We Are Family...

...brothers and sisters are we. Eric's brother and sister both live in the same town in Oregon. It's hard to have siblings that live far away....but it sure is nice when they come to visit! Chris and Shelly were in town a couple of weeks ago. They brought their youngest daughter Hannah and Hannah's friend Maura.

Shelly is a beautiful woman, inside and out....with a singing voice to match. She sang two songs during the church service when they were here. Chris accompanied her on the guitar....what a treat!

After church everyone sort of gravitated down to the river at the cabin. Shelly thought that she had found a nice quiet place to read...Hah!...not with all of these relatives around!

Dan and his daughter Becca had driven up for the day. They were dog sitting so they had a couple of little friends with. Chris was there, Eric was there.

Jones from the Dog Reunion fame wanted to check out the water. He thought it was fine!

The kids did too. There is a piece of an old dock there that had found it's way to the bank one spring. Chris added some foam to the bottom so it floats just enough to have fun.

Billy, Hannah and Maura spent a lot of time on their raft.

Half of the fun was to see who could get flipped off the raft. Cousins playing in the water...what a happy sight.

The little dogs thought it looked fun too.

They decided to run up to Jones and tell him how fun it looked. Why do little dogs always think that they are actually big dogs?

Jones didn't know what to do...he thought that Shelly looked like a safe haven, so he took his wet self and sat down really close for protection.

Dawn and Jeremy told Jones that Shelly didn't really need him sitting with her on her beach towel.

"What did I do? It was those little dogs causing all the ruckus!"

As with most family get togethers, the stories started being told. Lots of reminiscing and laughter.

Some of the tales were tall. Dawn, Jeremy and Logan seem to be taking it all in.

Well, maybe not Logan, he's looking a little sleepy....or most likely bored.

More stories, more laughs....remember when?...

....is there anything more boring to a kid than listening to grown-ups go on and on and on and on....

Oh brother, how can they talk so much?

I think I'll take a little nap on my daddy's head....na-night. And he was out.

We ended the day in the cabin, with more catching up on each others lives. Chris gave Brian some guitar pointers...

...and all too soon it was time to say good-bye. A year is a long time to be away from family! We cherish the time we have.

Catching up - Baseball and the Home Town Parade

A few weekends ago Billy played in his last baseball tournament of the year. It was a special time, not just because it was the last weekend of baseball, but because he had some special fans at his games. Eric's brother Chris and Chris' wife Shelly were in town from Oregon and were able to make it to one of the games. From left to right, Shelly, Chris, Eric's dad Grandpa Bill and my mom Grandma Janet. Can you tell that we have had a cold summer here in Minnesota?

Chris and Shelly had some other things they needed to do after the game, so Grandpa Bill took them back to the cabin. My mom stayed for the last game and was joined in the stands by Stephanie...my niece. Steph shared some exciting news that day....she and her husband Jim are expecting! Woohoo! They are going to be great parents....the baby is due at the end of February. My brother will be turning 50 and becoming a grandpa in the same month...tee hee tee hee...better him than me...shhhh....I didn't say that. :-)

After the game we headed to our home town for a parade! We didn't want to be late. Here are Eric, my mom, Chris and Shelly. But wait, where are Barb and Bill??

Well look at that, they are in the parade! Hi there Mom and Dad!! Got any candy?

A fun tradition with the parade is that the cars and floats in the parade toss candy to the kids. They had some good candy this year...even freeze pops! This is Dawn's boy Logan...every time he'd score some candy he'd have a deep raspy laugh "haah ha!" It was pretty darned cute.

Hey Logan, how do you like the parade so far...grin...I think he likes it.

"Look mom, balloons!"

Brian's friend David was up for the weekend and was with us at the parade. He saw the balloons, noticed Logan's reaction and all on his own bought little Logan a balloon. Sometimes these teenage boys make me smile as wide as a kid with candy.

What a sweet thing to do.

