A Geocaching Day

Scooter has already blogged about it, but we have different target audiences, so I'll do my share as well. On Sunday Eli and I met up with Scooter, Ming, Logan and Kyle for a day of geocaching. We met for "food" at Cindy's Kitchen in Belle Plaine, and then hit some of the caches in that lovely town.

Our only failure was at the Church of the Transmogrification. Eli explores rocks, to no avail.



Scooter didn't post a picture of the church at this angle, but I will.



I was sure the cache would be in this hole, but it wasn't.



Eli was so excited to get to the next cache that he broke into a run.



Scooter has this picture.



And this one. (yes, that's a two story outhouse. no, the cache wasn't in the outhouse.)



Belle Plaine's Huey!



Eli braves snakes and scorpions to find a cache.



If Scooter doesn't like Earth Caches, why is he taking this picture? Hmmm?



Ming and Logan get ready to join Eli, Scooter and Kyle. It's a mad attempt to completely ignore the 1.5 (out of 5) terrain rating and race away from the cache as quickly as possible. We made this one much harder than it should have been, and most of us were almost killed. Good times.



The group takes a break. Seven Mile Creek park is a great place for hiking and caching, but sometimes you've got to rest after climbing the bluffs.



Eli recreates finding a cache, since I missed the moment of real discovery. Eli's geo-sense was on high Sunday - he found a bunch of the caches.



Funny moment of the day - Scooter tries to find a safe place to relieve himself, but Eli needs to ask him something. RIGHT NOW! Eli doesn't seem concerned that Scooter is having private time.



Isn't trespassing cute?



I promised Eli that when we were done, he could cross the creek on the rocks.

More old summer pics

Nygaard family reunion. Kelson playing Lazer Tag with Cousin Luke.



Milena in fancy headgear from Aunt Steph.



Cousin lineup, youngest to oldest. The one you might not recognize is cousin Lake.



Eli practicing surfing.

Holy Cow!

Apparently it was Halloween and I forgot to blog about it. Yikes.

OK, here are four kids:



And a cat that followed us:

Walter is a Good Bear

Or, as Kelson would say, "The best bear ever!" Most mornings Walter comes out to breakfast with Kelson, and guards Kelson's feet from attack. Frequently Walter stays under the counter while Kelson is at school, patiently waiting for his return. He's a good bear.

Leah's Birthday

As I was going through my pictures, I noticed a few that I had set aside to post, yet never did. Better late than never.

This summer we went to the Landscape Arboretum to celebrate Leah's birthday. She would have been nine years old.

We had a beautiful day to walk around and enjoy the arboretum.



The kids are willing to pose.



Flower.



Eli shows how scared he is of the water monster in the pond.