Halloween 2009

Sarah and Daddy carved her 38-pound pumpkin down to, oh, maybe 25 pounds on Halloween Day. Here she is, up to her armpits in pumpkin guts.


Sarah picked out a kitty-cat design and Daddy got to do the cutting.

Sarah visits a pumpkin patch

On Monday, Sarah's preschool class visited Dehn's Pumpkin Patch in Dayton, a few miles away from her school. Sarah and daddy had a good time checking out the huge pumpkin patch, and sitting on the big ones!


Child of the Corn. Eeek!


"Dad, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends!"


"Hurry up and take the picture, please!"


Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins.

Sarah and a few of her gal-pals went all DeNiro on a helpless pumpkin and kicked the dirt off of it.


The walk back to the farm was long, so a few of the girls hitched a ride in a pumpkin cart pulled by one of the other dads.


There were free kittens available at the pumpkin patch! Fortunately, we got out of there without having to bring one home.


Sarah and one of her classmates get ready for a hay ride!


Riding through fields of corn on the hay ride.

This little boxer chased us the entire time we were on the hay ride. He had fun chasing the wheels and jumping up and barking alongside us.


The dog even showed us the way through the fields.


Still on the hayride. That's Miss Lisa, one of Sarah's teachers, behind us.


Heading back to the pumpkin patch.


The kids finished their day with a little parachute playtime, and Sarah picked out a 38-pound pumpkin to bring home from the patch.

Tractor twins; Bikers meet for lunch

Rich took the twins and Sarah north to Bowstring last weekend and helped Grandma and Grandpa Gordon split some more firewood and pulled the dock out of the lake for winter. Grandpa got out his old John Deere tractor and gave rides to Lucas and Caleb.


Some of Rich's group of cyclist friends got together a few weekends ago for lunch at the French Meadow Cafe in Minneapolis. Here are John, Rich, Curt, Bob and Suzanne.


And Mary, Julie (who organized the gathering) and John.

Hello kitty; Sarah tries gymnastics

Moby was feeling generous recently and he decided ... grudgingly ... to let Sarah pose for photos with him.



Usually he runs the other way within seconds of Sarah's approach.



Sarah started a five-session introduction to gymnastics last weekend at the Brooklyn Park community activities center. Here she is trying a headstand.



"It's high up here on the pommel horse!" Coach John helped Sarah jump off the horse onto a pad.


Trying the balance beam.

Sarah lends a hand; Lucas breaks an arm

We've been having such nice weather lately, and daddy decided to get outside and wash both cars. Sarah helped him wash them both. Here she is working on the Flex.


Lucas broke his right arm a few weeks ago while riding an electric scooter. He got his cast put on last week, and chose a blue one.

Sarah's first day of preschool

Sarah had her first day of preschool on Monday! She was so excited to go that she was literally bouncing up and down as she ate her apple before we left. Mommy made Sarah's hair look just like singer Taylor Swift's. (Sarah knows practically all the words to "You Belong With Me," but that's another story.)


We arrived at the school shortly before 1 p.m. and were the first ones there. Time for a photo op! Sarah wore her new "Hello Kitty" backpack to and from school ... even though there was nothing in it.


The first hour of each Monday is spent doing different activities with moms and dads. Here's Sarah playing with some blue Play-Doh that smelled like Kool-Aid. There are 10 other children in Sarah's afternoon class, and all but two are girls. There are also three teachers for the class. Sarah and most of the other children did just fine during the 60 minutes that their parents left to do their parenting class next door. No separation anxiety...


On the way out the front door after her first day, Sarah stopped to display the painting she did for her mommy.


"Thanks for checking out my first day, everyone! LOVEYOUBYEBYE!"

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!