Vacation Video

Molly turns 7!

Our little Molly turned 7-years-old this weekend.  It has been amazing to watch this baby, turned toddler, turned little girl, turn into a girl with her own personality, opinions and character.  I love her so much and look forward to how God will continue to grow her into the young woman that he wants her to be.

As you can see from the second picture, for her birthday, a new kitty named Pearl joined our family.  

Look at these two!

Wildlife on the Farm

We have seen a lot of wildlife on the farm.  

• Herrons
• Egrets
• Turkey
• Deer
• Raccoon
• Possum
• Hawks

Last week we spotted two fawns.  The other day they apparently discovered our honey crisp apple trees.  Luckily, we have put up 8 foot tall fences around each tree, but they have still nibbled around the edges.  Hopefully they don't figure out how to get in there.

On the not so wild side, we have gotten a number of new chicks this spring.  We ordered 10 new chicks from a hatchery: two white egg laying breeds, California Whites and Leghorns.  They are both supposed to be very prolific layers.  We also borrowed a rooster from a neighbor and then incubated about 20 fertilized eggs.  They took about 21 days to incubate and then we began to hear very faint cheeping from the incubator.  Amanda didn't believe me at first.  Then, sure enough, a day or so later the first one began to breaks its way out.  Over the next few days 6 others joined it.  We now have 7 other chicks that are hybrids of our various breeds.

We are excited to have a total of 31 chickens soon at our house.

Higher Call house concert

Shirley has lots of family in town right now.  Last night we were treated to a house concert by her quartet, Higher Call.  They were great.  The rain even held off long enough for them to get all of their songs in.  We sure appreciated their coming out and entertaining our family and friends for an evening.  You can catch a couple of their songs from last night below.

Another Amazing Up North Camping Trip

While the weather was not ideal, the scenery and company were wonderful.  We spent the first few days on Madeline Island in the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior.  My highlights from that part of the trip:

1. spending time with our camping friends
2. canoeing with the kids in the island lagoon
3. seeing Matthew swim the channel and freeze his pants off
4. spending moments alone with many of the kids
5. finding the cliffs on a great walk
6. watching Amanda put her feet into Lake Superior and wailing at the cold

 

From there we went north to Minnesota's North Shore.  We camped at Temperance River State Park.  This is my favorite North Shore state park.  If the weather had been better we would have loved our time there.  My highlights:

1. World's Best Donuts
2. A great walk on the Lake Superior shore
3. Grand Marais
4. An amazing pie (or three) at The Pie Place Cafe in GM

 

So thankful for the beauty of God's creation.  So thankful for my family and the opportunity to spend an uninterrupted week with them.  I'm already thinking about the next time we can get out in the woods.