Summer Ends and Fall Arrives

 I was commissioned to build a picnic table for the Midtown Greenway.  Materials were bought through a grant and I donated my time.  I was asked to build a table that would be hard to steal, throw over the edge onto the Greenway, or burn. Hmm.  I found plans to this table and thoroughly enjoyed building it.

Peter and I visited it one day and he asked "why someone would scribble marker on it?" I asked why he draws on things at home.

We did some fishing at Devils Lake with Papa.  Kids made spaceships
out of driftwood to pass the time since we were catching nothing.

Camping at Jay Cooke

 Peter smashed his finger on a rock and a week later the whole thing just lifted right off.

Finding salamanders at the farm house in Maddock

Hop harvest was decent other than one plant
had a bird's nest. Lots of poop on the cones so
the whole lot got tossed into the compost.

Lots and lots of pollinators on our sunflowers and sedum this year.

Mat visited to see U2.  Great show of course.  Good time
together as well.

Camping at Forestville/Mystery Caves State Park

Mystery Cave

Forestville Historic Village 

Peter's been biking to pre-school every day this
fall averaging 16 miles a week.

Girls on the Run practice 5k
36 degrees. 20mph winds.  Snow.
Girls were stellar despite the nasty weather!

Built in dresser for Alisa in our bedroom.  Need to complete
drawers but temporary shelving has freed up a ton of space
in the rest of the room.

Harry Potter Halloween: Peter is Harry, Phoebe is Hermione
and I have a Dobby mask.

Wisconsin Bookstore created Hogwarts.  Phoebe attended
with some school friends.
Left to Right: Fred and George Weasley, Lupin, ???,
Moaning Myrtle, and Hermione.

Summer Vacation in Maine

The play structure became the Millennium Falcon.

We spent 10 days in central Maine with Alisa's family this July.  Weather cooperated better than we could have ever hoped for.  We made it down to the ocean for a day, kids played with their cousins on their farm a lot and a very large cardboard "Hogwarts" was constructed with Oma in her garage. Abrahm is absent from most pictures as he was at a camp all week.

The kids enjoyed a lot of fresh ice cream on this trip. I drank
plenty of local beer for my treats.

Popham Beach near Portland

Water was in the 50s.  Air temp was in the 70s.
Still fun to swim in the icy waves on a summer day

Backyard campfire and smores for dessert.

Peter and dad were left behind for a day when
everyone else went to Abrahm's late camp performance 2 hrs away.
Peter biked a lot after learning he could handle
a 16" wheel bike.

Not much success, but they tried their hands at milking the goats.

The kids fell in love with Ado and had a long goodbye with him.