family camping, at last

Since the Bear incident of last summer, I have not spent a night in our tent.  Between pregnancy and just plain being too busy it has just not happened.  This past weekend I finally got my chance.  We spent the weekend with a three other families who are dear to us at Lake Elmo Park Reserve.  It was a wonderful time!

All the kids at the beach!

Little E was not so sure about the cold water on his toes.

Little E loved the tent.  It took him forever to stop watching the bugs on the ceiling and actually go to sleep!

There's nothing like time with Dad.

learning the ins and outs of making jam

I love to eat bread and jam - who doesn't?!  I have been meaning to take photos for this post but am realizing it's time to just get on with it.  It's summer and I am too lazy to take pictures of things like jars of jam, even if they are beautiful!

With the help of my friend Laura, I made over a dozen jars of Rhubarb Cherry Jam last weekend while my boys were away camping.  It turned out to be great fun and the product is a super sweet yummy concoction that we will enjoy for the rest of the year!  (And a few of them will be tied with ribbon to make gifts for our teachers this Christmas too - the bright red color of the jam is magnificent!)

You may just want to try it yourself so here's the recipe thanks to Grandma Una!

Rhubarb Cherry Jam
(made about 9 cups)
6 cups diced rhubarb
4 cups sugar
1 can of cherry pie filling        
l pkg (reg size) Cherry jello   

1. I put rhubarb and sugar in a big bowl and let it stand a few minutes --long enough to draw some of the juice out and wet the sugar.   (No water is added)
2. Put in a large kettle on stove over medium heat and stir until the sugar is all dissolved and bring to boil. 
3. Boil about 15 minutes, it will boil over if you don't have a big enough kettle and stir it often.
4. After boiling 15 minutes add a can of cherry pie filling and boil 10 minutes more. 
5. Add cherry jell-o stir until dissolved. (This does not set up hard like some preserves, expect it to be a bit runny!)
6. Fill  your jars.

Okay, so step six is a bit more difficult than that.  This was my first experience with canning anything.  I recommend following the directions on the jars you purchase.  The most important thing is getting a good seal.  We could even hear them pop when they sealed.  Good luck!

boys only camping

The campsite...

The first annual boys camping weekend has commenced. My boys were gone for three days! It was pretty quiet in my home without them. I enjoyed my clean house but the guys I love were gone! It was not the same. They survived the severe weather but did have about three inches of rain to combat. Fortunately the tent held up with no trouble! I am sure that there will be many years to come. One day Eli will get to join them too. Fun for us all!

The boys ate the fish they caught for lunch on Saturday. Seth was pretty excited about that. When I got a phone call from the wilderness it went something like this:

Seth: "I caught a big fish. Well, dad reeled it in. Oh, he cast it too. But...it was my rod!"

Boys get to swim in their clothes when Dad's are in charge.

Jason's favorite moment...watching our son sit by the fire in the morning.

the famous fertile fair

J and I had our photo taken by this exact sign when we visited the Fair together before we had kids. This photo...not so easy to take and not so happy for the tired, hot kids either...

Yes friends we traveled to the Fertile County Fair and shared the weekend with friends and family too. The weather was horribly hot but the long awaited fair food and time with good friends made it all worth it.

My boys got the four-wheeler stuck in the ditch. Too cute waiting for a tow!

Oh and why you are out in the middle of nowhere why not get some shooting practice?! This gun was awesome and I actually hit the target 100 plus feet out there! (No photos of me shooting the Bereta but that was really fun too!)

Seth was old enough to go on the Fair rides this year. He pulled this off all by himself and love it.

Hold on tight! A little nervous of the first ride on the carousel.

Family adventures have been going on the whole month of June and now into July too. It's time for a much needed break from traveling for this mother of two. Hopefully we can relax for a few weeks now...

wild waterpark days

During our stay in the Dells we had access to three indoor water parks. I have to say I was more than satisfied with the idea of sitting on the balcony and reading a book or just sitting around talking with my friends, but it gave us even more to do. Seth of course loved the water. We rarely get the chance to swim let alone play at a water park. Fortuneatly for us, the weather even allowed for being outdoors!

Seth jumping into Randy's waiting arms. Later in the morning I saw Seth jump without anyone there to catch him - brave boy with a life vest. And yes, that is an outdoor pool.

