Minnesota and Wisconsin and Memories.......

smores at the lakehouse




 Reading Beauty 
Preparing for "take off", our first and their last boatride of the season.  Brrrrrrrrr
Breakfast with Beauty.....Isn't she adorable, the fall view on the water is nice too.
Every picture tells a story....ask Brennan the story??? (mystery solved)

Papa trying to sleep.  Bella and I turned the light on.  He just looked way to relaxed.



All the right Moves.....
Papa pretending to read, he's really asleep....
Bell had so much fun with all the assorted knick knack toys.  She defines "creative play

The apple orchard corn maze in Minnesota.  

Great Grandpa's town house

Visiting Aunt Jeannie, Louie and Armstrong

How I miss them.....can you see why?

 

Carrots for dinner.

Our "formal" dinner, linens, candles and flowers.  Attire, come as you are.  For Bella and Brennan that means Pj's.  Their favorite farm wear!

Carrot harvest

 For our last dinner together,  we had (mid-west corn fed) roast beef, (yes there is a difference), carrots and potatoes from the garden.  This is the video of the harvest for dinner.  Did I mention I made homeade crescent dinner rolls?  These two love their bread.  Brennan ate three as they came out of the oven.  

Reflections and random FUN!

This may possibly be one of my favorite pictures yet. If you look closely or enlarge the photo, you'll see what Brennan is watching. A wing of Canadian Geese flying south for the winter. Even as high as they were, we could hear the honk.

Yummy s'mores

Off to the fields to explore the remains of farmers past, left behind old farm equipment and junk. It was on the list.



The tree house as it will stand, when the g-kids leave. I'm sure papa will put on a roof to protect it for winter. It was a BIG, but fun project.

Making Cinnamon Rolls..it's on the list.

I have videos of every step. Our connection takes forever to upload, so I'm not sure how many I'll post. We have a list of activities we wanted to accomplish while the kids were here. Cinnamon rolls was on the list. With only two days left we busy getting it all in. A big Thanks to Brianne and Trevor & Claire for sharing Bella and Brennan with us for their fall break. They've been a delight!

Sharp Quills, a day in the life at the farm....

This is the latest in the animals Fred has treed. I'm beginning to think he knows Elliott went bird hunting without him and he has resorted to the life of a hound dog, he mostly chases squirrels up the trees, catches gophers and eats grasshoppers. Bella went to look for Fred and when she looked up in the tree she shrieked and ran in the house and said there's a Porcupine outside. Sure enough papa went out and there he was up in the tree.

Bella was horrified to get this close for a picture, but she bravely did. It didn't phase Brennan. Look closely and you'll see the pp in the v of the tree.

So much FUN!

That's right, that's me driving the huge tractor. It was pure peer pressure. I did not want to, but they would not let up. I was actually pretty good, not too jerky with take offs. I told them I am much more comfortable driving fast cars.

Bella is making the custard for the rhubarb pie. See her new "farm apron"? How cute is she? Very!

Monday night family night. We made homeade ice cream, played yatzee and made lists of all we are thankful for. Then Bella said the closing prayer, a prayer of just gratitude, not asking for anything, (except bless the ice cream). The message of the night was taken from Elder Bednar's talk on the importance of expressing gratitude. It was a great night. Notice Bella's Heart Locket, her official souvenir, (from Wal-mart, by the way). She loves it and never wants to take it off.

Mid morning bon fire, to roast marshmallows for s'mores later today.

Brennan in the treehouse, where the front door will go.

View of the tree house from the west.

Happy Birthday Papa & A Threshing party (google it)

Today while we were making Rhubarb Pie for papa's birthday celebration our neighbor came over and invited us to a threshing party. What fun! It is truly a once in a life time experience. Of course we dropped everything and attended and made some memories. Here's the first video I took. Remember, I'm not claiming quality on these video clips, still trying to figure it out. Enjoy. I have more to post later.Later......
We are driving to the field (on the back of the trailer behind the tractor) to pick up the sheaves of oats, what fun.Go Bella Go!

First Day at the Farm

Papa and Brennan after we put up the first two walls. yeah!

Bella and her seven flower arrangements, a natural. She gets it from her mom and Nana. While we were picking she said, "these flowers are beautiful, they make me happy." I said, I know what you mean!

Preparation for raising the walls, everyone is helping, mostly Papa....

Bella loves raking the leaves and jumping in. There's no shortage of leaves at this time of year.