Cool Minnesota

Visiting up north does have its perks --- like cool weather, rain, and green grass!  And another perk is seeing 4 of our 7 grandkids. Usually we try to get up there at least twice a year, and with all our work - we were ready to get away. The kids kept us hopping - and they had quite a schedule for us to follow every day. Papa and I both need a rest now!  Ha..... So when we landed, Carrie snatched me off the plane, and we took the girls to a very lovely tea party that they were invited to.  It was so nice! Beautiful tea cups, flowers in the vase, tea, punch, sandwiches of all kinds, fruit on a skewer and dainty little cookies. Who could resist?  We had a wonderful time! but no pictures of that event! That was Saturday.....

On Sunday, we went to the Whapeton Zoo and then to Breckenridge to go swimming since Fergus does not have a pool. We really did have a blast at the zoo, it is so clean and the animals really do look happy.

The happy crew...

 in front of the mountain lions ---

and K-piggy tails found a peacock feather. Carrie had to teach at sunday school so we went over without her to the zoo, but she did join us for lunch and the pool. I didn't have my camera there. That evening we went and watch Abby do her dock dog fetches. Boy is she fun to watch dive into the water after the bumper.

 and there she goes....

 the perfect swimmer.

 and the kids having fun in the lake.

 Shawn had a softball game for the church league so we got to watch him play ball. He can still whack that ball, and he played 3rd base. The kids enjoyed playing in the dirt.

Missing K-Girl??? hmmmm , not sure where she was....

Then on Tuesday, more baseball.

 Our Slugger!

 Kman played Tuesday morning and had 2 doubles and a single. And then on Thursday he had 2 doubles and a single, so he is batting a 1000. Fields the ball really well too! We are very proud of him eventhough he is wearing a Yankees hat!

Tuesday night we went to the Fargo Redhawks minor league baseball game. It was cool and started to rain, but we didn't let it dampen our spirits. We had a Ball, no pun intended! The kids ate so much junk food, I can't believe they didn't have a stomach ache. We didn't have our electronics at the game cause of the rain but it was a blast. 

 Wednesday and Thursday we packed up and went to the house we rented on Minnewaska Lake. We all loved it! I could get use to that kind of living for sure.

 It didn't take the kids long to get in the water....

 and we took Shawn's new boat which held us all.... :)

 Then the kids took turns in the tube....

 I couldn't believe this little one wanted to get in - she loves the water too!

 Our trained boat pilot....

 Loving the ride...

 always smiling....

 and Mommy, did a little last minute training for her triathalon on sunday, Good Luck Carrie! I'm sure you will do great....

 Me and KBaby in the boat

 On Thursday, Shawn, Kman and I went fishing and Papa went too.

Kman caught this bass right off the dock....

and our view from the house. The guys boating and fishing right out front.

 This pic is from the top deck!

 The group shot before we left on friday!

What a great time!  This pic I took on our way home on saturday a.m. Thought Shawn would like to see the South Dakota prairie potholes. They were amazing to see!

We got to Alva, picked up the two vizslas and came home. Boy were they glad to see us. We picked up branches, watered, checked livestock, and now watching the olympics. Glad to be home! but not loving the heat!!!

Meet Albert!

In my last post, I was going to add some more pictures of the addition to the shop for Bruce's airplane restoration projects. Well, here they are, the inside in trimmed out with sheet metal and it looks really nice. The bathroom, and two paint rooms are in the new addition and in the old shop there is a new work area as well as overhead storage. By winter, it should be complete. I am hoping Bruce will share about 4 or 5 feet with me for my stained glass work. If I ever have time to do that again! Before long, he will be getting spray insulation put on whenever we have time! Still have 57 roofs to do this summer and then a huge list of gutter!

 The west side of the shop....

 Looking north into the new part of the building.

 The new paint room in the north addition. To the right in the smaller paint booth.

 The left door is the small paint booth, the right door, is the bathroom.

Looking southh into the old part of the shop.

 The west side of the new paint booth.

 North side of the paint booth.

 Northeast side of the addition. And then we went to see grandpa on Saturday morning.

 He was in pretty good spirits, but boy has he lost a lot of weight. Lost over 30 lbs since his stay in the hospital. Their stay in Vintage Park is okay, but they seem to be pretty bored.

 Actually Bernie was in really good spirits. We bought Grandpa a new flatscreen tv for his birthday since the old one was so hard for him to see. His eyes have been really bad! Lets just say he LOVED it! When we left, he was surfing all the channels on cable. I hope Bernie gets a chance to watch a little. She told me her birthday is Dec. 19th... She still has her since of humor! Now they'll get to watch the olympics and also he is getting his new glasses next week.

A snap right before we left! When we got to the farm, we needed to put the insurance cards in the appropriate vehicles.... Bruce yelled at me to come see what he found and

 Voila, a new doggy! After talking to Vince he said someone had dumped out a whole slew of dogs and the Independence Humane Society came and caught them all, with the exception of Albert here. Grandpa gave him his name.... Grandpa and Bernie are excited they have a doggie living at the farm, so we went to town, and bought dog feeder, dog food, treats, dog bone, tick and flea collar and tick medicine. He ate our french fries and was in good spirits working on his dog bone when we left. I hope Albert stays until we can get back there. He is such a sweetie.... we think he is a beagle cross.

 He jumped in the truck and was sitting there ready to go for a ride, I think we did that 3 times before I got the door shut so he'd stay at the farm. I hate it when people dump these beautiful animals out to literally starve or thirst to death. Its very dry in eastern Kansas as well as at our place, so please take care of your pets. I know all the grandkids would love him.

We left lots of water strategically located around the yard and garage so I hope he stays comfortable and can keep the racoons away from his food.

 Bruce took a little time and got the tractors out and took them for a quick spin before we headed home. We needed to wait a little so it would cool off since it was around a 100 degrees.

 This is what the sun looked like on our way home. You can't tell in this photo but it was bright RED! almost an orange red.

 Isn't it amazing -- the vivid colors our Lord uses to paint the sky! I love it...

 Anyways, we were glad to get home... Landed around 9:30 and got to bed around 10:30. Mission completed! 

Its been a pretty tough summer with all our trips to Wichita etc. and working so we are looking forward to next saturday when we head to Minnesota for a little R & R.  We are going to a lake to go fishing for a few days and to do nothing if we so choose. The MN Papons are ready to see Nana and Papa.

Jo is going to take Grandpa to his surgeon on the 25th to Wichita so we thank her for taking that on! Its really hard to remember all the questions we need to ask, but we are hoping for a very good report. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers!