This was the view from our back patio. Under attack? Preparing to handle the protesters-who-can’t-logically-express-what-they-are-fighting-for at the state fair this coming weekend? Blocking streets near your own neighborhood is one thing. Trying to disrupt 100,000 drunks who just want their cheese curds could lead to a riot of epic proportions. Sigh, just wish I’d hear a reasonable, civilized argument in between all the news showing crap burning and neighborhoods getting shot up.
The bucket of water that was meant to put out the fireworks took one for the team. Uh…safety first.
Our firework technicians at work. Boom!
Here’s the dance team. Freshmen in the back. Seniors up front. Lots of rules like that. Tradition? Hazing? Do the right things for the right reasons and all will be well.
Look who else made the dance team. Hmmm…I don’t remember trying out.
And she didn’t think she’d ever be a “dance mom”. Somebody could use a ProSpangle Bling Machine for Christmas!
Birthday pies for daddy!!! Stay away. Mine.
How many bunnies do you see in the picture? Seriously??? Laying down??? You’re too fat, lazy, and confident to even stand up to eat under the bird feeder now??? That’s right next to our patio – Orca obviously isn’t doing her job!!!
Mom – did I ever thank you for the birthday glasses? No? Good. Heh heh.
We have a bumble bee hive in an old stump in our backyard. Bumble bees are everywhere. I looked online and it said that bumble bee hives are very rare and that we should consider ourselves lucky. We are! They are awesome to watch bumbling around.
Colleen has been busy painting signs. Megan is going to wear this around her neck all year at school I think.
Megan asked for EVERY one of the different swimming fish in this series for the pool. It’s insane in the pool when she turns them all on at once. Things are attacking you from every side!
Wonder where she got her love of pies from? We kept getting so many berries from the garden, along with our rhubarb, that Beth couldn’t help but keep making super yummy pies 🙂
On our road trip to Kentucky for Beth’s mom’s side’s family reunion, we stopped in Iowa. Our typical rant about Iowa involves hitting deer or getting stuck in snow storms. This time we drove on back roads, gravel roads, windy roads, roads through small towns, etc – and we loved it. I had an urge to drop everything and become a farmer. So close – but we kept driving. It was beautiful. Our first stop was at the Field of Dreams. We watched this movie as a family a week prior to the trip (we must have set the bar so low describing this “old” movie to our kids and how boring it would be that they all said they actually liked it – hee hee). The baseball field is exactly how you’d picture it from the movie. It was the perfect stop to get our trip started. And it’s surprising how popular it is 25+ years later (and they don’t charge admission – awesome!).
The start of me and my minions!!! Watch out world – here we come!
Just passing along this picture for anyone looking for ideas on remodeling their kitchen. Is this what they call Kentucky charm???
I’m very secure in my urges toward quilting. Are you?
So much to do outside the Quilting Museum we didn’t even see what was inside (maybe on our next trip to Paducah)?
Dam sign
Dam trash cans
Dam daughter
Dam son
Christopher showing off his new glasses. What are you lookin’ at.
This is my story to sum up Kentucky. I’m standing near the 6-pack of Kentucky Ale in the liquor store and the clerk was right there. I wanted to know if that beer was popular down there so I asked him, “Do people drink this here?”. He turned to me, 100% serious, and said (as if I was the dumb one he needed to educate), “Sir, you can’t drink in the liquor store.” Uh…huh? I didn’t even respond. Maybe this is a common daily question he gets. I just bought ma’ beer, said “See yinz later”, and I burned rubber leaving the parking lot like everyone else does down there.
Months ago when I asked Christopher what was on his dream list this year, he said to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky. He got to eat lots of Kentucky-fried chicken (because that’s what the buffet had in the one spot that we could all eat each night at the reunion). The reunion was 20 miles from the big city of Paducah, but we did find this KFC on our way out of town. Livin’ the dream!
