Impromtu visit...

we had a planned trip to visit my Aunt Mary this weekend.

Once we got to her house, she told us that my cousin and his family were at

a cottage near by so we swung over to see them. 

My eldest went fishing with my cousin Steve.

He caught 7-8 fish and was pretty excited.



The girls and I visited with the rest of the family on the pontoon boat.



It was such a lovely visit and nice to spend some quality time together.

Then the following day, we took a trip to our family land in Wausaukee.

We planned back in June, on meeting my Aunt Patti and Uncle Ed up there.

When I told my mom about it this last week,

we were able to switch their schedules around and come up.

My other cousin Rob ended up being able to make it up there too.

 I'm already thinking of planning a weekend next

year for the whole family to come for a get together. 



We did all of my favorite things while we were up there, except fishing.

Next year I will remember the rod and reel:)

We went on walks,

Took the railroad track to the creek,



Picked up rocks,

played disc golf(with the Disc Dude himself!),

went into the creek,



it was a little cold(I can't believe I used to swim in this water!),



had races in the creek(My eldest won every time)

and my cousin Rob and I laughed pretty hard

(he got his shoe suck in the sludge,

raced with the kids and almost took a swim in a hole,

and splashed around a bit)

we ate pudgie pies and campfire goodies,

told stories of my grandpa and uncle from up at Wausaukee,



laughed, laughed, and laughed!

Danced a bit to "Girls just want to have fun",



Placed the coins on the track,



and waved to the engineer,



and then waited what seemed like forever for the train to pass,

went looking for the remains of the coins,



and found them all.

We had the best visit!

We laughed, cried, and laughed some more.

I couldn't have asked for a better day...

My grandpa and uncle were looking down and smiling!

"Just like in Dirty Dancing"

My sister-in-law, Becky and I met up with a friend,

 Marianne(My soap making teacher),

at a beach for some summer fun with the kids.

 Becky exclaimed, "It's like the resort from Dirty Dancing!"

I laughed and had to agree with the assessment.

 All the kiddos caught frogs,

Ate yummy treats,

 the older boys swam out to the raft,

and the mama's gabbed because that's what we do best.

Thanks so much Marianne!

We really had the time of our lives!

(Sorry, I couldn't help myself)

A Farewell...

We had a fun get together with friends of ours

who are moving shortly...

 complete with marshmallow fights,

 apple picking,

 hay rides,

 trail rides,

 laughs,

 horses,

 stories,

and fun.

Thanks for all the memories Bronder family!

We will miss you.



Only in Wisconsin...

do your children suggest a water balloon fight

when the temperature hasn't yet reached 60 degrees.

 It took about 20 minutes to fill all the water balloons,

 it took only 2 minutes for them to empty their bowls,

and only a second to ask for more:)



In My Kitchen...

I'm doing up a batch of sauerkraut for the first time.

It smells like a fresh version of what you get in the store...

the kids are thinking they don't want to eat it after smelling it:)

 Although my beets only yielded two pints,

I did get some more beets from a friend that led to about seven more pints.

 My sauerkraut yielded 14 pints,

which was more than I thought so I was pretty happy about that.

 Of course the kiddos needed to have something to do,

so Christmas craft projects started(it's never to early to get started).

Carrots and beets

We needed to pick some of the carrots already

so we all took turns getting some of the big ones.

Who was going to pick the biggest?

Well, my Big girl came close, but not close enough.

This one wasn't the biggest,

but yes, mama picked the biggest carrot.



Sometimes Mama's get to win too, right?

I just love how trees and in this case, carrots,

intertwine.

I told the kiddos to pick all of my beets

because my tomatoes are going crazy and shading all of my beets now.

This was our haul from the first picking.

The kiddos had a fun time trying to get them to the deck so

I could clean them up:)

Happy 30th!

We had a little camp fire for Zach's 30th. 

It was the perfect, the weather felt just like fall.

We all got bundled up and celebrated.

Happy birthday to the love of my life!