Harry Potter

I got the "Deathly Hallows" from the library and started reading it. I can hardly follow it because its been so long since I read the last book. If it wasn't for watching the three DVDs with Anja while she was here I would really be lost. I have not idea what a "Horcrux" is or how to kill one without a Basilisk fang. Death Eaters and Dementors confuse me. Which is which and what do they do to you? They should have a directory of these terms. Maybe I should google them as they come up.

Mac's Sacred Spot

On Sunday we left Kingsley and went south by way of Yuma. Mac has a special spot that he loves to visit. You can see why from the photo. The next time the Williams are in town, I want to take them to Kingsley and to this spot. It is a bit of a hike from the road but well worth the effort.

Roasting Vegetables

When the Williams were here we made a few pans of roasted veggies. We roasted asparagus, egg plant and garlic. We soaked them in olive oil, and sprinkled italian seasoning and parmesan cheese all over them.

Special Pleasures

I just love swimming in late September. We are having wonderful weather this week and I should be able to swim everyday for a week (until the 25th). I just got back from a swim alone on a quiet lake, not even a swan or a goose for company. I feel glorious! The outdoor shower has a pattern of fallen leaves on the floor-almost like having a carpet.
I am also lucky that the shots in my knees in March have lasted this long and that I can continue to be active into the fall without pain.

Granddaughters

I am so lucky to have these two beautiful granddaughters. They even let me put rubber bands in their hair and then pose them for pictures. You can see they are used to me doing this.

Some more fun things

I saved the above post as a draft and when I finally got it posted it was a mishmash and I never figured out how to edit it. I will get the hang of this eventually. I wanted to add a few fun things that I left out last time. We made paper dolls. We do this every time we are together. They trace the doll with a template and then cut it out and dress him/her. We all enjoy this.
I talked Shannon and Caleb into getting a family portrait done. (That led to a breakdown by Anja--she wanted the shot that had a better view of her stuffie "Super Jim Panda Bear".)
We went to the island a lot of times and explored. Once we went in the pontoon boat and Caleb sailed the girls over as well. We went to the Danish Play Park at the Greenville Community Center. It is cute but dangerous. Anja fell and hurt her hip. Shannon and I went to my yoga class many times. (Anja joined us once.) I know I have still left something out but we did so many things this visit that I can't remember them all. What great joy I get from playing like this! I can't recommend retirement enough.

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Blogger: Gran

Some of the Fun Things I did with Sofie and Anja
Some of the Fun Things I did with Sofie and Anja We had so much fun this summer. Sofie and Anja spent a few weeks with Mac and me at the cottage. Shannon and Caleb were there too, some of the time. Mostly we would swim. We did a huge amount of swimming. Usually we would take the paddle boat out into the middle of the lake and throw in the anchor and swim around the boat. We also swam closer to shore and from the pontoon boat.We went to a Harry Potter Party at Meijer the night that the book came out and I got the book for Anja and a bead kit for Sofie. Anja read the book slowly as she didn't want it to end but she is in her second reading now.Both Sofie and Anja climbed the X-Peak many times and slid down into the water.The also went tubing, behind our slow boat and also behind the Sterk's MasterCraft. I have fun memories of them in the tube. I didn't exactly enjoy my ride. I was completely thrown up in the air as we flew over the wake one time. I got bounced around pretty hard.We did crafting and scrapbooking too. We made a bunch of spoon puppets, but they never all got finished so we didn't have a show yet. We did some sponge painting too.We had an UnBirthday Party for Sofie, Anja and Conley who came to visit us with his mom. Mac and I gave the girls their birthday and christmas presents because I didn't want to send them over later and Shannon and Caleb didn't want to have to bring them back either. Most of the things are either here or at Lynne's.We went to Klackle's Orchard and spent three whole hours doing the orchard thing. Petting zoo, face painting, puppet show, barrel rides, electric pony rides, magic pumpkin rides, apple picking, eating donuts and drinking cider.We played the game Wild Woods many many times and also "garbage" and "war".We went out to lunch and when we were going into town we spotted a doe and two fawns off the road. We got a good look at them as they just stood there and didn't move for quite a while.We went to the Library many times and checked out bezillion books.We got to watch the firemen put out the electrical fire that I spotted behind our cottage in the woods. ( I had never called 911 before.) Sofie found all of my puzzle collection in the loft and really did a great job with puzzles. We watched a bunch of different DVDs. Mostly Harry Potter. We ate tons of pop corn.We went to a Nielsen family reunion. We worked on the family tree. We visited two graveyards to visit the graves of ancestors on the Nielsen and VanderLip sides of my family.We cooked together. I made them "mickey mouse" pancakes and heart shaped ones. Anja helped me make the pancakes. We all three made apple pies with the apples we got at the orchard.We had some nice fires and once had some special fireworks that we had saved for the girls from the 4th of July.We played "mother may I" and other outside games.We played in the hot tub.We played Barbies and Kelly dolls over and over and over.Sean came to visit too. He stayed for about 12 hours. He and Anja are really something together.We visited an Amish family and saw their animals.We stopped several times to feed grass to the ponies on a farm up the road.We ended the visit by going to Zehnders Splash Village. I just loved watching the two girls climb up the huge tower and ride down the big water slides into my arms on the big tube that Anja had to lug all the way up. Sofie was such a good "frog" jumping from lily pad to lily pad. They are such good swimmers and so much fun.
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