Kallie and Seth in the pool.

That's my four year old (more posts to come) in the shallow water.

It's a slam dunk from the water boy.

This was the one water slide I made it down. I actually would like to have tried out some others but the cat naps in the sun were calling my name. Rough, I know.

getting away to luxury

Here is all the kids. Four families, three water parks, and two condos make a wonderful vacation!

Thanks to great friends, we had the opportunity to go on a family and friend vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. We stayed at the Wilderness Waterpark and Resort, more specifically in the Glacier Canyon Lodge. Our condo was amazing! It was decorated right down to real books on the built in shelves surrounding the fireplace which had a HUGE flat screen above it. I have never seen anything like it. The photos will NOT do justice, but I will try.

Here is our dining room table. It had two extra leaves that made it seat eight using these huge wing back chairs! Look at the chandelier, I felt like I was eating in a castle!

Our kitchen with full stainless steel appliances and breakfast bar. Here we are getting read to serve supper to 17 people! Well, I guess Eli didn't go through the buffet line...

This is one of the seven TVs where we pulled up to watch movies, yes, even into the early hours of the morning. We were on vacation!

Upon arrival and checking out our condo, Seth asked is this was the pool. Yeah, he has never seen a tub that big before. It could easily seat three! One night when the kids hit the water park late Seth got this "pool" all to himself - everything was an adventure!

And this was only one of our condos. We were so blessed to stay in such a great place. More to come on the water park...

One Last Glimpse at Summer

Seth and some friends getting their fill of sand, their pants, their hair - you name it, it was filled!

With the weather in the 80's lately a day at the beach seemed like the right thing to do. Yesterday we headed out with a picnic supper for Big Marine Park Reserve in Washington County. The park is newer with a huge park area and a great beach. We called some friends on the way out the door who were able to meet us there. It was an enjoyable afternoon being lazy in the sun and the shade with the sand rubbing in between our bare toes and friends to share it with!

It's a fine line we walk between summer and winter in MN. You never know we may get another day at the beach before the snow flies...

The Bear Attacks of 2009, An All Too Personal Story: Part 2

Sleep did not come easily. With every movement of a tree limb or sound of the night my heart jumped from my chest and it took a good twenty minutes to get my breathing to return to normal. Seth crashed hard with the total exhaustion of the long day and the adrenaline rush. Jason also was alert to movement outside the tent so neither of us was the least bit surprised at just how fast he moved when we heard Keith say, "It's back!"

Shocked and dismayed at just after five in the morning, I crawled carefully out of the tent to see a bear once again under our food pack in the trees. Crazier still - it was a different bear! I put my head in Jason's shoulder and wept. Then the pregnant woman in me had to do what all pregnant women must do when they are scared out of their whits - I had to use the latrine.

That would be Harry the Bear (Seth named both of the bears Harry) under what remains of our food pack. We had strung it ten to twelve feet in the air between two trees. My husband said that he actually saw the bear stand and pull it down breaking tree limbs in the process so he could reach in and help himself to seconds. That brown bear was HUGE!

I pulled myself together and Crystal and I watched as our husbands once again created a barrier of safety between us and the bear. We are talking twenty to thirty feet for us and about fifteen for them. They would bang the pots and pans and make sure the bear knew that we were there. However, this bear had found the goods and was not interested in going anywhere. He thundered down to the lake a few steps away for a drink after getting a mouth full of Kool-Aid and various drink mixes that totally turned his tongue red and certainly burned his mouth. We actually had to laugh and the comic relief felt good.

The bear finished a few more bites of our wonderful, scrumptious, well-packed and prepared food and then lowered his enormous body to the ground and started to fall asleep. No kidding. We realized then that this bear was really NOT going to leave. It was time to, "fish or cut bait," as they say.

Our last family photo in the BWCA, for this trip anyway. Seth was sound asleep in the tent. (Yes, it was cold. I had on long johns and my snow hat! Oh, did I mention that we had NO food to eat. I was hungry!)

We packed up the tents, minus the one my beautiful brave child was still sound asleep in, and cleared camp to the point of the boats being ready to launch. Still the bear stayed put. Letting the bear sleep while keeping us from breakfast (our stomachs were growling at this point) didn't sit well with any of us, especially my husband. He charged the bear a few times hollering and banging pans only to have the bear "bluff" charge him back.

