Beach Day

After breakfast we filled up the morning with games and a walk down to the lake.

Tristan is getting very good at skipping stones, Emmet and Liam are good at throwing stones. 

Then we gathered beach and picnic things and headed off to a close lake that has a beach.  We played with a few games and then had lunch before going into the lake.  Perfect weather for this.  

After playing for a few hours the kids were starting to get cold.  They warmed up under towels and then Emmet, Liam and I went for a walk.  They wore me out  I had a hard time keeping up.  Up and down over hills and rocks. Whew.  

Our reward - black raspberry ice cream

Laura

I took a group photo but some how it did not turn out.  This place, the Red Cabin Custard has a different frozen custard every day.  

Once we were home Jeanne and I took a break with our Smirnoffs.  I must say I am not very good with selfies.

Jay took Emmet and Liam out on the boat and Tristan kept wanting to play with us.  We did get a little break.  

A Kid Friendly Day

No walk this morning because we thought Emmet and Liam at least would be up early so we got up, showered and were ready.  But they all slept in.  They did not get in until 1 am.

Jay makes the best pancakes.  We had fresh blueberries and strawberries.  Yummy.

Liam helping Grandpa cook

playing Uno with Grandma

Then we went in for morning coffee.  The kids spent a long time putting pennies into a fundraiser machine.  They could watch the pennies circle. 

making a penny tornado.  How fast can they stick in the pennies?

 Then we went to the park to play.  Lunch was at the nursing home. They have a picnic once a year for the residents and their families.  So we had lunch with Walt.  They had hamburgers, hot dogs, several side dishes and blueberry pie and ice cream for dessert.

Wilhelm enjoying the sunshine

The kids went home with Laura and Wilhelm and Jeanne, Jay and I ran some errands.  Once we got back we went down to the lake and watch Emmet, Liam and Tristan play near the lake.

No, Liam is not drinking a Smirnoffs, he is making a whistle. 

Then games and such until dinner time.  

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and carrots.

a couple of deer in the yard.

Bath, stories and bedtime.  3 kids to 5 adults - you would think that would be a good ratio!!  We needed more adults.  Actually Laura'and Wilhelm's kids are very enjoyable.  I am sorry to say that I still can not tell Emmet and Liam apart.  When they are next to each other and I know what they are wearing I am ok but separated or with a different outfit and I am back to square one. 

Wolf Cubs

It rained yesterday so Jeanne had to bail out their boat at the end of our morning walk.

cute little flowers

Goldfinch

Instead of morning coffee, Jeanne and I headed off to the Wolf Museum.  We wanted to be there by 10 am, which is when the new cubs would be brought out. They did a short lecture first, telling us about the 2 new cubs.  It is quite the process.  They got them when they were only a few weeks old. After the lecture they brought them out.  They are no longer babies  but they still are very cute.  They were born May 2nd in Canada. meet the wolves 

They like to chew on beaver tails.  Ugh

One of the adult wolves was curious. There is glass between us.

The wolf disappeared when it started to rain.

sculptures out front

We went back to a store we missed yesterday.  They had a cool garden.  Now it is sunny.

Then we went home for lunch.  We headed out to go to church to a memorial service of one of the church members.  It was followed by cake and coffee.  Usually Thursday night is choir practice but since everyone in the choir were all at church they decided to have choir practice after the refreshments.  So we did not have to go back after supper.  We had a very nice steak, baked potato and corn dinner.  Delicious.  We had a very good wine with dinner.

We got a call from Laura saying they would be getting here tonight instead of tomorrow.  So we went out after dinner to go grocery shopping and to pick up a few necessities.

No caffeinated water was not a necessity.

It was a gorgeous sunset but there were too many trees in the way to take a good picture.

Laura and family will not get here until after midnight so we will not wait up.  

Ely

Jeanne and I went out on a morning walk before the mosquitoes got too bad, though we did put on bug spray before we left.  It was still chilly.

Saw a deer

the lake

lupins

Jeanne's garden deck

 After breakfast we went into town for morning coffee group with the church friends.  They feel like my friends too, now.  They do that 10 am Monday through Friday.  The group size varies each day.

Then Jeanne and I walked around through downtown Ely, dinking in the various shops.  Did not buy anything today but I got a few ideas.

especially these

These chair are everywhere. Each decorated in some way.

This is one of the murals around

This is where we went for lunch.  Britton's Cafe

Jay went to be with his dad.  He then met us for lunch.  The Wednesday special was enchiladas.  Huge ones.  Jeanne and I split one.

They had a bunch of fun sayings on the wall.  I especially liked this one.

After lunch we went to the nursing home to add voices for the songs.  They do a Wednesday service once a month.  I don't think my voice added much.  Then we came home and crashed.  Worked on the computer, or Sudoku.

We had a delicious dinner of chicken squares.  Hmmm I am wondering how I can convert this recipe to be vegetarian?? 

What a nice day.  

Travel Day All Day

Dale fixed a very nice breakfast of eggs and toast.  I got myself organized and packed up.  We left the house about 9 am to drive to the airport.  It was very nice because we had some extra visiting time. Going through security was very easy because I had the TSA Prechk.  But it was different.  I had to take my laptop out of my bag and I had to hold a plastic laminated sign saying I was TSA prechk. wierd.  Oh well.  I wandered around a bit but mostly I found a comfortable place to hang out.

note the name of the bookstore

 It was a short flight, about 1 1/2 hours.  Time enough to eat the lunch I packed from Trudy's.  Once I arrived in Minneapolis again I had to find the Skyline Shuttle Service.  Luckily they gave very good directions on their ticket.  It is a shuttle service between the Minneapolis airport and the Duluth airport.  Duluth is much closer for Jeanne to pick me up.  It was cheaper to do a round trip flight from Minneapolis to Chicago and do the shuttle that in would have been to have flew Minneapolis to Chicago to Duluth.  But I guess it did take longer.  It was nearly a 3 hour van ride.  Jeanne met me in Duluth.  We went out to Olive Garden for dinner before driving another 2 hours to Ely.  We arrived in Ely pretty close to 9 pm.  So a 12 hour travel day.  Sorry - not many pictures..

the lake

Nice to get here and relax.