Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! Santa was good to everyone at our house....as you can see from the pictures Nate was very excited about his kayak, Sarah loved the skis and Natalie was thrilled to get a baby and stroller!
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well and as always we are thankful for the many blessings we have. We made a special effort this year to remember the true meaning of Christmas and are grateful for the peace we have because we know that God is in control.

Christmas Eve

.

We always go to mass on Christmas Eve and this year Kim and Sarah sang in the choir and Nate was a server. Steve didn't have usher duty which was a good thing because somebody had to sit with Natalie! It was a beautiful mass and Natalie really enjoyed all the music, instruments, and streamers. After mass we came home and had a dinner of "snacks'. The kids always want cheese and sausage with crackers, shrimp cocktail (for Nate), and this year we had some fresh Polish sausage that our neighbor gave to Steve. We opened our traditional present of pajamas and enjoyed a family game of Trivial Pursuit.

This year we came home from mass to find a not so pleasant surprize....I'm sad to say that Sarah's guinea pig, Smore, died on Christmas Eve. Sarah got her in Kindergarten for her birthday and misses hearing her squeek in her room. It was a tough Christmas Eve for Sarah - excited about Christmas, but very sad to lose Smore.

A New Tradition?

My good friend Carolyn makes gingerbread houses with her 4 children every Christmas and had leftover dough this year which she gave to us. We decided we'd give it a try and downloaded the patterns off of Bob Villa's "This Old House" website. We tried 2 different designs - Sarah's house is the Saltbox and Nate's house is the Twin Gabled. Friday night Steve and I made all the pieces and then Saturday morning we decorated. Steve even made a miniature house for Natalie. The kids really enjoyed building their houses and came up with some great ideas for decorating using their leftover Halloween candy. Natalie was more interested in trying all the candy than decorating her house. Will this become a new tradition for our family? I think the kids would vote YES!

Baking Christmas cookies

Both Nate and Sarah have always enjoyed helping me in the kitchen. This year was no different and they each picked out a cookie/treat to make for the holidays. Sarah had a cookie exchange with her Girl Scout troop so she had to make 5 dozen cookies. She choose Peppermint Snowballs which are butter cookies dipped in white chocolate and then in crushed candy canes - Yum! For the third year in a row Nate chose Cookie Dough Truffles which he was able to make pretty much by himself. This is a no bake recipe of chocolate chip dough dipped in chocolate and is very rich, but good.

Christmas decorating

We spent a fun couple of days getting our Christmas decorations up. We always put up 2 trees - one big, real tree in the living room and one smaller, fake tree in the family room. The smaller tree is totally for the kids. They decorate it all by themselves with ornaments that they have made and others that have been given to them. Sarah especially enjoys crafting new ornaments every year that can be used on her tree. This was Natalie's first year helping and as you can imagine she spent as much time taking ornaments off as Nate and Sarah spent putting them on! This is where Santa leaves his presents.....wonder what he will bring this year?

Orchestra Concert

After exploring band, choir, and orchestra the first 6 weeks of school, Nate has chosen to join the orchestra and plays the violin. We went to his first concert a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed hearing how much he has learned. They played a variety of music including "Jaws" which was really fun. Nate seems to really enjoy learning the violin and practices almost every day. He likes to bring home the worship aid from church to play the songs we sing during mass.

Natalie gets a haircut

It was finally time.....I've been trimming Natalie's bangs off and on, but it was time to have a "real" haircut so off we went yesterday morning. She did pretty well until she saw the squirt bottle and scissors. I ended up holding her in my lap once she got upset and everything was OK. Natalie's got a little wave in her hair like me and Sarah so the stylist is predicting that it will get more curly the longer it grows. We'll see....she kind of gets little wings on the side after her bath....it's very cute. She also got her first balloon after the haircut...I forgot what cheap entertainment that is for a toddler! She played with it all day and found it again this morning - of course we had to keep it away from her big brother and sister - it's great entertainment for them too!

Pheasant Hunting

Steve and his friend Brian took Nate and Brian's nephew pheasant hunting on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. As you can see, it was a very successful day!

