Halloween 2019

    We made it to Trienen farms with other homeschoolers for a day in the pumpkin patch and corn maze. Sylvia went thorugh the maze with her friends while Ephraim and I got a wagon ride to pick a pumpkin.

It is neat to see Ephraim growing up.  This year, he was able to carve his own pumpkin entirely by himself. 

I tried a pintrest cupcake/Oreo snack.  It actually turned out pretty well!

 Rowen (dressed as a dwarf barbarian) and Sylvia (dressed as a dragon-born) went out trick-or-treating together.  Both play Dungeons and Dragons with Sean, thus the costumes.  Ephraim was sad he couldn't go with them, but he is a slower walker and gets tired too fast.

 I went out with Ephraim and we had a good time going to even the scarey-decorated houses this year.  (Last year, he refused to walk on the same side of the street if something looked scary.)  He went for a long time, then came home to hand out candy and eat his own.

  

Having Ephraim around makes holidays fun.  I love making these memories with him.

Ephraim and Mom's first solo campout!

  Ephraim wanted to go camping with me.  I figured it would be an easy and fun adventure to drive 5 miles north to the closest State Park and camp a Friday night with him. It was much more stressful than I would have anticipated.

     It started out well, we got there and set up camp. It was cool, but I had packed plenty of warm gear.  I was hurrying to get everything set up before dark.   What I didn't know, was that by keeping our van hatch open to unload stuff, I burned the battery out.  The car wouldn't start when I got in it to drive back to campground host to buy firewood.   It was dark, cold, and we had no transportation.  My cell had been lost at the coast, so I had nothing to call home for help with.   It was actually very scary.   I tried to keep brave with Ephraim there.  Very few people were in the area.   We walked for a long ways back to the campground host, who said he couldn't help me, or let me use his phone.  But, he did sell me some firewood so we could have a fire for s'mores that night, which is the main point of camping, in Ephraim's opinion.

   After s'mores we got snuggled in bed, and we read with our flashlights for a while.   I prayed hard that we would be safe.  The next morning was beautiful.   I again put on a happy face so Ephraim would not be stressed, and tried our van. It was still dead.

Ephraim enjoyed playing at our campsite, while I made hot chocolate for us.

 I had talked with the campground host, who said the rangers drove through the park mid day, and I could ask them for a jump. So.. we waited.  And waited.  And explored the area by our camp.

      When I finally saw a ranger truck, they said they were busy. They had to meet some other rangers at the lake to take out buoys, but could drive to our campsite and jump start the van in the afternoon.  This was not ideal for me, but what other choice did I have.  So, Ephraim and I went on an adventure hike down to the lake, and I introduced him to slingshots.  We blasted off a lot of tree bark together.

   We hiked back to our campsite at noon, to be sure to be there if the rangers ever showed up. All our gear was packed and ready to head home as soon as we had power.    I decided to try the van one more time, thinking how stupid I'd look if the rangers showed up, and the van started up.  I got in.. AND IT WORKED!    I was amazed. I got Ephraim in and we quickly drove home before something else happened.   I was soooo relieved to get home.

        This outing led me to buying a new cell phone.  It had felt so horrible to be stranded with no way to call for help. I just kept praying we wouldn't have an emergency, like Ephraim falling into the fire, or having an allergic reaction, or something that would require medical help. 

     When we got home, we looked up a mushroom we had found on the trail (and smashed) to learn about it.  It had been HUGE!  We found it was called a"puffball" mushroom, and was safe to eat.  So, we drove up, gathered some of the chunks from where Ephraim smashed it, and took them home to saute in butter.   - Verdict?  - Meh.   Tasted mushroomy.   

    

This was definitely a more stressful and memorable camp than I had expected.  I hope we will have many future camping adventures that don't have me praying for deliverance all night. 

SCA: Battle armor and archery!

  We tried the SCA youth combat and archery practice this fall and winter.   Ephraim did really well in the combat portion.  Sylvia and I enjoyed the archery. 

   The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) is a group that tries to replicate medieval arts, music, and battle as much as possible.  They are serious about their scholarship, but also very welcoming to anyone who is curious and just wants to give it a try. 

Ephraim trying a pole-arm.

This weapon takes different tactics than an axe or sword.

Sylvia working on her form.

Ephraim borrowing an adult fighters gauntlets to try on.

This is one tough girl!

Sylvia in battle training.

