Summer's Last Hurrah - Up North with the Bykowskis

The Sunday after VBS ended, we escaped up North to recuperate with our friends, Tim and Joan Bykowski. They have a lovely cabin on a lake near Hackensack that we have enjoyed many times over the years. I never get tired of taking sunset pictures!

And, of course, we go on pontoon boat rides and chase the loons around the lake for good photo ops.
Ooohh - this one is coming in for a landing!

There are some fun golf courses nearby - we all four went to Black Bear on Monday. Joan is my chauffeur, as she doesn't play golf. Sometimes we get to talking so much we forget its my turn to hit!

Hmmm - cell phones on the golf course - are they allowed???

After golf and a great dinner, we have to watch the sunset again.

Isn't it beautiful?


I couldn't resist taking this reflection in the sliding glass door - how cool is that?


There is a pair of eagles that make their home around the lake. We had a breakfast cruise, and hunted for where the eagle was hanging out this year. Paul had the "eagle eye" and spotted him across the lake.

Later that morning the loons were congregated out by the dock for their morning coffee. there were six of them just hanging out right within camera range, showing off for me.


Later, Joan and I headed for Walker for some serious shopping and the guys did another nine holes of golf. We went out to eat in Longville, and explored the Wood Tic Trail on the way back to the cabin. Thankfully, we did NOT see any wood tics. However, we did have fun taking pictures of a deer family.

Mom was wiggling her ears at me in this one.

I think junior is getting ready to charge.


Back to the cabin for ANOTHER gorgeous sunset!


We sat by the lake to get the full effect.

Wednesday morning, we went for one more early morning (if you call 10:00 early) crause around the lake. I have a fun tripod for my new camera, so was able to get the four of us in the same shot while Tim put the pontoon on auto-pilot!

On the way home, Paul and I went back to Black Bear for a last round of golf. What's that I see - a BEAR?

Watch out, Paul!

What a perfect set of days! Thanks for sharing them with us, Joan and Tim. NOW, I'm ready for school to start again.

Summer Ministries - Again???

No, I have not reverted to my past and abandoned Paul to go on the road again with a summer ministries team! But I just can't seem to get away from those familiar activities - I have too much fun with the kids at Waterbrooke to quit! I spent most of July and the first two weeks of august planning, organizing, and running Wacky Wednesdays (it takes three days - Tuesday to get everything ready, Wednesday from 9:00 to 2:00, and Thursday to clean up) and Vacation Bible School. Here are a few pictures from Wacky Wednesdays to get you started:

I get 4-8 teens to help me with the puppet shows and leading small groups of kids. We meet an hour before the kids arrive to practice and go over the schedule.

The kids really enjoy the puppets, music, and gospel magic tricks.

It looks like my teen helpers are playing school and the students are really absorbing a lot!

We have a picnic outside on the beautiful grounds at Waterbrooke - but we have to keep an eye on the littlest ones so they don't go near the lake!

This summer was so hot, the kids preferred to eat in the shade on the rocks or grass instead of the picnic tables on the sunny patio .

Free time after lunch - the rolly things are a blast, but I'll need to get new ones next year. Two years of hard use brought an end to the two I bought last year.

We had a beach theme this year, and the kids enjoyed relays with all sorts of beachy items, as well as "Wet and Wild Wacky Wednesdays" the last two weeks.

They have just as much fun throwing cups of water on each other as they do sliding into the kiddy pool!

There is a hose hooked up to send water down both slides - and a long piece of plastic for a slip and slide at the bottom of the curly slide.


We had some brave two year old siblings come for the fun at the end of the day - I was really surprised when they went down the slide all by themselves!



VBS this year was called Backstage With the Bible - hosted by the Christian singing group called Go Fish. We had an awesome time for four nights the second week of August - 76 different kids, teens and adults participated this year. We even had the opportunity to go backstage at the Higher Ground Christian Music Festival and meet the Go Fish guys - I'm still humming the songs when I wake up in the morning! Check out some of the fun we had:

The kids learned about how they are all superstars - they are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God!


They all had a chance to make a superstar poster of themselves.

These pictures crack me up.

It looks like Ethan really knows what he's doing!

Rock on!

Different kids we the group servants each night at snack time.


This snack reminded us of the ten commandments. The kids used licorice to tally all the commandments they could remember from the lesson of the day.

We decorated CD cases to hold the free Go Fish CD every kid received.


I borrowed these paint cans and sticks from school to learn a drum rap that made music time unique this year. The boys, especially, liked it.

Of course, there were games to play...


... and Bible story object lessons ...

... and very creative parents who were willing to help with decorating ...

... and teaching the missions emphasis during the Bus Tour. We helped translate the Bible into Islag with the offering we brought.

The kids were treated to a concert by Go Fish every night on the "big screen" DVD.

And ... they all have backstage passes to meet the Go Fish guys at the next concert that is nearby!


At the end of the week we were ready for a vacation! Stay tuned for pictures of beautiful northern Minnesota lake country in my next post.

