september weekend

 John, you were in this picture!  Nice work.

 Love, Val

fishing contest

Kirsten dreamed this up and they were SOOOO enthusiastic.   There was a kids fishing competition and and adults one separate.  The kids contest was one hour long.  Winners would be biggest fish, smallest fish, most fish, most unique fish, and so forth. There were numerous categories.  

The kids asked if they could form teams?  I mean, sure.  I suppose.

Three boats, all the wild fishing kids and their helpers were ready to go:

That's Dannell's brother on the right.  He comes up to the lake once in a while, and I'm always glad.  He's nice to the kids, nice to us, funny, helpful, just all around lovely.  When the kids were forming teams, one kid teamed up with another kid who had announced he wasn't going to actually fish.  The brother said, "Buddy, you might want to think about your choices here. Do you really want to team up for a fishing contest with a guy who already says he's not fishing??"

They looked at each other for a long second and the non fishing kid said he would definitely fish, and he did.  

Lines tangled, ugh.

They were put back into action with other fishing poles, but it took three of us ten minutes to untangle this.

At the end, the fish were sorted so fast, and the ones that weren't being kept to eat were brought back to the water right away.  Winners were happy.

The adult competition had few rules, and went on until dusk. There were winners there too, and everybody had a good time.  And the next day they fried fish enough to feed us all, so delicious.

Love, Val

 

labor day weekend

 Someone has stolen two of our little safety guys.  Kirsten bought this one second hand and this time we chained it to a tree.  They could still steal it if they had a bolt cutter, but it's going to make it a little harder.   The chain cost $90 though.  That seemed excessive, but whatever.

Karaoke in the kitchen:

They're playing Hearththrob, an  old board game from the 80s that Kirsten picked up at a thrift store. So much laughing.

Car shows always put him right to sleep.

Love, Val

happy birthday, dannell

It was a great day, great group picture, so much love.

There were doughnuts in the morning, a community fish fry for lunch, just perfect.

Here they are, frying the fish.
 

And these guys, so pretty.

So very glad to have the opportunity to spend your birthday with you in person.

You are so dearly loved. Thanks for being ours.

Happy Birthday, You.

Love, Jay and Val and Everybody

happy eleven

It was a great day at the lake.  They were playing some game called Worst Case Scenario. Now that they can all read and have discussions, it gets a bit interesting.

There was a bit of tubing, though it's getting a little cold.

And birthday supper was served outside in the yard, chili ad sloppy joes--delicious.

He's been saving for an Ipad, so his gifts were mostly contributions to the Ipad fund, a worthy cause, and he was completely delighted.

Cake time!

Happy Birthday, Buddy. This whole family is glad you're in it. We love you like crazy.

Love, Grandma and Grandpa and Everybody

hey september!

Dannell took these yesterday, kids riding old bikes in the field.  The light and low angle of the sun are all about late summer.  Pics continue to be chopped off. You will have to click on each one to see them as they actually appear.

The ivy is beautiful this summer, the part that grew.  There is a lot of dead on the back of the house.  Maybe I'll plant some new in the spring.

No Monarch caterpillars this year, not a single one.  We've got this pretend guy though.

Last week I bought fabric and sewed a new valance for the bedroom at the cabin.  Now I think the sheers look horrible.  Those have to go. I need new ones, brighter ones.  And the bedspread, which came with the cabin and has been minimally chewed by mice over the winter at points?  That needs to go too.  

But, while I was buying the fabric for the valance I was super distracted by the flannel, and bought a pile of it to sew into baby blankets, and I already had a pile waiting to be sewn. Today I had time to sew a few and I am very fond of this frog and camper blanket.  The other one is cute too, has great colors.

Anyway, September, you beautiful creature, glad you showed up. This has been some kind of year.

Love, Val