Fall happenings at the cabin...

Our son Brice and the grandkids were here over the weekend to help get the

 dock and boat lift out of the lake. It was a fun few days of both work and play.

The cabin will some day belong to our children so they need to "learn the ropes", ha ha

Brice always carries the kids into the lake with his chest waders on.

It's a bit nippy out there, so he keeps them high and dry.

Games....

Scarlett has the remote to the wench, she's in charge of pushing the button that 

activates the wench to pull the boat-lift up on shore. 

Lew is finally old enough to navigate his own Kayak.

His Dad is close by to make sure he stays safe.

We love spending time with our littles at the cabin

I saw a neat idea on "Pinterest" a few weeks ago and tucked it into my memory banks...

We did "Nature bracelets" for our walk in the woods

You take a piece of double sided tape and wrap it like a bracelet on the kids wrists

 then have them fill it with things they find along the way.

Lew just wanted to take apart a pinecone and put the individual piece on the bracelet,

he is ALL BOY!!!

Then there's the GIRL bracelet.

The hike was fun, the colors beautiful and the company perfect.

He got his toes wet....crazy kid 

The kids have since gone home and Rick and I are left to pick away at the "closing" duties here at the cabin. There is a sense of peace with no hurry this year

It's called Retirement 

and we love it!

Time with the Grandbabies

A few weeks ago Rick and Carson (our 8 year old grandson)

 moved the deck furniture up from storage

He's such a little man and likes to help

His sister Audrey and he helped wash down the dusty table and chairs

Our oldest grand I fondly call Jojo had her 12th birthday

Uncle Gavin always surprises them with some kind of crazy gift..

this year it was a watermelon

I told my 3 that I needed an updated photo of them...so here they are,           

  Gavin, Brianna and Brice.

The uncles always spice up the party and make things fun (Gavin)

It's tradition that Uncle brice tosses Audrey in the air on her birthday

She used to go a little higher, or is Uncle Brice just getting weaker, ha ha 

We had our Twin Cities grandkids for a few more days after mom & dad went home

The driveway fills up with chalk art  :)

Scarlett, learning to shoot her new toy arrows...

And finding out that it's a tickle-match when she aims at grandpa.

Lewin wanted to help make the scrambled eggs

eggs and pancakes for breakfast, you cant go wrong.

After a big day exploring and playing at the park this little one crawled up in my lap and fell asleep. He is my youngest, I cherish these moments as these littles are getting big and it wont be long before lap-naps will be a thing of the past....makes me kind of sad.

"Picking flowers"

Swinging with grandpa, Lewin recently learned to pump, he is so proud of his accomplishment.

Scarlett got some rollerblades from big cousin Audrey, she learns fast.

We stopped by to see these two before heading to the cabin this weekend. 

They are always so happy to see us!  

Grandparenting has got to be the best gig ever,

 Rick and I are blessed with these 4 sweet little people.

Anyone else know this love....

We had our Rochester grands last weekend for an extended stay on Saturday,

Then we had our Twin Cities grands this weekend for the whole weekend...lucky us!

We love having the kids, they bring us so much joy.

Carson and I like to play the game "Battle Ship".... I sunk his battle ship  :)

Playing Scattagories...so much concentration

A little sledding in our front yard

Grandpa made a little "jump" for them

Time to warm up with some hot cocoa.

My littlest Lew, brought me some breakfast Sunday morning...

Spaghetti and meatball, playdoh style

Scarlett enjoying some ice cream

Bedtime stories with Grandpa.

We got the cousins together on Saturday afternoon. 

Here they congregate in the "grandkids room".

 I love having them all together.

Uncle Gavin is so fun, he gave the boys a ride on his legs across the kitchen floor.

and carried Scarlett down the escalator at Scheels...

She was afraid she might fall, so Uncle Gavin to the rescue. <3

With the bitter cold temps we were unable to take the kids outside this weekend,

 so we decided to go to the mall (with masks) and let them run!

Little Lew found a crate of balls, we had the area to ourselves, so it was fun to 

play with the balls for awhile. 

Taking the littles back home...guess we tuckered them out

We miss them all when they are not here, and look forward to our next time together.

Thanksgiving weekend with family....

It started on Thursday Morning, making 10 pounds of mashed potato's, butter and sugaring 40 rounds of Lefse and trekking about 20 minutes to My mom & dad's home for thanksgiving dinner. 

 I was thankful for his help.

I believe there were 28 family and one friend that came together on Thanksgiving day

A little photo journal of the day and beyond.....

My older brother Rick and daughter Brianna

Nephew Josh ands son Eli, Nephew Grant (center) my Son in law, Chris

These three always have a game to play

Mom, sister Jodi, her son Sam (Right)  and his friend Tristen

My grand Nephew Jovi, he's loving the pumpkin dessert

My 2 Nieces Jensen & Alex, Jensens Dad Darin in the middle

Grand Nephew Eli (left) and grandson Carson found a quiet spot to play with Pokeman cards

The little brother Randy and a little bit of  his wife Michelle

I wish I had gotten of photo of all the family, so many are not shown here.

My son Brice's family was in Rochester but did Thanksgiving with Jennifer's family this year, 

we were excited to have them stay 2 extra days with us !

I don't ever want to forget this....

Early morning cartoons and snuggles in our bed! 

This has been something that I look forward to every time my 4 grandchildren spend the night. 

.....and making pancakes with grandma

This is the first time Lewin has made it to the counter-top to assist.

All 4 grandkids have spent time mixing pancake batter here.

taste-testing is a must  :)

The "stars aligned" and it worked out this year to have my other two grandkids help decorating the Christmas tree. The timing was perfect with Thanksgiving being so close to Christmas this year.

I just sat and soaked it all in...

Uncle Gavin helped Scarlett get high enough to put the star on top

Daddy (Brice) helping hang the vintage bulb that was mine as a child.

I  LOVE  LOVE  LOVE that the ornaments are mostly hanging on the lower 1/2 of the tree.

Its right where a 3 and 5 year old can reach. It will stay this way for a little while so I can be reminded of the sweet time spent decorating the tree with little ones.