Itasca

I am very behind on photos, so let me begin to catch up. I've got them culled and sorted, so I should have some posts besides this one in the next few days. Skipping ahead a little, I am very happy and excited to announce that Lil*y Patrick is here, a new cousin for the boys and niece for Jo*el and I. We haven't met her yet, because she's still in the NICU and visitors are very restricted due to H1N1. She is in the same department of the same hospital that the boys spent some time in after they were born a bit early. Like I was, Jen is locked in "baby jail" for now, helping Lil*y learn to nurse and bottle feed better so she can go home, but she also has Zo*e, who she misses terribly. We know that Li*ly is getting excellent care, and that even though there are some challenges ahead for Lil*y and her family, she will be another blessed addition to our family. We can't wait to get to know her. If you'd like to see pictures or hear more about how she's doing, you can do that here.

In late August, we took a lovely weekend camping trip to Itas*ca State Park, which is home to tall ancient pines and the headwaters of the Mississippi River.


We took the long way up there, and stopped to picnic along Lake Mille Lacs.


Ollie was fascinated by the fact that rocks get warm in the sun.

No*ah loves the feel of the wind.




I am the biggest fire-lover in the family so far, but Oli*ver loves marshmallows even more than I do.




Singing some songs with Daddy.


Ollie looking at an enormous 300-year-old red pine.


Jo*el and I took a day trip here on our honeymoon, and it was pretty special to come back 9 years later with these two little guys in tow.


Preacher's Gr*ove




Ollie and his warm rocks.



The headwaters of the Mississippi River (read the sign on the log above)




It was sobering to think about how clean this river starts out, and the fact that it's not even swimmable by the time it flows through the Twin Cities. That's starting to get better, but we have a long way to go.






Camping food just has a way of tasting amazing. It was quite cold at night, but the boys slept well, played hard, and generally had a grand time. So did their parents!


Bye bye!

harvest

We've had a good season, despite the strange weather. The boys helped quite a bit this year, and are pretty proud of themselves.







Ollie loves to munch out of the herb garden.




A farmer boy has to catch a bit of relaxation somehow:

summer fun

My mom was just here for a nice long visit between moving out of one Manhattan apartment and into another. We did all kinds of fun stuff, starting with the Co*mo Zoo and Como*to*wn.



They have an amazing butterfly exhibit right now.






By strange coincedence, Sparky the S*eal died two days after I took this picture.


We took our time, ate a nice lunch, and then Omie treated us to a trip on a sternwh*eeler boat down the Mississippi.



It was the first time in their conscious memory that they'd been on a boat, which they'd been asking about forever. Ollie now claims that Omie will take him on a submarine someday. I've tried to emphasize that a subway is more likely, but he's not entirely convinced his dream will never happen. We'll have to straighten this out in November, when we go to New York for Thanksgiving (and see the new apartment!),





The next evening, Grandma and Grandpa came over. (Sorry, Steve --I got no good pics of you that day).


The front yard is a popular place these days.

Here the boys are "making a map", mostly out of the contencts of their nature basket, which is filled with items from our walks.




No*ah scoots himself along like this by raising and lowering his rear.


Trike jam.






Shucks.


This was the view from our front steps on National Night Out, a block party night where the streets get blocked off. It was very well attended, and the kids loved the visiting fire truck and being able to run in the street.







2 Sunds*seths on a log at Minne*haha Creek, a creek near our house that feeds into the Missi*ssippi. In a few days, we're heading up to It*asca State Park to camp and wade in the headwaters of the Mississippi.


Totally random picture- but I love it because I love how the boys will sit quietly and draw or read books together. They also do their share of wrestling and hollering, but they seem to enjoy finding some peaceful moments together these days.




"Look, Mama! For our nature basket!"

We went on a summer hike to the wildflower garden with my mom too. A few weeks earlier, Joe*l and I and the boys went to the Quak*ing Tama*rack Bog in the same park, and Ollie fell into the muck. He was completely submurged, and I pulled him out by his arm - kind of scary, because what if we hadn't seen him fall in? It was much deeper than it looked, and he can't swim. But he was ok, if sputtering. Ollie has a great attitude, and being carried back to the car in just my sweatshirt he was already saying, "that wasn't funny at the time, but it's kind of funny to think about now!" I was still pulling muck out of his ears and hair a couple of days later.



Wishing you just a little more time to run around in the sunshine!

we are four: everything is hilarious

--including carrots, apparently. You never do know for sure what's coming when you tug on those green carrot tops - could be 7 inches long, or one. This simple fact caused so much laughter picking carrots this afternoon that they were crying.

This about sums up where we're at right now - much enthusiasm for life, much wonder, much silliness and boisterousness. I have a lot of photos to catch up on, but that will have to wait for another day.

I do want to say that we came waaaaay too close to a tornado that hit Minneapolis yesterday. The boys and I were coming back from their piano lessons in our station wagon, and a tornado hit on one side of the highway we were on (94, by 35 W and right near where it hit the Elect*c Fet*s Music Store), then bounced down again on the other side of the convention center, 2 blocks the other side of us. And we were oblivious to the reason for the big sheets of rain and greenish sky until we heard on the radio where a tornado had touched down just before, when we'd been stuck in traffic. Only then did the sirens go off. About 40 houses were damaged in S. Minneapolis, some pretty badly, and many trees were uprooted or snapped off.

There's debris everywhere in some places, and power was out to 7300 people, but not a twig was out of place on our block or the one where Jo*el's parents live. Me*agan and Phil's block was hit, though - but they and their building are OK. Tornados are very strange that way - leaving devestation or major damage in one place, and not touching another. Other tornados touched down in a suburb and in nearby Wisconsin. But no-one was hurt, and I'm sure some people were at least brought together in the community spirit I love my city for, so I'm counting my and our blessings. I hope you have many to count this summer as well.

We're positively drowning in vegetables - canning, eating as fast as we can, freezing, and giving some away and to the food shelf. It's been strange weather, but a good growing year nonetheless--I honestly don't know how this cold summer with feast-or-famine precipitation ended up being my best tomato year ever, especially for those big, meaty heirlooms we wait all year for. Will try to catch up with more pictures (including of my mom's visit a couple of weeks ago) soon.