18 September 2010

Summer Storm

In late June we had an exciting storm one Friday evening. Nora was at the east-side high school getting ready for their performance of Aladdin, Rick was at the U for a meeting and was driving home to try to catch the play, and Klara and I were wondering how we were going to get to the other side of town for the play with no car. We heard the sirens so I turned on the TV. Soon there was a lot of wind and there was a report of rotation near our neighborhood. Klara and I took Mao-Mao, Uno, the phone, and a transistor radio into the basement bathroom. As we played Uno Klara asked, "Is that glass breaking?" I assured her it was just hail hitting the side of the house. Eventually we heard from Rick, who had stopped in St. Peter to wait it out and Nora, who had borrowed a cell phone. Some acquaintances of ours were there in the storm shelter at East and saw that Nora was about to cry, so they asked her if she'd like to call home. The parent called and told me he thought Nora was scared, which I thought was odd because she's not afraid of the weather, or much for that matter. She was upset when she talked to me, so I asked her what was wrong. She said, "Mom, they canceled the play!" Funny how adults like to project onto kids! At least I didn't have to figure out how to get to the HS!

Klara and I emerged from the bathroom to find that she had been right, two windows were broken and our maple sapling in the front yard was laying on the ground, at about the same time that Nora got a ride home from another family and Rick drove in from St. Peter.



Velma looks a little alarmed at the damage!



As you can see below, we did get to see the play on Saturday morning and all was well. We didn't realize it until later, but our siding on the north side had holes in it and the roof had damage. I guess we'll be getting a new roof and siding on that one side at some point when all the roofing and siding companies get done with everyone else in town.

Plays

Nora was in three children's plays this summer. She was a river rat (street urchin) in Tom Saywer, a junk merchant in Aladdin, and one of the merry band in Robin Hood. We only got pictures from Aladdin, but she really loves these one week programs.



She's definitely got the voice for it!

Vacation

We went up to a cabin by Nashwauk for a week this summer which we borrowed from our friend Dawn Ulrich. Aside from fishing and swimming, we enjoyed watching the eagle family that lives on the neighboring property, but who basically had a party every afternoon in Dawn's backyard. The eaglets were huge. They must have both been female because they were both the size of the larger adult. The first time we saw one, we were canoeing past the neighbor's dock and at the edge of the water was what we thought was a big stump. Then the stump turned its head!





This is the Hawkins Mine in Nashwauk. It was closed in 1962 and has since been reclaimed. You sort of get the same feeling you get at the Grand Canyon, in that at the GC you are driving through the woods for a long time and then suddenly, bam, there it is. Here, the edge of town is poplar trees so you can't see what is on the other side. You climb up these stairs and then, bam, there it is!



The day was overcast so we didn't capture the spectrum of reds in the cliff side or the color of the water. See shared photos of the mine below.




The Hawkins in Nashwauk
At this site, you can see pictures of the strip mining that crated the lake.

More summer activities

Rocketry Class

Nora took a class on rocketry through Community Ed. this summer. These are pictures and video from the last day when they launched their rockets.



It's hard to follow a rocket on a small camera, but at least we got the launch.


Retrieval:

09 September 2010

Rick's Blog: click the link under "Other Family Blogs and Links"

http://ricklybeck.blogspot.com/

First Day of School

Today, Klara started Kindergarten!


Too cool for school?

08 September 2010

Yes, we had a summer - so fasten your seatbelts!

Gymnastics

Klara started gymnastics this summer.




Not the greatest video, but you can see how confident she is!

Horse Camp

Kate, Grace, and Nora went to half days at Stoneyridge Stables for a week again this summer.















Nora astride Ladybug

Visitors and Landmark Birthdays

First in line were Gun and Lisel from Stockholm




























Next, Jodi celebrated her 50th with us





And Mona was back to celebrate her 18th birthday. This is from the birthday breakfast, here with Mona's friend, Jenny.

4th of July





Another year, another parade!