Birthday Girl

Happy 14th birthday, Renae!  

Minnesota cold, Delaware snow

And this pretty much sums up our long weekend in the north (Jan 15-18) .....

The temp when we left for church at 8:45 Sunday morning.

I think we picked the coldest weekend so far this winter to be there.  Oh well, it was nice and toasty inside and we had great people to hang out with.  It was up to 10* the first day we were there so we did some ice skating.  The next day barely got above 0* but we did just a bit of snowmobiling and some cross country skiing near Bill & Tammi's house.  

Found 1 picture to prove it.  Sigh......

By the 3rd day, we decided it was a good day to go bowling.  None of us take the time to go bowling in normal life, so the kids all loved it.

It was so good to be with the Helmuth's in MN again.  Thanks everyone for hanging out and "hosting" us!

We were SO glad that we were home the next weekend because we got 14 in. of snow from "Jonas".  We love snow at our house!  It was pretty heavy to push and clean out and we're glad we didn't get the 2-3 ft. that some states got.  Sure wish it would hang around longer though!  It is not quite 2 wks. and all that is left is the piles.  

Renae's snowman

King of the hill

We got to use the skies for about a week.  At first, it was so deep that Lyn drove the tractor through our woods trail and made a loop for us to go on.  It worked pretty good to ski in the tractor tracks.  After a couple days, it had settled enough that we could just go on top of the snow wherever we wanted.  Lyn had found a deal on Craig's List for 3 sets of skis and boots for $50 that he gave as a surprise Christmas gift to me.  I think we should be able to use them at least once a winter here which is more often then ice skates!

Fall Hunting

It was brought to attention that some exciting fall hunting news was missed. Don't scroll through this post if blood or dead animals make you queasy!!

Renae hunted for the first time this year.  This is how her & her Dad occupied their time on youth day.

Dwight brought home a nice little buck that day.  It was his first buck.  His eyes are actually swollen almost shut.  Three times now he has had an allergic reaction to something that makes him swell up and the conclusion we are coming to is that it is mold.  He sat in a tent blind that day. 

First Buck

The next weekend was regular hunting season and since Renae wasn't sure she was ready to sit by herself, Mom got talked into going and sitting in the stand with her.

Because we arrived a bit late to the stand, it was just past shooting time by the time we were situated.  While discussing how the deer can just sneak up and suddenly be in front of you (she was cluing me in), we looked up and there was one right there in perfect shooting range.  So about 10 minutes after getting in the stand, she had shot.  She could have done it herself!  Mom was just moral support! 

How Dad felt when he heard her shoot.

Renae's first deer

It's a little one.....but they are allowed that on their first deer (Dad's rule.)  Now she has to look for BIG does or bucks.  This was actually a little button buck.

Lyn got several does, and this nice buck.  We kept 3 of the deer plus had one made into bologna to share with friends. We never have a problem finding someone to take any extra deer off our hands.

It's becoming an annual tradition to go rabbit hunting on Thanksgiving morning. This year Uncle Shaun was here.  They said he made a good rabbit dog!

Fun times!

Happy hunters!

Birthday Boy

This will be our last year to have a child that can still order off the kids menu.....in other words, the last year to have a kid under the teenage years.

Happy 12th birthday, Devan!

Not the greatest picture, but needed to document the gift....his first bow.

New York City

Our children have been making comments that we need to take time to see some of the local sights in the cities near us.  We decided to take a day to go to New York City.  It is only a 3 hr. drive to Brooklyn and Darryn was the only one of our kids that had ever been there (with the exception of a field trip to the Statue of Liberty once which only Darryn & Ericka remember and that time we took a ferry from the New Jersey side)

There is so much there to see and do if you have the time to stay awhile. We left the house by 5:30 a.m. and got home by 1 a.m.  We all enjoyed the day....not to say that there weren't any stressful moments, but Lyn & I kept reminding ourselves NOT TO STRESS.  (Jolene stressed, Lyn stressed over Jolene stressing...haha)

The first excitement was missing our exit and suddenly going into the tunnel from Brooklyn to Manhattan.  All the tall buildings make the gps not work right so it took a bit to find our way back to where we wanted to be and we came back across on the Brooklyn Bridge.  Both the tunnel & bridge were extra toll, but hey, the double decker bridge was neat architecture!

We planned to end up at the Brooklyn Tabernacle for their free Christmas production in the evening so we parked near there. We took the subway over to lower Manhattan where our main destination was the Ground Zero Memorial. The museum was very well done and a memorable experience.

A main support pillar that became a memorial.

A stairway that was preserved.

 The Freedom Tower

(There is a spire on the top that didn't fit in the pic)

Lower Manhattan is home to the New York Stock Exchange

and the famous Wall Street bull.

After a bite to eat, we got on the subway to Upper Manhattan to Times Square area.  We were there just to walk and observe and check out some shops.  The Toys R Us store was cool as well as the M&M store.  The boys got in their heads they wanted to see the Lego store and in the search to find that we missed the part of 5th Ave that we really should have seen.  Guess there is always next time! Ha!

In front of Toys R Us, we really wanted a picture with Olaf, 
but the others jumped in hoping to get some tips...

Times Square

The Flat Iron Bldg.

And finally......we found the Lego store!!

After some hot chocolate and coffee, we took the subway back to Brooklyn, got some supper, and were thankful to sit and wait for the evening service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.  We were expecting the choir to sing so that was kinda disappointing, but the drama and solo music was VERY well done.  Glad we were able to make this memorable day happen....  Oh yes, and Ericka got her cup of coffee in New York City!!!!

Fall....

....one of my favorite times of year in Delaware.  We do not have beautiful foliage like the north, but the weather is perfect.  This year we had an early frost, yea, and the leaves have been prettier then usual.  It even made me want to get my camera out.  Couldn't help sharing a few.

 Morning sun

It's nice to see some color on the ground too!

This is a tulip poplar leaf I found.  The picture doesn't make them appear that big. The plate is actually a large Corelle dinner plate to give an idea of size.  The oak & hickory leaf were pretty big too!   Anyone want to help clean up leaves??

I love this one!

Ok, ok, doesn't even hold a candle to MN, I know.  These were all taken on our property.  There were some really brilliant ones in town and other places where there were more maples.  Praising God for the beautiful weather and the pretty colors!

My antiques

I am not typically a person who goes crazy over antiques, but when Mom moved and we cleaned out the house, I was glad to inherit a few.  These pictures are for you, Mom.

The popcorn popper was a gift given to my parents in the late 60's.

I remember using this butter churn during a time when we were getting milk from a farm and had lots of cream.

The cans and some of the glass bottles were treasures found.

Apple peeler, retro nut chopper, and old crock

Old iron (Mom thinks dad found this at the dump.  It's in perfect shape!)

Doll quilt pieced by my Grandma (Barbara) Helmuth and quilted by Aunt Alice (we think.)

The sewing machine, used to sew boots/shoes, is something we got about a year ago from Lyn's Uncle Benny.  It had been Lyn's grandfather's (William A. Byler) at one time.  We sandblasted and spray painted the base this summer.  The machine was pretty rusty, but machine oil and a rag spruced it up amazingly well.

I am happy to have found a place in my house for these things!