Alexander Ramsey House

On Friday we all went to tour the Alexander Ramsey house in St. Paul. Alexander Ramsey was the first governor of Minnesota and his home was donated directly to the Historical Society after the family passed away. It is still furnished with over 14,000 original artifacts. When you tour the house you are greeted by workers dressed in authentic 1800's clothing and since it is the holiday season the house was decorated as it would have been long ago. We even got to sample cookies baked in the wood burning stove.

After walking around the neighborhood, we loaded up and drove over to Minneapolis for some lunch. We found a great sub shop near the U of M and then drove through the older parts of the city before we headed home.

Jan's Thanksgiving Visit

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great week - our good friend Jan from Michigan came for a visit. Jan lived next door to us in Michigan for the 10 years that we were there and has been a part of the kid's lives since they were born. She is affectionately know as "JanJan" because Nate couldn't say Aunt Jan when he was little...we adopted her into our family and vice versa and decided that she's too young to be Grandma Jan - so she's our JanJan!

As you can see from the many pictures, we spent lots of time hanging out and playing games - especially the Wii. We got a new game this week and we all had a blast learning how to play and competing against each other. Even Natalie got into it - she played Mole Stomper and tried to do some boxing!

Early in the week Jan and I went out to Stillwater to check out the antique shops. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures, even though it's a very quaint river town and we had a beautiful sunny day to explore. Definately a place to go back to - I know my parents would love it. We also did a little Christmas shopping and then on Wednesday Jan took the kids out for the afternoon and they saw a movie and ate waaaay too much popcorn. That night Sarah and I sang in a combined church choir for an Ecumenical Thanksgiving service. We had much to be thankful for this year - good health, great friends and many blessings. Steve's good friend Jim joined us for a very large turkey dinner on Thursday and we all sampled southern dressing (Kim's family's style) and Dutch stuffing made by Jan. Sarah helped make dessert this year - she peeled all the apples for apple pie and it turned out really good! We missed our family, but are very grateful for the good friends that shared the holiday with us.

The Fearless/Deerless Hunters are home

Steve, Nate and a few other guys headed up north for deercamp over the last couple of weekends.....this was Nate's first experience deer hunting....check back later for more details from him!

It was so cold! When me and my dad woke up every morning, it took at least 45 minutes just to get dressed! The only thing missing was the deer. When I saw the picture of the 8 point, I started laughing and laughing! That is pretty much it!

The day after they returned from hunting, I had the perfect opportunity in our backyard......

I emailed it to Steve who said I had a cruel sense of humor - Nate's comment was that they were hunting too far from home - the deer are all here! In the last week we've had that buck and 6 or 7 does in our yard.

Sarah saddles up!

Last weekend Sarah spent the afternoon at Bunker Stables. Her girl scout troup earned their horse badge by learning about taking care of the horses and how to ride. She got to practice brushing the horses, putting a saddle on and spent about an hour learning the correct way to ride on a horse named Lola. She has been asking to ride a horse all summer and has even tried to convince us that we have plenty of room to keep a horse in our yard! She had a lot of fun and is looking forward to going back for a trail ride. I took Natalie along when I dropped Sarah off and she got to see a horse "up close and personal" for the first time. As you can see, she loves to tag along with the big girls and so far they don't mind!

Happy Halloween!

Natalie and I are back from trick or treating and waiting for the "big kids" to get back. You'll notice that I don't have a picture of all three kids together.....this was the first year we let Nate go around the neighborhood alone with his friends and he was out of here before I could get a shot of all three of them. I guess the princess and the wizard were taking too long to get ready!

Natalie rode in her "carriage" for a while - didn't quite know what to think about the whole thing until she got some M&M's....she loves them. That's what she's trying to find in the wagon!

The last few pictures are from this afternoon - we spent most of it outside - it was beautiful! Sarah carved her pumpkin last night and Natalie discovered it today. She was trying to figure out why that one pumpkin had eyes and the others didn't! Very cute! It's fun to rediscover everything through the eyes of a child.

Anoka Halloween Parade

When we moved here we were told that Anoka was considered the Halloween Capitol of the World, but I haven't really taken the time to explore what that means.....this year Sarah was in the Halloween Parade with the Anoka Cheerleaders so I got to find out what this claim to fame is all about. Check out this website for more info: www.anokahalloween.com.

Basically Anoka was the first city to have a Halloween parade in an attempt to keep their young pranksters off the streets. It was such a success that it has continued to this day. This is the 88th year of the parade and it has evolved into almost a month long celebration.