Ephraim taking on a small competitor.

Ephraim looking fierce with a battle axe.

New Chickens!!!

CHICKENS!!!!   Yes, we got a new batch of chics this fall.  Their birthdate was Sep 10, 2020.  We get them mailed to us with in 48 hours of them hatching.

It was as exciting as opening up a gift on Christmas morning!

We borrowed our friends (the Johnsons) box for keeping the young chics warm the first month.  

After a month, they will go outside with heating lamps, and Sylvia will get her room back.

Baby chickens bring out the best in people.

Sassy Cow Creamery tour, Sept 2020

 We started out the year going on a really cool fieldtrip to a local dairy, Sassy Cow Creamery. It was amazing to see all the science that went into dairy products. 

Ephraim and Sylvia enjoyed petting the cows.

 It was hypnotizing to watch the carousel rotate, and the cows get on and off.

We went to the dairy's cafe afterwards, the view was classic Wisconsin beauty.

The ice cream was good as well!  I look forward to taking people here next summer.

C

Sept scout camp (Highland Games) with Sylvia

   The scout troop went to Yellowstone Lake State Park for their Sept camp. I decided it was close enough to drive along and join them.  It was a lot of fun getting to know the kids. 


They made their own blow darts.

Learned how to shoot them from the scoutmaster, Mr. Miller.

Sylvia did great!  She was close to the top winners. (I was pathetic!)

Caber toss was fun!  They tried seeing how far they could flip logs.

I tried it, and hammed it up, with lots of grunts and yells... getting lots of laughs, and totally embarrassing Sylvia.

The tug of war was muddy, slippery, exciting mess.

Learning about nature while dinner cooked..

My face-painted girl.  I loved getting to know her friends and seeing them try new things.  It was a great weekend, despite all the rain!

The drive back: Missoula!

I has taken me 7 months to post about our return trip from the coast.  At first, because I was sad about it, then just too busy.  So, here is how it all ended...

    We dropped off Asher and Beth at the airport to fly back to MN.  Sean was supposed to fly back to WI to work, but he didn't feel good about it. So, literally when we were parked at the curb of the drop off, he just let Asher and Beth out, and decided to stay in the car and miss his flight. I was sick about the money lost on his ticket, but thrilled to have his company and help driving back across the country.    It turned out to be a good thing too, because we ran into some nasty storms in Eastern Montana!

    First we stopped in northern Idaho and got to get to visit with Gordon and Lisa.  We wandered around the boardwalk of Lake Cour d'Alene and looked at the fancy boats.  Gordon treated us to a delicious dinner with ice cream after. Ephraim fell asleep under the table!

   I was really looking forward to our stop the next day in Missoula MT.  I LOVED having the older kids play outside in the beautiful rivers surrounding the town.  I have such good memories of Missoula.  The first stop was the Carousel .   I spent soooo many hours here with the older kids. Sylvia remembers visiting it as well.  But, it was closed when we got there!  They had it close that day because they were setting up some fancy party there that evening. I was crushed, and started crying.  I asked the lady if we could just go in and take pictures with the horses, and he let us.  So, here we are... not actually riding the carousel, but saying hello to dear old friends.

Sylvia and "Pal's Pal"

Ephraim and one of the giant Norwegian horses

Sylvia and Paint

I love the carving details on the horses!

Asher used to love this knight horse as well.

This is where the happiest  music in the world comes from!

       After an oil change, we went to the Rattlesnake and enjoyed my second favorite place in Missoula, the Rattlesnake.  So many hours were spent here climbing trees, smacking trees with sticks, biking, etc.

Sean, standing by to catch our monkey boy.

The limestone cliffs are as exciting as ever.

Enjoying a familiar trail.

Rattlesnake Creek:  Place of butterflies, and warm summer days.

One of the places that makes me who I am today...

I felt so sad that we didn't have more time in Missoula, but we had to rush back in order to get the boys to college in time, and Sean to work.  I'd love to go back and just spend a week, absorbing all the hippie vibes of the town.  I cried as we drove away. I felt like I didn't know "my town" anymore.  

The rest of the drive East was one thunderstorm after another.  It was white-knuckle driving in Eastern Montana. I was glad to have Sean taking care of that stretch.  We made it back in time to grab Asher in St. Paul and meet Beth's family for the first time.  Then home.  It was an amazing vacation. One of the most memorable of our lives. So glad we did it!