We stopped in Bloomington, Indiana to see Leanna w/ her kids, and to walk around IU’s campus. We all ate lunch at Mother Bear’s Pizza. Not that I would ever judge or compare schools in Indiana but this shows the quality of an education in Bloomington. We ordered the right amount of food for lunch – 3 huge mistakes (including a repeat mistake) later by the “morons in the kitchen” (as our waiter called them) and Leanna had a pile of food taller than her! We would go back there in a heartbeat. Order something slightly different from what is on the menu and you’ve hit the jackpot of free food. Our problem was how to get them to stop making mistakes in the kitchen so we could just leave the place. Guess you’ve got to be good at something, huh? Campus was beautiful as I remembered it – we keep wanting to show Colleen schools that we pass.
We had an awesome quick visit in Indy. Amazing hosts as always! Great to catch up with everyone and to see all of the kids – wow how they’ve all grown!!! Thank you Egolds!!!
Don’t think for a second that Beth had any better luck than I did.
Pizza with Phil and Pat. Great to see them and to see Aunt Pat up and about and looking great. Always great to stop and catch up on things in Rochester.
It is hard to not think about Rochester and “the flag pole” but this little trailer and VW Bus served the best ice cream we’ve ever had in Rochester. Too bad that the flagpole is putting the flagpole out of business. This new place is easy to miss as you drive by but I recommend that you stop there!
We must have caught Dave and Beth on laundry day – why else would you wear those t-shirts? Aunt Beth sounded like she’d love a Purdue blanket from us – not sure what she would do with it but she said we could send her one. It was great to see Aunt Beth and Uncle Dave, and to see that Aunt B is doing well. We are thinking of you all the time and continue to send happy thoughts and prayers to everyone in Rochester. Boiler up!
Hail, hail to old Purdue! All hail to our old gold and black!
Harry’s Chocolate Shop near campus.Home of the world famous Baltimore Zoo.
The next pictures in future blog posts won’t be so small of our cute little pumpkin (weeks later she’s already past 100 lbs – more to come next month).
And here’s the start to our cute little pumpkin’s vine.
A beautiful arrangement of buds from the cute little pumpkin’s vine.
I commented last night, but not sure what I did to make it disappear.
Should we feel lucky having hornets and wasps, or does being lucky only apply to bumblebees? I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get rid of a hornets nest by the steps going up the hill by the pond. They just won’t take the hint that they aren’t wanted there. I also went up in the attic over the garage to see where the wasps have been going as they enter a hole near our front porch. They have a nice nest approaching the size of a soccer ball. I removed a smaller nest last winter. I’ll bag it up again when the weather turns cold and hopefully seal off the hole they’re using.
Looks like your family has had a very busy summer. Glad you made it to IN and KY to visit family and friends. We’ve been busy around here. Mom has been busy babysitting since Jackie had surgery on her leg and I’ve been busy tearing up their crabgrass, spreading top soil and planting new seed. Good thing Daniel is an electrician as the rototiller I rented did a number on the wire going to the lamp post.
I’m working 4 days this week. I was scheduled for 5 until I saw the notice today saying they are closed Sat. for Labor Day. I may have to remind them that I’m part time. My work schedule and work outdoors give me a good chance to listen to audio books. I’ve listened to 45 since I started in Jan.
Your young Thompsons are really growing up. Hope Colleen (and Beth) are enjoying the dance team activities. Megan’s b-day pie looked great. Glad your pumpkin is coming along. Our garden isn’t producing much. It didn’t help that the chipmunks ate all the blossoms off the zucchini plant. We don’t have rabbits under our bird feeder, but the chipmunks and squirrels really enjoy what the birds flip out. Glad Christopher was able to fulfill his dream of having KFC in KY.
Mom is flying out to IN the end of Sept. and will be there a week. She wants to see Beth before they head to FL and she enjoys spending time with Becka in Indy.
Hope all the MN Thompson students get off to a great start. We’ll talk to you soon.