Farming

Harvest is in full swing now. Earlier then usual, but maybe that means they will be done earlier. It has been a fraustrating year with many break downs and few full days of combining. We can be thankful for a safe harvest and good yields so far. Each of the girls have already enjoyed combine rides with daddy. I am also getting in the fall mood. I got out my few fall decorations and got them up. I've also started my annual fall deep cleaning and have been baking more. I got together with some friends and canned tomatoes. My first time doing canning and it was a blast (that could have been from all the great conversation and laughs with good friends)! Lately I have been picking pumpkins from the garden and freezing them.

 Faith after her combine ride. Nick said she feel asleep about 5 minutes after getting in.

 Grace before her combine ride this morning. She didn't last as long today as she has in the past.

 We've also had a few opportunties to help dad with chores in the barn. The girls ready to help out.

 They did a great job. Grace gave them water and faith helped scoop feed into their little dishes.

 Scouting corn. Grace is getting to be a farming expert lately. She can spot weed patches in the fields, knows the difference between plowing and strip tilling and can tell if a soybean is ready to harvest or not.

 We had our first egg a few weeks ago and haven't bought eggs from the store since. We are now getting eggs regularly anywhere from 1-5 a day. Just enought to always have a few in the fridge.

Faith had to get all ready for her combine ride. She wanted to wear her "farm jacket" as she calls this coat and her "cowgirl" boots. The cowgirl boots have been getting worn constantly for the past few days. If I make the mistake of calling them cowBOY boots she quickly corrects me that they are cowGIRL boots.

First Day of School

Grace is back in school this year at our church's preschool. She attends three morning a week this year. It sure makes the week seem to go by faster. I'm still adjusting to having her gone three days and am not looking to next year with full time kindergarten. Her are some pictures of her first day of school.

The Campers

This summer we decided to finally go ahead with buying a camper. We realized that we are not a family that can rough it in a tent. Nick and I had to compromise some and finally settled on a small travel trailer. We were able to take it out twice this year. Our first trip was to Crow Wing State Park near Brainard. We had a great time despite the mosquitoes, ticks, guns for guard weekend, and heat. If we can survive all that and end the weekend feeling like it was a great success I think we will gets lots of use out of the camper. Our second trip with to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park not too far from Northfield. This trip the weather was perfect and the bugs were not as thick. We are excited to explore some more Minnesota State Parks next year!

 We rented bikes and a bike trailer and rode on the trail by Nisswa. It was the first time when doing anything athletic that I was able to keep up with Nick. It could have had something to do with him having to pull over 50lbs of kids behind him!

 No, it was not cold this day we were hiking. It was actually hot, but the mosquitoes were so bad that we had to bundle up to keep them off us. We were sure that we would come home with either West Nile Virus or Lyme's Disease. Our next hike we were pulling ticks off our pants 10 at a time. I have never seen so many ticks in my life.

 Nick sporting Faith's pink backpack. There were a few things I forgot to pack. Just a hiking backpack, ketchup for the hot dogs. All minor things right???

These next pictures are from Nerstrand Big Woods. This is Faith's new smile for pictures. I'm not a fan of it, but I guess we will have to live with it until she grows out of this phase.

This was a common sight on all of our hikes. Faith (and usually mom) at the back. She always wanders at her own pace with frequent stops to pick up acorns, rocks, dirt, etc. I had to remind myself that someday she will need to walk slow for me when I am old so I need to be patient with her now.

We had a very busy 4th of July this year. My parents invited us over to their house for lunch. They served us a great lunch and then we went to the water park in Gaylord to cool off. The girls enjoyed the pool. It has a little slide that is just right for them. Next we headed home to change out of our swimsuts and take a little rest. Our next stop was Nick's aunt Ruthie's house. Every 4th she has a great party with amazing fireworks. This year the girls actually made it to the fireworks.

 Faith posing next to Ruthie's garden. I'm not sure why she looks so serious.

 The girls got to play with their second cousins. All the little girls then watched fireworks from the upstairs porch.

 Grace has been taking a ballet class this July. This Thursday is her last day of class. She has really been enjoying it. This picture is her all ready on her first day of ballet. She was excited to go to ballet!

