June 2012

Well not much has been going on this week. So...we have been planning our family vacation for next summer to.... Kauai! We will be going there in June with my parents for 10 days. We are SUPER excited to be going. Eric and I have had the itch to travel since our last trip to Costa Rica Spring 2010.

For our trip we have our plane tickets booked and a place to stay! We will be renting a vacation home in the little town of Haena on the island of Kauai.


View Larger Map

Here is the link to the place if you want to check it out: http://www.vrbo.com/104754. While in Kauai we plan to swim, snorkel, hike, kayak, and explore all the wonders of the island. I cant wait!

Have you ever been to Kauai? I would love your recommendations!!

Pine Tree Apple Orchard

On Saturday Eric and I met up with my parents at Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake. It was a nice but chilly afternoon at the orchard. We walked around a little, took some family photos, ate some yummy apple desserts and I bought a bag of apples, gallon of cider, and a jar or honey. It was fun to spend time with my parents at the orchard before heading to their place for dinner. We had a great time!

Canadian Thanksgiving

On Monday we decided to have a thanksgiving worthy feast with some friends.....it also happened to be Canada's Thanksgiving Day! We had turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, cranberry sauce, pumpkin & apple pie! It was all so yummy and super filling! I didn't even want to eat on Tuesday because I still felt full! We had a great time just talking and eating. I think this will have to be a tradition!

Last days at the Cabin

We spent this past weekend at the family cabin on Rainy Lake relaxing and enjoying the company of family. It was our last weekend before the cabin is closed up for the winter. We spent most of our time with Aunts,Uncles, Cousins and Eric's sister Rachel. We also spent some time reading and playing cards with some of Eric's high school friends. We loved being at the cabin and will be sad to not be there again for several long winter months.

Rachel with Cousin Minna

Me & Eric

Eric enjoying his bath in the cold Rainy Lake

The Helleloid Girls: Karin, Tara, Kate, Kris, Me, Minna & Rach

Cousin Blaine & Eric

The excitement of the weekend was finding a flying squirrel in the stove/fireplace. Apparently it was looking for its winter home and thought our cabin looked good. After being a little spooked from the noise and discovering two beady looking eyes in the stove we started trying to capture the little guy. He was scared and obviously didn't want to be captured by us. After several failed attempts and a whole night to relax, we got him trapped in some Tupperware. I am sure he was happy to be out of the fireplace and back into the wild....lets hope he doesn't try to use the cabin as his winter home again!

This time last year: October

This time last year I was dreaming about being back at Bethel for our 5 year college reunion and picking pumpkins in a t-shirt at Washington Farms.

Well, I am back at Bethel this year which I totally was not thinking about last year! Who knew we would end up back in MN and I would be working at Bethel?!? I have been wearing t-shirts on some days this October but that is not normal for this time of year. Last week we set some record highs for October temperature in MN. It has been unusually warm but I am loving it!

It was so warm last week that we decided to hit up one of the lakes in Minneapolis. We thought it would be warm enough to go swimming, but we were a little delusional. I decided to stay on shore while Eric ran in and out of Lake Nokomis.... It was cold!

Fall in Minneapolis

West River Parkway

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Eric and I have been biking around using NiceRide. We have really enjoyed being able to use the bikes whenever we want. Part of our normal routes include biking on the Mississippi River Banks. I took some pictures the other day of the West River Parkway so you could see where we bike....and it is very beautiful right now with the leaves turning colors.

Franklin Bridge, Minneapolis in the background

Mississippi River Bank

Cranberries!

Last Saturday I went with my mom and two friends out to Stone Lake, WI to check out their Cranberry Festival and see some cranberry harvesting. The weather was perfect and we had fun exploring a small town and trying some new things. I tried the apple cranberry crisp at the festival, it was SOOOO yummy! After looking around Stone Lake we headed to a local cranberry farm, Zawistowski Family. This farm is the only one in the area that is certified Ocean Spray Cranberries. In the small white building below we bought lots of fresh and dried cranberries (craisins). I bough 1 pound of fresh cranberries and 8 one pound bags of craisins. If you have a good recipe that includes cranberries, please share!! They had all sorts of different craisin flavors: blueberry, pomegranate, mango, orange, raspberry, and a few others I cant remember. :) After buying our rations we headed out to a bog they were harvesting. It was neat seeing how they flood the bog and scoop up the berries. It was such a great day! Great weather, great company, great fall colors, and great cranberries!!!

Me & my mom

Agitating the water so the berries come off the plant and float to the top of the water

Corralling the cranberries

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