The parade starts with the Gray Ghost Run - a 5k where participants are encouraged to wear their costumes! They start right before the parade and run along the parade route for us all to see. This year some teachers from Sarah's school got together and ran as a "school of fish". We also saw penguins, the 4 seasons, gnomes, the Deal or No Deal crew, a carousel, a beer garden, the mafia, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and many more.

Cross Country Invitational

Sarah was once again invited to the Cross Country Invitational put on by the high school so Saturday morning we all headed to the course to cheer her on. It's not often that Nate and Sarah have family members other than us at their events, so I was glad that they both had an activity while Mom and Dad are here. We cheered her on as she ran with about 50 4th and 5th grade girls. We'll know her finish time and place next week, but dad was counting and thinks she finished around #30.

James J. Hill house

On Friday I took Mom and Dad into St. Paul for a little exploring. We went to Summit Ave. which is known for it's historic homes. There are about 5 miles of historic homes and somewhere I read that it is the longest street of Victorian homes in America. We started out by visiting the St.Paul cathedral and then touring the home of James. J. Hill. He was the founder of the Great Northern Railway and built the home on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi. The mansion was completed in 1891 and is 36,000 square feet on five floors including 13 bathrooms, 22 fireplaces, and much, much more.

After the tour we walked down Summit Ave. so that we could take in all the beautiful homes. We finished the morning with lunch at the Happy Gnome - a local restaurant with some wonderful food - a definate "do-over".

Nana and Papa visit

Mom and Dad came for a visit from Ohio this week. We've really enjoyed spending time with them. Natalie is still recovering from an ear infection, but has been entertaining them with all her antics. This week we are wrapping up some of Nate and Sarah's sports for the fall so on Thursday we all bundled up for Nate's last football game. That night was also Papa's birthday so we celebrated with some apple pie after the game. Yum!

Soccer Champs!

We spent the weekend of Oct. 17th in Rochester at the MYSA Harvest Fest State Soccer Tournament. Nate's team went to the tournament as the top seed in their division. They had an undefeated season this fall and were playing really well. After a couple of days of play the NLS Riptides finished in first place! Way to go Ramsey Riptides! State Champions for fall of 2008!

Enjoying Fall

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Minnesota so we decided to take advantage of the good weather and headed north a little ways to see some fall colors. We decided to visit Mille Lacs State Park which is about an hour and a half from here. Reports on line indicated that the colors would be close to peak so we were a little disappointed when we got there because the colors were mostly yellow. We were hoping to see the bright red colors of the maple trees!

It still was a great day and we spent some time hiking in the park and climbing the 100ft observation tower. It was fun to watch Nate and Sarah running through the woods and playing on the fallen trees. They found quite a few that could be used for a see-saw and had fun climbing all over them. Natalie spent most of the time in her stroller since we were out during her normal nap time. By the end of the day she was wiped out and couldn't stay awake any longer. The best thing about the day was spending time together as a family. After a day like that we always come away so thankful for the children we have and the great opportunity we have to share our lives with them.

Nate's 1st time hunting

Nate has been taking Hunter's Safety for the last couple of weekends and passed his test with a 100% on Saturday. Steve and a couple of friends had planned to go pheasant hunting on Sunday so Nate got to go with them. They had to get up early and were on the road by 6:30 AM - 4 guys and 2 dogs. This was Tucker's first hunt too and it ended up being a successful day for them all. Nate shot 4 of the birds you see including the biggest rooster!

Welcome the newest member of the Safety Patrol!

At Sarah's school the 4th and 5th graders have the opportunity to apply for the Safety Patrol. They have to fill out an appliation and get a teacher's recommendation. Sarah rides the bus so she wanted to be a Bus Patrol. She found out last week that she was selected and went to training. Congratulations Sarah!

Natalie @ 15 months

With each of the kids I've always been amazed at how much I enjoy them as they grow and change. Every stage I think, "this is the best age" and then we move on to another stage and I think the same thing. Right now Natalie is starting to say so many words and copy everything we do. She really is a lot of fun to have around. She can be quite a handful because she definately is developing a mind of her own, but as long as you go along with her plan everything's fine :-).

