there ya go :) now if I can get real grass and wash the dirt off of my house hahaha

a new way to walk?

Isn't it wonderful when you can see the screen in the picture :) So in August when the siblings did the big birthday bash for Mom H. my brother in laws Mark, and Steve came up. Matthew asked if they would mind helping us put in a side walk since they work in construction in Florida and know what they are doing and we don't. They agreed and the three of them set to work.

It was the best day for Z because he just sat in the window staring at the truck and then watched as the guys smoothed the concrete and then stamped it with the pattern. After much stressing over whether kids were trying to walk on the wet cement it finally dried and we are very pleased with the new way to walk...no falling, or tripping, no heels errating the lawn, no mud! no sand! it has been absolutely wonderful. thanks guys! I will get a nice front of the house picture in a bit and show the progress of the home improvements. We are coming along over here

With love from Mother in Law

SO here it is friends! My first ever batch of jarred goods straight from the garden (well except the green peppers which we had to buy.) On Thursday my Mother in Law came over to school me in canning. I talked too much and pretty much didn't know what I was doing so Mom H did most of the work. She brought all her supplies and what we didn't have we ran to the store to get (only three trips, not too shaby hahaha)

Mom H brought her hot water bath thingy and we processed the jars this way instead of by using a pressure cooker. I am extremely excited to have learned this and I am hoping that when I must do it on my own that I will be able to be successful.

Proud of my canning funnel :) Don't you like how cute it is?

The finished product! Salsa, which is amazing! and tomato sauce (didn't taste that it was very tomatoey and I am not a fan of straight up tomatoes.) Tomato juice which I have not tried but Matthew said was delish! and some Saurkraut that is currently still fermenting. Yes yes I ended up breaking my rule and I am fermenting things on my counter :) LOL! I will let you all know how it tastes as we break into them this fall and winter.

Matthew said it brought back alot of good memories and I enjoyed chatting the day away with Mom H and learning a new skill. I have about two more times of being able to harvest and jar things I think...unless something terrible happens but that is the plan.

The best present...

Please excuse the messy house in the background. This little guy as well as Alexis like to vacuum. We bought this little stick vacuum for the cabin and it worked wonderfully on the wood floor but not on the rug. We bought a different one then and it worked so well on the wood that we brought this one home. Z will do anything if he is allowed to vacuum. So if you have a three to five year old that is in need of a great gift consider a stick vacuum :) your house and your child will thank you for it. LOL!

ps. Andrea says she doesn't like to vacuum. Must be a small window of opportunity on this one so don't miss out

The begining of our trip was very windy and it was blessed because my parents came up with us. No pictures since I was super lazy and we literally sat and drank coffee most of the time and visited. I would have loved for them to be able to stay longer so we could go off and do things but well just being together was a gift.

Personally I think the food on the face really brings out his eyes ;)

We ended up playing alot of volley ball and badminton (is that how you spell it?) There was one point when a wasp landed right on Matthew and he was holding his shirt away from himself asking someone to give him help and Andrea literally said no and ran away. I got the wasp off of him. In the end it is good to know who you can count on soooo don't count on Andrea if there is a wasp, bee, yellow jacket or any other such terrible thing. In her defense I was stung while washing a window and I wouldn't go near them again so Matthew did the rest LOL! Guess we know where she gets it from eh?

Ah the big trip...This was not a picture of it but an after the fact picture of the kids enjoying the neighbors canoe but Matthew took the three older girls out on a canoe trip. Originally we were all supposed to go but when we got there the man in charge said that he didn't allow anyone that was little to go. Matthew says that was a good thing because it was pretty rough. They all seemed to really enjoy it though and so I am glad that they were able to have that daddy/daughter time.

Low Key the way to be...

This was the last trip in July and it was a very relaxing trip. very hot! We really swam and fished most of the time so there are not many pictures. Zachary caught a wonderful fish that Matthew thought about getting mounted but decided that Z wouldn't appreciate it yet so we just ate it :) I love the proud smiles though, don't you?

The admiration of fish...must be a boy thing

Lil man with his big fish!!!

Alexis thinks fish are cute. Do you?

Kayla

finally the picture of the barn...oh and the kids :) Matthew hooked up the baby swing in the rafters so that Kendra would have the ability to do what she loves. Get pushed around ... LOL! no she loves to swing. Can do it for hours!

After several days of just being lazy Matthew decided we should go raspberry picking and took us to a wild patch that he knows of. At first the pickings were slim but in the end we left far earlier than we could have if the baby and I were not such wimps. I got stung once and the baby was just done. Anyways, we got 8 cups in all and out of that we made two raspberry cobblers. One Z burned by turning the oven to broil when I was not watching and one that Matthew perfected and made us all want to go picking again.

I then decided that we needed activity again and so Matthew took us to Kitchitikipi (big springs) and we enjoyed the sites again. It is a favorite for the fact that the spring is amazing but that the fish are all big and come in to stay cool.

everyone wanted to be the captain

Arg! I a pirate mom!

