Butterflies

Five of our six guys hatched.

And this is what I found when I went outside to tell Johnsie.

Snug as a Bug

Here are 3 of our caterpillars all wrapped up. Happy and content to be all snug.


In this picture you can even see the skin this guy crawled out of. It is the dried up black thing next to him. Every time I see a chrysalis I am amazed at their beauty. I so love the little gold dots.

Mother Nature is so wow.

The other 3 guys are hanging a bit more precariously so, I didn't want to disturb them.

6 Big Fat Guys

Over the past few days we have found 6 different guys caught lurking around. Not all at once. First, there were 2 of them and the other 4 were slinking around by themselves. It was so creepy.

Ok, so it wasn't creepy like you were thinking. It was creepy crawly creepy.

Currently we have 6 monarch caterpillars. One guy had already made his chrysalis. We are so excited.
One of the things I was really upset about when we moved away from our house in MN was that we would have no more milkweed. We would always get a few stray plants in our garden.
Now your typical gardener would be really upset about having this weed in their garden but, we loved it. I think every year we lived in that house the kids were able to find caterpillars and take care of them until they were butterflies and ready for release.

I was overjoyed when I found milkweed growing in our yard this spring.

Granted when I found these guys I was in the process of spraying roundup on our beloved milkweed. Not all of it. Don't worry. Just the stuff in front of the house. We need some grass.

I hope to post pics and video of our butterfly release day.



The only pic, of old release days, I could find was one of Johnsie back in 2008.

Grisamore Farms

The boys and I headed off to one of the local U-Pick Farms- Grisamore Farms because it is prime time for blueberries.

We have never been to a U-pick farm before. We had such a wonderful time.

Seriously, almost every shot of Manny catches him eating berries.
First, we picked some raspberries. Sadly their season is almost up so there weren't all that many left.

We picked about 2 pints and between the three of us we probably ate almost as much.

They have acres and acres of fruit and veggies.

And oh my, the blueberries. I so love blueberries.

Manny is already planning a trip for us to come back so we can pick enough blueberries to make some jam with. Sounds like an awesome plan to me. I better find my canner quick.


We came home with 4 pints of blueberries. They are so wonderful. We are planning to go back in September too to do some apple picking.

Everyone Loves A Parade

Yesterday, it was our town's annual Headwaters Day. I am sad to think that this will be the last time we attend this parade. Small town parades are so awesome. You seriously know someone on almost every float. And of course there are the fire trucks, the horses and the candy.

D's Favorite- The Fire Trucks

Racing for Candy

Look Dad

When we were attending college in Grand Forks, ND, they city had an ordinance about not throwing candy from the floats. This seemed so odd to us and I am not sure if that is common in other cities.

Ryan and D

Anyway, A was at work and wasn't able to attend with us and N was down the block hanging with his buds. He did stop by to drop off his loot before he rode off to participate in the days events.

Got anymore candy in there?

My N sweaty from running around.

Checking out the haul.

Lawn Sledding

N and D absolutely love to hook the sled up behind the lawn mower and have me haul them around. No one in our neighborhood has fences so, we drive around on 3 different lawns. I have totally awesome neighbors.

Caterpillars....Yippee

Our first Monarch caterpillars have turned up on our milkweed. Now, most people consider milkweed to be a noxious weed, and it is, but we love it because we always get to watch the life cycle of butterflies. I do always try to pick off the flowers so they don't go to seed. Otherwise, I think our entire yard would be covered. I guess we would have lots of butterflies then. Remember to always look for the positive.

We always keep a few empty jars around to put our caterpillars in. This actually ends up being a good little lesson in responsibility too. The boys have to make sure the caterpillars always have fresh leaves and that their jar is cleaned out. I will warn you these little guys sure do poop a lot.

The milkweed plants are the tall ones in the back.

