The Swamp

Shawn's dad, Cliff, has some property just past Pine City but before Hinkley right off Interstate 35. It's about a 90 minute drive so it's perfect for an impromptu camping trip. We leave our pop up camper there year round and have been able to enjoy it so much more over the last two years now that it has a permanent home.
No one agrees on what to call this place. It used to be farm land and some sheep graze part of it currently. Ryan and Jess call it the Farm. But to be a farm I think it needs to have a Barn and something growing. It has a few ponds and lots of low marshy land so our family calls it The Swamp. Cliff's family simply calls it The Property. Whatever the name it is a fun place to visit.
We spent the night there on June 13th but I forgot the camera. We also stayed there on June 20th and this time I remembered the camera. And we brought home the frogs.

The kids just love it here. They find all kinds of wild life. One night last year Shawn and Heidi were going into town to get gas and they saw a bunch of deer jumping a fence. We hear coyotes at night (they are always close to the sheep) and of course there are frogs, worms, and any other kind of bug you want to find. The above picture is Heidi holding a worm over my soda.

This is a cute picture of Emily. She photographs so well, even after a hard day of playing in the dirt.

Jess's sister Carrie and her kids have been staying with Ryan and Jess for the last few weeks. They are visiting from Kentucky. Above is a picture of Alex standing by the fire. This girl is rarely still long enough to take a picture and this one turned out so beautifully.

We were sitting by the fire as the sun went down. Carrie and I took a ton of pictures of this sunset. It is rare that we see one without houses and buildings in the way. And it was such a wonderful color.

Shawn is tending the fire here. He is the unofficial Camp Fire guy when we go camping. He stays up to make sure it's out long after the rest of us have gone to bed. He seems to be doing a rain dance here.

The dogs really love The Swamp as well. Daisy Mae gets to run around without a leash or a fence. She is to timid to go to far on her own so we don't have to worry about her to much. Pig spends most of his time in the camper or the van, he is such a baby :) This is such a cute picture of Dasiy. You can really see the color on her face (note the gray beard) and the contrast between her coat and the grass. Too bad my foot is in the shot!

First, I need to point out that Heidi has a temporary tatoo on her arm, that is not a bug :)
Last year at the state fair we picked up a number of yard sticks for the kids to play with . Heidi is holding a pink one in her hand. They used these for everything - measuring each other, sward fighting, digging, you name it.
Carrie, Jess's sister, is sitting in the chair behind Heidi and Zack is standing behind her. That's Alex on the 4-wheeler, where she spent most of the daylight hours.
We keep talking about moving the fire pit because no one likes the location. Ryan and Alex dug this perfectly round piece of dirt out of the ground when making the hole for the new pit. It's like a piece of sod! We relocated it and we will see how long it lives. That's Emily admiring their handy work. I am sure Heidi is already in the hole looking for worms, that might be her hair in the corner... All of the kids just love to take the 4-wheeler out for a spin. Zack, Willy, and Alex are just taking off for a ride. The little kids have to go one at a time so there is always a little bit of crying envolved as it is hard for 3 and 4 year olds to remember who went first and who is next. Someday we will have a windmill in the yard. A very large one that feed energy to the power company. I am very excited about this as I love the idea of alternative energy sources. However with the economoy the way it is, there is a back up some where. No one is clear what the issue is - back order, a company in bankruptcy... I just keep hoping this will work it's self out and we will get our windmill. In the meantime there is a cement slab with some stuff sticking out if in the yard. In this picture Heidi and Emily are checking it out.

This is the best camper! My aunt and uncle were so wonderful in selling this to us. We didn't use it much right away but over the last few years we have really been enjoying it. Here is Heidi napping on the bed. The nap is a fake and she was up again as soon as I took this picture. There is just too much to do at the swamp when the sun is still up!!

Heidi's New Pets

As you know Heidi loves animials. She would have 20 cats and 20 dogs if we let her. So would I. Thank goodness for Shawn putting his foot down. However Shawn would like to have a lizzard if I would agree to take care of it. Thank goodness for me not agreeing to that!

