They are here

Let the craziness begin! A sea of purple and gold have rolled into town. We had to stop at Gander Mt. last night before heading home and the parking lot was full of Cadillacs,Souped up SUV and a lot of chrome. Stores are filled with players wives and children and lets not mention the fans. They camp out at stores hoping to catch their favorite player out shopping. It gives Mankato about 5 million dollars in tax revenue so come on into town. The crazier looking the better it just gives us something to look at. Tonight at 9 is player introductions followed by fireworks. Camp is free for everyone it is the vendors who get you. On every street corner someone is selling something. Hey we have the room come on down!

Lake Pepin

This week Darin is in Lake City doing a food audit for Cargill at the mill in Lake City,MN. So we took advantage of a quick summer trip. Ton's of antique shops, beautiful sailboats and bald eagles.

Colored Queen Anne's Lace

Food coloring always seems to end up as a science experiment in my house. It is rare that I actually use it for food, but we use it for science quite a bit.

On our way home from Fort Nisqually last weekend I saw this BEAUTIFUL patch of Queen Anne's Lace by the side of the road. It was late, my kids were tired, but we had to stop and pick some.

Before they went to bed, we colored the water, and set the flowers we had picked into the colored water to see what would happen in the morning...

They look like fireworks to me!

However, this one, picked at the same time the same way died by the morning. I am wondering just how deadly red 40 is at the moment. Makes ya think... huh?

The biggest picture in the world

I took Cyan and a her girlfriend to see Beezus and Ramona yesterday. It was a WONDEFUL movie! I was sad to see that they used most of the books as one story though... because that means that they will not be able to make more movies. The movie was mostly a mix of Ramona and her Father and Beezus and Ramona... but even some of Ramona and her Mother, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were in it.

The dad in that series is just incredible. And the actor they picked for the role was perfect. I loved that he always wore his "dad" sweatshirt, even though it was really, obviously, kid made and designed.

We didn't have a roll of paper on which to make the 'longest picture in the world', but we did have a HUGE sheet of brown packing paper... and a TON of left over art supplies. We put them to good use when we got home.

Champions

Yahoo! 13 year old Raiders win Championship! It was a long one but a very exciting day for the Raiders. We beat JWP, Waseca and Maple River to take 1st place in our summer rec league. The kids had a blast and all pulled together for a great day of baseball. Dalton did a little bit of everything....catcher, 1st base and pitched. Okay with summer baseball done today ....you know what that means..........FOOTBALL in two weeks! OH I can't wait.

Lordy Lordy U guessed it ....

Darin's just turned "40". We celebrated by going to the lake for some fun on the water. It took a little bit but I was able to tip Darin and the boyz. Everyone gave knee boarding a try as well. We ended the day with a home grown grilled beer can chicken, green beans from the garden, sweet corn and finished with some German chocolate birthday cake.

Whew thank goodness he only turns "40" once, it was a busy day! Luv U

Cargill Family Picnic

Today Darin and his managers hosted the summer "Cargill Family Picnic". We grilled burgers,dogs and chicken breasts. We played BINGO~ Ladder Golf~Horseshoes and had a bouncing jumper.( yes, that is Dalton going down the slide) We drew names for partners for Ladder golf and Dalton & Bonnie won 1st place winning a $30.00 gift card to Lowe's for each of them. Tanner & his partner took 2ND getting a ladder golf game. Tabor won a hat and giant pack of sidewalk chalk during bingo.

To the Lake

YeeHaw we finally have the boat back and running! Yesterday the Boyz & I took off for Lake Washington (15 mins from home) around 3:00. Darin was to meet us at the lake but........the mill had issues and he could not join us. We have several friends from Nicollet that own cabins so we were able to dock for a while. The Bode's drove the boat so I could get a few snapshots of the boyz. We were out on the lake for 5 hours. After Darin's Cargill picnic today we are heading back out!

Recognize her??

Hubby's every waking (and sometimes even sleeping) minute these past months was spent on planning the Celebration of Freedom event in downtown Mesa. It ended up being a great success with 50,000 people in attendance. Quite a party planner isn't he? The kids were lucky enough to get a picture with Mayor Smith and Governor Brewer. Heard of her...she's been in the news a little lately? he,he

In Memory of Great Grandma

Cheers to you Great Grandma!

Evelyn Helen Elliott

3/22/1916 to 7/11/2009

I think we should all have a Heineken @ 5:00p.m. on the 15Th just like last year.

At the ball park all week

This week we played catch up with all the games that have been rained out. Besides catching and playing 1st Dalton has been doing some pitching as well. We only have two weeks left of baseball. (yeah I am ready for a break) Tabor and Tanner umped baseball games this week as well as loading pigs and bailing hay for a area farmer.

Dalton has been kept pretty busy in the garden weeding and picking pea's, kohlrabi and patiently waiting for our first cucumber! Kohlrabi is from the cabbage family and one of Tanner's favorite summer treats he learned to like at Grandpa & Grandma King's house.

GOTW ~ Part 7

This has been the coolest experiment I think I have ever done with the kids. It has been really long term already (we first planted in April), but what an amazingly educational and fun thing to do! I HIGHLY recommend planting the grains that you can find around you and seeing what comes of it in your area. (This is the link to the rest of the story and how we started out.)

Our newest fruiting grain has been the Oats... they just sprouted a couple days ago.

They are much different than the wheats, barley, and rye. The millet hasn't fruited yet, and the corn is still very much concentrating on the stalk of the plant, but I can see that if this weather keeps up, those two will be fruiting as well.

The rye has a very flat fruiting head. It reminds me of a braid of hair... flat, but textured.

The white wheat has a very bumpy fruit. It also has these little white pollen things that come out of it. I wish I was better at describing these parts, but honestly, I don't know any more about it than the kids. So hopefully, by the time we are done, I will be able to name all the parts of the grains too! ;)

The barley is the most "amber waves of grain" plant out there. It has long hairs at the end of the fruit and really beautifully symmetrical heads of grain. It waves in the sun and is already turning yellow. Once again, I really have to find the time to research how to get these grains to make bread.

The red wheat is very similar to the white... but the little pollen heads are even more prevalent and the seeds tighter in the fruit head. It is a slightly taller plant too. Not sure if that is how/when we grew it, or if it is actually a taller plant than the other wheat... but it has been fun to watch them all side by side.

(A link to our last years garden experiment with a Topsy Turvy and Tomatoes.)

Celebrating the 4th

We celebrated the 4Th of July back in ND. Uncle John traveled home from 29Palms to spend a few days with the boyz.

Grains of the World ~ Part 6

I haven't posted about this in forever, but recently, in our Grains of the World study, very exciting things have been happening!

I keep wondering what we are going to do with our little grain plot if it actually matures. Wouldn't it be awesome to make seven grain bread with the grains we are growing? That is my goal... but I don't have much hope of it happening if it doesn't stop raining! So here's hoping!

Here is a link to the whole experiment. Enjoy!