Friends a "bluff" charge is one scary move. You do not know that it is a bluff until the bear backs up. I saw that bear charge my husband and my uterus seized in a clear first contraction. NOT good at 19 weeks of pregnancy I might add. Crystal got me to sit down and drink some water which resolved the contraction issue, but there was still a mad bear in my camp site!

I was told later that my husband had charged the bear many other times when I was not able to see it happen and even pelted him with rocks in the middle of the night. (Now I know why we heard vicious growling!) It's a good thing that our baby is in the womb to stay for much longer given the enormity of the situation. I don't even want to think what would have happened if my husband or anyone else had been hurt. This pregnant lady can paddle but I cannot carry my husbands lifeless body down to a canoe. Crystal and I had to make plans of how we would make it back with Seth alone to get help two hours away. NOT fun thoughts my friends.

Our group photo with Seth still in the tent. Needless to say we decided NOT to invite Harry #2 to be in the photo. He was content to snore under the food bag he was now claiming and protecting as his own!

We woke Seth and left my friends. There was nothing more for us to do. The bear had been there with no intent to leave for about three hours. Close to two hours later, an hour of that paddling, we reached the Tofte Ranger Station and reported our incident. They were not surprised and told us then that there had already been three other bears in that area in the past week. (Might have been nice to know BEFORE we left!) They told us they would get a ranger in there to clean up the mess and if they found something salvageable they would send it our way.

We hope they find something as we lost $150 of food and a lot more money than that in camping gear. So much for our "bear" necessities!

Here is a quick video I took to give you a view of the camp site and the bear. This is our camp in the morning: after we moved our tents as far as water would allow from the bear in the night! I will never forget the sounds of his Darth Vader breathing, ever. It will be in my nightmares for weeks to come too...

The Bear Attacks of 2009, An All Too Personal Story: Part 1

"This is the year we are going to do the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as a family."

These words once spoken brought excitement and joy, now looking back it was one crazy adventure. I am not even sure where to start...maybe right at the beginning.

With our friends, Keith and Crystal, and family tucked tight in the suburban with gear for five days and two canoes loaded up top, we drove north to the beautiful land of the BWCA. The trip seemed to go quickly as we roared up to the Tofte Ranger Station and checked in. We learned there that the area we had chosen has bears and we all nodded our heads thinking, "they always say that." So we loaded up once again and headed into the wilderness excited and feeling well prepared for our greatest adventure of the summer.

Keith and Jason taking one last look at the map.

Seth running between the canoes and helping pack them up.

Our first family photo in the wilderness. (Seth was not interested in joining us so you can see him as the red speck in the background...he, he.)

Ready to take on whatever comes our way: Seth and J mom.

We paddled Kawishiwi Lake looking for a campsite. As it was late afternoon and we were hungry and tired for along day in the car we wanted an easy first day. With no sites on Kawishiwi available but no portgage necessary we headed into Square lake and saw a campsite available right away. In fact it was a great site. It had three tent areas which was just what we needed and a amazing view of the water and tree line.

We got camp set up and made our Hobo dinners which tasted delicious. Tiredness still a factore, we decided to make it an early night. As the sun set we pulled into our tents for the night. Seth in his own small tent, J mom and Dad in there tent and Keith and Crystal in their own tent slightly further into the woods. We were expecting to get a great night sleep and wake up ready to paddle further into the wilderness for our next camp site.

Little did we know...

Around 11 pm Jason was in Seth's tent (Seth was so overtired and restless he needed someone to be by him to help him keep getting back to sleep). I was in our tent and heard some loud rustling. Now I have been in a tent and heard mice, racoons, even deer but this sounded really BIG. Jason was also hearing this noise and popped out of Seth's tent and in the light of the moon headed toward the sound. Next thing I hear is, "A BEAR is in the food bag".

Within moments I was running from my tent to our son's, now yelling for mom, with my sleeping bag in tow. While comforting him, my husband is banging our pots and pans together and yelling in his deepest, darkest voice, "Get out of here, Bear!" It was either panic or pray. We chose to pray! Seeing the bear in our food and not being able to deter him Jason yelled for Keith to start a fire. Crystal, not wanting to stay alone one second, joined Seth and I in the tent.