Football 2008

Nate is playing football again this fall. We are well into the season now. He started practicing the 2nd week of August and has now played 5 games. He plays in the 5th/6th limited division and is on a team called the Cyclones. So far they've won 4 games and lost 1. Nate has made one touchdown - he's a running back this year. He's pretty excited about that! He plays a few other positions as well, but I think his favorite is running back.

Landscape Arboretum

Steve and I spent the afternoon together on our anniversary. A good friend took Natalie for the afternoon and I picked Steve up at work for lunch and a stroll through the Landscape Arboretum. We spent a couple of hours walking through the many different gardens and were amazed at all the beautiful plantings and the sheer size of this place. It's really unbelievable - it's a definate must see if you are ever in the area. I plan to take the kids back - I'm sure they would enjoy the maze garden which was one of the many gardens we didn't have time to see. The dahlias were beautiful as you can see from the pictures. I've never seen so many different kinds so I was taking quite a few pictures when Steve called to me from further down the path. He wanted to know if I had seen "this one".....well, was I ever surprized when I went to see what he was talking about. Steve had put an anniversary band in the flowers! He's a pretty sneaky (and romantic) guy when he wants to be and the ring is beautiful and fits perfectly!

The surprize didn't end there. Steve had made plans to go out to dinner on Sunday to a restaurant we've been wanting to try for over a year now. He had the sitter lined up and had invited our good friends Joe and Carolyn to join us. The restaurant is a Brazilian Steakhouse - Fogo de Chao - that Steve had been to when he was in Shanghai for work a few years ago. It was very different from any place we would normally go to and very good! A great place to celebrate 15 years.

Happy Anniversary!

15 years ago today in Wichita Falls, TX our journey as a married couple began.... five children and 15 years later and our love is even stronger than before. We've had many "ups" and some pretty big "downs", but through it all we've drawn closer to God and to each other. Whatever happens along the path of our lives, we will walk it together hand in hand.........


This was one of the songs at our wedding......"I will be here" by Steven Curtis Chapman

Red Neck Hot Tub

After a hard day canning peaches you gotta relax somewhere...I admire their creativity!

Peach Day '08

Time to can some peaches! I haven't canned peaches in a couple of years so we are way overdue....the problem is I got spoiled in Michigan. There are no orchards around here so the peaches come in from Colorado and are a little pricey! I discovered all this last year and ended up not canning any. This year I decided to check around with some local apple orchards to see if I could find some Michigan peaches and I got lucky. I found a place that buys from an orchard in Benton Harbor and ordered a bushel. After a couple of days sitting out on the table they were ready to go! I enlisted the help of Nate and Sarah while Natalie was napping and we got busy. They were a huge help peeling the peaches and once Natalie got up, we put an apron on her too and she felt like part of the crew! We ended up with 24 quarts, 7 jars of jelly and enough peaches left to make a pie or cobbler. Steve always says "nothing like home canned peaches" and he's right, they sure are good!

A Day at the Zoo

Nate has been at an Outdoor Adventures Camp all week so I've been spending time just with the girls. Sarah and I saw the movie "Kit" earlier in the week and we decided that today was a good day to go to the zoo. Sarah's friend Alyssa spent the night last night and she came along with us for the day. After dropping Nate off at camp we headed over toward St. Paul with a short stop at a bakery for donuts. Then we drove over to the zoo. Sarah and Alyssa both brought American Girl dolls with them too. They pushed the dolls in a stroller and I pushed Natalie. Natalie enjoyed watching the monkeys and the zebra the best. The zebra was barking at us as it ran around...I didn't know zebras made any kind of noise! The zoo also has a small amusement park so the girls rode a couple of rides while Natalie watched or pushed the stroller around herself. After a picnic lunch we headed home with one tired little toddler!

Master Bath is finished!

After 9 months of on again, off again work on the master bath, the project is done! Steve did a lot of the work himself and it looks great! We had a tile guy come in and put marble tile in the shower and on the floor and Steve put in radiant heat under the tile. Feels great on the toes in the morning!

