Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

Here are a few Thanksgiving pictures. Walter was so proud of this turkey he made at school.

Here the kids are posing with their cousins on Thanksgiving.

Sorry that I have been neglecting my blog lately. I am taking an online course and it is taking up much of my time once the kids go to bed.

Winter has definitely arrived in the copper country! Around Thanksgiving we had one storm that gave us over a foot of snow. Rose E has been cracking me up with her comments lately about the outdoors. About a month ago she realized that she could see her breath when she went outside and panicked that she was on fire and smoke was coming out of her mouth. Then one day she was walking in the snow and said "I'm getting soggy." Too cute.

Happy Halloween

Really, does the weekend have to end?
Such the little helper!

The four wheeler driver and puppy say "trick or treat" at Grandma's house.

A few four legged guest came to say hello!

Pumpkin carving

and some new porch friends!

Lastly, Walter and Rose E with their friends out trick or treating.
It was another fun and eventful weekend!

Never know from day to day what life will bring!

Early Sunday morning my husband Jeff unexpectantly went into surgery to have his appendix removed. He is now home recouping. It is mind boggling to me how fast it all happened, thank goodness for today's doctors, nurses and technology!

Some recent pictures

On Friday we went on what may be our last Ranger ride for the season in our area. Here we are in the Calumet area under an old mining building.

Jeff and Walter climbed this huge rock pile to see the view below.

Two weekends ago Walter had his last soccer game for the season. My parents, my grandma and my sister and her son Colton came for the day to see him play. Here are the kids in the yard with cousin Colton.

Lastly, a few more pictures of the kids at the pumpkin patch and corn maze this year. Walter was happy to be our navigator as we hiked the maze and Rose E said "there's lots of corns."

These two characters continue to keep us smiling. Walter is saving his money to "buy his own railroad someday" and one day at the dinner table asked "who do I need to pay to buy my own railroad and who pays me?" I thought wait a minute here you are only five! Yesterday, Walter fell on the playground equipment outside while at school and got a fat lip. Anyway, I picked him up from school and he said "Rose E, my lip fell off at school today!" Rose E has been quiet the little caretaker here taking care of her Daddy, her baby dolls and her toy dogs.

Our Trek to the Huron Mountains

Today we took the Ranger four wheeler into the wilderness from Lanse to Big Bay through the Huron Mountains. What beautiful scenery!
Here are a couple of views taken on top of Mount Arvon.

We also stopped at Slate River falls.

Along the way to Big Bay we saw several waterfalls and streams like this one too. We drove round trip around 100 miles and when we where done Walter said "that was the goodest ranger ride ever!"

;)

Here is a picture of Walter with Grandma today after his soccer game. It is so entertaining to watch at that age!

School is still going well for this big guy(nothing but good reports from his teachers), however, getting up early in the morning has been an adjustment for us all. Anyway, last week I had to wake him up one morning and he came down stairs to announce that he " ran out of batteries." Luckily he still wanted to go to school though! Too cute.

And this girl of course is entertaining too! She has been wearing these red glasses and giving us all pretend shots while claiming to be Dr. Susie (Dr. Seuss)!

Past Weekend Adventures

The weekend before Walter started school we rode on the four wheeler Ranger up to Quincy Hill in Hancock, Michigan and had a picnic. Walter was in his glory because we ate next to old train cars and visited an old mine along the way. The view from up their is breathtaking!

Oh and speaking of school, Walter is loving kindergarten. He comes home every day very excited and we have received good reports from his teachers.

Last weekend we took a drive to Freda Michigan and visited an old mine on Lake Superior.

Here are the kids exploring the ruins.

Again, another beautiful site!

Last weekend we also had our church picnic at McClain's state park. Here are the kids in front of the light house. They where so excited about hiking the trails in the woods!

This weekend we trailered the ranger to Watersmeet, Michigan and drove it to Iron River, Michigan. We took along the kid's cousin Cale. He was a little adventurer with his binoculars.

We crossed over some scenic bridges and the kids where thrilled that we ate lunch in an old train car and then toured a museum in Iron River.

A favorite part of the museum of course

and another beautiful bridge. It is amazing to me how fast fall came this year. One day it was in the nineties the next day it is in the fifties and the leaves have begun to change.

And he's offf!

It was a big day today! The first day of kindergarten. I think it was harder on me then on him! We got to the school and he ran right to his friends on the playground never looking back. Then he came home talking a mile a minute. It seems like he enjoyed it, so I am glad about that. Since it was a big milestone we went out to eat tonight at the mine shaft restaurant and played games in the arcade. With how fast the time has already flown by, I'm sure before we know it he will be graduating from high school!

Off to Kindergarten tomorrow!

Sorry that I have not been very good lately at posting. Things have been busy around here, I just finished another course online which kept me extremely busy once the kids went to bed every night and a few times went to post and had technical difficulties.

So anyway here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

I thought this picture taken out at the camp (cabin) was appropriate as for this boy is saying good bye to summer break tomorrow and heading off for kindergarten! I can't believe it, time does fly. I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around it. It seems like only yesterday he was a toddler. It will be so strange to drop him off and just leave.

This is what this princess has been into lately! Cutting and tearing paper into millions of pieces. Sometimes she will work for a while on a project only to cut it completely up when she is done.

A couple weeks back the kids cousin Ariel came to visit. The kids always love spending time with him.
Walter has three big passions right now trains, mining buildings and maps. He loves maps and will study them for hours on end. He is also obsessed with our G.P.S.

The fair came into town last week. The kids had a blast. Here they are posing in front of the chickens.

Both kids got to pick a ride, no surprise what ride Walter chose.

A couple of weeks ago we also took a trip to Tomahawk to visit with my family. Here we are at a petting zoo in Minocqua, Wisconsin. I thought this bird house was so awesome.

The kids also got to see there cousin Colton. Which was nice.

And one of Walter's favorite parts of the trip was our walk on railroad track.

Our Ranger Ride to Eagle River, Michigan

My parents came to visit a couple of days ago. Here are a few pictures that my they took of our Ranger trip that we took to Eagle River Michigan. In this picture we stopped in Centennial, Michigan to enjoy the breathtaking view from an observation deck.
We stayed for awhile in Eagle River and enjoyed the Lake Superior sand.

Then we ventured up a mountain in Eagle River. Check out the views!

Happy Birthday to my niece, Kirsten!

Our trip to Duluth, Minnesota

This weekend we took a quick trip to Duluth. I just love the natural beauty of the area. Here we are at a museum in Two Harbors.
Walter was so excited to see some real trains! He got to see some old steam locomotives and some modern diesel locomotives in action. He was on cloud nine.

We also stopped to see the Split Rock lighthouse(you can see it if you look closely in the background). Jeff and I hiked to it almost ten years ago on our honeymoon. How time flies when your having fun!

On the second day we took our longest Ranger ride ever! We went from Moose lake to Royalton, Minnesota. Almost two hundred miles round trip! It was fun to see different territory. We saw a couple of nice depots, two raccoons,deer, a skunk, mice, and beautiful birds along the way. Then we got into our vehicle and saw a coyote as we where leaving. It was a fun trip.