We made a trip to Northfield last weekend (so I could shop at Target, they've only got an x-mart here...;) While Sage and I were shopping, the big boys and dad did some fishing, and snake cathcing, it appears!

Stone wanted to do some night fishing the other night, and the moon over the lake was just so pretty, I had to capture it to share with you all!Being crazy!


Baiting the hook. Thank god the boys do that themselves, I'm such a wimp about tearing a poor little worm in half. Can't do it. Yick.

Sweetness....

Random Shots

the campsite (can ya tell 3 little boys live here?) currently not pictured are the dirt bike, the borrowed-from-Uncle-Jim 4-wheeler, and a battery powered 4-wheeler. And things that may be just out of view include a machete, several walking sticks, frog-catching nets, swimming gear, fishing poles, hatchets...and the list goes on! :)Our wee littlest boy now rides on two wheels!!! He asked for his training wheels to be taken off last Saturday, and away he went. That makes for all of our sons to be two wheeler dudes at age 3. They amaze me!
Too cool for school! :)


Oh so proud! He was super stoked to be just like his big brothers.
How fitting that we should have a sign like this! Note the knife that kid is wielding! If you knew our boys, you'd REALLY get it!

Birthday Pictures

...and a rare photo of the mama & the papa...can't remember the last time we were in a picture together


a family photo! Also, a rare occurrence!

Happy Birthday, Stone!

See that little speck on his tummy? It's a baby toad. The boys have been catching lots and lots. They're so cute! And the toads aren't bad, either! :)



Stone turned 7 today (wednesday, august 13) and had a really good birthday! The best part of it was that John happened to have the day off (most of it, anyway; he did leave around 6 for St. Cloud for an early Thursday start) so we all spent the day together.

I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast, outside on the grill while listening to U2 (that was nice). John and the boys went fishing right away and came back hungry and ready for grub. Stone did a little dirt bike riding and the boys played with the little girls who’d been here since Monday and were leaving today.

We zipped into town to take Stone shopping for his birthday at the local sporting goods store. He chose a very nice fishing pole, a minnow bucket and some lures. He was stoked and looking forward to dropping in a line asap.

We went to grab a cake at Hy-Vee. We weren’t able to find one complete with a wrestling scene, but he chose one that was suitable for him. Then, we headed over to a little local pizzeria to have pizza for lunch. We took the cake in and lit the candles and sang to him and did the whole works, even leaving a piece of cake for our very nice waitress.

Back to the bus we go to get the fishing gear and hit the lake. We drove down the road just a tad to a lake that’s not as green as the one we’re by in case the kids wanted to swim, too. John and the boys fished, I laid on the dock and read, pausing often to help Sage get his line unstuck, or untangled, or un-something! Saylor, Stone and Sage did do a little swimming while John and I sat on the dock and enjoyed each other’s company over a bowl of popcorn and an ice-cold coke.

A lovely day! And a brand new 7 year old!!! Wow…

Day 1: Minnesota

((This was written on Monday but published today...no internet at the campground, so grabbin' some wifi at the library...))

We made it safely to Minnesota. The drive was grueling, however. Or at least the first couple hours of it were. That’s what we get for staying out late the night before. We did have much fun together, though, so I think it was worth it?!? And to add to the excitement (and dread) of that first couple hours, Ruka (Stone’s kitten) locked the suburban, while it was running and we were all outside of it. Handy John was able to use a wire hanger and solve the problem, though. Lesson learned! Don’t leave the keys in the ignition while there’s a curious kitten on the prowl.

Day 1 here: The boys weren’t lacking in choices of what to do. They rode their bicycles, found frogs and itty bitty baby toads, rode the dirt bike, caught a handful of snakes (and I do mean handful, 4 in hand at one time is certainly a handful!) They fished first thing in the morning, but only caught a couple off the dock, so decided to occupy their time with other, above mentioned interests.

John rolled in here around 3:00, much to our delight! I had boneless pork ribs in the crockpot all day, but never made it to town to get BBQ sauce as intended, so instead made impromptu tostadas complete with shredded pork, rice, black beans and guacamole. Very good, indeed! We’ll do the BBQ thing tonight; the boys insist.

Stone turns 7 tomorrow! He’s requested a store bought wrestling cake so we’ll go look for one today. Also on the menu will be biscuits and gravy for breakfast and tacos for dinner.

Since it’s raining today, we’re planning a trip into town to find the library, grab some groceries, locate a few parks and the pool, make phone calls and check e-mail.

Oh, and the one bit of very bad news: I was taking a bag of garbage to the bin yesterday evening while Sage was watching Big Fish. Well, I guess this made Sage very angry so he threw the DVD case at our flat screen TV and broke it. We’re bummed, completely. He was upset, too. I heard him screaming so came quickly back to find him coming out of the bus and screaming that he “was mad so threw the case at the TV and broke it”. Bummer.

Together Again

John returned home to retrieve his family today. The man drove til late last night to get to the bus, then headed out to get here this afternoon to help me load things up and stuff.

So, we're off to Minnesota tomorrow morning, just the 5 of us (and the two dogs, the two birds and our kitty!)

But FIRST, me and my man are goin' dancin!!! There's a good band playing at the Firehouse so we're off to have a bit of fun!

Nighty night!

xxx
ooo