PJ Hoffmaster

I took the kids to the beach one more time before we headed home to Minnesota. PJ Hoffmaster was always a favorite because of the dunes that the kids love to climb. The crew included the Dufons, Tebos' and the Zeilengas. This time Sarah wasn't the only girl with all those boys! Natalie was there and the Zelienga's new puppy Lady. The weather was perfect for us - slightly overcast skies and warm temperatures...we could've stayed all day. Nate tried his hand at skim boarding and started to get the hang of it. He and Jake had also taken snowboards to try going down the dunes. Towards the end of the day they found a spot where it worked pretty well for them. I think they called it sandboarding....

Allendale visit

After spending several days at the farm, we headed down to Allendale to hang out with some old neighbors. We only had a day and a half before we had to be on the road home again and I have to say, it's really hard to revisit 10 years of your life in that short amount of time. We got to see quite a few people in that time, but there are certainly many more that we didn't reconnect with. We started out by having lunch with Jan Jan and Abby -our next door neighbors and adopted family :-). We also spent some time with the Kesslers,Hobbins and Stabiles and spent the night at the TeBos's in the camper. It was great to see everyone and we miss you all!

The Old Engine Show

The first weekend of August is always the Scottville Old Engine Show. Bumpa works at the saw mill, drives in the parade and does the tractor pull. We went for the parade on Saturday and the kids joined in on the Scottville Choo Choo. Natalie loved turning the steering wheel. After the parade we went to watch as Bumpa made dowls from cherry wood from the farm. Steve had cut scraps to the length and width needed to run through the machine and we all got a dowl to take home. On Sunday Bumpa took 3rd place in the tractor pull.

Ludington Beach

One of the "must dos" on our vacation was a trip to the beach. I spent many hours at the beach with the kids during the summers that we lived in Michigan. Not only did we want to go back again, but we wanted Natalie to experience it too. Suzanne and the kids went with us for the afternoon and we spent a couple of hours playing in the sand and waves. Natalie enjoyed the beach, but I think a highlight for her was the snacks we brought! She's always ready for a snack. Nate seemed to enjoy the water more than ever and spent a lot of time swimming out by the buoy. Sarah, Allison and Anna played in the sand and rolled around in the waves.

Fun on the Farm

Summer is a great time to be at the farm! There are so many things to see and the weather is perfect for spending time outdoors. Right away the kids wanted to drive the golf cart. Natalie was just as interested in it as all the other grandkids. She climbed right up and sat down on the floor waiting for a ride.

One thing Nate and Sarah love about being at the farm is spending time with the Thompson cousins. Allison and Sarah were inseparable the whole time and enjoyed lots of time together at the farm and at Uncle Collin and Aunt Sue's house. Nate and Josh spent most of their days together too. They had grand ambitions of "camping out" in the trailer down by the pond, but after only 15 minutes there by themselves ended up back at the house for the night. I think it was a little dark and spooky down there by themselves!

Gigi has a beautiful garden again this year and we enjoyed walking around and looking at all the different flowers. It seemed like something new showed up everyday. We enjoyed the fruits of the vegetable garden too. Everyone loved all the green beans that were picked fresh every couple of days!

It was great to spend some time with Bumpa, Gigi, Collin, Suzanne, Jake, Josh, Allison and Anna......unfortunately we were not able to be at the farm when the rest of the family was there. We miss you all!

Escanaba

Soccer...done.
Swimming...done.
VBS.....done.
Time for a road trip!

We headed for Michigan at the end of July on our first family road trip with Natalie in tow. We decided to drive through the UP since we had never done it before and choose Escanaba as the place to spend the night. After a late night arrival, we got up the next morning, grabbed some breakfast and headed out to see what Escanaba had to offer. Not a lot going on in the town itself, but we made it to the shore of Lake Michigan and visited the light house there. Natalie put her toes in Lake Michigan sand for the first time....I had forgotten how powdery soft it is! Man, I really miss that about Michigan. We spent a little time on the shore then loaded up and headed across the UP to the Mackinac Bridge.

We have great memories of camping in the Straits campground with our friends the Tebos' and all those thoughts came flooding back as we drove over the bridge. Nate remembered swimming in the water right near the bridge. Sarah remembered seeing all the big boats and trying to kayak for the first time. We all thought it would be fun to go to Mackinac Island again someday.

We stopped in Mackinaw City to walk around and have lunch. Of course we also had to get some fudge - Peanut Butter for Steve, Chocolate Peanut Butter for Nate and Sarah, Chocolate Cherry Pecan for Kim and some Butter Pecan to take to Bumpa. We took a leisurely drive down the shore of Lake Michigan through Traverse City and Petosky and made it to the farm by dinner time. The kids were very excited to see Bumpa and Gigi again.

Love to ride the bike

I've started taking Natalie for rides on the back of my bike. She really loves it and will walk into the garage and point to the bike for a ride. I guess this one just flat wore her out!

Playtime!

Natalie started walking shortly after her 1st birthday. There's no stopping the girl now! She loves the new found freedom that walking gives her and keeps herself entertained by following around Nate, Sarah and Tucker. Rascal the cat tends to keep his distance - probably a good thing! Sarah has been great with Natalie all summer. She has fun playing with her and showing her some of the things she used to do when she was little. I remember when Nate and Sarah would entertain themselves all morning with an empty laundry basket!

Twin Lakes

The last few weeks have been busy for us - time for some summer updates!

Once July hit it really felt like summer around here. Beautiful sunny days and hot,hot,hot! I took the kids to a lake not far from here for a little fun in the sun. We loaded up the Durango with a huge inflatable seahorse. This thing is so big that we had the seats folded down and the head smooshed up against the back seat window. I thought we were going to have to drive with it's head out the window! The kids had a great time floating around and playing in the water with our friends the Larsons. Natalie has really taken to the water and loved being in her floaty. We'll definately go back again.

Happy 4th of July

New family activity

We tried out a new hobby this weekend after our 4th of July cookout....Steve got a handheld GPS a couple of weeks ago and we thought it would be fun to try geocaching. It's basically a treasure hunt using GPS coordinates. We went on www.geocaching.com and found out that there are over 3000 caches hidden within 30 miles of our house. We chose one very close to home and headed out with Steve's good friend Jim. It didn't take us long to find the box and it's a good thing because the mosquitos almost carried us away! We'll definately try this again.

Natalie's New Chair

Natalie got a birthday gift from her "Polish Grandpa", Richard Cich. He makes these chairs for all his grandchildren and has a special little bond with Natalie. She likes to sit with him and his wife Joyce when Steve ushers at church. Richard taped a poem to the bottom of the chair:
This is a "Jacob's Chair" and it's for little people...

It's used to sit and fold my hands
And dream of ways to be evermore so grand.

It's used as a ladder, this little chair
It helps me stretch and reach up there.

It can be used to gelp me to be taller and stand
After going potty and to wash my hands.

And if I happen to be naughty or bad
This is where I can sit and wait for wisdom from Dad.

After picking up toys, which is part of being dutiful
I can sit and admire Mom, who is just so beautiful.

The other thing about this sturdy little seat
It can be used as a table when I eat.

Signed: Szczesliwy Urodzinowy
Polsku Dzaidziu e Babcha

Meet Big Buck

Happy 1st Birthday Natalie!

June 26th - Natalie's 1st birthday. The last year has gone by so fast! I can't believe our baby girl is already one. We've thoroughly enjoyed watching her change and grow. The bond between her and Nate and Sarah is amazing. She has been such a blessing to our family.

I'm a little sad that we couldn't have a birthday party for her with family like we did with Nate and Sarah. She didn't get the big cake and balloons and stuff, but we still made it special. Nate and Sarah decorated a little cake for her and we were able to webcam with family. Olivia, Alex and Elizabeth even sang her Happy Birthday from Aunt Nicole's house. If she looks really tired in the pictures it's because we had 2 soccer games that night before we could all be together for cake and ice cream. She wasn't too thrilled with the cake. Once she got it on her hands she didn't know what to do and just screamed!

Thank you to everyone who sent cards and presents. It was nice to have things to open throughout the day. She has been playing with everything and enjoys having new things to look at. Nate and Sarah picked out a bubble blower and she had a blast popping the bubbles (so did Tucker). I did get her photo album made and we've been working on learning everyone's names. Thanks for sending the photos!

