A Romantic Escape

We left the kids at Grandpa & Grandma's house after visiting the orchard, and Ryan and I went on a little romantic escape to Duluth. It was so good to get away for a couple of days, just the two of us, and enjoy spending some time together. It was so nice to not have any interruptions (and to eat at restaurants that don't serve chicken nuggets and french fries!) This picture doesn't do it justice, but the view of the sunrise out of our hotel window the morning we left was magnificent!
View from along Lake Superior. We really enjoyed the vivid fall colors.
Here are some pistures I took while we were hiking along this really neat old road called the "Seven Bridges Road". There were actually more than 7 bridges, and each one of them was just beautiful in the surrounding setting.

A Cutie (or three!) A Day...

We have a tradition of visiting an apple orchard in the fall to pick apples and have some family fun during mommy's favorite season :) The kids (and us too!) love it and Grace looks forward to it all year. This year was a little warmer than most on the day we went, but it was a beautiful day in a beautiful setting as you can see. The apples were pretty yummy too!
Little Boy Blue
Anna (Auntie Jessica's in the background) inspecting her first apple.

Hmm. What is this? Everyone else is eating these balls, so...
... maybe I'll give it a try.

The kids feeding the goats that they have in the little kids barnyard,

here's Grace with Uncle David.

Micah (and Daddy)

The little climber!

Anna has been pulling herself up and standing along side of furniture for a few weeks now, but the other night, just 2 days shy of 8 months old, she stepped up onto the bottom stair at home. Daddy watched as she held onto the bars of the baby gate and stepped up. Mom's not so sure she's ready for this! Anna is so determined to be walking though, so I don't think it will be much longer. She just wants to keep up with her older brother and sister, she doesn't want to miss out on anything!Here she is looking a little bit proud of herself!

Fall Fun!

The kids (and us too!) have been having fun with our yard full of leaves this fall. They love for us to rake up big piles for them to jump or be tossed into! It's funny how when you look at things through the eyes of your children that everything, even raking leaves and the changing of the seasons, becomes a wonderous and amazing thing. Praise God for those moments.
Latest Grace-ism: "I absolutely adore autumn!"

Fishing ... sort of

Saturday, a few days after Grace's surgery, we took the kids "fishing" in New London. Grace had been asking to go fishing all summer long and, since Summer was pretty much over, we figured we'd better go! She didn't catch anything, and she decided that she probably needs a boat "to go where the fishes are." But we had fun anyways! And it was nice to get out a bit since we'd been keeping things pretty low-key after the surgery ... Doctor's orders. The way her bandaging was done it kind of pushed her eyebrows down into her eyes a bit, like a scowl. She was cute the 1st night after the surgery, when she told me "this band-aid kinda makes me look a little bit angry, but I'm not really angry and I still love you even though I look angry." Gotta love it!
Micah had no interest in fishing. He just had fun running around and finding things.

Here's a rare shot of him actually sitting down.And, little miss Anna loved inspecting the nature that Micah and Grace brought to her.

OOH! A little flower! (actually what's left of a dandalion)
I wonder how it tastes?

Sep. 13th, Grace after her ear surgery

Grace recovering on the couch a few hours after her ear surgery. She's holding onto one of the balloons that Grandpa, Grandma, and the kids sent her and also has the teddy bear that they gave her at the Surgery Center there as well. She was such a trooper and we are so proud of her!