Hmmm...

So this year the older boys were visiting my folks for the 4th of July and then friends from out of town (Tennessee) wonderfully surprised us by showing up (here visiting their families) and were able to get together late on the actual 4th -- so we decided to take Lincoln and Thea Belle to fireworks on the 5th. Some of the small towns around the Twin Cities do their fireworks the day after. Last year we went to New Prague and it was wonderful -- lots of parking spaces, lots of families, soft pretzel carts, country and classic rock music synced up with the fireworks display. It reminded Brad and I of the fireworks we had experienced growing up outside small towns. This year we decided to try Delano, MN who boasts having the longest running fireworks display (since 1856). When we got there we stopped at a kitschy ice cream joint at the edge of town. The lady who owned it gave the kids mini malts since it was cash only and we could only scrounge up enough change for one (totally un-neccesary but so kind). Then we headed toward the hoopla. There was a kinda creepy carnival (not like a 4-H fair, maybe it seemed creepy because the workers seemed something out of a Flannery O'Connor short story or a depressing 21st century nihilistic gritty reality tale) that threw us a bit off edge. There was a softball game happening at the edge of the rides which felt much more normal so Brad sat with the kids and enjoyed that while I did some awkward people watching and explored enough to find out that most people went over to a berm a ways off behind the carnival grounds. The works didn't begin until 10:30 so we waited and then headed over to the strangest mix of crowd -- anyway, we were up front and center for the well-done display works -- long, well-paced, and with these crazy new fire mushroom-cloud bombs that I have failed to find a photo of on the internet. They are so over-the-top and ridiculous and kinda awesome. I still left feeling strange and unsettled thinking about small towns and about where I grew up and changing economies and carnivals. But the kids had fun and Brad rolled with it (like he always does) and those fire bombs were quite the memory.

 

Making Lemonade

Atticus has been asking for awhile for us to make lemonade from scratch. So we did. It was a great success. I looked on the internet and sort of compiled amounts and ways of doing it and settled on making a syrup on the stove with part of the water and all of the sugar and then adding the extra lemon juice into the hot sugar syrup. The amounts I used were: 1 cup sugar, 5 cups water, the juice from 8 lemons. It was a perfect tangy amount -- not too sweet. Dietrich is convinced this is what they drink in heaven. (-:

Toasting was their idea -- They came up with a new thing they liked about summer each time they toasted and took a sip.

Dietrich said, "Let's thumbs up it!"

Watching Toads...

Catching toads at the pond near our house...

I am guessing that these are baby toads from their coloring and because they seem land-based? I looked all over the internet for a good identifying source but was unsuccessful. If you know what they are, let me know!

  

   

 

We just kept them over night, made sure they had plenty of water, and brought them back to the pond the next morning. They all survived. Whew!

Minneapolis Falls at highest water levels in recorded history. Here, Lincoln is refusing to allow me to get a historic picture for his future self.

Atticus trying to use humor to persuade Lincoln to cooperate...

Not working but the other two are rather fierce...

Atticus tries his typical more hands-on approach to get obedience...

Hm. Well, good try -- I guess I recorded something for posterity.

One more because Lincoln is here...(ironically he was smiling at me in the photo above -- see how well-placed his head was?)

Well, at least I will have many clear face-photos of Atticus' and Dietrich's childhood adventures...Even if this is Atticus' photo-game-face.

 

These two...

 

This is what one-hair-away-from-death looks like -- I was herding and holding and verbally corralling away from the water the entire length of the walk -- yes, I looked like a crazy person. I even held Lincoln by his underwear/pants while I was taking this photo. Never never assume Lincoln knows not to hurl himself into raging whitewater.

Mossy rock outcroppings...lovely!

Chief Hiawatha and Minnehaha

One of the many, many places Minnehaha Creek has overflowed her banks...