Beaver Dam

I love to spend a week each year at the family cabin in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

We have such a wonderful time and there are some things that we do each year.

1. Vacuum up thousands of Japanese Beetles! =)
2. Visit Nancy's Notions sewing store.
3. Go shopping at the Antique Mall downtown.
4. Lay around. Nap when needed.
5. Play hours of games.
6. Canoe, or paddle-boat.
7. Sing, read aloud and generally enjoy being together.

This year Ken and Matthew headed out to Devil's Lake for a day of hiking. To get there they had to take a ferry. How fun. Can you believe it? This is the second ferry this year!

This ferry went across the river on a cable.

Devil's Lake

There are actually some great spots for rock climbing here. Ken and Matthew hiked up to this spot. Rock climbing is more up Nate's alley. You must have equipment to do that safely.

There is plenty of wildlife at the cabin --- as witnessed here. "wink"

In addition there are toads, snakes, deer, muskrats, opossums, and our personal favorite the fragrant skunks.







One year the boys decided to live trap a muskrat. Well we caught a pole cat (skunk) instead.


We think they got that nick name because you should hold that cat on the end of a long pole.

The poor thing couldn't get it's tail up to spray us from the trap. But no one wanted to be the one to let it out.






















































We hope to have many more adventures at the cabin. Now maybe starting with another generation!

Father & Son Camp

Does this picture look familiar? Each year all the fathers and sons are gathered at this place for a picture. Here is this year's picture, 500+ fathers and sons!

Can you find Matthew in this one?

He and Ken along with the other men in our fellowship headed down to Oakland for the weekend. Since Walnut Point State Park Campground was full, they all camped in Kyle and Gretchen's yard. {Big downer, Nate wasn't able to go!}

Breakfast!
Staying at Kyle & Gretchen is like staying at the Hilton. Kyle made them his famous biscuits and gravy. Yum.

The Path to the Shooting Range

Everything was so well organized and supervised!
Kyle and Matthew spent most of Friday here.

Gretchen and baby headed out to the rifle range.

Here they had guns to shoot as well as bows and arrows.

GREAT shooting Matthew!!

Kyle and Gretchen

Teddy Roosevelt visited the men and brought his special kind of encouragement.

Sergeant Jeff Streucker
Task Force Ranger

He's written his testimony in a book titled The Road to Unafraid.
It's the story of the incident in Mogadishu, Somalia made famous
by the book and movie Black Hawk Down.
Jeff is presently a U.S. Army Chaplain.

There were so many things for the men to do, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, fishing, paintball, games and competitions, clay pigeons and of course eating. =) (There is one other crowd pleaser I didn't list because I don't know if it's an official category, fire building and burning things "wink")






The weather was perfect and the scenery stunningly beautiful. Do I need to say that everyone had a great time??

My Weekend Exploits

I am blessed.
I spent the WHOLE weekend doing one of my favorite things!

Most of you will YAWN.

No problem. I'm not insulted.
It's a love that my grandmother passed on to me. She was REALLY good at this.

I got to sew!
I love sewing.

When I sew-- I can think complete thoughts, I can pray, I can listen to different speakers.

I come away from my machine refreshed.


This weekend I completed one top and partially made another. For a couple of years, I've been collecting classic Pooh fabric hoping some day to make baby quilts for Gretchen's children. (She likes Pooh. No one reads Milne like she does. You should hear her voices!)



I ended up making more than one top because I just couldn't decide which combination I liked best. That's even after drawing out the pattern and experimenting.

I'm sorry I can't yet show you my finished top. I don't want Gretchen to see it until it's finished.

Catnappers!

Over the weekend we were cat sitting for Mom and Dad's kitten Rosy. They have fallen in love with this kitten and have been joyfully entertained with all her antics. We also had one of her litter mates, Sasha with us. The cats were together in the garage for the weekend. We had a great time playing with them and watching them get to know each other.


Sunday after church as we were eating lunch, Mom called to say that they had come by earlier to pick up their kitten. They were so pleased because she ran right up to them when they came into the garage.

Here's a picture of Mom and Dad with Sasha.
Do they look guilty???

You guessed it didn't you! They got the wrong kitten. Sasha and Rosey are almost identical. When we told them they had the wrong cat, they hardly believed us, until they thought about it a bit.



They had wondered why "Rosey" was so skitterish when they took her home. She ran all around the house investigating. Then when she went into their laundry room, she came face to face with their floor standing mirror and scared herself silly!

We all laughed and laughed at the mistake! They now have their beloved kitten home with them, and no, she wasn't scared when she saw the mirror.

Gearing up for The Penny.

Nate, signing in.

In a few days I will be heading to WI to start working on the movie The Penny. I will be working as the sound recordist on the project. Basically that means that I will be mixing and recording the audio during the principal photography. The Penny is a Filmweavers production. You can check out their website to find out more about them.

Filmweavers

Russell Military Museum

I love studying history this way. We meet so many interesting people who have a passion for some aspect of what we are studying. Our whole group visited a local museum. No kidding this place is just a couple of miles from us. What a boon for our WW II study. The gentleman who owns it collects things from all the major conflicts. His WWII section is wonderful.


The owner of the museum took us on a personal tour. He knew so much and could answer all the boys interesting questions. Do you know that there is a right way to throw a hand grenade? Do you know why it's right???

We had Gpa Bud and Gpa Sisson with us. They enjoyed it even more than I think we did. Gpa Sisson had to leave for an appointment so I don't have a picture of him.

This is a wonderful poem written by a soldier on the battle front.

This is an extremely rare portable pump organ! (the pedals are cut off of the picture) The Chaplain's wife who sold it to the museum told of his carrying it around with him in his truck always ready to play for the troops.



Lunch in with the planes and tanks.

Jason trying on a gas mask in the museum store. YIKES!!

This is the wing art from the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This was painted by the original artist.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

Company

I am bound and determined to get caught up with my posting. We have just been having waaaay too much fun this fall and that wonderful busy-ness has taken precedence over my blogging. I apologize in advance for having all these events out of order.

Think back to late August for this one! "wink"

Before we left on our New York trip, we were blessed with a house full of friends. It was Great America's home school day so a bunch of folks came into town.

The Hemmer family was here but we hardly count them as company. They are more like family.


We were blessed to make new friends, the Moody sisters from Missouri. They were good sports and joined right in with what was going on.

After a long and exhausting day at Great America, of course we had to have an evening of fun and games.



The Bruce family gets the award for "Coming the Farthest". They came straight through from North Carolina! Thanks you guys for making the effort!! We loved being able to visit together.

Haley and Kristin share a love for the harp. Kristin has played for about 4 years. You can only imagine the beautiful music we were able to enjoy. There is nothing like the sound of the harp. I know why David was able to sooth Saul with his music.

Since the Hemmers were here we had to do some juggling.

We found that Danielle could juggle as well. So they passed the juggling balls in a circle. Matthew is starting to really progress. Soon he and Nate will be able to work up some routines.

"The Jugglers Five"

I loved having everyone over and find such encouragement in likeminded friends!