Wisconsin Dells and the Lake That Is No More

June 20th we left behind the daily grind of work, soccer, swimming, laundry, etc. and headed to the Dells for a little family vacation. We were WAY overdue for a vacation and to top things off and make it even better, our good friends from Michigan, Steve, Jodi, Jacob and Allison Kessler joined us. We've had this planned for about 6 months - we rented a 3 bedroom condo at Wilderness on the Lake. It had plenty of room for all of us, a full kitchen, dining room, screen porch with a fireplace and a hot tub, even a view of the lake. Well, the lake was Lake Delton and if you've been watching the news you know all about the flooding in our area of the country. Lake Delton is a man-made lake and with all the rain we've had this spring, the dam broke and Lake Delton spilled into the Wisconsin River. This happened a week and a half before we went on vacation. I called the resort and they confirmed that Lake Delton was gone, but that all the attractions were open in the Dells. You'll notice in the pictures that we had an infinity pool that was supposed to look like it was spilling into the lake, but instead it is a dried lake bottom. The kids were fascinated by the whole experience and had fun walking around and seeing what they could find - dead fish, a boat rudder, lots of bottles and cans!

As you can see there are a lot of pictures, but we did a lot in one weekend! We had an indoor waterpark and the outdoor pool at the condo plus we took a shuttle to the other Wilderness territories which included several other waterparks and activities. The two Steve's went golfing on Sunday and Jodi and I took the kids to laser tag. On the last day we took a ride in the Duck boats before we left. The Duck's are amphibious vehicles that were created by General Motors for use in WWII. They've been used in the Dells since 1946. The tour takes you into the river and we were able to see where the dam broke on the lake.

There's much more that I could write, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Natalie was walking a little on her own and enjoyed opening her first birthday present. Many thanks to the Kessler's for joining us. We hope this can become an annual get-together! You're the best Sister Chick!

Turtle's crossing!

This turtle must have been really lost - Steve found it crossing our front yard one night. He kept it so that Nate and Sarah could figure out what kind of turtle it is - no, we don't still have it! After keeping it for a couple of days the kids took it down to the river and let it go. They each wrote an essay about the turtle. Here's what they wrote:

Nate: My report is on a western painted box turtle that I named Van Hogh after the famous painter. He was found in our front yard at 9:15 last night. He eats water plants, leeches, crabs, and clams. One of the interesting facts about Van Gogh and other turtles like him is that he swallows his food under water.

Sarah: Western painted turtles are found in Wisconsin and Illinois, west across the great plains to Washington and Oregon. They grow to be 4 to 9 inches long. They eat water plants, leeches, crabs and clams. They swallow their food underwater. The shell is olive green and black. The clawed feet are webbed. Tail is short. The underside is reddish with a dark blotch that spreds out at the edges. The small head usually has a yellow spot behind each eye. Turtey/Van Gogh has a yellow spot behind each eye. (She named the turtle Turtley)

Steve and the kids on Father's Day

Party in the Park 2008

Our church hosted the 2nd annual Party in the Park on June 14th. This is the major fundraiser for our church and a fun, family event with lots of music, food and kids activities. I've been very involved in the planning of the event and was really looking forward to a successful event. We get the whole family involved in volunteering: Steve and Nate helped setup, Steve worked grilling food, Sarah helped sell popcorn, Nate helped in the kids area and I'm the chairperson for ticket sales. Natalie tagged along until Marie (the babysitter) was able to come and pick her up. We had beautiful weather all day - right up until the headliner act -G.B. Leighton - was set to perform. You can guess the rest of the story - 10 minutes after he started, the rain was pouring and thunder and lightning was all around us. Once the winds picked up to about 60mph gusts and a tent went blowing across the field. We had to send everyone home and then stayed to clean up in the rain. My good friend Carolyn is in one of the pictures with me - she co-chaired the event. We had a total of 5 bands playing on 2 different stages - country, Irish, christian, alternative rock and classic rock. Quite a variety and still a very successful event even if we did quit early!

I forgot to mention - Steve took a turn in the dunk tank! He talks a lot of smack which made him quite popular. There was a line the whole time he was in there!

Cleaning up after the storm

Sunday afternoon we had a storm come through the produced not only tornadoes, but very large hail. We have a few broken windows, broken shutters and some roof damage. The trees and plants were shredded by the hail so we spent the day yesterday raking up the yard. Fortunately, we only suffered some hail damage, 30 minutes east of here families lost much more. Our hearts go out to the family who lost their 2 year old son in the tornado and to the many families who lost their homes.

Just because...

It's not all sibling rivalry around here....we have great kids who love each other!