 Hard to believe, but my little girl is now 3 years old. We had family over to celebrate the day. Here she is blowing out the candles on her cake.

 Opening presents

 Nick playing, umm, I mean helping with the new barbie.

It was such a nice day on her birthday. We enjoyed some time outside with everyone before supper. 

Beating the Heat

We have been having a heat wave in MN lately. With the humidity it has been over 100 for a few days now. We haven't been getting much relief in the evenings either as it has only been cooling off to the 80s and 70s at night. I know I shouldn't complain. We could be like my parents and not have air conditioning or we could live in Arizona and have this heat all summer. Needless to say, we have been trying to find fun and cool things to do outside. The sprinkler and pool have been a big hit.

 Our first day using the sprinkler this summer. Grace doesn't mind the ice cold well water at all. Faith on the other hand still runs large circles around the very edge of the sprinkler. She is a little braver then last year.

 Getting a drink of water fromt the sprinkler. Maybe not he most pure drinking water, but certainly the coolest and best on a hot summer day.

 Faith having fun in her swimming suit.

 Gracie taking a rest in the shade.

 I have also been enjoying seeing my garden grow. I planted eight tomatoes this year and they all are doing well so far. Hoping to get lots of tomatoes to freeze again this year.

 Some of the plants haven't been liking the heat either. These are my wilting cucumber plants. Hopefully they do okay so we can make fridge pickles (one of my favorites).

 We continued our cooling off after the sprinkler with some strawberry ice cream. We even pulled out some "fancy" cups to have it in. I got a set of fancy dishes at the thrift store and we use them to make certain treats more special. I don't care if they get broken and the girls think it is great to use them.

I've been trying to do a little sewing again. I made an apron for Grace and am working on one for Faith. It seems that I always make at least one big mistake and a few small mistakes that can easily be fixed. As you will see, after cutting out the material I realized that I didn't get the material in the right direction. Grace was smiling when I tried to take this picture and apparently I missed the smile and got this very unhappy look.

The Adventure Continues

After our train ride we went on another hike to explore the old mine some more. Once again the girls did great! We are certainly looking forward to more hiking in the future.

 The old school house.



Our family on the hike. Not sure what this building was. My cousin Anna borrow us her homemade moby wrap for the hike. It was very comfy for me and Faith seemed to like it too. I'm now sold on them! 

Shelving inside an old building. 

Of course there were a few old cars. 

The girls had a great time playing with their second cousins. I didn't get a great picture of them together, but they had a blast. After this they started a very giggly game of ring around the rosy.

Black Hills

Last week our family joined some of my extended Holte family in the Black Hills for a family reunion. We stayed in a cabin at a resort. Our cabin had a playground near it and the first thing that the girls asked each morning was if they could play at the park. We had supper at night with everyone and also had some time to ourselves to explore the area.

 We arrived in SD a day early and met my parents in Deadwood. We had supper together the first night and then did some sightseeing the next morning. We went to a museum, a cemetary and toured a gold mine. This picture was taken at the cemetary overlooking the city.

 Our first day at the cabin a group of us took a hike up the hill near the resort. My parents watched the girls so Nick and I got to hike at our own pace. It was beautiful view and we could see Mount Rushmore.

 The next day we toured Bear Country. The girls were pretty excited to see all the animals.

 They even got to hug a bear! Faith was scared to touch it at first until we explained that it was not a real bear.

 A favorite for the girls was Storybook Island in Rapid City. Here they are walking on the castle bridge.

 That afternoon we joined some of the other Holtes for a hike. We were trying to find an old mining town in the woods, and in particular the old mine. We had hiked this same area when I was a kid at our last SD family reunion. Here the girls are at the top of the hill. You might not be able to tell, but we were pretty high up. The girls both did great. Neither one complained at all! We found some of the old town, but  not the mine. The view was worth the hike!

 Some of the hikers.

 Our next adventure was ride on the 1880s train.

We rode for an hour to Hill City and then back to Keystone again. It was a fun way to see more of the area.

To be continued...