Fourth of July - 2009

I'm sorry this post is late, but better late than never. The more I looked at the pictures and video clips the more I thought I should post.

We get together most every year and shoot off the whimpy, Minnesota fireworks. Actually, it works well since we don't want to scare any of the kids.

So here are some pictures and two video clips.


Jeff


John

May not seem like it's dark enough but for the little kids, it works fine.

Paige

Here's Matt. Later in the clip you'll see Paige, Kyla, Caleb and Chris.


This series of pics is of Hannah who discovered she might like to be a firefighter.

This is a clip when the fireperson actually squirted herself.

This is the next generation of fireworkers, Hannah, Caleb, Paige, Cece, and Kyla.

Cece

Cece

Sue and I are reminded every day how lucky we are.

Bob

Irene's step sister, Lorraine

When my grandmother, Amanda, passed away her daughter (my mother), Irene, was three years old. Some years later Irene's father, Barney, remarried and Irene had two step sisters, Lorraine and Loretta.

Lorraine and her husband Milton live close to Monticello. A while ago Lorraine sent me a card and said how special Irene had been to her and she had some of Irene's stuff thatLorraine's mother had asked to give to Irene.

Yesterday Sue and I drove up to visit them.

We had a wonderful visit. She remembers having Shelia visit when she was student teaching in Monticello; Lorraine worked at the school.

Lorraine and Sheldon had six children and unbelieveably, four of the six have passed away in separate violent deaths; accidental hanging, motorcycle accident, tree falling on the house, etc.


Lorraine has struggled through five strokes, shingles, cancer, and is also dealing with diabetes but she still has a spunky attitude.

Here are the pictures from yesterday:
Lorraine and Sheldon in their beautiful home.

This is some of Irene's embroidery. According to Lorraine, she and Irene would sit on the steps and practice embroidery. If they did it wrong they had undo the work and start over.

When Irene improved, her step mother gave her some finer cloth for her next project.



We are looking forward to taking these to Pres Homes to see if Irene recalls the significance of these items.

I'm wondering if she received this from someone?

This is a dog whose eyes, mouth, and collar were painted by Loretta.

Thought you would like to see these items.

Bob

John & Juli's Ranch

We had a great day visiting John and Juli's ranch. After a wonderful grilled burger lunch, Paige and Kyla rode with John out to see the animals and feed the horses.



Paige, John, and Kyla




Paige and one of the kittens. Seems like both Paige and Kyla are putting the hard sell on having a kitten.



Here's Kyla with a couple of the pigmy goats.



Kyla with her favorite kitten.

Kittens and kids

If you had something to feed the goats, they would come closer.

A neat picture

John and Juli also have beautiful horses.

John and Juli showing Paige and Kyla how to feed the horses.

Paige trying her hand at feeding the horses. She had to have a strong grip on the dish.

Just a short video clip of the process.




Kyla feeding her favorite horse, Cody.

Feeding the horses treats

Kyla feeding her treats

Climbing up on the bales, Paige, Kyla, and Desi

Paige snapped a couple of pictures on our way back home from the ranch.

Seems she knows just when to smile when she's taking a picture of herself.

Later in the day Chris and Caleb came out to visit. They brought a model rocket they had built and this is a short video of the launch.







Another great day; going to the ranch, launching a model rocket and picking Matt and Sarah up at the airport.

MOA with Paige and Kyla

This was MOA day. It started as lunch out. Yesterday, Thursday Kyla picked Arby's for dinner and Paige picked Famous Daves for lunch before we went to the Mall of America.

Kyla and Pagie are ready to go to lunch.

We are not sure if there's anything Paige likes more than Famous Dave's ribs.

Since we drove to Northtown to catch a bus, the wait was one of the less favorite things we did; can you tell?

So after the bus & light rail ride we arrived at MOA. First stop, American Girl, and OMG what a place! We ( Grandma & Grandpa) were surprised by the number of people shopping and buying. Is there a recession??

This was a photo op with Sponge Bob and Patrick.

Waiting for the Ghost Blaster ride.

Here are the ghost blasters.

Here they are waiting for the Rock Bottom Plunge. Probably the biggest ride they went on. The video is this ride.

Paige and Kyla just off the ride. Does it look like they are ready to puke?

We were very fortunate to run into Jessica and Carlos along with Carlos's mother and brother from Venezula.

Some of the lines were long. This one wasn't bad.

About the last thing we did before we went home was face painting.

This picture was also a hint for where we were planning to go Saturday. We had given them hints; "You've never been there before" and "You will never forget it". Paige figured it out a few minutes after this picture. We are planning to go to John and Juli's ranch on Saturday.

Another fun day with great kids!