Final summer fling at Bowstring

Last weekend Rich loaded up the car with all four of our kids and Noah's friend Andrew and drove north to spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Gordon. (Erin worked all weekend again.) We all had a good time! Sarah went tubing behind the boat for the second time, and Noah rode along with her.


Andrew, Caleb and Sarah rode in the bow of the boat.


Lucas kept asking Grandpa to mow the lawn, and he mowed for about three hours! He even got to try out the riding mower for a little while with Grandpa.


Sarah pushed Grandma in the swing. Look, they're even wearing matching clothes!


Noah and Andrew fished off the paddleboat for northern pike. They caught a few, but here's Noah holding up a northern that Caleb caught.

Splittin' logs

Winter's not that far off, and Grandpa and Grandma need lots of logs to feed their wood-burning furnace and keep their house warm. With all the manpower available, we spent five or six hours over two sessions cutting up logs and then splitting them into firewood. Here's Grandpa usin' the chainsaw.


Sitting at the log splitter, then handing the firewood to the helping hands in the background.


Sarah sat on a log for a little while and watched us. Wonder what she was thinking here?


Uh-oh, look out ... she's learned how to pose for pictures!


Noah stacks 'em high.

Fun on the zipline

Grandpa finished building a zipline platform below the treehouse recently, and here he is getting Sarah started on a zipline ride.


Wheee! She continues to amaze us with her bravery and athleticism.


Caleb went down the zipline ... INVERTED!


Lucas kept losing his shorts (on purpose) during his zipline rides.


There goes Sarah!

Valleyfair!

With summer fast coming to a close, Erin and Rich decided to take Sarah, Lucas, Caleb, Noah and his friend Andrew to Valleyfair last Tuesday. Noah and his friend took off on their own most of the day, and Lucas wasn't feeling well enough to ride many rides, so they aren't pictured here. But Erin and Caleb started right off on "Steel Venom," a electro-magnetic rollercoaster that accelerates quickly to around 50 mph and shoots riders straight up into the air at either end of the track.


"WHOOOOH!" says Erin.


Sarah and mommy enjoyed the balloon ride Sarah went on two years ago during her first visit to Valleyfair.


Caleb and Sarah on "The Mild Thing," a rollercoaster for kids.


"Wheeeeee!" Caleb showed Sarah how to raise her arms into the air in a show of rollercoaster bravado, and Sarah did it without being scared!

Rich's 25-year high school reunion

The Richfield High School Class of 1984 held its 25-year reunion Saturday night in Golden Valley, and about 25 percent of our 540-some classmates attended. There were even a few surprises, including a visit by our old principal, Mr. Maas. Rich never spent any significant amount of time in the principal's office back then, but it was still fun to catch up with Mr. Maas.


Rich and Erin had so much fun chatting with people, we forgot to take very many photos! Here's Rich with old buddy Tony Stroud, who drove all the way from Atlanta with his family for the reunion.

Twins game!

Sarah and Daddy went to the Twins game at the Metrodome last Sunday along with Grandma and Grandpa Gordon, Aunt Ellaina and cousins Maddie and Ella. In the ticket line before the game, Daddy ran into Charlie Kurtz, an old Wartburg College buddy who now lives in California with his family and was in town visiting family and friends. It had been 21 years since we'd seen each other.


Sarah had lots of fun at the game. She ate popcorn, lemonade, and some candy.


Go, Twins! Alas, the L.A. Angels beat the Twins 13-4, but we got to see Justin Morneau hit his 28th homer of the season.


Sarah takes after her Aunt Ellaina, who used to make faces when her photo was taken as a child.


Maddie, Aunt Ellaina, and Ella.

Twins game -- Face paintings!

Grandma Gordon took all three girls to get their faces painted at the Twins game. Sarah closed her eyes and concentrated real hard on holding still for the artist.


Sarah got a green piranha chasing a baseball on her cheek.


Ella got a beautiful butterfly.


Maddie got an American eagle.


The girls were very proud of their face paintings.

Sarah and daddy's visit to Bowstring

With Ellaina and Aaron's family visiting from Oregon, Sarah and Daddy managed to join them for five fun-filled days at Bowstring Lake. Here's Grandma Gordon with her pride and joy, Sarah, Maddie and Ella.


The girls chow down at breakfast.


Ellaina and Aaron had never been to the Losty Forty (!), so we made a visit there on Friday. Here we are hugging "our" big pine tree.


Lost Forty Ladies.


Awwww! We saw a pair of wood-neckers.

The Treehouse

Grandpa Gordon has been planning all summer to build a treehouse for the grandchildren, and with much help from Uncle Aaron, it became reality this past week.


Maddie stayed busy pulling stuff up from the ground with a rope tied to a bucket.


The treehouse trio.


"We're way up high!"


Grandpa, Aaron and Rich worked to clear a path where a zip-line will go. There will be a cable running from just beneath the treehouse to the tree in the foreground, and the kids will grab a handle and slide down the wire away from the treehouse. Wheee!

Grand Rapids Swap Meet

On Saturday we all went to the annual huge swap meet in Grand Rapids and spent a few hours walking around looking at all the "goods."


Sarah got "bitten" by a metal alligator sculpture Grandma G. is holding.


That's a metal frog sculpture on Maddie's head.


Three little chickies wait in the car while Uncle Aaron buys a gun barrel for a buddy back in Oregon. Sarah's holding her new red horse, which she aptly named "Snow White."

Tubing and pulling stumps

What would a visit to the lake be without a little bit of tubing? Here's Uncle Aaron and Ella taking a spin.


Later, Ella helped Uncle Rich drive the boat while Maddie was on the tube.


Grandma and Grandpa Gordon's house and lakefront.


Uncle Aaron took a spin on the old John Deere tractor that Grandpa G. won in a raffle at last year's swap meet.


Grandpa Gordon used the tractor to pull out five or six stumps in the zip-line corridor.