Tuesday, September 30, 2008

more fun in bayfield

As mentioned yesterday, we visited everyone's favorite playground after picking apples. Here are a few of the activities captured forever in pixels.

Logan on top of the tire monster.

conquering the tire monster

Owen climbs the wall to the big slide.

little climber

Logan learned how to do the zip line this visit.

logan on the zip line

This climbing tree always provides good photo opportunities.

boys in tree

Sunday, September 28, 2008

apple picking

Sunday morning we drove to Bayfield to go apple picking. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day and we found a nice kid-friendly orchard just on the edge of town. After picking 3.5 bushels we went to the kid's favorite playground by the marina for a picnic lunch, and then visited the ice cream shop. On the way out of town we stopped at another orchard to try their famous apple cider donuts.

apple picking

The trees were loaded so it didn't take long to fill a basket.

cortland apples

Owen picks his first apple.

owens first pick

Owen samples the product to help determine what variety to buy.

first taste fall apple

Saturday, September 27, 2008

munger trail madness

Friday afternoon Logan had an early release day from school so Tracy packed up the boys and the bikes and headed to the Munger Trail. Logan enjoyed riding his bike farther than what we do around the neighborhood and Owen really likes riding in the trailer.

afternoon bike ride

Of course any decent bike ride ends up at the playground for adventures on the swings, slides, and monkey bars.

swinging at park

down the slide

monkey boy

Thursday, September 18, 2008

young artist at work

On the suggestion of several of my favorite blogs, we are exploring new media for our art. Yesterday, Owen tried out the new watercolor crayons. He is familiar with using crayons and watercolors so he had no trouble putting the two skills together to create a new piece for display on the refrigerator.

exploring with new watercolor crayons

watercolor painting

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

stuck inside duluth with the wurlitzer blues again

Well, I finally put the Wurlitzer organ on Freecycle. When we acquired a piano one year ago, I promised to get rid of the organ to free up space in our over-crowded living room. After managing to procrastinate all these many months, I finally have come to terms with letting it go. Such a momentous occasion inspired a family jam.

At Logan's request, the nylon-stringed Ovation made an appearance.


guitar strummin

Logan plays the energy chimes.

energy chimes

Everyone took a turn on the thumb piano.

playing the thumb piano

Monday, September 8, 2008

me cook with fire

Question: Is a camping trip really complete without smores?

roasting marshmallows

Answer: Owen says, "No it is not".

s'mores

We also broke out the classic pie irons to make blueberry pies.

baking camp blueberry pies

Sunday, September 7, 2008

world of watercraft

Boats, boats, and more boats. In addition to eating lunch on the pontoon every day, we also went sailing, canoeing, and kayaking.

Tony searches for the BWCA.

kayaker tony

Grandpa takes the big sail boat out for a spin.

sailing with grandpa david

A quick canoe ride out to the island and back.

canoe gang

Captain Logan takes his pontoon driving job very seriously. He self-appointed himself "Captain Sternface".

captain logan

Kayte enjoys riding on the pontoon.

kayte catches the breeze

Captain Owen also takes his job seriously but since he can't see over the wheel, he relies more heavily on his navigator.

captain owen

Saturday, September 6, 2008

life at gust lake

We spent a nice 4-day weekend at Gust Lake over Labor Day. The weather was perfect but the bugs were a little worse than expected. Fun was had by all.

The family sleeping quarters.

tent view on gust lake

Observing caterpillars in our makeshift terrarium.

caterpillar observation

Playing a game of king's corners down by the lake.

playing cards by the lake

Driving the Super Tryke to the neighbor's well.

fetching water

Kicked back and relaxed.

a lounging owen

Getting crafty down by the water.

needlework al fresco

Logan recently removed his training wheels and took the opportunity to ride up and down the road endlessly.

logan bikes down the lake road

Reading books with Owen.

reading by the lake

Sitting around the fire in the evening.

firelight

Thursday, September 4, 2008

back to school

It's hard to believe it but we have a first-grader in our midst. We attended an open house last night to meet his teacher and see the new classroom. This morning he took his new backpack, lunch box, and milk money, hopped on the bus and attended his first full day of school. Afterwards, when asked how his day went, Logan replied "Excellent".

Obligatory photo to document the first day of school.



Riding the bus in the morning.



Special celebratory treat after the long day.



Two minutes later.