The missing picture

Here is the picture I was trying my best to fit in and other then starting over I had no clue.. So,, this is my Faith and Joe on thier Blues Clues ride. I know Faith,,, this is like super boring for you but you were such a good sport!!

Hugs

Sandi

Just some pictures from the last couple of weeks

OK,,,, so I dont know how to upload pictures to the blog sight without them being helter skelter.. so here we go with explanations.

I guess this one doesnt need much explaing. Missy turned 18 on Aug 26th. She pulled a good one at the dinner table to her 17 year old sister. We were talking about eating all our food and Emma was pointing out that she, Mamma and Papa had not eaten all theirs and Missy said without missing a beat "We are all adults, we can choose to do that".. WTG Missy. It made us all laugh, well except Emma. But she will have her turn next year!!!

Oh and the pumpkin pie is because that is what she wanted for her birthday cake

No trip to the MOA would be complete without a stop at LegoLand



So now we are back to Missy. Opening one of her 18 presents she got from her Uncle Eric and Aunt Kim!!! Note the tiera? She once said she has always wanted a tiera.. What better time to get it but on her 18th birthday huh? Also notice the Cinnamon Crunch ceral.. She said she could eat that every day.. so they gifted her with a box of her own.
Her she is contemplating being 18. Wonder what she is thinking there!! Kinda looks like she is wondering if she wants to take this step or not.
And then we are back to Nikelodian Universe and Abbe and Faith (but you cant see her face) on the merry-go-round

Here Luke and Abbe are riding on a Blues Clue ride The 4 Darlings all waiting thier turn on a ride

I had to throw this one in. It is of Jim BBQing and it is raining. Now you have to remember that it has been very VERY dry here but the last 2 time he BBQ'ed out of the blue there came a rain shower.. Maybe he and the BBQ kettle are rain makers. Maybe I can hire him out????

Kim took this shot of her taking them to the school near our house and the playground there. What sweetearts.. Dont you agree?
Here Luke and Abbe are pictured with Grandpa Jims grandkids. Does that make the cousins-in-law??? They had fun playing together and going to a movie together.
At first Luke was very leary of going ont he Merry-go-round so he sat ont he seat----
But later he got braver and made it up onto the horse with Jo beside him.

Ta Da...One more post to come. I lost a picture. so will post it and you will actually read it before this one!!! Oh me and blogging. At least some of you are getting a good laugh!!

Sandi

Some pictures from our little up North vacation

These pictures are out of order, this was on day 4 of our trip, we went to Gooseberry Falls, what a neat place in spite of the drought Minnesota has been in. If I would have been 10 years younger, I would have been down there walking in it.

These next 2 pictures are taken at the B&B we stayed in at Duluth. What a neat quaint place it was and the hosts were the best.
The flowers came with the Romance Package Jim purchased for my early birthday
This was taken from our room at the Grand Superior Lodge north of Two Harbors. Such great scenery

A Day at Nikelodeon Universe

Thank you Kim for posting those pictures and for the comments with them. We did have a great day at the "park". One of these days (perhaps when all has calmed down in our household) I will post a few more pictures for your (and my) pleasure. I sure do love those little ones. What a blessing they are. Each so different and yet so wondrously made. Faith the brave daring of the 2 girls and Abbe loving the thrills but more cautions and taking it slower. But as the day wore on she got braver. Then there is Luke, so sure he is not going to like too many of the rides and not too much caution wore off of him. He kept it pretty mild. As you can see the Sphere O Splat (quite the name huh? It was a ride that the took them to the top and then dropped them down) Luke was not sure of it the whole time, but was pretty proud that he made it. That leaves Joe. Really wanting to go on all the rides, but just an inch or so short. But he took advantage of everyone of the rides he was on. Gpa and Gma, after 6 hours decided we were going to call it quits. We ended the day with the ice cream and watching our little ones try out the Wii Fit that was being demonstrated at the MOA. Ahhhhh,,,, life IS good.

Blessings
Sandi

A fun day at the MOA theme park

This is Kim, Sandi's daughter-in-law, just popping in to post some of my pics from the fun day at the MOA's new Nickelodeon Universe theme park (Mom has many more, I'm sure!). I'll let Sandi do the major story telling and just try to give you a quick glimpse into all the fun. :)

Faith was the resident dare-devil and tackled thrilling rides such as this one.
That's her in the front row, far left-hand side, wearing a red shirt and a HUGE smile.

