Mr Rogers moments

Growing up during the 70-80's you inevitably were subjected to daily doses, or at the very least portions of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. There, in the little land of make believe, are some rather interesting characters, among them is the all important King Friday, "I presume" and my all time favorite ridiculousness, Henrietta Pussy Cat, "Meow Meow, I like you, Meow Meow".

I had, for what ever reason, slipped some of these voices, and oh so quotable quotes, into random family conversations. My kids finally asked where in the world I came up with that, and I had to tell them that I was not the master mind behind this silly speech- so in this the great day of You-Tube I let them in on my little secret and showed them some vintage Mr. Rogers.

Now they are all talking like that, "Can I, meow meow, have some breakfast, meow meow?", "I presume"! It nearly slays me when Eli says "I presume"- he sounds very much like our good old friend King Friday! Today I think that I shall introduce them to Mr Ed!

Winding Down and Starting Again

Blackberries and Bikes

We have had some lovely times picking blackberries over the last couple of weeks and have ended up with a plethora of blackberries- 34 lbs to date; this could be an expensive hobby- but worth it; I could probably eat a whole flat of berries myself, and wouldn't mind spending a lot of time in their lovely gardens- three cheers for Buckeye Acres!

We also harvested our grapes- sadly it wasn't a large quantity, but enough to get a couple of batches of jelly. I think we have just had too much rain this year and too much cool weather, though you will never hear me complain about that point!

Bella and Kaija were very helpful making the grape jelly.

Zachary completed their 100 mile ride on the 14-15th. He enjoyed every second of it and we are indebted to all the wonderful leaders that took their time to make it such a great trip!

He is already planning a time for me to take him and ride through his favorite areas!

He was a little sore, but he did great.

We are officially on day 2 of school and the kids are very happy with the new schedules. They came home smiling yesterday, and that is always a good sign!

Joe has been out of town for a week or so and has about that much to go- we are never really sure. He is working on installing an instrument in Grand Rapids MI. We always look forward to his return- Eli most especially. But following this instillation they will be in town for quite a while. I like this plan!

Crown Center

Well this is by far the worst slide show we have ever created, so please ignore the quality of the photos- the lighting just didn't do anything for my cell phone, and Eli chose the annoying spiral design. Disclaimer: I am not responsible for anyone getting sick from viewing this particular slide show!!

I took the kids up to Crown Center in Kansas City to see the free Lego display (I think it is there until Labor Day). It was very cool and we are decidedly glad that we went. While you are there you can hardly pass up the opportunity to go to the Hallmark Visitor's Center, and we also ventured to go to the ever famous Fritz's train restaurant. The food is hardly worth the effort and very expensive for the minuscule amounts that you get. This was only our second time there, but we were sure to only get a couple of shakes and some fries so the train could deliver the fries to the table. However lacking it was, I felt like it was the perfect time to indulge Eli, it is the perfect place for 4 year old boys- truly, who knows when we will make it up their again!

Summer Time

This summer has been a little odd since we haven't really traveled anywhere- it is a first for us! We have had some great family time, had fun with friends, enjoyed planting and harvesting a garden, working on the house, reading good books and a thousand other little things. We will have big things again next year, but for now we've enjoyed slowing down a little.

Well, we have been to see a couple of 3-D movies this summer:

UP, and then Ice Age 3, when Grandma Nielsen was here for a visit.

The kids really love the glasses!

(And yes we definitely saw Harry Potter!)

We have had 4 new additions to the family...... namely bikes, and they have been very well received! Zach is working hard on his Cycling Merit Badge- they just did their first 25 miler last night on the Katy Trail. He is really enjoying it and has developed some fine new muscles!

Bella has found it very amusing to watch the tomatoes ripen in front of her very eyes- luckily this one ripened just in time for grandma's visit!

We have visited our new outdoor pool, which the kids like very much-

Kaija even came and walked the river with me one morning,

and she braved a 5 mile bike ride with me and the boy scouts. What a gal!

We might have to make one last trip to the pool before school starts on the 18th.

Joe wants to come too, before he leaves for Rapid City Michigan!

So now it is time to cram in a bunch of last minute summer activities into less than 2 weeks! Here we go......