Hunting

Tis the season for hunting! We headed home to Murdo last week for a pheasant hunting weekend. It was a great Saturday to be out enjoying fresh air and exercise. Both Ethan and Micah did a bit of walking this year. Two hunters with guns means 6 birds and they got them all. Ethan and Micah also got to shoot a gun for the first time this year. Papa found his old BB gun and both boys had a blast shooting it. Levi got in on the fun too but Mommy didn't get out in time to get his picture, next time!

 The hunting crew heading out.

 Micah was with Dad for the first bird taken down.

 Ethan

Micah

Football

And we have come to the end of football. Ethan had his last game and the Cowboys ended their season with only a two game loss. They did real well together and it looked like all the boys had fun. Ethan loved it! He is excited about playing again next year. His coach handed out trophies after the game and he was pretty proud of it. It was fun but a break is nice too. Micah is excited about next year as he'll be old enough to play too. Soccer in the Spring and football in the Fall. We'll be one busy family! And then just wait until Levi gets old enough....

North Shore getaway...

There are many entries on this blog for the children...now it is the parents turn. =) We were able to get away for a week trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior, MN. We came up with our own idea of hiking lodge to lodge instead of tenting. We started in Grand Maris, MN and hiked the Superior Hiking Trail back to our car about 40 miles away. Day 1 was 18 miles, Day 2 was 15 miles and Day 3 was 5 miles plus a ride in a gondola that took off three miles. Day one started out great and then the rain set in about noon. We thought we'd get to our hotel about 4ish but it ended up being 7:30. Walking in the rain for 7 1/2 hours wears on you a little bit. We were mostly dry but very tired and sore. It was very nice to be at a hotel though and have a hot shower and meal. We decided to alter plans for day two and had a taxi service drive us to our next hotel and we just day hiked a few miles that day. Day 3 went according to plan with riding the gondola to the top of the mountain and then hiking the last 5 miles to the car. We were so happy to see the car. =) We then drove to Duluth for a day, Minneapolis for a day and then home to our precious boys. We enjoyed our trip and the adventure that it gave us, many memories! We enjoyed time being just the two of us, but it was also good to come home again and see our boys. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for babysitting so we could go.

 All ready to begin day 1

 We saw some pretty red and yellow colors

 Riding the gondola to the top of the mountain

A blue blaze!! This is a trail maker saying we were on the right trail and it was a blessed site as at one point we were on the wrong trail and decided it didn't feel right and started looking around us to see if by chance we were on the wrong trail. Dave looked around a bit and found the correct trail so after that everytime we saw a marker we were very happy.

 Enger tower in Duluth. A great view of the city from on top. 

 We picked a cold windy day to climb the tower. We had a quick picture taken and back down we went to the warm car.

Duluth from the top of the tower. This is a view toward Canal Park and the famous lift bridge.