Gracie and Alaina's Birthday Month

Alaina turns 1 this month and she's so gosh darn cute.  

Big Sister Gracie turns 3 this month and she cracked me up.  Such an adventurous little girl.

Also a pretty little girl but I certainly had to work for the smiles.  

I love this one.

She was in a trance for awhile since she couldn't get down and she isn't walking yet.

Gracie taking a moment to watch the fishes.

Getting a family picture was tough.  Alaina had enough and Gracie was wiggly and tired of waiting for her sister to calm down.  At one point mom says "just take it this is our life right now"  So I did and I love it.  You can see the toys and sippy cup we used to try to make her happy.... didn't work.

Ice cream was the treat after we were done.  I had this vision of messy girls in their pretty dresses so I tagged along.  Of course spending more time with the girls and their mom was pretty easy to do.

Love these girls and I kept saying.  "so sweet" and mom kept saying "that's not really what I'm thinking right now".

Baby A is 3 months

Baby A is 3 months already, hard to believe he's growing so fast.  

Baby A really is a good little boy, he rarely cries and likes to be snuggled but also likes to be by himself.  He's doing pretty good at sitting up but needs a little help when he's sitting outside.

Here is my boy and he's so darn cute.

This is Adam's wagon so of course we had to use it.

Daddy and his little boy.  

This little boy is going to grow up outside in the sand, gravel, dirt, grass..... his mommy and daddy are not afraid to get dirty, I can't wait to see how dirty this little man gets when they are out in the garage wrenching on whatever they wrench on.   Baby A already sits nice and comfy in a stack of firewood.

Tummy time is getting better.

Such a cute little family

He loves his momma

Had to get some naked baby shots of this cute little guy.

Man I love this face

Getting tired, taking pictures is hard work

Two Adams in a picture for Grandma Great

Little Mister Sneak Peak

Mister Bennett is 6 months already and farm life is in his future.  There is something about farms that make everything interesting to use as a background, I don't care how messy or muddy items are they just fit.  Little Mister didn't really like sitting on the ground yet so we had to find him his own little personal platform.  

The wood pile was a good sunblock.

If Shannon and I remember right we think Madelyn was a tongue sticker-outer at this age.  There aren't many smiles without that little tongue coming out.

I absolutely love this one.  This is their life, farming in the open fields with the bright blue skies above them and their children being the center of their lives.  Farming is hard work for them but children grow fast and they treasure every moment they have with them.  Little Madelyn already knows more about planting, selling calves, scarping poop and knowing the difference between a cow and a heifer.  

I wanted to document the season we are having right now for them.  I'm not sure what's planted, if anything, in this field but it looks like they are on the beach.  Certainly not typical for July 1st.

A couple of kids in the oats planter....

The oats bags.....

Okay I love this truck and Madelyn did such a good job taking care of Little Bennett up there by themselves.

Another photo with meaning for them.  The farm in the background is theirs, the sun was way too bright to face me and have it in the background so opted to have them play airplane instead.

Of course Madelyn wants to play too.

Their beautiful home with that lush new lawn, if anythings helped them this summer it's been perfect grass growing season.

One beautiful family inside and out.

The 4th Up North

I know I'm very behind on blogging things that have been happening here, sneak peeks and many other things that have come and gone.  It's been a busy summer with traveling, photos, work, cottage, painting, gardening.... it's been nuts and something had to get pushed off and bloggin' it was.  We spent our last 4 days up north at the cottage and it couldn't have been more relaxing.  Wednesday night John started out with finishing up a project and I drug out the kayak and went for a spin up the river.  

Thursday Jeff and Deb came up and spent the night with us.  We ate, drank, and sat by the fire.  Then we headed to the lake for a pontoon ride all afternoon.  Back to the cottage and finished the night with stories by the fire.  Late night, great company.

Friday Jeff and Deb had to leave so we went for a kayak ride up and down the river.  We pulled the lawn chairs into the river and drank margaritas.

Saturday we started the day by doing a little shopping for supplies, put the kayaks in up river with Gayle and Bill about 11AM.  This trip we did the week before and it takes one hour to get to our cottage.  Well today it took a bit longer.  We were a bit more prepared.

I only take the little point and shoot with me so these photos are not the best.  

John and Bill having a bit of fun just minutes into our ride.

John had to get the camera so he could get a shot of my sidecart.   Here I am

and here is my sidecart.  Oh yeah remember we were more prepared.

I liked this shot of Bill.  Not sure what he's doing in the weeds but he looks so good in a kayak.  He's so good he even does tricks.

A bridge along the way

I've learned to kayak with my legs out on the top of the kayak.  Makes for a better tan :)

Gayle also kayaks with her legs out and she found a little girls surf board in the weeds and paddled in after it.  She was washing and scrubbing on it while floating so she could bring it back with us.

There is a bear up ahead

Cute isn't he?

Well it's been 2 hours and our backs needed a break so we launched our boats on "out of beer island".  Yep that's right we thought we planned so well this time but that darn cooler isn't big enough for a three hour tour.  The water was perfect for swimming but if you didn't hang on the current would float you away.  Gayle and I were determined to sit on the bottom of the river and stay there.  

It didn't work, our butts floated and bounced on the bottom as we laughed, screamed and had the best time ever.   A ways up stream there was a rocky obstacle course we came through so we headed back up to stand on a couple that were sticking out of the water.

Gayle launched her kayak right on top of one of the rocks coming through there.  She was stuck on the top leaning back and forth.... almost ready to tip over and then there comes John and smucks right into the side of her holding her up and jarred her off the rock.  Of course Bill and I are doing just fine weaving and bobbing inbetween the rocks.  Bill and John even got into it, had anyone else seen us they would have thought we were teenagers. 

So 3 some hours later we finally get back to the cottage and dry out in the sun.  We had a snack and a few more drinks and then we dared Bill to ride his kayak down the hill into the water since he's so proud of the tricks he can do.  Well he did it.  Here is Bill starting his ride

He's moving now...

Oh no he got stuck before the water so Gayle and John had to give him a push and off he goes again.

Darn slow point and shoot camera I didn't get the action going into the water but he launched it like a pro.  

So what do we do?  Another 3 hours playing in the water.  Gayle and I took our lawn chairs way out there so only our heads were sticking out and the current picks up your chair little by little and you have to walk it back and try again.  

Sunday back in the river all day long.  Paul and Kathy came up and spent many hours getting wet. 

John likes to bump his kayak into me all the time.

Everyone we meet says we have the best lot on the river.  Here is one neighbors river view.  Lots of stairs and no shore.

The other neighbor.  Great view but no shore.  They come over by us to put in or take out their kayaks.

And then this is ours.  Great view and lots of shore.

Man I love this place.  

I think this weekend we realized what we have and we can't wait to share it with as many family and friends as we can.