I am the luckiest person in the world. I've gotten to spend time with every member of our family in the last two weeks--even many extended family members. It has been a great way to finish the summer. (I start back to work tomorrow.)
Alicia and I spent a day walking and talking. It was so fun to hear her enthusiastically tell about how much she enjoys married life. She said she and Erik have so much fun together. Alicia helped me do three power points to use at school this fall. I should have taken pictures of our day.
Maris and Grandpa and I spent a day relaxing together. She reminded us that we hadn't fed the ducks for awhile, so we made popcorn and headed for the park.
The scenario in the park as Maris tried to cross the monkey bars went like this: "Lift me, Grandpa. Let go. Lift me, Grandpa. Let go." Repeated 100 times.
Maris felt the need to be a photographer, so here are her pictures.
The sad thing was we weren't trying to pull faces!
And we got another one of her. What a sweetheart!
Grandma Hodges celebrated her 78th birthday, so those of us who were in Utah and who didn't have to work took her to Red Lobster. Above: Madison and Karissa. Below: Gayle and Stana
I'm with Natalie, and Brenda is with Grandma. Good food, good company.
Camden and Maris spent a day with us and we fed the ducks again--after eating chocolate chip pancakes.
Camden and Rapunzel are throwing popcorn.
Maris needed a higher position.
Grandpa taught Camden and Maris how to play "Pooh sticks" which we learned from Winnie-the-Pooh.
Waiting for their leaves and sticks to cross under the bridge.
Children taking pictures.
Camden could cross these bars easily this year, so he tried it over and over and over.
Here he is--King of the Playground!
And here is the princess of the playground.
We're so lucky to be grandparents!
I ended the week with a long lunch with friends. What a perfect week!
We spent the last week of summer break in Minnesota with Nathan, Briana, and Emmaline. Emmaline wasn't sure about us and gave us some very appraising stares at the beginning, but I think we won her over by the end of the week. We worked hard at it.
The high chair throne where Emmy now eats finger food.
Emmy did let me feed her the first night. Food is a great motivator.
Emmaline is a totally different girl than the one that left us in June. She had just learned to crawl as they left Utah, and now she's everywhere! She crawls, she pulls up to furniture, and she cruises along it. What a girl!
Emmy is monitoring the progress of the bed being blown up.
Tuesday we took a field trip to see the Mississippi River and found the Nelson Cheese Factory on the Wisconsin side of the river. It was an ivy-covered building with every kind of cheese imaginable. The cheese lovers said the curds were the best they'd ever tasted. I was looking at the ice cream, and so was Emmy, as you can see.
Briana and I had ice cream cones and we all sat in a cozy little courtyard. Emmaline is showing what she thinks of cold ice cream thrust in her face.
My maple nut was as good as the maple nut at USU--which I consider the gold standard of ice cream. But Briana's raspberry truffle looked so yummy that I also had a raspberry truffle kid's cone. It was equally as good as the maple nut!
This is the ivy-covered front of the store. The weather couldn't have been better.
Emmaline is about finished with photo shoots.
Our final cheese purchases: Baby swiss, cheese fudge, and cheese with cranberries in it. I liked the cheese fudge and the cheese with cranberries, but I'll never be a real cheese lover.
We spent some time by the river enjoying the peacefulness,
and letting Emmy crawl around on the grass.
The river was wider than I expected--maybe because it was a river-lake, Lake Pepin.
This barge was huge. We saw it floating up the river at each town we visited.
Doesn't this look like a perfect day?
We visited some Amish farms on Wednesday by following a guided tour on a CD. The narrator told us the name of the family who owned the farm and gave directions of how to get there. We couldn't take pictures, because the Amish consider pictures a graven image, so we kept our itchy fingers off our cameras. My favorite scene was a little girl with her mother standing outside on their porch hanging out wash. The little girl waved to me over and over.
We went to individual farms that had items to sell from produce to baskets to quilts to preserves to soap. I didn't intend to buy anything, but found a basket perfect for school. I also got strawberry/rhubarb preserves and raspberry soap.
We enjoyed a picnic at a cute park,
Emmy got to have her very own slice of bread, and ate it from all angles. She also held the remains in her fist afterward while she explored the park
What a cute family!
Two cute families!
Next we enjoyed the world's best pie at Aroma Pie Shoppe. The banana cream Briana and I got was excellent, as was Alan's key lime. Nathan was disappointed because there was no raspberry cream like the last time he and Briana were there. He got french silk which was so rich it was like a Three Musketeers bar on pie crust.
Back at the apartment Briana cooked a wonderful meal of pesto chicken and pasta, and then we relaxed--playing with Emmy and playing Dominion. (I got the lowest scores on Dominion, and that really irks me.)
I was so happy Emmy would let me read to her. We read a couple of books each day.
Thursday we visited a wonderful old home. These are the lower grounds. There a pool and fountain on each end of the lower grounds. It looked like the ultimate secret garden.
This tower was part of the upper grounds. We brainstormed what its use might be. Did one get grounded there or was it a place to hide out and read a book? I hope it wasn't just a fancy silo for storing grain.
I tried to show how expansive the upper lawn is, but I don't know if you can really tell. With the house, it took a couple of shots to show the entire place.
This is the front entrance.
There were hostas everywhere!
It was a fun excursion. Some other time we'll visit the inside.
We had a wonderful time. Nathan and Briana are always so kind to us. We hated to leave Emmy Lou because she got warmed up to us! We'll have to visit again soon.
Saturday I forgot to tote my camera! Camden celebrated his seventh birthday at Cowabunga Water Park and had a great time. Melinda Weir got married and we got to see Erik and Alicia and all our nieces and nephews, their spouses and their children and visit with them at the reception.
A perfect end to an enchanting summer!
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