Bumper cars were a favorite, for sure!
These were small enough that even the boys got to get behind the wheel!

The boys didn't complain when their big sisters took over the driving.
Lots of laughs (and bumps!) were in store when these two ruled the road.

Tattoos, anyone?
(That's Seel on their forearms. He's a Pokemon, just in case you were wondering)

From bumper cars they could be in control of,
to cars that were practically OUT OF CONTROL!

This was, by far, one of Luke and Joe's favorites!

Super-duper thrill seekers, all-aboard!!
(OK...so I sort of tricked a few of them in order to get them on this ride. *lol*)

Abbe said she would keep her eyes closed the entire time,
so as not to know how high up she was.
(Note the support being given by Faith...so sweet!)

Once he popped up in the seat, Luke realized he was NOT so happy to be on this ride.
And yet he didn't shed a single tear!
In fact, he had a bit of a smirk on his face when he landed!

Delicious Edy's Ice Cream to top of the full day.
What a welcomed treat!

Scary rides, check.
Thrilling rides, check.
Rides that made them giggle, check.
Best of friends from beginning to end, double check.

From one end of the park to the other,
Mamma and Gpa were enjoying the fun every step of the way.
(No Gpa's were harmed in the making of this fun day! *hehe*)

A Week With Some Grandkids

Yesterday Jim and I met Tonja and Will in Black River Falls and we got Abbe and Luke for a week. I am so excited to have them. I just wish I had the time to have the whole week off. My boss is OK with me cheating some on my hours this week to spend more time with them. And Wed I have the whole day off and we are taking my 4 little grand kids to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America. I am looking forward to it, but I am sure my butt will be dragging. Kim, my daughter in law is being such a dear and is watching the kids 3 days this week while I have to work.. boo hoo. I will be posting pictures when this is all over. Until then..... you probably wont be hearing much more from me until they are gone. I am dreading them going home already. I love all those grand kids of mine so much. What a blessing they are.

Blessings
Sandi

Back from our little vacation

Here it is Aug 14th and we are back from our little vacation. Jim and I took a few days off to go up to the Duluth area. I have lived in the Twin Cities for over 40 years and have never spent anytime around the Duluth/Lake Superior area. It was very interesting. It seems that lake and no doubt the other Great Lakes, create their own ecosystem. I felt like I was at the ocean instead of the middle of Minnesota.

We left here Sunday around 10 and got to Duluth a little after noon. We took the 25 mile Skyline drive, which other then having a couple of drive out points to look down on the city of Duluth, wasn't too much. I am sure int he fall when the leaves are all changing color it is spectacular. Then we went and checked into our motel down in Canal Park in Duluth. We spent the greater part of Sunday afternoon, walking down there and looking at the aerial lift bridge as freighters and sale ships would go through and the bridge go up and down. That evening we ate at an Italian restaurant and had Food network Food challenge type food. I had some skewered chicken on a bed of greens with green fried tomatoes. It was all very good. Jim had mussels marinara on Italian bread toast. He said that was very good too.

Monday we ate the breakfast that was included with our room (which was very good both mornings) and then we headed to the Wm A Irvin freighter. It is in dock there and there are tours that you can go on. It was very interesting. That freighter is considered small by today's standards and it was huge. The only problem was we did soooooo many steps and they were steep. My knees gave up the ghost before the trek to the top captains quarters. But I did see the rest of it. We went back to our motel room for a little rest and then in the afternoon took a 1 1/2 hour train trip just a few miles and back in an old railcar. I would say it was from the 50's or 60's. It was very relaxing and my legs got a change to rest. Monday night we went walking around Canal Park and did some shopping and then we went to dinner at the Black Forest Restaurant. We went back to our motel and watched the Olympics and relaxed.

