Soaking up the sun and drinking in the color!

Fall in Minnesota~
has to be one of the big reasons people choose to live in this state.  

It's been absolutely beautiful the last couple of days. 

I even mustered up gumption (sp?) to wash a few windows yesterday.
It's always a good feeling to have that done.
Well, four of them are done anyway.

Crispy critter who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

R.J. and Isabelle wrestling, they do this all the time. 

She'll finally get irritated and swat him. 

Then she will get up and nuzzle against him!? 

I broke up this fight and said let's go for a walk. 

It was even nice enough for shorts today

but the mosquitos were brutal- DIE ALREADY for pete's sake. 

Rosehips!

 Thistles!

 Aww......

 The colors are just vibrant right now and gorgeous!

 The neighbors corn is 12 feet tall and ready to harvest.

The only lonely flower still blooming at my house,

but she's sure perty.

So ends our walk.  Happy Fall!



beautiful and dead things

Wow- do the butterflies, moths, flies and bees
go crazy over the sedum this time of year,

they are constantly covered with winged creatures!

This poor guy had some trouble with his right wing.

Two bees in a pod.

This is a very handsome feller.

This huge monarch is actually dead,

we found him on the road during one of our walks.

This poor little guy is dead, too. 

Met his demise like many other critters that have littered the sidewalks this summer. 

Isabelle has to have some fun too. 

Eat, Drink and be Married!

We took a road trip yesterday to a wedding.  It was at the Wilderness Golf Course on Lake Vermillion next to the Fortune Bay Casino.  We had the pleasure of traveling with Bryce and Heather.  It was a double date!  About half way there Heather and I decided we needed some dark chocolate so the guys had Harmin the Garmin take us to the nearest chocolate shop, otherwise we would have gotten cranky.  On the counter they had this sign about the health benefits of dark chocolate and the cashier offered to make a copy of it for us.  We each had these huge bear claws with carmel and pecans, it was heavenly........     

The golf course and clubhouse were absolutely beautiful.  I wish I would have gotten a photo of the golf course before it got dark.

 

The groom, Mike, is Bill's best friend from college, he was the best man at our wedding.  We are very happy for him to have found this great woman, Gretchen.

The ceremony was short and sweet, like 20 minutes maybe, and then we had a wonderful prime rib dinner.  For dessert they had German Chocolate Cake and Norwegian Danish because Mike is German and Gretchen is Norwegian.  Here's some other old friends that we got to catch up with. 

 

Heather and Bryce enjoying some time away from their kids.......  

Us old fogies, we didn't really care what our kids were doing, we were only gone 12 hours, how much trouble could they get into?



Running in the Rain

Leanne had her second Cross Country meet yesterday.  Good for us it was in town at Greenwood Golf Course.  Unfortunately, it poured rain all day long and was windy and cold.  But there was no lightening so the meet went on.  Here's the start of the girls race. 

Pushing it at the end.

She's been working hard to train and has endured problems with knees, achilles, blisters, etc. but she has determination and is improving her time each race.  She's also a great team player. 

You go girl!!

Back to School- Ready or Not

It was just yesterday

 that we watched Landon get on the bus for his first day of Kindergarten

and we bawled all the way back to the house, 

well, some of us did anyway. 

And then the next day it was Brian.  More bawling.

And then the next day it was Leanne. 

A few sniffles, but no bawling. 

Having the house to myself for a few hours was awesome!

Then I went back to school myself.

Can our oldest possibly be in his second year of college?  

He is at Bemidji State University this semester

and living at home, yes, at home, much to our dismay AND delight.

Mostly delight.

I tried to get a picture of him on his first day

but he wouldn't cooperate. 

"Mom, I'm not in elementary school,

you don't need to take my picture anymore."

Brian's a big 'ol senior in high school this year. 

He still cooperates.

Leanne's a sophmore. 

She loves any opportunity for a photo shoot.

Alas, where does the time go? 

Bill and I certainly aren't getting old as quickly as our kids are.

Are we? 

More bawling.