Catholic Heart Work Camp Mission Trip

Nate is one of 15 youth from our church who have chosen to go on the mission trip this year.  They are serving in inner city Milwaukee which was chosen by CHWC because it has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.  We are so proud of him for wanting to do this and being willing to give up a week of his summer to work on homes, serve food to the hungry and help children living in poverty.  These are pictures of the send off this morning.  I'm sure he will have many stories to tell when he gets home next weekend.

Garden 2010

Steve built some raised beds for our garden this year and we are very excited to see how things do in there. We were able to use our compost to fill the beds and are hopeful that we will have a good harvest.  So far we have kept the critters away......

Ft. Snelling

On Memorial Day weekend we decided to spend a day at Ft. Snelling here in Minneapolis.  It is located at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers and has a rich and controversial history.  We enjoyed the many demonstrations and participated in some games and training exercises while we were there.  The staff are all dressed in period dress and go about the day as if they were living in the 1800's.   Here's an excerpt from the MN Historical Society webpage:

The United States gained control over the Upper Mississippi Valley through the Revolutionary War with Great Britain and later Louisiana Purchase from France. This vast territory inhabited by fur traders and Indians still loyal to the British in Canada lay well beyond American settlement. After the War of 1812, the government took physical possession of the valuable Northwest frontier by establishing a chain of Indian agencies and supporting forts from Lake Michigan to the Missouri River.

Pool time

May 26 ~  Natalie enjoyed her 1st opportunity to play in the pool this spring....Tucker enjoyed it too!

Track and Field Day

Sarah had her last track and field day at Ramsey Elementary in May.  She was presented with the Presidential Fitness Award for the 2nd year in a row!  Way to go Tweetie Bird!

Spring in the flower garden

Here are a few pictures of the flower garden in front of the house.  Some were taken about a month ago and then I just took some today of the window boxes.  The front of the house has a fresh coat of paint, but we still haven't gotten the shutters back up......

Fishing Opener

Steve took Nate and Sarah fishing for the "fishing opener" - it's practically a holiday in MN :-).  They didn't catch much, but sure had fun!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is always a special day for me....Steve does a great job of helping the kids pamper me and this year was no exception.  My day started off with the traditional breakfast in bed, church, and then we went to a Minnesota Orchestra family concert that afternoon.  Steve made a wonderful dinner and I got to sit back while everyone else cleaned up!  I love you guys!

Florida 2010

My forever friend Jodi and I embarked on our 2nd annual "Sister Chick" adventure in April. Last year we spent a long weekend in Chicago so this year we headed for some fun in the sun down in Florida. Jodi's parents were kind enough to put us up in their time share in Orlando so we spent 4 days exploring the area. We both flew down and actually were able to meet up in Milwaukee before flying into Orlando. Then we rented a very fun, light blue VW Bug and cruised into Orlando. We both wanted to go to the beach so we drove over to Daytona for the day and wandered around. It was pretty overcast so our dreams of lounging in the sun weren't realized, but it was fun to park on the sand and people watch!


We both put in some volunteer time and earned free passes to Disney so we chose to go to Epcot for a day. I've never been there and really enjoyed visiting the different "countries". It brought back fond memories of living overseas - especially the fish and chips complete with malt vinegar! The funniest thing was being greeted by Princess Aurora as "her Majesty". You know you're getting old when the princess calls you that :- )


We ended our week with a day at the pool and then an evening at Cirque de Soleil which was an amazing show. It's always fun to spend time with my dear friend and the days flew by. Wonder what adventure we'll take next year?