visitor's from near and far...

slade's sister's kids - livia (12) and rose (7) spent the week back in minneapolis following the holiday - along with ann (slade's mom). she and i held down the ship of our crew of 6, as slade had a trip to new york for most of that week. maud and lucas had spent the week at the lake house and arrive in Mlsp friday evening, the next day ann left and clip clop & papa arrived. luckily they were able to cross paths and spend together. we all went to the minneapolis institute of art - which is in walking distance to the house.

here livia, rose, seby & zane are playing battle ship.



rose at the waldorf summer camp she went to.



zane back from his day camp.


after the being at the lake house for 4th of july we have had many visitors.

here clip clop reads to zane & rose.



seby at is soccer game.



it was wonderful to spend some time with livia & rose and get to know them better. they are both such sweet girls. and it they did not bring a screaming girl vibe to the house - they just fit in. it was lovely. it was also great to have ann at my side to get these kids to and from camp, and squeeze in going out to lunch every day! and there many ice creams runs.

my parents also arrived for a quick visit. it was great to have them around for some time with ann, lucas, maud, livia & rose. it was also great to have some time just with them. we really appreciate the expense and time to drive out here in that huge rig. we wish you could stay longer next time.

Friends from out of town

here are some pics from our weekend with the siegel's & the theer's.

friday late in the day the women folk and chilins got together at the begley's for dinner. jj was also on hand! slade arrived and soon after were ken & tim.

we had a blast hanging out with our old friends!













saturday night we hosted the gang at our place.












we showed off the famous spoon & cherry, the stone arch bridge (with views of the I35W bridge rebuild). we also had a blast attending some of the local farmer's markets that we have never been to! janette and i stole some time and did some girl shopping/looking. neither one of us felt the desire to buy anything - but fun looking at some different shops in the neighborhood.









this shot from the stone arch bridge shows the new guthrie in the distance.



we had a blast having our dear friends over for some time in our new home - priceless!

Front Yard Cont.

The brick patio -- where we are starting to envision Sunday morning coffee and newspaper reading out there.



A shade garden between the driveway and front door.



This is a bed at the gate coming from the driveway.



You can see from the photos that we have started to put up the fencing. Today it is now up everywhere except one section where the trench for the irrigation will run. There are a few more touches to the fencing - putting caps on all the posts and making a gate for the side yard.

I must go to bed as we are leaving for a quick trip to the UP tomorow.

Front Yard

Yes, we are still working on the front yard. The wall is complete - the caps were all installed last Friday. We have started doing some of the flower planting. Our landscaper is working on the fencing between the columns and then soon there should be sod, lights, and an irrigation system! We can't wait to have it all finished. I'm thinking of banning the boys from playing soccer in both the front yard and the back. They keep killing plants. It is time for them to use the local park, which is just a few blocks away - and right across the street from the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Here are some of the first trees that went in and flowers before and after being planted.

Finally, More pics for July 4th!

Here are some pics of our time up in the UP for July 4th.





We played texas hold 'em tournaments almost every night - and Ann won every tournament! Liz brought up this great poker table from Chicago. She brought me out to the car and said "Here is a poker table I bought, it is just a thrift store find and I can take it back if you don't want it." It looked awful - but because a wood cover was put on the top of the table. Once it was taken off I could see it was a great old find! Liz also took this great shot of the crowd playing. Thank you Liz!





Urris hanging at the lake AND wearing such hip 80s shades!

We also played golf for a day at the George Young Golf course. Slade, Me, Cody, Graham, Lucas, Urris & O'd all played. Urris and I stopped playing around the 10th hole, everyone else stopped shortly after. The downfall was not having a drink or food cart come and deliver to you. Slade says that is how it works on most courses. We were all starving and headed into the club for lunch.



It was a lovely week up at the lake with Slade's family. The weather was a bit cooler as we are used to be up later in the summer. The cool weather didn't stop the tube riders to insist on boating - but nobody used the water skis. We missed having Wes with us and can't wait to hear his stories of his time in Korea!

Ok, I couldn't figure out flickr yet - but here are some pics of the front yard. Can you believe it still isn't finished???????

This week we got a lot of the perennials. Meg (a friend of Erika's) is in town from Ohio this summer to do some landscaping and interior design work. She has designed the layout of the perennials in the front and wants to move around some of the plants we have in the back yard. She went to the nursery and got plants two days ago, I went with here today (along with Seby & Zane) and got more. Tomorrow she will layout where the plants will go and Cody & Graham will plant most of them.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

4th of July

We planned to have Slade's family up for the 4th - starting the Sunday before the 4th and I decided to go up early the Thursday before with the kids and Graham's friend Isaac. Isaac had been up (from Illinois) to attend a soccer camp with Graham, he was going to spend a couple days with us at the lake and then his Dad was going to pick him up on Saturday. We learned that Wes would be flying to Korea that same Sunday and invited him and the family up early if they could squeeze in any time.



Here all the kids are - Cody, Wes, Liam, Alex, Zane, Graham, Isaac & Sebastian. This pic was taken shortly before Liz took Wes, Alex, Liam & Isaac back to Chicago. She nicely offered to drive Isaac back, since she would pass Prairie Crossing on her way to Chi-Town. It was lovely to see Wes for even a short time. Thank you Liz for making it happen!

After their departure Cody and Seby took a ride to the river - a 40 minute ATV ride away.



I think Cody & Seb first helped get a big burn Slade has been putting off going. Here are Slade and Zane tending the fire.



Ann watched nearby and I showed up to take some pics.



Graham decided he had enough of the fire and went back to the house.



Of course we played a lot of poker - I think more than usual? Ann won three of the tournaments played!

... many more pics on this trip - to come!