A Day at the Lake

On Sunday, We spent a fun Day with Chuck and Kathi and their family to welcome Taylor home from his 6 months in Africa. We all had so much fun playing in the water and soaking up the sun. At first, Jonah just wanted to hide in the house. He wanted to stay away from the water. We kept working at it and eventually he decided it might be fun after all....
He was having so much fun then that it was hard to get him out of the water.
Josiah, Siri and their Fishing Caddy (AKA Daddy) had a great time catching Sunnies and Siri even caught a Large Mouth Bass.

They are actually getting better at baiting their own hooks now and hopefully will need less and less help from Daddy as time goes on.
They fished at the end of the Dock for hours.
We got to go on a little Family boat ride. It was a paddle-boat so David and I got lots of exercise and Jonah liked trying to steer the boat.

At the end of the day... Mommy went Tubing with the some of the other gals. It was a fun bonding experience... screaming and getting whipped around it the white water. It was a lot of fun.
Thanks, Chuck and Kathi for always being such wonderful host and sharing your lovely family with us.

Shar & Jacque

While Shar is here visiting, Jacque and I got to go spend an afternoon with her. We shopped and had dinner and a wonderful Italian restaurant in The Mall Of America called Tucci Bennuch. We highly recommend the Portabello Mushroom and Sun dried Tomato Pizza and the Chocolate Amaretto Cake is worth going back for... in fact we did... two nights later. That's when we ate at the Twin City Grill and they have some great Salt & Vinegar fries. It was fun to hang out with friends from Hawaii!

Shar & Ashelee

This week, we had some more friends arrive from Hawaii. Shar and Ashlee are in Minneapolis for the Jr. Olympics Volley Ball Tournament. Ashelee's team made it to the finals. They only got to spend one night with us due to their game and practice schedule but we had a wonderful time none the less. We went down to the new water front park in downtown Elk River and took pictures overlooking the Mississippi. It was a beautiful evening.
Shar and I had a great time reminiscing about the old days. She and I went on Summer Missions together to Japan 16 years ago and have been friends ever since.
Of course we took them to Cabela's and had fun at the shooting gallery. We had a little scare when Jonah fell out of the shopping cart and hit his head pretty hard. He then got really sleepy and threw up on the way home so it was off to the urgent care clinic. We had to keep a close eye on him overnight but he seems to be fully recovered and back to his normal self. We were thankful that Shar was there to stay with the kids and also call home for advice from her Honolulu Fire Fighter husband... Thanks Tommy! We hope they will bring the whole family next time and stay for a good long visit.

Chickens & Friends

Last week, I met another homeschool mom and we exchanged numbers. She promptly called and invited us over to play and have lunch. So this morning we set off for their home. About 10 miles from ours, it was nestled in the heart of farm country. We enjoyed the drive as the kids pointed out all the barns and horses, cows and long white fences. We also enjoyed our new friends. They have 4 kids with a boy and a girl the same age as Josiah and Siri.... OH THE JOY!!! They also have CHICKENS! Their daddy breeds and shows rare and exotic chickens. Except for lunch... Which was delicious, they spent the whole time in the coops wrangling chickens. The boys would go in and get them and bring them out to the girls who pretended to be the Vet. They would check them over and doctor the wounds and administer medicine. This went on for hours. Even Jonah got in on it. I didn't thing he would want to go in but when I offered to put him in coop, he jumped at the chance. The smile on his face was a joy to see. He was so excited. He chased them around and grabbed at their feathers and I sure a few of them may need to a Veterinarian Counseling session to get over the trauma. It was such a fun day with our new friends... Here are all the pictures. Enjoy!

A Gift

Last weekend our neighbors gave us a generous gift. Lynn and Gary came by to ask us if we wanted their big trampoline!!! Their kids are all grown and they thought it would get better usage at our house.... Do ya think? Well, we excitedly accepted and the kids have been jumping like crazy everyday since. They love it!!
Jonah really gets in on the action too. He does this frog hop all around that none of us can seem to do. It takes an amazing amount of muscles.
We are so thankful for this thoughtful gift and praise God that he provides all things.... even the fun stuff.

Fishing

The other day Josiah declared to the Family, "I've decided to spend the whole summer fishing with Daddy!" We explained that Daddy may have a few other responsibilities but it would not be hard to talk him into setting them aside a couple times a week for fishing with his boy. So on Saturday morning a 5:30 am, while the girls... and Jonah slept, they set off on their summer mission. With a home made breakfast to go and a quick stop at the bait shop they headed off to their favorite spot... which shall remain nameless.
Josiah caught 7 Catfish and Dad caught 1 sunny and one big small-mouth bass. They had a great time bonding over the fish and plan on repeating the event many more times while the days are warm and long.