Tuesday morning it was misting and light rain. We went to The Glensheene Mansion to tour it and found out that we couldn't get in a tour until 12:10. So we sat and did crossword puzzles and listened to the radio for an hour. The house was very interesting. It was built in 1908 and must have been the talk of Minnesota at the time. It has been updated a bit. Elizabeth Condon, the daughter of the man who built it, was killed there in 1976 (not real sure of the year but later 70's). Although no mention was made of it on the tour, it is well knows that the adopted daughter and her husband were the ones that killed her. They are in prison now. After we were done there about 1:30 or so, we drove to a shopping mall up on the hill and I got myself a pair of Croc sandals. Wow,, they are sooooo comfortable. After that it was close to 4 and we drove to our B&B which was across on the Aerial lift bridge. It is called Sol Glimpt. It is Danish for sum glistening. It is right on Lake Superior. The owners Brian and Mary are the nicest people and their B&B has been on the cover of Travel Magazine. We did not know this when we booked it. The room was so comfortable. They suggested that if we hadn't been to Grandma's we should have dinner there. So we did and it was very good food. We got back to the B&B and Jim had ordered a bottle of wine for us, so we sat on the deck and had a glass of wine. It was a bit chilly so we went back inside and drank wine and watched more Olympics. Wed morning it was breakfast at 9 and they started us out with a lemon sugar/apricot scone with lemon curd. Then we were served a fruit plate of melons, grapes, raspberries, pineapple, blackberry and kiwi, all cut out and shaped into the shape of a fish. The whole B&B is a fish theme. It was very good. Also we were served our choice of juice and coffee. Then we were served our main entree which was an Italian brioche bread toasted topped with ham and cheese melted then salad greens with a vinaigrette dressing topped by a fried egg. WOW,,, it was soo good. Such awesome food. In our room there were fresh roses. We were getting ready to leave just taking some pictures and Brian came out and asked if I didn't want the roses. I asked, are they ours and he said, yes they came with the room. So that was really nice. We left there and drove up to Two Harbors and stopped at Betty's Pies. The restaurant is famous for its pies and serves meals too. Jim and I shared a club sandwich there and then I had a piece of French blueberry cream and Jim had a piece of raspberry rhubarb crunch. Both were very good. Then on to the Superior Grand Lodge where we had a room for the night. We checked in there and then we went on up to Gooseberry Falls and walked around there and took some pictures. Then back to the motel and we rested a bit. Then it was time for dinner so we went to the Splashing Rock restaurant for dinner. It is an upscale restaurant as well. Jim had elk steak and I had Superior white fish. Oh it was soooo good. Then we went back to our room. I have had a cough for a month now and went on antibiotics before we went, but still it lingers, and it was bothering me so we stayed in for the remainder of the night and watched more Olympics. I know that I have never watched so much Olympics in my life, but have enjoyed it. I guess when I am here, I don't always take the time to sit and watch it.

This morning we had breakfast at the same restaurant which was included in our room fee. We got to order off the menu and I had wild rice, blueberry, cranberry pancakes and bacon. It was soooooooo good. I am going to try to make them sometime. Then we packed up our stuff and started back home.

The Sol Glimpt had a cookbook of their breakfast dishes and I had wanted to buy one and forgot, so when we got back to Duluth, we swung by there and I picked one up. I am going to be trying those out and maybe one day some of you will be the recipient of some of my attempts.

We stopped at Tobies in Hinckley for one of their famous rolls. Jim and I shared a Carmel pecan one, and WOW,,, they are really really good. We got home between 1:30 and 2:00 and unpacked and then it was time to mow the lawn and check out the garden. Jim picked the tomatoes and cukes while I started to mow. Then he finished and I went and started laundry. We were going to eat out our "last" day of this vacation but with those tomatoes in the house, BLT's were calling very loud so that is what I made for dinner.

So that was our vacation, and now it is back to work tomorrow, and Sat night we entertain our small group for dinner and Sunday we go and pick up Abbe and Luke and they will be here a week. I am really looking forward to it.

Well now you are caught up on where I have been and what I have been doing.

Just for Mookie.... at the B&B there was a couple from Livonia. They live not far from Laurel... Small world huh?

Blessings to all who read and double blessings to those that let me know they checked into my world.

