

Well, the candles, coffee and wine help too!

The mountain ash berries are usually in such fine form by now. This year hasn't disappointed.

Here is our afternoon shoreline.

We spied on the horizon one of the more unique ships we see and decided to go down to the Canal and on the way, take our group photo. It was getting later in the afternoon. What is your first clue?!

These are our better sides!

Our matching shirts are from Cher. She'd gotten them when the Tall Ship event came through Duluth this past summer.

The Alpena is the ship that's caught my eye in the past.

He also has a pretty cool whistle that I'd like to post but the internet here is pretty slow for uploading so I hope I remember to do it when we get home. The bonus of it all was, as the ship went by us in the Canal and I got faced in the other direction there was a beautiful sunset going on!



What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas!

Warmer climes and fun times for Mindy and a bunch of friends!

And she's almost there! Have fun!



Trickers And Treaters

We don't get many kids at our door on Halloween (four on the actual day) so I can post pictures of almost all of them. Halloween for us actually started earlier in the month when we made a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells. (You may have missed that post. Lately, my blogging has been hit or miss and that one was a miss!) One night there the kids dressed up and went around to different stations to get their treats.

Harvey was Batman, Charlie was a Ninja Turtle and Natalie was a ghost.

Then, the Sunday before Halloween Natalie and Harvey stopped by since they wouldn't be able to on the actual day.

This time Harvey was a Power Ranger and Natalie was a witch.

So last night our neighbor boys came over and they were both Skylander characters. (Something I know nothing about so I took them at their word!) Our last little goblins were Claire and Cate.

Cate was the character from Brave but she didn't like the red wig...too much hair. And Claire was the prettiest goldfish I've ever seen!

We headed up to K2's with a little plate of treats and found the kids handing out treats to any and all.

Harvey was still a Power Ranger and Natalie had her witch's hat on but when it came time to go around the neighborhood she wasn't warm enough and ended up in her Super Natalie cape. Before we left she tried on one of the masks we'd come in.

It was part of the costumes we wore back in 1985.

And while we're strolling down memory lane here's those old people still back then with the dads of all of today's cute kids!

(Tony on the left, Jon in the middle, Brian on the right!)



Vandalism On Our Street

In the past we've expressed to our neighbor (who's a football non-fan) our seemingly misplaced devotion to the Minnesota Vikings and therefore, our distaste for that team from Wisconsin. Well, that neighbor was picking up our mail the last couple days and when we got home last night we found this pinned to our mailbox.

I hope not many of the other neighbors saw that. They'll call us turncoats!



Who Are These Guys?

I'll give you a hint. If you worked for them for 25 years or more they throw a magnificent party to show their appreciation. It's the Mayo boys! We went to the last Argent Society dinner that we'll be eligible for Tuesday night and it was well worth it. The meal was a salad of fancy greens, filet mignon done to perfection, a chicken breast with parmesan mashed potatoes and asparagus spears followed by two little shooter desserts. Plus!...there was wine in abundance before the meal. I had my little finger in the air most of the time. It was really quite elegant. After the meal an illusionist provided the entertainment and he did some pretty amazing things. It sure would be interesting to learn the tricks of that trade! 



What Year Is It?

On the Chinese calendar it must be The Year of The Mouse. The sneaky little devils found a way into the basement requiring a rodent intervention and by the time it was all over we'd caught nine of them. That includes the daring little monster in the middle of the floor that had the audacity to continue sitting there after I declared "Excuse me?!" He ended up getting whacked with a shovel. In retrospect, it was kind of funny because all the while I was trying to smack him Jill's yelling "Get out of there! Get out of there!" like the stupid thing was going to shoot me or something.

Well, that's not the end of it. When we were leaving for town on Monday there was a rattle somewhere down below the dashboard. Jill was going to have her oil checked anyway but they said you'd better see the dealer since it might be under warranty. So we left it for Clements to have a look-see and what do you suppose they found? A mouse nest in the blower of the fan on her truck! They saved all the nesting material in a sizable box to show us and the guy took a picture too.

Jill had been parking her truck outside in the basketball court since we had stuff in her stall in the garage. Needless to say, we've cleared the space to park inside now!



Trash Or Treasure?

Though Fall is the prettiest season in my opinion, it can also be kind of messy. But what looks like work to me proves to be someone else's fun. Natalie and Harvey came over last Sunday to play in a big pile of leaves that our oaks were so generous to provide.

Natalie settled right in.

Harvey had some help.

Sometimes it was even raining leaves!

The kids had a lot of fun just tunneling around in a big pile of crunchy leaves.

We were never sure where they might pop up.

It even got to be a family affair. The kids thought it was pretty funny when Mom and Dad got in the pile.

We just thought it was cute!



A Great Day!

My oldest nephew's birthday is today.

Happy birthday, Brian!



All Pumpkined Out!

Jill got back from California last week in time to spend some time with Charlie who came to visit again.

We decided to set him up with some pumpkins for a little photo shoot. He may have been surprised at first...

...but soon he embraced the whole idea...

...and got downright friendly!