After the big springs we headed over to the ghost town. I will try to download the photos from the video camera because I ran out of battery on the regular one. This is the only proof we were there, unless you count the tourist coffee mug that had to be purchased (at every site we see lol!) It was a great place though and we learned alot about that time in history

AHHHH! there are moments I really could just scream

So I know that this is not life or death and I know that it is all material but seriously! Z just used my curtains like a rope swing! He pulled the screw and anchor directly out of the wall, then while I was salvaging what I could he started kicking all my furniture. At this point he has been punished but he is just raging and frankly I wondering if he is too young for boot camp

Swimming, birthdays and waterfalls, OH MY! continued...

There is always that kid...the one that befriends every animal, finds all the crazy cool stuff, and just happens to NEVER be looking for any of it. That kid would be Kayla. This trip she was playing and came across a four leaf clover. This caused quiet a stir, since Andrea was bitten quite suddenly by the green eyed monster of jealousy. After far too many comments about tearing off the fourth leaf of Kayla's great find and sighing grumpily, we put that type of talk to rest and also ended much of the excited talking about the clover since this was just too much for poor Andrea to take and she was unable to find happiness for her sister. Never the less, she searched for the afternoon for her own treasure but to no avail. If only it was in my power to have placed a patch of four leaf clovers for my children to find! Ah, sometimes life is tough!

Kayla and I pressed the clover and it is now in a frame waiting to be put in her room.

Speaking of treasures! :) my lil' baby K had to follow her sisters in putting a flower behind her ear and boy oh boy was she proud of it.

Ok on to more of the adventures. For my birthday treat Matthew let me pick out what I wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to go exploring and see things never before seen by our eyes. Our first stop was to the au Sable visitor center where we were told what to check out. This trip was going to be alot of walking so we decided to not try and get it all in that day and still have great sights to see in the future! We then drove out to the log slide. It is no longer in existance but the site has been preserved to some degree. The slide is gone but the sharp drop off remains with a look out for people to see where the logs would go into the lake and make their trip down stream to Grand Marais. This sign was next to a fence that showed the remains of an old cabin. We walked back to it, and inside the corner that was left standing were bed springs, cook stove, and other remains of a home. The girls and I had a great time talking about what it was like to live then and how little their houses were and all the great stuff that goes along with pioneer living.

 Here are the kids in front of the sled for the logs and off to the side you can't see is a large wagon for them as well.

 My family looking out over the drop off and overlook. It was absolutely breath taking!

 See...and this is a foggy day. Can you imagine it in all it's glory with the sun shining brightly!

 And here is the drop off. It doesn't look like much but there were many many warning signs about not going down if you were not physically fit. Despite its mere 500 ft walk, many people took more than an hour to make it back to the top. Soooo, we didn't go down even though the kids kept pestering and Z and Kayla kept inching their way closer and closer to the drop off. :) silly kids! Next time I will run down it with them

 Obviously many others did!

Our next stop was for lunch at Hurricane river. The river flows into Lake Superior and is quite beautiful also.

 The red squirl and a chipmunk (not pictured) were our lunch guests, if you wish to call them that. They were so brazen that the chipmunk literally went under the table and brushed up against Alexis' foot! Some people don't understand the concept of NOT feeding the animals. So they were pretty obnoxious, and the flies were biters so that was pretty miserable too. :) pretty place...just don't stop to eat there! Stop to play.

 Kendra feels so big. hehehe

 She should really take better care of her sandals!

that smile! Cuts straight to my heart every time <3>

Our next stop was to some waterfalls that we had not yet seen. We knew they were a hike but didn't expect the littlest member of our family had decide that independance was more important to her than moving faster than a snail.She ended up spending a lot of time being carried...too bad too since the path was stroller capable! 

 Someday we will return to see Chapel Rock and Chapel beach

 while I carried Kendra for a little while Matthew carried her almost the entire time. His poor arms! We walked for hours!

 And when one is carried others think that it is necessary too! Don't worry I made him get down so that he didn't wear out his sister.

Chapel falls!

Andrea

Kayla

When we explore we can not simply resign ourselves to the paths, so obviously we jumped right into the river! We didn't however walk all the way down to the beach. Perhaps another adventure?

 This waterfall had a wide and scaped path. Completely different from the one we were about to embark on!

Though a shorter distance this was no walk through the park!

A large beaver made lake

evidence!

Boy conquers path!

Do you see the trail?

Mosquito falls. The path was difficult but sometimes at the end of the most grueling walks you gain the greatest rewards. This was the first of the tiers. This was about seven feet high and nice and flat...so yes we explored it! I am sitting on a ledge holding the camera as far out as I can safely go so that I can capture this moment forever.

Then we walked up the falls to the next tier and explored that too :)

Family photos are a favorite. Maybe I need to get a tripod...then we can all be in the picture!

Anyways, after soaking our feet and milling about for a few moments we moved up to the third and final (as far as we know!) tier. We didn't climb up that one because there were alot of trees laying in the path. It sure was a beauty though!

We had a great time exploring and enjoying God's creation. He sure is amazing! And to think we haven't even seen the glories to come...