Trip to Duluth with Esau

We've been having the most wonderful time since Esau got here on June 30th! We were able to take an unforgettable trip to Duluth for a few days. Esau said it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen, and I tend to agree with him! The pictures below show some of the things we enjoyed: the Glensheen Mansion (fabulous!), watching boats come into the harbor, and a drive along the North Shore. Some of our must see stops included Betty's Pies (this is a must-eat stop!) and Split Rock Lighthouse.

Whoops!

My apologies and a little explanation why my blog is messed up. I deleted a bunch of photos that were stored in an online album without realizing it would affect my blog. Now the photos show up sometimes and sometimes not and it's not always the same ones. I wanted to fix things, but with a graduation coming up at our house this weekend, I decided I needed to prioritize! Future posts will not be affected.

Katie's Homecoming

How exciting, the day that Katie came home after a 4 month stay in Guatemala! She actually flew right in to Devils Lake, so the whole family got to go meet her plane.


If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can actually see her plane coming in just above the plane stuck on the pole.


Dad is explaining something as we watch the plane come in.




It's here, it's here!


Katie was the first one off! (There were only two passengers that got off in Devils Lake.)


Running to greet us


I think JJ got the first hug and kiss!


We had a little time to visit in the airport while we were waiting for Katie's suitcase, which actually never arrived.




Out into the crisp, fresh North Dakota air (sounds better than cold and windy!)

From L. Swenson photos

The welcome home supper--my never fail apricot BBQ chicken on the grill

A New Recipe

I tried this new salmon recipe and it turned out looking just like the picture!

Knowledge Bowl

The North Star team did very well at the Knowledge Bowl, which was held in Cando. The teams
had to answer questions on a variety of subjects and the top 6 teams advanced to the lightning round, which involved hitting a buzzer!


On the lighter side--just to show that smart kids aren't necessarily stuffy!

All State Music

Amy successfully auditioned for All-State Music, and I was able to attend her concert in Bismarck. The quality of the music was some of the best you would hear anywhere. Here are Amy and two of her friends during a break between concerts.

The kids from Amy's school who attended, with their music teacher.



Look at little JJ asleep on the floor!


The requisite, but predictable, picture during the concert.




The whole group

Consignment Auction

I took Grandma Irene over to Leeds to show her where Larry was working on setting up our annual spring farm consignment auction. This year was interesting, because there was mud like you never have seen before! This is Larry in his full blown pressure washing gear.







Irene and I tried to pick our way as carefully as we could through the mud, while the boys went straight for it, with predictable consequences.

Larry and his mom

Larry had to use this tractor to pull his pressure washer through the mud. In fact, he used this same tractor the day of the auction to pull his auction pickup down the line of equipment. We've never done that before!

And this was the disastrous ending to our little excursion. Face down in the mud! We had to strip Jonathan to his bare skin and wrap him in Daddy's coat for the ride home.

Victor's Birthday

We had quite an extended birthday for Victor throughout the month of March. We had a little family celebration on the day of his birthday and then a big party with friends at the waterpark in Minot.









At the water park


One of the birthday party guests (just kidding!)














The boys had this game going where they would try to throw the ball into one of the cones and then it would fill with water and dump it out.











The competition to get the ball was fierce!











Come on, Daddy, let's go slide some more, I'm getting cold!





















Uh-oh, where did that ball go?











The boys worked up quite an appetite.











Playing in the arcade after swimming was almost the best part of all.















The boys got an absurd amount of tickets which they traded in for prizes.





The big selection