Summer of Wandering

I hope y'all haven't given up on me. I've been avoiding my blog like the plague. I think our trip to NYC did me in. Anyways, it's a stormy morning and the kids are still in bed (fyi it's 9:09 a.m.!) sleeping. Time to finally get this darn blog updated....let's see...last time I was here we had Joanna down for a visit. So, she took the kids back with her. Chris and I enjoyed a quiet week together. I got a few major painting projects done and we enjoyed a couple of date nights. Always a treat.

On there way to MN, Auntie Jojo stopped to snap a picture by "the sign" as we call it. The kids are always EXCITED when we see "the sign" on our trips up north. Liv and Tony spent the first two nights with the Maras' family.

They got to enjoy yet ANOTHER birthday party as it is my nephew Drew's birthday June 17th. The kids always have a blast with their cousins and I'm sure things were pretty crazy for a couple days! Next, they went with my parents on a "SECRET TRIP." My dad's pending heart surgery changed the plans a bit, but Gramma Sally managed to surprise the kids with a trip up the north shore of Lake Superior to Silver Bay. They stayed at a hotel with a water slide and spent a couple CHILLY days hunting for agates and sea glass. I was jealous, as I could sit and do that FOREVER! They came back with a nice bucket of treasures. Gramma arranged for a cake and the kids got to open presents at the hotel....so yet ANOTHER birthday party. Sorry I don't have any pictures. Maybe Gramma Sally will email me some? According to the kids it was a lot of fun, despite the cold weather. I hear they went down the water slide enough times to add up to a mile and got their pictures added to a "wall of fame."

Are you still with me? Next, they went back to the Maras family as Gramma Sally and Papa Jocko headed to Duluth for Papa's bypass surgery. As most of you already know, it went very well and Jocko is home having an amazing recovery. Living a healthy, active lifestyle has really paid off and we are all extremely thankful that he is doing so well. So back to the kids....Auntie Jojo took Livie and Tony camping at Bear Head State Park near Ely. The three of them set up their tent, started their own campfires, cooked their own meals, etc... all by themselves! I was very impressed and proud of them. I can say with confidence that I would never do that alone. They had an absolute BLAST!!! I'm very proud of all three of them. What a great memory!

One of the highlights of their camping trip was finding a nest of turtle eggs. Thanks Joanna for NOT letting them take them home!!!!!

Ok, so while the kids were camping with Joanna I headed up north to see my dad in the hospital. Along the way, I stopped at Erin and Jeff's. I was lucky enough to spend an entire day with Celia by myself....you can see from the picture above what happens when you hang out with a 2-1/2 yr. old!!!! We had a great day and I really enjoyed the special time with her.

After visiting Papa in the hospital and seeing how well he was doing, Celia and I headed up to my mom's for the night leaving Erin and Jeff to have some time together in Duluth. This was CC's first night away from mom and dad. Let's just say it was a LOOONNGGG drive to Mt. Iron, but in the end she did great and each time it will get easier. By the time we got to Gramma's she recovered and handled her first "big girl sleepover" really well. She discovered some of the kids gifts at my mom's house and thought it pretty cool to be "inside a bubble."

On Friday, June 26th CC headed to Duluth with Gramma to visit Papa and hook up with her mom and dad. I picked up the kids in Hibbing and also headed to Duluth so the kids could visit with my dad. They were both glad to get to see him and realize he's still the same old, crazy Papa. We then all headed to Erin's house for the last leg of our visit. We ended the evening by gorging on birthday cake in honor of Erin's 31st birthday!!!! Tired yet???

Everything is better when sucked through a straw!!!!! :) Saturday was a beautiful day and we just enjoyed being outside together. (At least I THINK it was Saturday...or was it Sunday? Check Erin's blog for verification. It's all a blur to me.)

The kids had a blast on the double Slip n Slide....until Uncle Jeff popped it, that is.

Tony took great delight in freaking Auntie Ernie out with his new "face."

Sunday the kids enjoyed yet ANOTHER and FINAL birthday celebration. Somewhere in here we went to the Mall of America....like I said, it's all blur. They were thrilled to get their much loved, DQ ice cream cake. Thanks Ernie and Jeff!

Both kids received aprons from their favorite show, "Ace of Cakes", along with their own kid-friendly cookbooks. Stay tuned for highlights from their culinary creations.....

On Tuesday we headed to the Minnesota Zoo. It was a pretty cool and gray day so we took advantage of the Tram and enjoyed a comfortable tour of the zoo. Since it was zoo all the animals were out and the kids had a ball.

CC especially enjoyed standing up in the car and telling the animals to all "have a nice weekend!" They don't know it's Tuesday!!!!

Wednesday, we loaded and I mean LOADED up my car and headed for home. Chris hadn't seen the kids in almost three weeks and they were excited to see him and Nelson of course. We arrived home around 4:30 and exactly 24 hours later we headed to Indian Cave State Park in Southeast NE for a long weekend of camping. Seriously...WHAT was I thinking?????