Picnic Table Talk

Picnic Table Talk
This week is all about physical activities and outdoor games. We are really lucky to have a really large yard, 100ft x 300ft, for the kids to play in. We live on the outskirts of town so, we are also lucky that we only have neighbors on the sides of us. There is a large field behind us and another in front where a farmer grows soy beans.

We have lived in our house for 9 years now and during our first summer here my hubby built a large sandbox. Our kids love to play in it. Our 11 yr. old gets down with his little brother and plays just as hard as when he was 3. It is so fun to watch. They love to add water to it so they can make sand castles.

We also have a tramp with an enclosure. All 5 of us use it. I have found out that if you have a grumpy kid tell them to go bounce because it is virtually impossible to jump with a frown. It always makes you smile. My kids love it when I put the sprinkler under the tramp. They just have so much fun playing in the spraying water.

My kids also really enjoy helping me garden. Granted right now they do more picking and eating on the spot, peas usually, then helping weed. But, that's what it is there for. When they get snacky outside they just run and grab a handful of peas, carrots or beans and go right back to playing.

This year we purchased a picnic table and the boys love to "go out" for lunch. Plus, clean up is a breeze. Crumbs are just brushed onto the ground.

Living in MN we really do try to take advantage of our nice summer days. However, our state bird, the mosquito, does make it difficult at times.

Other activities we do or things we use are: Hula hoops, water ballons, bird feeders, bug catching, rock painting, chalk, pressing flowers, balls, campfires, horseshoes, Bocce ball.

4th of July Traditions

New thing I found on the web that I decided to do.

What are you doing this July 4th?

This 4th of July we are going to Mt. Rushmore. We plan on tenting at a campsite close to the monument of course we haven't booked anything yet. We need to get our butts in gear.

What is your favorite dish to pass when attending a 4th of July party or summer barbecue?

I usually make a grape salad. All it is is 1 box of cream cheese, a little vanilla, about a tbsp of sour cream and powdered sugar (as sweet as you want) I just dump it in. Blend well and add in grapes, mix well and sprinkle top with brown sugar.


Do you have any July 4th traditions?


Actually we try to watch the town's fireworks but some years we are at our lake. We ALWAYS, however, buy fireworks on the 5th (half price) and have our own little display.

Golfing- Mini that is.

We took Uncle Bobby mini golfing up in Fargo. We were having beautiful weather and we thought we would take advantage of it. Especially since the first day Bob was here we had tornado warnings, really scary looking clouds, heavy rain and super strong winds. Plus, we thought mini golf might be something N would be able to do with his arm.

D was a little difficult but, not too bad. We didn't even try to keep score though because D kept hitting every ones balls. N got a little tired of this. Oh well, you can't expect a 3 year old to understand the intricacies of mini golf.

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We also took Bob to Scheels All Sports and we all rode the ferris wheel. See we have fun things to do here. Oooooo a ferris wheel and it is inside too. D was going to ride with his Uncle Bobby and N but after he got buckled in he started to cry for Mom and Dad. Our ferris wheel date, which Ryan had previously pointed out to me, was now going to be a date for three. I guess the more the merrier. I personally would have preferred to keep my feet on the floor because it seems the older I get the more scared of heights I am becoming. Notice the big signs posted behind each seat Ryan! Danger! Do Not Rock Seat. He obviously needs to get his eyes checked.

Yum! Catfish.

I have never actually eaten a catfish but, I do have to say that they honestly don't sound to appealing to me. So, needless to say I am happy that the only one we saw was way to big to fry up. D has seen, The Whopper, from the road but, we have never taken him down to see it and lucky for us N really wanted to fish. Fishing seems to be one of the few things he can still do with his bum arm. Of course, D had to fish some too, until he noticed the big pile of dirt right behind us. N's friend M joined us for our fishing excursion. The big boys eventually had to start digging and playing in the mud too. No fish were caught but the day was deemed a success anyway. And it did keep N from saying, "I'm so bored," for a few hours.