lady on Sanibel

On Sanibel ...

We stopped to watch a red-headed woodpecker while walking back from the beach ... and then a lady stopped as well and asked what we were looking at ...

G: "It's a woodpecker. Do you have one at your home?"
Lady: "Yes, we have them in Virginia where I live. Where do you live?"
G didn't say anything. So I whispered to him, "Minnesota".

Then he whispered to the lady, "Minnesota".

She said, "What?"
He whispered again: "Minnesota".
She still didn't hear and so I said, "Minnesota." 

"Yes, I come from Minnesota," G responded importantly.

Lady: "Well ... you will have to come to Virginia and Washington DC where I live since there is a lot to see there. And I will have to come to Minnesota to see YOU sometime."
G looked at me and said, "Her FUNNY!"
I said, "You're charming!!!"
He said, "No, I'm not, I'm a big boy!!!!!"

middle names and tea

G asked, "What is Gunnar's middle name?"

"Ernest ... your name is Gunnar Ernest."

He didn't respond.

"What do you think about that?" I asked.

"I DON'T know!" 

"Do police officers drink tea?" G asked ... while having some tea.

"I think they do.  Some of them probably drink tea.  Do you think so?"  I responded.

"Yes."

"Do you think they drink coffee ... also?"  I asked.

"No ... just tea.  BIG TEA!"

a little singing

Ez and Foof with the kids choir in their Christmas best -- they sang in church close to Christmas :)

a little photo shoot ... again :)

Halo has this ... thing about fall photo shoots and kids throwing leaves. She does it every year.Takes photos and has the kids tossing leaves ... here are this year's:

a little medic

I went into the boys room one night and Ez fell asleep wearing this :)

He and Foofie had been acting out history and playing "Florence Nightengale!" :)

a little photoshoot

I found a great Craigslist buy this summer. A Little Tykes playset for the kids! We have a big yard for it so I persuaded J to drive the (long) ways to get it and take it apart there and put it up here. It was a hit!! G and Ezzie really enjoyed it :) they converted it into a waterslide too and put a kiddie pool at the end of the slide.

Anyway, Halo thought it'd be a good place for another photoshoot!

a little first day of school (2015)

First day of school photos from this school year :)

Foof, 5th grade

Ezzie, 1st grade

 And Halo 10th grade!

Buddy didn't get in on these photos unfortunately :)

a little state fair

The kids won state fair tickets this summer so Foof, Buddy, and I all went.

a little braces

Halo got her braces off on August 31st!!

the ortho gave her a cake to celebrate!!

a little camping/camper

We bought a pull behind camper-trailer last spring and took it up north this summer. We went up past Ely to Lake One and enjoyed two five-day trips!

the semi-dangerous stairs leading from our campsite down to the lake

 Telling stories by the fire

Mr Camo ;)

SuperDad to the rescue ... of a burning hotdog!

almost tumbling off the dock and kayaking

Admiring Buddy's fish on a stringer in the lake

Foof is quite the kayak-er!

"Oooh! Buddy caught a bass!"

"It's slimy!"

Halo caught a northern ... which was too small to keep :(

untangling her fishing line

photoshoot time!!

Lil' Ezzie

weeds/muck do not taste good :)

mesmerized by the fire

our little camper home!

so that's the gist of our camping trips: fishing, fires, and fun!!

a little gardening

We had a successful garden this summer using the "Back to Eden" technique, involving a lot of newspaper and mulch!

One of our watermelons:

Not sure if we have other garden produce photos but we grew some good tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, and watermelons! Halo also got a raspberry patch going.

a little taco lunch

We live near a little Mexican joint ... the kids really enjoy biking there are getting food :)
Our favorite day is $0.99 taco tuesday!

Taco lunch on the porch :)