Fall Harvest Orchard

With the air turning to the crispness of fall, it was time to head out for a day at the Fall Harvest Orchard in Delano, MN. Let me start by saying that "Getting There" was not half the fun. After 2 detours, lots of driving in circles, and getting lost, we arrived at our destination an hour and a half later.It was well worth the effort though. It was a beautiful sunny day and the apples were ripe for picking. It was so fun to watch the kids picking their apples and crunching into them. There were lots of farm animals with their newborns and this was a farm where holding all the animals as much as you can is encouraged.
Sara kept heading back to this adorable baby goat who just loved to be snuggled.

We were there with our homeschool coop and all the kids had so much fun being together and exploring the beauty of Fall.... before Winter steals it from us!

Corn

The other day, my friend Sara gave us some fresh picked corn from her garden. My little Jonah was so excited. After he helped me shuck the corn he carried around an uncooked ear all day waiting till it was time to cook it.
He was so excited when dinner time finally came around. He plowed through two ears and had the time of his life doing it!

"The Duke of Hawaii"

This week, we have some dear friends who are in town from Hawaii. We got to spend some time with them on Friday and then today we had them over for lunch. We were telling the kids that "Uncle Duke and Auntie Vivian" were coming over and that Duke is the Lt. Governor of Hawaii. This was very exciting to the children as they have been learning all about Presidents and Government Leaders. Yesterday Josiah exclaimed in his excitement, "The Duke of Hawaii is coming to my house!" Here he is with his friend "The Duke of Hawaii".
The kids had lots of questions for them, especially wanting to know if they had ever met any real Presidents. Duke and Vivian were wonderful guest and the kids so enjoyed getting to know them better.
We loved getting to catch up and "talk story" and David got to get out all his pent up Pidgeon...(for those of you who don't know, Pidgeon is what they call the local slang in Hawaii. Any good local Hawaiian boy grew up speaking this version on English) It was such a blessing for us to spend the afternoon with our friends and pray that God blesses the rest of their stay in Minnesota.

Granddaughter!

We are excited to announce the birth of our first Grandbaby! Kanai Marie was born to Ashley and Will on Monday, August 18 in Honolulu. We are so excited for them and can't wait to get to know this precious little gift from God!

The Rest of the Trip

Here are a few pics from the rest of our trip to California... My Mom and I playing our favorite game, Mancala...
Grandma playing Candyland with the kids...
Tickles and snuggles with Jonah...

Going out to breakfast at "Hanks"...
With Grandpa...

By brother Nathan works there and whipped us up an awesome breakfast.
David came for the weekend and we spent more time up at my Brother Fernando's house.
The kids had fun playing down at the creek...

Then Fernando and My brother Matthew took David Fishing at this beautiful spot.
They caught lots of fish and had a great time together.
They had to hike into the spot and almost stepped on this Rattle Snake!

Back at Grandma's with cousins and lollipops.
And Swimming everyday!

Baskin & Robin's 31 Flavors Ice Cream!
This was a childhood hang out for me so it was fun to go back with my kids and enjoy the ice cream.... My favorite: Chocolate Chip Mint... But I also had some chocolate-peanut-butter for old times sake.

Here we are, happy to be heading home!
The kids were great travelers and it was a fun adventure! Thanks to my Mom and family for making it such a fun and special trip.

Birthday Weekend

This past weekend we got to celebrate Josiah's Birthday as well as my brother Matthew's.So the kids and I, along with Micah, took the long winding road up to my brother Fernando's house.The weekend started with a pogo-stick competition with the boys.They caught on pretty fast and had a blast trying to out jump each other.The family all came up for the party. Here is Grandpa with his two oldest Grand daughters.The girls all enjoyed each other... and all the girly-ness that that includes.

Here is my brother Nathan and my sister Moriah. On Saturday afternoon, we finally got around to the actual birthday party with included games.....
Lining up for the Pinata....
Presents.....
Craft projects......

And an Amazing Cake!
My Sister-in-Law, Abra, has taken professional cake decorating classes. It was amazing to watch her put this together from scratch. And I got to learn a few tips along the way.
The finished product was awesome and Josiah has asked if we could print the picture and hang it on the wall in a frame in his room.... That is how much he loved it.
My big 10 year old boy was so excited and so blessed to be surrounded by Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and Friends. It was indeed a Happy Birthday!

This morning we woke up bright and early, had breakfast and then... We watched Grandma walk her dog. It was quite entertaining to watch this canine run a mile on the tread mill while Grandma sat and relaxed and fed him treats.
Jonah found this activity to be quite funny. He plopped on to Grandma's lap for the best view.
This led to a few snuggles which My Mom fully enjoyed.
Inspired by the dog's example, Josiah and Siri took turns burning off their breakfast.

After a little shopping this morning, the kids spent most of the afternoon in the pool with Grandpa.This evening, My brother's and their beautiful wives came over for a potluck dinner. We enjoyed catching up and just hanging out together.The kids had a blast with all their cousins, playing chase and hide and seek and just laughing and doing kid stuff.My Family usually gathers on Thursday evenings for a time of worship, bible study and fellowship. It was such a treat for me to join them in praising our God. I am so blessed to have a family that seeks to grow and serve our Lord together.