Jake & Jacque

What a small world!!! Our Friend from Hawaii (Jacque) Married a guy from Zimmerman MN, (Jake) and they just moved to the Elk River Area. We had them over for dinner last night which turned into a sleep over. They Have a little boy, Elijah who is almost 2. He is so cute and the kids had fun taking care of him and playing with him. We went for a long walk in the woods after dinner and played out in the yard before coming in for homemade Grapefruit Sorbet.
We stayed up talking until late into the night. Elijah was already asleep down in the guest room so we talked them into just staying for the night. It wasn't a hard sell.
We are so excited to have them here and look forward to growing and encouraging one another in the Lord!

Africa

We are excited to tell you that our Daddy is home from his 13 day trip to Africa. It was quite an amazing experience for him. He went with 3 Other men from Elk River to participate in the Global Day Of Prayer. This first Picture is of him in front of the Peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. He was not able to make it to the top due to a case of Pulmonary Edema, A complication from the high altitude.... Must have been all those years spent at Sea Level. But what a blessing to hike and pray with others and seek God together.

It was pretty cold near the top.... an experience that the Minnesota Winter definitely helped prepare him for.
What a beautiful part of the World God created.

Here he is... Finally back down to level ground...


Then it was off to see some of Africa's wildlife at Lion's Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Here he is feeding a Giraffe while offering the kiss of Aloha.

Look at the size of this Lion cubs paws... truly the King of the Beast.
We were so excited to have him home and to hear all the stories and see the pictures of his adventure. Thank you to all of you who supported him in prayer during this trip.

Mall Of America....Again

I know, I know, You are probably tired of hearing about the Mall of America.... But it seems to be the favorite destination for our visitors so we keep taking pictures and they keep ending up on our blog..... On Monday, Samantha and I loaded up the kids and ventured out to the MOA. Being a holiday, we thought it might be really crowded but it wasn't and the kids all had a great time.
Samantha even managed a little shopping and we got a Starbucks ( a big treat for me since there isn't one near our home town.)
The kids all listened so well and behaved so patient and kind. We were proud of them all and it made it fun for everyone. We were so glad we decided to go.

Otsego Park

Today we took the kids down to Otsego Park. It is right on the Mississippi River and has a great playground and walking path and lots of benches. The kids love to skip rocks into the river. We stayed for a long time and Samantha and I had lots of time to just sit and talk.... of course that was in between pushing swings and keeping little ones out of the river but we enjoyed the sun and the laughter and spurring one another on towards love and good deeds.

Friends from Washington

This week, My friend Samantha arrived from Washington. She and her 2 kids... and one more on the way, are here for 11 days. We are having a great reunion as I have not seen her for 5 years and had not met her kids yet. Of course we went to Cabela's... the kids enjoyed the animal display and the shooting gallery.
Samantha used to live down stairs from us when David and I were first married... We have been friends for 10 years but hardly see each other so this has been a real treat for us.

Daddy Does Homeschool

Twice a week, David does Science with the kids. They are working their way through the Jonathon Park Adventure Series. It is an Audio series from Vision Forum which follows the adventures of Young Jonathon Park and his Father who is a Creation Scientist. Together they discover how science matches up with the Bible. There is a study and activity guide that David prepares with every week Imagine my surprise when my husband announces that he needs to go get some Plaster of Paris and some clay to do a project with the kids. Yes!!! Daddies can do craft projects. They got all their supplies and proceeded to make Dinosaur Fossils. Here is a picture of the finished product.

As you can see, they have a great time together. Daddy gets really into it and the kids love the time with him. They get out their Bibles and read together..... The other day I over heard the kids talking to each other. They were talking about when they grow up. They decided that they were going to be "really into God, Just like Daddy."

Happy Mothers Day

As we approach this Mothers Day weekend, we want to take a moment to recognize our Mothers:

Johnda Pintor and Sadie Monroy.

They are our Mothers in the Faith as well as the body. We praise God for them and the Legacy that they are working to leave for us. They are two of the most beautiful women we know and we aspire to follow their examples in many areas of our lives. We love you Moms!!!

Happy Mothers Day

Cabela's

Yesterday we went to Cabala's...

The world famous sporting goods store.

The kids always love to look at the animal displays and Jonah likes to feed the fish. Below is a picture of David by the African Safari display. That mountain in the background is Mt. Kilimanjaro.
We had a great time in the shooting gallery. They have quite a fun set up there. We got lunch in their cafeteria and then headed home. It was a great day.