May I stop to mention that we can hear this bear breathing and eating. He is a mere fifteen feet from our tent! My son is the bravest little boy ever and Crystal and I are great actors at being brave. Had Seth not been there I think we would have been freaking out or passed out on the ground!

The bear finally walked away about an hour and a half later with a very full belly. We all sat around the fire discussing possible plans and finally moved tents closer to the fire ring and each other for safety. Jason and I also joined Seth in a tent as we were not letting each other out of sight any time soon! The guys surveyed the damage and we assumed we were safe until morning. We decided to get a few hours of sleep and then decided what to do in the morning about our lack of food and newly developed fear of bears.

Oh how wrong we were...

To be continued...

My Dear Friend I Miss You Already

My friend Laura is home for a few short weeks of the summer to see family and friends. We were fortunate enough to have her stay with us for awhile. I especially enjoyed her company as we have been close friends for a decade now but Seth also coveted his moments with her too. His favorite is to cozy up with a good book.

We miss you already Laura and wish you safe travel home this weekend!

Your Wish is "Grant"ed

For years we have been talking about getting out to western NE to see our friends the Bishops. This year our wish finally came true... Deanne was a friend of Jason's in high school so they go way back. Spending three days with their family of five was great!

Getting around was a bit of a tight fit but we got four car seats and three adults in the Bishop's Dodge Durango. The kids loved the "jump" seat.

We drove out to Lake McConaughy near Ogallala and watched the water shoot out of the damn to aerate the fishing area. It was pretty cool! Seth gave me a great movie star pose.

Meghan gave us a star pose too. She is five and all girl. It was great to see her and Seth play so well together. She taught Seth about sparkly makeup which gave us all some good laughs!

Megan and Seth were the water babies of the night in their little tubes. This was the first time Seth has ever swam around without being carried. It was great!

Seth was chasing Megan in this photo but getting more waterlogged than anything.

The Bishop Family and various others go all out on July 3rd and put on their own fireworks show with music and some serious explosives. We had a great time out at the their friends' farm!

Jason took this photo so you can see the brilliant evening (storms were passing through) and of course the best part, the food!

Seth enjoyed his share of the food too. Here he is enjoying some angel food cake. Yum!

A Visit to "Lakeside Baptist"

A boat full of kids makes for an adventurous paddle!

Sometimes you need to do something different, something special, something memorable. This time we did something memorable with our friends the Opdahl family. Instead of loading up four adults and four kids to sit still in church for an hour (after all of them losing way too much sleep the night before) we decided to have church lakeside and share in God's creation together. And seriously what better way to talk about God and nature, or even Jesus walking on water than being out on a lake?! It was the perfect idea!

Sunday morning was spent on lake Johanna with a canoe, a Bible and a few snacks (we had kids remember). After a reading from John about Jesus in the canoe we spent some time praying for each other. I was touched by their prayers and being able to share deep down what we are facing knowing that we were praying to a God who can walk on water or hold back the tide. It was glorious and top that off with a paddle for the guys and the kids made it perfect!

Here are the wilderness explorers hoping to see a turtle or a sunny on their quest. Believe it or not they never got wet - I was impressed at how still they sat!

Us moms got some quality time to catch up on life and share our joys and sorrows. It was sweet fellowship!

Mom, I'm A Fire Fighter

Trying on the Fire Fighter helmet - maybe a little big yet, but cool!

Our friend Ayden had his Third Birthday party at the fire station over the weekend. Seth was thrilled along with the other boys and girls who came. Lucky all the parents got to come too. It was fun to see the kids "driving" the fire truck and actually run a fire hose. We can't wait until Touch A Truck days on the horizon.

Sticking his head out the window of the pumper truck. "Hi mom!"

Taking a turn to "drive" the pumper truck.

One happy boy at the Fire Station - priceless!

Making Valetines

Seth and Tate getting into is with paints. We have a lot of special Valentine's!

With the help of a friend, the boys and I made Valentines today. We covered my end tables with towels and put both boys in old t-shirts from the rag pile. There was paint and glitter and crayons and chaos, but it was fun and their Valentines are beautiful and unique.

I cut a heart stamp out of a potato which was not only a money saver but much easier for the boys to hold and work with in the paint.

Tate was not sure at first but came around to enjoy painting.

You always feel the love when it comes from the hand of a child made especially for you!

Happy Valentines Day!