The kids had fun at the parade. Cousin Becca was there and cousin Hannah was there from Oregon with her friend Maura. Billy taunted the firefighters to spray them with water from their tank....

...they did and he ducked and his brother got the brunt of it. Poor Brian. I don't think he minded too much....even though it was a chilly day.

What's more fun than a home town parade with friends and cousins? Brian, David, and Billy in the back, Becca, Hannah and Maura in the front.

From sun up to sun down it was a busy day!

Tomorrow I'll catch up with that weekend's family reunion.

The County Fair

We headed over to the Polk County Fair last weekend. It was always sort of a big event when I was a kid...and even though the Fair has grown, it doesn't seem nearly as big as it used to.

When we got there the 4-H horse competition was just wrapping up. I wanted to wander over, but we were meeting Eric's folks and running late, so didn't take the time. I think I would have liked being in 4-H when I was young, but the only 4-H leader in the area at the time seemed sort of scary to me so I never joined. I think that it was the moustache. Women just shouldn't have them, that's all.

There were quite a few people on horseback directing traffic. Look at this big black boy...he was enormous! I wanted to give him a hug...but we were running late....and his rider probably would have thought I was crazy.

There are a lot of things at a County Fair. Clomp, clomp horses. Clomp, clomp cloggers. This group performed for a long time. We only watched for a short time. There were corn dogs to find and mini donuts to conquer!

Oh...the Yummy shop...now that sounds promising doesn't it?

Trouble is, if you eat too much at the County Fair, you start to look like you've spent a lot of time eating at a County Fair. This picture makes me smile every time I look at it. That's all I'm going to say about that!

There were quite a few animals at the fair. Some sheep....

...some milkers...oh my....poor girls.

There were even some Alpaca. Isn't this one cute?

And this one, with such big brown eyes. He looks so soft and sweet.

Oh and this older one, he certainly looks dignified don't you think? Hello Mr. Alpaca...could you look over here and give me a smile?

Oh dear!! EEK! Ummm.... smile...say "cheese". Can I take that dignified comment back?

Billy talked us into parting with some money on carnival games. Come on Mom, it's fun! He cashed in two small prizes for an orange and black striped shark. I guess it's a tiger shark. Silly kid. But fun to see him being a kid. He carried his prize around for the rest of the evening....and I didn't get a picture of it.

We stayed long enough to see the pretty lights, then decided that it was time to head back to the cabin.

Even though it seemed smaller than it used to be, we had lots of fun at the County Fair!

After the Ride

We were lucky enough to have spent all of the last weekend in the country. We packed in quite a few fun things. Horseback riding, going to a county fair, and seeing a tractor parade with 100+ tractors that stopped traffic for a long time. Other parts of the weekend included chasing cows through the corn, big blisters from not wearing socks because I wasn't planning on chasing cows through the corn, fixing fence, prickly ash and barbed wire, and getting stung by a couple of bees. Ouch. No wonder I'm tired today.

The best part of the weekend for me was the horseback riding. We haven't gotten out nearly enough this summer. The horses have been sort of rusty because of it. But they were both pretty good boys this time around. We like to ride them until they're really tired out. After the ride I fed them a little and then waited on the other side of the barn to watch them tiredly stroll by. Oh...here comes Czar now. Poor tired boy. I think he sees me.

Oh..here comes Skylar too, I think Czar maybe gave him a heads up that I was there.

They've found the energy to run and greet me....or....hey....

...wait a minute....where are you guys going?

Running and snorting....hey....I thought you were tired....

...you didn't miss those cows that much did you? Where are you going?

I'm your favorite friend in the whole world aren't I? Hey....slow down!...you are exhausted from all that riding remember?

I'm the one that just fed you and the one that pets you and talks nice to you.....hey.....

....are you picking up speed? You'd think that they hadn't seen freedom for days.

Oh, a pause to rest before flying down the ravine and up the other side. What you looking at Czar? I'm not coming after you.

Hah...they had to stop and catch their breath......see.....we did tire them out with our ride. Sheesh. Well, maybe next time.