I think he was getting tired by the time we went outside. He was a little off his schedule that day but he still had a smile for us!

And since Charlie's starting to get some teeth we thought he should have a pumpkin with some too!

 



Things May Not Be As They Appear

I had a coupon code for a free Redbox movie the other night. I hope I returned it to the right place!

:)



Empty Bowls

Channel One puts on a benefit each year called "Empty Bowls" to raise funds for the food bank. I've always kinda wanted to go and this year we did. It was down at the Art Center and for the price of admission you can have a bowl of soup and a chunk of bread. I had a delicious chicken wild rice soup and Jill's was potato, leek and bacon. But that's not all. Also with your admission you get to take home a handmade pottery bowl!

With all there were to choose from it was hard to pick!



And So It Begins

Fall is such a pretty season. But it's also pretty messy! I did our first raking today to start on the Fall chores.

One good thing, I think we'll notice a difference in the front lawn raking after taking down that big maple earlier this summer. Don't worry, Natalie and Harvey. There's plenty more leaves where these came from!



Charlie!

We had a little visitor last Thursday and he couldn't have been any more well behaved! Charlie came for the day and it seemed like no matter what we did he had a smile on his face.

(He looks like he's getting SO BIG stretched out there in Jill's lap!)

In between the "chores" of eating and napping he had plenty of toys that kept him occupied.

About the only time he wasn't smiling was when we tried for our group shot. Little stinker! :)

Lunchtime ended up being a two person job. Jill was having trouble finding the little squirmbudget's mouth so I held him while she fed him his peas.

Even when the afternoon was winding down and we were just relaxing he was our smiley little guy.

Come back again! Oh, that's right. You will. See you Tuesday!



Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

Well, Jill does. But apparently her luggage doesn't!

Jill's on a weekend excursion to see her niece, Taylor, in a couple soccer games. Taylor's going to school at and playing soccer for Stanford now after some unhappiness with the Gopher coaches. And she's doing well too! So far she's leading the team in scoring.

So back to Jill. She had a flight scheduled to leave MSP at 6:50 this morning. I don't know the details yet but there was a delay on this end so when they got to Denver where they had to change planes they ended up having to run to catch their flight. Apparently, their luggage didn't run fast enough because I got a text that said they made it to San Jose but their luggage didn't! 

Pre-School Boy/Soccer Girl

So the Fall activities have begun. Harvey started pre-school this year and we had the distinct pleasure of picking him up afterwards on a recent Monday. It was a beautiful Fall day so we stopped by the park. 

He's kind of in a stage (like his Uncle Tony went through!) where he doesn't like to have his picture taken so he covers his face. But we tricked him and got a picture when his hands were busy! ;)

Natalie decided she'd try soccer to see how she likes that.

She's got the beginnings of some skills going on!

Harvey plays his own version of the game. I'm still not exactly sure what those rules on the sideline were!

And oh, by the way...can you tell Miss N has her two front teeth missing? We won't even need to ask what she wants for Christmas this year!



Happy Birthday!

What a beautiful day for a birthday, Rand!

Though I know you don't really acknowledge them anymore we hope you have a great day!

This Is Progress!

We worked almost all day in the garage today and look what we've done!

It's one of those deals where it's got to get worse before it gets better. Jill's headed to Menards in the morning to get supplies for another shelf space so wouldn't it be nice to get the car back in by tomorrow night?!



Road Trip!

We set out this morning at 6:30 for points west. The temperature felt fine here but when we got out of the car in Mankato at 8:00 it was (dare I say?)...COLD! We were scrambling for our jackets even though the sun was blazing. Our mission was to shop at the Farmer's Market for pies and nut rolls from our friends, Buffy and Charlie.

We just had a piece of the Colorado peach pie and it was to die for! We also came home with another pie that's split in the middle with blueberry on one side and cherry on the other. Can't wait to try those too!

Our next stop was in St. Peter to visit Brian and Kate and take a little belated birthday something over for Missy Maya. We came home from there with a family picture and a bunch of tomatoes. (Thanks, guys, for suggesting we swing by the cabin!)

On the way back home we struck gold! There have been NO pumpkins around town that I've seen and we came across a huge display right by Eagle Lake.

 For those that don't know, we usually have at least a dozen around for decoration. So we'd been feeling deprived. No more! We got what we could fit in the trunk and will go from there.

There were two more stops on our agenda....one in Owatonna to get a tour of Jill's sister's new house and one in Kasson for a short visit with K2's. I think we made our whirlwind trip worthwhile!



Happy Day!

It's Tricia's day today.

If all goes according to plan we'll get to celebrate a bit with her at Taste of Rochester. I wonder if any of the vendors are promoting birthday cake?!



Another Wish

Mindy had the idea of doing a little video for Miss Maya's special day. Unfortunately, by the time she sees this it'll be a belated wish. But here goes... just for you little girl! (Be sure to watch Natalie's monkey sing along with the rest of us!)

 



A Golden Day!

On this second day of September Missy Maya turns two!

Even though we won't be with you for the occasion we will still celebrate you on this special day!