Trip to WI!

Just got back from a whirlwind 24 hour trip to WI to visit friends! They also have a 1 year old who's about a month younger than Mieka, a boy named Brett. We had a great time riding on the 4 wheeler, playing outside and in (all those different toys!) and visiting the apple orchards. Mieka LOVES apples and helped herself to a couple and actually did a fair job of eating one :) We wish we lived closer!



Want a bite of my apple?


Wee!!!


You need a basket?

Enough hair for a ponytail and hair clips!

Mieka finally has long enough hair for a small ponytail :) It's still very fine and thin, but it's getting longer! She did NOT enjoy me putting the ponytail in, by the way........



We also got a few hair clips in; these she didn't mind so much.

Where has August gone?!

Well, we've been gone part of every week in August, so not much time to update the blog! I'll try and start to catch up though........the second week of August we went camping at a local state park. We rent a cabin that has electricity, a/c, a mini fridge and a microwave :) Not really roughing it, but with a little one around, life's rough enough ;) Besides, August in Iowa can get awfully hot and humid, so it's nice to have some a/c for Mieka's sake, if not ours. My brother Chris from MN joined us and we had a really nice time grilling, making camp fires, boating, hiking and playing at the beach. The weather was really nice, except for a few rain showers. Best of all, NO bugs! Here are a few pictures:

Our cabin:

Mieka climbing:

Sitting in one of the chairs on the deck:


with daddy:

Night time visitors left their tracks:

Uncle Chris in a boat:

Mieka at the beach:

NOT afraid of the water!

Another summer week has flown by! Mieka is a little chatterbox these days :) She's saying new words almost every day and I really think it was the sign language that kick started her language explosion. We've pretty much lost track of all the words she can say and sign! One of her recent words is "show" which is what I call her dvd I put in when I make dinner or need her occupied for a few minutes. She also knows that the remote operates the "show" and she has a fake remote to play with. So now she comes up to us and with a very serious look on her face says "show" and points the remote at us :) She will try and try to get the remote to work, pressing very hard on the buttons, it's sort of cute, but I'm a little worried I've created a couch potato at the tender age of 13 mo.



We also got a new "skirtie" in the mail the other day. It's a wool diaper cover crocheted into a skirt/shorts and I think it's adorable :)

Still more jelly!

So I just made my 3rd batch of jam/jelly last night :) I think it's safe to say we won't run of of jelly for Ned's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this year! This batch was a recipe I created myself using mulberries and gooseberries and it turned out really yummy! I think Ned and I agree this is the best batch so far.........

We also have been growing sweetcorn and tomatoes in our garden. We plan on trying to make and can salsa this year; we'll see if it works or not. The corn didn't get very tall for some reason. But it's producing ears........ we also have potatoes that should be ready to be dug up in a few weeks.


and here's some purple sage I planted around our birdbath-I just thought it looked pretty and it smells so nice too :)

Boy, time slips away from me quickly! This week we went to one of the local county fairs with Mieka. We saw bunnies, poultry, pigs, goats and sheep. I think Mieka was most impressed with the pigs because it was near their feeding time and they were very noisy! They also had some rides there, although most of the rides had definitely seen better days, Mieka didn't seem to mind :) When she was on the carousel with daddy, she didn't want him to have both hands on her-she thinks she can ride it by herself already, lol.

Mmmmmm, watermelon!

Sorry this is sideways, I forgot to record it the other way and haven't found any way to turn it the right way yet :(