But someone let their gaurd down and we now have two pet frogs. Or I should say Heidi now has two pet frogs.



Here is Heidi putting the frogs in their new home, with the help of Shawn (you didn't really think I was going to touch them did you?)

Here is Sara in her new home.

Here is the box we brought them home in. Heidi caught them at The Swamp - Cliff's vacation property in Pine City. We needed to find something to put them in so the $3 foam cooler would have to do.

Shawn removing them from the cooler...

Heidi transporting them - and a good shot of the frog house. We already had the fish tank from when I had fish some 10 years ago. The rest was picked up at PetCo on the way home from the swamp.

Above is Sara - she is slightly orange in color.

Here is Froggy - he is slightly brown in color.
Heidi named them and I assigned the gender (very scientifically I might add - Sara is a girls name therefore Sara is a girl, Froggy sounds like a boy name therefore Froggy is a boy.)

Heidi's Dance Pictures

Heidi danced thru the New Hope Community Program this year. Her dance is a Sailing Melody.


Last Saturday we had Dance Recital Rehearsal. That was a long day. I am very happy that at this age they only dance in one of the shows. Heidi will have her recital this Sunday.

Heidi - Age 4 - New Hope Dance

Heidi's First Dance Pictures

Tonight Heidi had dance pictures. Shawn normally takes Heidi to dance class but since this time we had to deal with clothing, make-up, and hair he decided I should do it.

This process was much more stressful than I had ever thought it would be and I now understand how my mom felt. Mom and Aunt Pat are saints to willingly go thru this year after year for us girls!!!

Heidi dances thru the New Hope Community Program at the New Hope Ice Arena. It's a great program, they have real instructors, costumes, recitals, anything you would expect from a studio. I think that Heidi's favorite part of dance class is knowing that she gets to see her BFF Lauren every week.

Their costumes are really cute. This is before hair and make-up started. For any of you who have not been thru this process, there was a "Hair Class" going on behind me for the mom's of the older kids.


It's hard to get Heidi to smile but never hard to get her to act dramatic!!!


This is the closest to a smile I got from her! She was in a mood from me poking and prodding at her.

This one needs to be reformatted but it's time to put Heidi to bed so I will have to fix it later!


Some of the girls were late so they practiced their dance while waiting. I think that is Heidi's leg way down at the end (on the right).

Here are the BFF's!! Lauren and Heidi posed for a few of these but it's hard to get two girls to smile at the same time :) Poor Lauren, her allergies were acting up :(


Grandpa Gary - this one is for you :) Enjoy!

Easter Egg Hunt and Bowling with Cousins

Today was the Zuhrah Shrine Funsters Easter Egg Hunt. We met up with Pam and Hunter as well as Ryan, Jess, Willy, and Emily. Of course my parents were there! It was a great time for all and such a beautiful day. Easter in Minnesota brings everything from Snow, to Rain, to nice Sunny days. We always hope for a nice Sunny day for the Egg Hunt and this year we got one! We needed jackets but no hats or mittens were required and the sun was Very strong!


Here is Heidi in one of her Easter Dresses. Yes, that's one. We went to Kohl's to get a dress and could not pick between two dresses so we got both. And a new pair of sun glasses. This dress is my favorite of the two.

It took about 6 attempts to get this shot. From Left to Right - Emily (will be 3 in a few days), Heidi (4), and Willy (4).



Heidi just read the sign behind her and is enjoying a giggle. Emily is not sure what is so funny :)

Before the egg hunt started we had donuts and milk. YUM! Hunter joined us right after this photo was taken. He was on High Bunny Alert and therefore we were unable to get him in any photos with the other kids until we were outside.

Here's Hunter!!


All day yesterday and all the way to the Egg Hunt Heidi talked about hugging the bunny. When he finally came around she wasn't so sure but the Bunny just wrapped his arms around her and hugged. When it was over Heidi's face was bright red and she looked like she wanted to cry. Then all of a sudden she decided it was okay and wanted to keep hugging the bunny. She finally realized it was just a really big stuffy!!!!