The Oregon Trail

Last Thursday the 5th graders participated in a re-enactment of the Oregon Trail. This was the culmination of their studies about this important historical event. The students were put into teams of 6 and had to provide a covered wagon for the journey along with food and authentic clothing. Our school has a beautiful ELA (environmental learning area) and the trail wound through the property and included stops at "forts" along the way. There were 17 stops including Fort Kearney, Platte River, Independence Rock, Soda Springs, Fort Hall and Fort Walla Walla. Teams earned points based on their knowledge of the trail and redeemed them for things like cattle roping and panning for gold.

Evidence of spring

Spring really is coming to Minnesota! These are a few pictures taken around the yard last week as we enjoyed a few days of beautiful weather!

Busted!

Nate's 1st soccer tournament

Nate had his 1st soccer tournament the weekend of the 17th....this year his team is in a competitive division and plays for points. Throughout the season they will earn points towards district play-offs and will be competing in a few tournaments. There are no awards for participation, only for placing in the tournaments. His team took 2nd place and he was very excited to receive a trophy! They played very well, but faced a very talented team in the play-offs. It was a rough game, but in the end the other team was better at moving the ball down the field and earned their win fair and square. You might be wondering, how was the weather? Well.....as is typical this year, it was very UN-spring-like. Take a look at Natalie bundled up in her fleece and winter hat! It didn't stop her from pushing the soccer ball around as we watched the game - I think she's being initiated early.

School Track and Field Day

May 17th was Track and Field Day at the elementary school. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather. Both kids competed in running events like hurdles, 50m, 100m & 200m races and other events like the football toss, jumprope and tug of war. It was a fun day and Natalie enjoyed watching all the activites.

Humpty Dumpty had a big fall.......

By Tuesday night, Natalie's climbing had gotten her into a little trouble. She fell down the stairs and scraped herself up pretty good. After a couple hours in the ER, one laceration glued, and a little neosporin on some abrasions, she was right back to exploring. She looks much better in these pictures than she did right after the fall with blood running down her face. It scared us all, but thankfully, she wasn't seriously injured. Lesson learned for all the bigger Dufon's in the house.....

10 months old

Monday morning I was unloading the dishwasher and walked over to the cabinet to put something away. When I turned back around Natalie had crawled in from the other room and decided to help!

Sarah's 1st Soccer Tournament

It was a very "un-spring like" weekend for Sarah's 1st tournament. With winds gusting around 40mph and temperatures in the upper 40's, it wasn't a very pleasant experience sitting on the sidelines cheering on the girls, but despite the weather Sarah played some great games and enjoyed herself. This is her team's 1st year together and these were the very first games they have ever played so it was definately a learning experience for all. They lost their first game, but came back to win their second game on Saturday. Sunday's game was a close one with the other team beating them in the end. Natalie stayed home for a nap during the 2nd game so I was able to take some pictures and the temperatures had warmed up enough that I could take my gloves off!

Happy Spring!

 
 
Spring has finally arrived in Minnesota! Yesterday was a beautiful 70 degree day here and we took full advantage of it....while Steve and I did some yard work, Natalie walked all over the yard pushing her toy. What a great day! We've got tulips and daffodils starting to come up and once we raked the leaves away from the flower beds we found hostas and sedums, lilies and iris' all coming up too. It's been a long winter, but it makes you appreciate spring even more!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Sarah had her 9th birthday last weekend and we celebrated by having a few friends over for "Cookin' with Sarah". Sarah had so much fun decorating the easter cake and playing Cookin' Mama that she got from Aunt Nicole for the Wii, that she decided to decorate cakes for her birthday. We started out by decorating aprons and then moved on to the cakes. As you can see they had a great time and ended up decorating their faces too!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter morning! As you can see we all have our easter bonnets on....Fr. Paul loves to see all the easter bonnets at mass on Sunday morning and makes a special request that we wear them. Gigi looked for her bonnet before she left home, but when she opened her hat box it was empty....hmmm....don't know where the hat went. Natalie enjoyed her first easter and even kept her hat on most of the time. A couple of days before Bumpa & Gigi got here she started pulling up on the furniture. Now instead of sitting and playing with her toys all she wants to do is pull up on anything and everything. The last picture is of the new face she makes all the time. Funny! Thanks Bumpa & Gigi for sharing the weekend with us - we had a great time!