Lily turned 7 today!!  She had a great day – both at home and in town.  And she topped off the day with a birthday supper she chose: hotdogs, sweet potatoes, peas and crispy kale.  We finished with chocolate cake for dessert.

Last week was her birthday party with 7 of her friends.  Lily and Sylvia planned the whole party and did most of the work.  Here are a few highlights.

Petting chickens and a tour of our place.

A cake with a maze in the frosting. There were 7 candles for each of the 7 dead ends.

Pin the ribbon on the horse.

A temporary tattoo station.

Goody bags assembled by Lily and Sylvia.

We made necklaces for everyone to put in their bags. They turned out pretty cute.

I don’t think I’d ever get tired of this weather!  70s, blue skies, dry air.  Maybe San Diego wouldn’t be so bad after all…  We’ve been trying to take advantage of the fall colors and weather.  We never get out as much as we’d like, but here are a few of the fun things we’ve been doing this last week.

Walk at the Trout Hatchery. Guess who was being goofy this day?

Kicking around a basketball at the Trout Hatchery. They’ve really been into kicking balls around the yard or on our walks.  And we only have a basketball and a volleyball. A soccer ball might be a good Christmas present!

We find some pretty cool leaves!  Take that, San Diego!

Lily is helping Jon spread new grass seed.

I love this picture of Sylvia!

The setting sun gives us some great light on our yard!

The weather has been so lovely these past few weeks.  We’ve been finding fun things to do outside to take advantage of the warm days before the cold weather sets in.  The leaves have barely started turning yet so it’s still pretty green outside.

We are off to pick wild grapes. We noticed them in the ditch on our walk and went out to gather a few bags a couple days later.

I’ve never seen so many grapes in one place! The vines were loaded with them!

I mostly cut grapes while Sylvia held the bag and took pictures. 🙂

They are so pretty on the vine!

Sylvia’s photo of our neighbor’s farm.

The girls were having fun hiding in the tall corn on our morning walk the other day. It is such a fun place to hide!

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Running home.

Yesterday we made Dragon bread to celebrate a Waldorf festival called Michaelmas. The girls had fun creating their dragons.

Sylvia and her two cuties.

They tasted great, too! 🙂

Fall is such a fantastic time of year!  One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to get apples and make apple cider (we also like to eat the apples, dry them and turn them into applesauce).  It’s no Nebraska City apple extravaganza, but it’s our way of celebrating fall and the apple harvest.

Sept. 4th was our first day of school.  Lily started 1st grade and Sylvia started 3rd grade.  We went for a walk, sang songs, did some math and form drawing, and cleaned wool for future projects.

Some of us worked harder than others…

Washing wool.

Catfish came to school with Lily.

I worked in the garden while the girls washed wool. I think we’ll be eating bean for the next two weeks.

Last week we had a fantastic vacation at Spirit Lake.  Although the water was a bit cold for some of us, it didn’t stop us from having fun.  We biked, canoed, shopped, some of us played in the water, cooked, laughed, played inside games and lots of outside games.  Here are some highlights!

Sweet photo of Grandpa and Lily!

Goofy photo of Grandpa and Lily!

Uncle Sam!

Ummm???

On the pontoon – whoo hoo!

Getting ice cream at the Spill Way Inn.

Trying out the old one room school house.

Eating lunch in the Swea City bandshell on the way home.

At the Swea City Park – the girls opened a wine and beer store. You can see their selection in front of them.

Good thing we have tech support right at our fingertips.

We played golf ball toss and a lot of Kubb. Jon and Melanie were the Kubb champions. They’ll be back next year to defend their title.

Sylvia’s learning to drive!

Hanging out in the hammock.

Last week, we all went to the BWCA – the Boundary Waters Canoe Area – for 5 days of paddling, camping, portaging, fishing and just plain having fun.  We went with Jon’s brother and 2 of his kids, Josh, age 16 and Annika, age 14.  Here are some highlights.

Getting ready to launch off into the wilderness!

I paddled with Annika most of the time and the girls paddled with Jon. Notice the burned area in front of us. A fire moved through this area 2 years ago.

Having fun in the front of the boat!

Both girls caught a fish on this trip. Here, Jon is helping Lily release her fish back to the lake. We released Sylvia’s too, since it was the length of her hand!

Cozy tent! We all four sleep together nestled in a row. Sylvia liked arranging the pads, sleeping bags and pillows. And taking breaks. 🙂

The girls were good paddlers for Jon. They also played and had fun in the front of the boat. Good thing Jon is such a good paddler!

Chris, Josh and Annika are out fishing and the girls are swimming with Jon in Phoebe Lake. The water was super cold and the air temp was not much warmer. There was no way I was getting into that water!

We had to pump our water before we could drink it. It was a task the girls really enjoyed.

Six fish for lunch! And we had 4 more for supper! All small mouth bass and all delicious!

More fishing – the girls really enjoyed it and got to be quite good at casting their lines.

We had to portage all our gear from one lake to the next (overall, we portaged about 20 times). The girls were good helpers, carrying paddles and life jackets. Lily also liked to carry a big pack.

It was big and heavy for her, but she could carry it for quite a ways and enjoyed helping.

Our family loves going to the fair!  We like to see the animals, watch the judging shows, eat ice cream and ride the rides.  The Winneshiek County fair is small and simple, but still very entertaining and fun.  This year, the girls and I decided to enter a few things in the flowers and vegetables division.  We had a great time putting together our flower arrangements and picking just the right snap peas to present.  And, we all won ribbons, too!

Sylvia’s award winning bouquet of all pink flowers (the category was In the Pink).

Lily loved the donkey at the petting zoo!

Sylvia loved the calf at the petting zoo (and so did I! Along with the adorable pot bellied pigs).

My award winning butterfly milkweed. It’s one of my favorite flowers – I love the orange!

Lily showing off the blue ribbon she won for her perfect snap peas!

Sylvia with both of her flower arrangements – she won a blue ribbon for each!

Lily again with her peas.

My grandpa passed away on Tuesday, July 9th, 2013.  He was 93 years old.  He was an amazing man – a wonderful husband, father, grandpa and great-grandpa.  He will be missed by everyone who knew him.  I found some old photos of him with the girls when they were little and thought I’d share them here as a tribute to his greatness.

With Lily in the comfy recliner, Feb. 2007

Out of the chair and onto the floor with Lily, June 2007

Lily with great-grandpa and great-grandma, June 2007

More Lily time, Dec. 2007

Sylvia and Grandpa with matching hats! Jan. 2008

Trying to pawn off old Nat’l Geographic magazines on the girls. I think we actually took them. 🙂 Aug. 2008

Lily being the goof-ball she is! Jan. 2010

Earlier this month, the girls and I attending Village Fire, a community singing weekend.  Jon was in Colorado, so we decided it would be fun to spend the weekend singing, playing and meeting new friends.  We gathered at Good Earth Village in Spring Valley, MN, about an hour from here.  We had a great time, despite Lily feeling under the weather, and are excited to go back next year!

Gathering before lunch – the view from the eating spot was spectacular! Up high on a ridge, we could see for miles.

The Welcome barn where various singing sessions took place.

Singing along with Bret Hesla who wrote some great songs, including one of our favorites, I Burned the Beans.

More singing, this time out in the open.

A definite highlight – sleeping in the covered wagon. We ended up only staying one night because Lily was sick, but what a night it was! The thunderstorms and rain were a little loud in the wagon.