It rained and rained and rained all day Friday. We managed to jump in the truck and take in the sights of the park in between showers.I didn't grab my camera so I have no pictures of the caves...hence the name, Indian Cave State Park. They were cool though, complete with petroglyphs carved in the rock that are thousands of years old. Saturday was gray and drizzly, but the kids still put on their game faces and decorated the camper for the 4th of July!!!

The rain held off enough for us to check out all the living history programs at the park. Chris and the kids are checking out a trapper's cabin above. They also got to watch soap making, candle dipping, and a working blacksmith shop was on the property as well. Up the road was the old town of St. Deroin....the original school house is still there as well as a general store where we got to watch a gentleman making brooms. I purchased a nice camper broom from him because I am happiest when my camper is clean. Anyways, the history of the town is interesting as the Missouri river changed course and pretty much wiped it out overnight.

A shot of the might Missouri from a scenic overlook. Everything was so LUSH and GREEN!!! The state of Missouri is just on the other side of the river.

I just loved this split rail fence against the field. So wild and natural and GREEN. All that rain really made things lush, not to mention making our camper damp and stinky. I am not ashamed to admit that I am a FAIRWEATHER camper for sure. Behind me was the St. Deroin Cemetery. We enjoy taking the kids through old cemeteries....odd I know. But there is so much history to be had if you read the grave stones. They are so old and beautiful. Plus, if you are ever looking for unique, old-fashioned baby names that's the place to go.

The kids took delight in finding these odd caterpillars all over our campsite. I promised I'd post a picture for them. They did a craft at the park museum, hence the purple paint all over Liv's hand.

Another unique stop was the Longrifle Muzzleloading club. They set up on weekends and will let visitors try shooting. Chris was thrilled with the opportunity...I passed. It was so LOUD!!!! I suggested he take up the hobby...wouldn't he look good in one of those period costumes????

We took a ride Saturday to a nearby town of Brownville. Population is only a little over a hundred, but the town is full of museums, shops, bookstores, etc.... Too bad everything was closed by the time we got there. I just loved this little cottage....

..and this sweet little house....I have more, but I won't bore you with them. I am just meant to live in a place like this. :)

Beautiful, old oak trees are everywhere when you are along the Missouri River. This one was especially impressive.

We wandered down to the river and found this old steam boat in dry dock. It is a museum, but of course was also closed. We are anxious to take a day trip back to Brownville perhaps the next time we have company.

So what DO we do in the evenings when it's raining??? Why, we play Yahtzee and eat squeeze cheese of course!!!! Camping is the only time of year the kids get to have squeeze cheese. They look forward to it almost as much as Christmas (ha ha). Here is Livie celebrating her very first YAHTZEE EVER!!!! Yay Livie!!!! After it got dark we headed back to Brownville to watch the fireworks along the river. Unfortunately they started much earlier than we thought they would and we only caught the last five minutes. How disappointing. I happened to overhear (ok, I was eavesdropping) someone say they were heading to Auburn to watch their fireworks. We needed gas anyways, so we jumped in the truck and followed the crowd to Auburn, about 15 miles away. Another small town where we figured any cars on the road at nearly 10 p.m. HAD to be heading to fireworks. We were right and got to see an AMAZING show. The kids declared it the best they'd ever seen.

Finally, on Sunday the sun decided to shine. We all enjoyed our morning coffee/hot chocolate outside. Look! There's Nelson! We promised the kids another horse back riding adventure this trip so we headed to the stables while things dried out in the sun.

Checking out the horses and wondering which one they'll get.

This sweet little fella came right up to us for a pat. Tony was a bit apprehensive, but soon enjoyed the chance to pet him.

Livie got to ride one of the pretty little ones she was hoping for.

Tony was surprised when they brought him this GIANT. Turned out to be the perfect fit, as he was obviously very slow and mellow.

I did the best I could turning around and snapping a picture of Liv. Probably not a good idea to take pictures while riding a horse...kinda like talking on a cell phone and driving???

You can see Tony in the brown shirt behind Chris in the blue shirt. We all really enjoyed the trail ride again. It was a beautiful day and a great family weekend, despite the rain.

So now we are home. We baked the camper, rugs and sleeping bags all day in the hot Nebraska sun. The kids and I all enjoyed our time in MN but it feels good to be home and back into some sort of "normal summer routine." We've got a couple weeks before we head back up the end of this month for our annual MN camping trip....

This last picture is for Ernie. When I was planning our meals for the week I had each kid pick a recipe from their cookbooks. They made their own shopping lists and got the ingredients when we went to the store. Monday night Liv made a Chicken Noodle Omelet that was quite good. We enjoyed it along with some corn from the farm stand, red potatoes from the garden, and Nada Coladas for our beverage. If you look closely you can see on the counter the bounty from our garden....onions, red potatoes, and cukes. Also you'll see jars of blackberry jam that Mr. Martha Maras made while we were gone from berries he picked along the trail near our house.

I hope you enjoyed this VERY LONG catch-up post. We are all having a fabulous summer and hope you are as well! Tony cooks tonight....stay tuned!