Magic Moments

I think that Jenny might just be the friend that I've had for the longest time. We were neighbors our freshman year of college and met because eating lunch at the Linden cafeteria together (even though we were complete strangers) sounded a whole lot better than eating lunch by ourselves. The rest, they say, is history. It's so fun to catch up with one of your best friends and fall into synch and realize that they are the exact same person they were when you lived together for 3 years in college. Jenny is good enough to come visit every year even though it takes an airplane to get here. I look forward to that week of catching up and reminiscing and having heart to hearts. The boys love their "Auntie Jenny." In fact, Sage was looking for her this morning even though we dropped her off at the airport yesterday. Our lives have taken different paths, but friendship (and ISU) is the tie that binds and we're looking forward to next year! We stayed busy. We went to ...

Our family was all together this weekend as we mourned the loss and celebrated the life of Tom's Uncle Craig. It's difficult to put into words the emotions of the weekend. We are praying for God's mercies and taking comfort in Him as an all loving and compassionate Father who shelters us under his wings. We are thankful for each other and the love that abounds in this family.

The boys insisted on playing outside today so I wasn't surprised at all when I found them soaking wet. Between the water table (most played with toy of the Summer), squirt guns, and some popsicles they managed to stay cool. I stayed inside. ;)

To go sailing with Grandpa you'll need your trusty yellow life jacket. (This week I cheated a little bit. I didn't take these pictures. I stole them from Tom's phone since he took them on Wednesday when the boys were at the lake. I had a couple other pictures I could have used that I took, but since the sail boat is my favorite boat I went with these pictures. I would have loved to see how they turned out on my camera, but I'm just happy to have these sweet pictures of the boys on Grandpa's sail boat.)

Thanks to my friend, Stephanie, we toured the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam this morning in Downtown Minneapolis. The lock and dam is right by the Mills City Ruins and Stone Arch Bridge so the surroundings were beautiful and rich with history. Aiden and I learned a lot. Sage was mostly just liking the chance to see the river and the chance to run around. For your information here are a few fun facts: 1. A Lock and Dam is like an elevator for boats 2. There are 29 lock and dams along the Mississippi but only 27 are numbered. That is why we toured the Upper (there is also a lower) Lock and Dam. Rather than redoing the whole number system when they were installed the two most Northern Lock and Dams are just called Upper and Lower (I think I have that right. It's hard to listen and chase a two year old). 3. Upper St. Anothony Falls accounts for 10% of the elevation change along the Mississippi 4. No electricity is used, just a series of valves and water pressure (I think). ...

Yesterday morning we headed to Berry Hill Farm to pick raspberries and Uncle Erik was good enough to join us. Aiden ate and ate and ate. It reminded me of picking raspberries with him several years ago. He was younger than Sage but he would plop himself down by a bush and stuff himself with raspberries. Sage was an honest to goodness helper while picking. He will be my worker bee someday. While Aiden will be investigating mysteries and exploring the seven wonders of the world, Sage will probably be home riding Pappy's John Deere. :) Sage was a little confused about which raspberries were ripe and which ones weren't so Uncle Erik helped him "pune" his basket a bit and fill it with good ones. In Sage's eyes Erik became the raspberry expert and with each raspberry he picked Sage would ask Erik, "Is this one ready to eat?" And most of the time Erik would say, "Not yet. Put it back and let it grow more." So Sage would throw it away and start over. R...