Casey Summer Fun

I kicked off the summer fun getting together with Jane, Pat, and my cousin Sandy down in Cannon Falls - oh yeah, Charlie was there, too, the center of attention. We have an annual get-together when school is out. Too bad, Jenna, Maddox, Matthew and Angie couldn't join us - maybe later in the summer. I brought my camera, but never took it out of the bag!

We enjoyed the month of June with several Casey events. Tessa was home from California for a wedding, and we got together to hear about her adventures out west. She is loving it out there, and things are going well for her.

We had a smorgaasboard of salads at Mark and Karena's beautiful home on Lake Minnetonka.
This is Tessa with Karena and Paul's brother Phil.

Tessa's dad, Jon, has this bull dog puppy names Surley (or is it Hurley???) and Callen had to make friends with him. She is a huge animal lover - dogs, cats, even horses. Scarlett, however (Annie's 18 month daughter) would have nothing to do with him.

Brenner swung him in circles while he held on to a frisbee! He must have very strong jaws.


Here is Annie, Ryan, and Scarlett. Notice Scarlett is safe and sound in dad's arms - the dog was probably nearby!

Do you think she has inherited the Casey music genes?

The morning after the Casey gathering, Paul and I left for a four day, three night getaway in the Wisconsin Dells. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera because Tessa and I have the exact same camera, and she took mine and I left hers at Marks! It was a crazy mix-up, and after several phone calls during the ride to the Dells, we figured out what happened. So... to make a long story short...I took a few pictures on my phone, but ran out of batteries and didn't do my usual photo journaling.

We spent three nights at the Hilton Garden Inn (free for just listening to a time share spiel) and enjoyed three golf courses, a duck boat ride, and two magic shows in the Dells. On the way home on Friday, we stopped at The House on the Rock in Spring Green. Above, you can see the roof of the room that projects over the valley - a little spooky to walk out there!

There were lots of gardens with Asian artifacts like this dragon statue.

The man who built this whole conglomeration of buildings was what I would call an organized hoarder - he must have spent millions collecting things, and then had to build more spaces to display the stuff. Above, you see a calliope - one of many musical scenes where the instruments play themselves.

The gardens were beautiful. Too bad my camera was in Excelsior!

There was a lot of Tiffany glass, but the rooms were so dark, I gave up on taking pictures inside.

This was a tabletop - a really LARGE coffee table.

Sunday, July 3rd, we had Alison, Roger, and Elaine over for a cookout, and some dominos. Elaine and Alison have a running feud going over who will win. This time, Paul came in first with Alison a close second. Elaine was LAST, and Alison won't let her forget it:)

After golfing three times in the Dells, we went again on the 4th of July. All this practice is really improving my game! Then on Wednesday, July 6, we all got together to celebrate Grandpa Roger's 93rd birthday! Anna made and decorated a domino cake, and we had cake and ice cream in the party room at the hotel Roger had to move to while they fix the elevator at his apartment.

Here he is, the birthday boy, getting ready to blow out his candles. I think there are 10, one for each decade and one more for good measure. Roger is a blessing to us all!

Well, June is over, and so is my vacation. I'll be working on Wacky Wednesdays and organizing VBS over the next month. Of course, I'll find time for a little more golf, hosting a Norwex party, touching base with the Catlins when Tom and Kim are in town next week, a Twins game with our friends the Bykowskis as well as gardening in the new vegetable patch at church. Never a dull moment!

May Birthdays - Big doings!

We celebrated two big birthdays during the month of May - mine on May 16, and Paul's brother Phil's on May 28. Each event was very special, in it's own way.

On my birthday, we met Ted and Pat and Jane and Chuck downtown Minneapolis at a very cool restaurant called "The Bank." It used to be the Farmer's and Mechanics Savings Bank, and my Aunt Alice was the first woman officer of the bank during the 40's to the 70's. The bank had the school savings department that all Minneapolis school children will remember - I did my banking every Friday right at school!


This is the main floor of the restaurant, right where the tellers used to be. The vault is now full of wine bottles! The food was excellent, but I recommend going for lunch - it's very expensive for dinner! We met there on Sunday, May 22 after church and luckily missed the tornado that hit North Minneapolis while we were eating.

Phil had a big blast for his party - but then you only turn 50 once! Leslee planned the whole thing, and Mark and Karena loaned their house for the event.



Phil was a good sport and even settled back to enjoy the "roast."



Mark's son, Drew, plays the keyboard in a 5 piece jazz band that provided "EXCEPTIONAL" music during the party. They are really talented kids, and I can get you their contact info if you're looking for a group to play at an event. They had a blast, and we all enjoyed dancing, listening, and being wowed.


Anna made Uncle Phil a golfers cake, and daughter Callen put in the 50 candles.

Amazing - he blew them all out with one mighty breath!

Of course, dad Roger (soon to be 93) had to say a few words for his baby's birthday roast.


Brother Paul got into the act when he presented Phil with our gift ...

...UFFDA! You're HOW old???