The kids were getting restless waiting for the Egg Hunt to start. This picture shows exactly how Heidi felt.

On the other hand, Ring-Around-The-Rosy may be a good time killer...


Heidi, Willy, and Emily were willing to take a picture with the bunny. This was Heidi's idea and it seems that Willy and Emily were just along for the ride (that's how it is with these three!!)


This is just an awesome picture of Emily. I just stuck the camera down there and snapped, Jess and I were ecstatic on how well this turned out! But it helps that she is a beautiful little girl with lashes to die for!

Heidi is hunting for her egg here. The were a lot harder this year than any other year. The kids were moved up into the 4 and 5 year old group which made it a lot more fun!

The search is on! Willy is in the front wearing purple and yellow, Heidi is there in her pink jacket, Hunter is in the back on the left holding up his egg and Luke is in the back on the right holding his egg. Luke is the grandson of my parents friends from the Shrine. Luke and Willy are only a few days apart and Heidi is 3 months younger. Heidi and Luke met for the first time when Heidi was 12 days old and Luke was 12 weeks at a Pancake breakfast.

Here is another picture that has no story, it's just really to cute not to post.


I guess this one is to cute not to post also!! Here is Grandpa Gary standing in his parking spot being kind of silly about me wanting to take his picture :)

After the kids found their egg they traded it in for a basket of goodies!

Hunter ate that donut all morning! Here is Pam and Hunter checking out the basket (I think Pam is enjoying the Starburst Jelly Beans!!!)

Heidi was so excited about the Train Bank. Heidi collects banks and this is her first Train!!

After the Egg Hunt the kids were not done having fun so we all headed over to Brunswick Zone in Brooklyn Park for a little bowling. Heidi is getting so big! We helped her the first 2 frames and then were told "Go away and let me do this by myself!!" 6 pound ball for her!

Pam is helping Heidi pick her ball. The 16 lb ball and the 6 lb ball were the same color! Thanks Pam!!!

Hunter and Willy look like they are pros at the bowling alley! Maybe it's time to join a league... :)

Here is Jess cheering on Emily on her first ball - Yeah Emily!!!

Willy liked to shove the ball down the alley. They all did a great job! Heidi beat me in the first game - Heidi 85, Kara 82. Maybe I should use the bumpers... :)

After a much needed quick nap Heidi and I colored Eggs. She did a really good job! She opted to save the Hello Kitty stickers for herself instead of putting them on the eggs.

In my attempt to be creative we wrapped a rubber band around one of the eggs to get a tie-died look. It worked so we did it again. When Heidi took the rubber bands off the second egg it fell on the floor. She sure was surprised that it cracked but didn't spill out. I opened it up for her and she was thrilled to see that the egg was cooked and wanted to try it. She ate it up and in this picture she is eating another one. Yum!!
If Santa comes down the chimney then it makes sense to put the cookies by the fireplace. But how does the bunny get in? Well, the back door of course! Heidi was worried that the dogs would not let the bunny in the house. I told her I thought it would be okay since he would just come in the back door, drop off her basket, and leave. She is okay with that (for this year at least, wait until she realizes we lock the door at night...)

She wanted to leave carrots for the bunny. We don't have a "Carrots for Easter Bunny" plate so we agreed the "Cookies for Santa" plate would have to do.

We put the Stuffy Easter Bunny by the plate so the Real Easter Bunny would know the carrots are for him. Heidi said that he needed to have 5 carrots. I asked why and she said "because 6 is too many." Okay, that sounds good!

It was a busy day but we had so much fun! Tomorrow is another Egg Hunt. This one is hosted by Jess and Ryan. They have done it for the last 3 years and it's always a good time. Then dinner at Dad and Terri's with Justin and Dawn. I am so excited!!

Happy Easter, Passover, or Nice Spring Weekend everyone!!!