Hugs
Sandi

An Awesome Thing

Back in October, there was a man by the name of Larry Burke that came to our church. He is a missionary to Africa. He shared many things, but one of the things he shared was that there are people in Africa that have to walk 2 - 3 miles to get water, they carry back 2 - 5 gallons of water a day and that is all they have for a day. He talked about the Muslim's digging wells and how the people responded to that religion because of it. Both Jim and I were stirred in our hearts to give money for Larry and the Christians to give a well to some of these people in Jesus name. We thought we should see if the church wanted to help too. Jim mentioned it to our pastor and he thought yes it is a good thing, but not much was done. I kinda let it go, but Jim did not. He kept talking to the gal in charge of missions and the pastor and so they decided to look into it. Well come to find out the people who dig the wells wont come in for just one well. It has to be 3 at least and it cost $4000.00 a well. Wow,, that would mean our small church with about 200 attending would have to raise $12,000. And for it to be done this year it had to be by the end of August. The task seemed very huge, but they decided to announce it to the church. This was the 2nd Sunday in June. As of last Sunday (Aug 3rd) our little church has raised $11,988.00. I am blown away. Only $12.00 short and that needs to be raised by the end of August. I think we will make it. (^_^)

Jim and I are blown away. It is such a testimony of God being all over this, and Jim listening to God and following and obeying.

What we have learned big time, is that sometime when you have this feeling inside that you should do something good. It just might be God proding you, and you best follow it and not just say, oh that was a good thought but it could never happen. Good things do happen when you do listen and obey

Blessings
Sandi

Going to the doctor

This cough just doesn't want to leave. Last night I about coughed my guts out. So, I called and made an appointment with my doctor for tomorrow. If by some miracle my cough stops, I can always cancel. I just don't want to be sick and coughing my head off on vacation.

Speaking of vacation, yesterday Jim made up a little itinerary for our few days away. It sounds fun and yet plenty of time for R&R. I have been to Duluth, but not more then a few hours and that was when Tonja and Eric were 4 and 6. So I remember nothing about it and even if I did, I am sure nothing much is the same except the lake.

I had wanted to take the whole week off, but we are coming back on Thursday and Jim has a charter on Friday and so I am going to come to work too. I need to save as many vacation days as I can as we are taking a trip to Branson the first week in Dec and I am having Abbe and Luke for a week and I want to take some time off then,,, sooo I will come to work. We are having our small group over to our house for a potluck on Saturday night and I had hoped to have the day off to get things ready for that, but somehow, we will manage and if the place isn't perfect,,,, Oh well!!!

Tonight it is mow lawn night!! We are going to dinner with some friends at 5:30 and afterwards we will have to put our butts in gear and mow. Maybe I can convince Jim to do it today.. you think???

Well that's it from here

Blessings
Sandi

Summer Crud

Yep, I have a case of the summer crud. I managed to catch myself a good old chest cold. I have coughed a lot these last few days and it has given me a sore throat. So I sound like a frog!! It has been a very dry cough, but this afternoon it started to loosen up some, so it is my hopes that this thing is on its way out.

I spoke with Tonja tonight and she said my little Luke had a cough that dragged on and on. She finally took him to a doctor and he had a mild case of pneumonia. I cant tell you how concerned I am about that little guys lungs. I pray and pray that he will develop healthy lungs.

I really haven't done a thing since I got home from work. I did have to stop at Costco for work on the way home and about killed myself getting those huge packs of bottled water that my work insists on having. I don't understand really why they get them, cuz they also have spring water delivered in jugs that are on a cooler so good cold clean water is available at the touch of a button. But no, they want the bottles. I am a little anti-plastic-bottled water. I think it is a huge waste of garbage for our environment. Now I am not a tree hugger in the least, but I am not dumb either, and it seems that bottled water is so unnecessary. OK, stepping down for now.

Anyway I did pick up some steaks there and Jim grilled them on the Weber tonight and oh they were so good. Great flavor and Jim got them exactly right.

Judy and Hugo are in town and we will go to her daughters tomorrow night and have dinner with them. I am looking forward to that.

I hope that I have a little more energy in the morning, as there are a few things that need to be done around here. So here's hoping a good nights sleep will make me feel a lot better.

Well that's all for now... signing off from here

Blessing to all who enter and double blessing to those that let me know they were here.

Sandi