Torrie and the boys

We have had the pleasure to watch Gma and Gpa Cullen's 1 yo black lab named Torrie. She has a lot of enery and we have been trying to give her a lot of excersize. Unfortunatley she is very interested in our 19yo cat, Reggie, and he has not been that interested in her to say the least. We have had to keep Torrie outside as much as possible but with the nice weather I dont think she is complaining. Peter does have a love for dogs! And we seem to not be able to take pictures without those funny faces coming out!

Mt Horeb Fall Festival

Early October means the Mount Horeb Fall Festival, filled with crafts, kettle corn and animals. Here the boys are in front of a momma and baby alpaca. And, can you believe we have been here almost 6 months and we have not taken a picture in front of one of the many trolls that Mount Horeb is known for.

St Paul Childrens Museum

We can never pass the opportunity to take the ladies out on a date. We took them the the Childrens Museum, one of our favorite places in MN. We had to see the Curious George Exhibit! Here is Jamison next to George.
And the whole crew. With as much as the boys love George...this could be a family photo!
And a big hug for the monkey!
And here are the boys with Lucy...Steve and Sharky the dog!
no camera yet....all film. Must sell that house!!!

Settling in

We are settling into the new house and with the help of Gpa Van, we have our little breakfast nook complete. and almost finished painting the living room. Peter has definitely settled in....toys everywhere!
And in the kitchen, we just need some curtains. I have some wonderful helpers when preparing meals!
Sadly, the pink house has not sold. So to head off the comments that the colors are too dark, we went to the house and painted. Anything to sell the house. Please please please sell!
I hope that is light enough!

Harvesting

Last week the boys and I went to a "U-pick" vegetable farm.... and we a had a blast! We picked tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant, peppers, pumkins, baby heads (brusselsprouts) and gords! Can you tell what Jamison's and Peter's favorite colors are?Jamison posing in from of the rows and rows of tomatoes! I am going to have to look up Gma Van's recipes for tomato soup and spaghetti sauce!and there was a sea of flowers that you could pick! They were so beautiful we had to get a photo!Back home we were very proud of our pumpkins and had to show them off. These are the cooking variety and will be made into Heike's Pumpkin Soup! We also went apple picking. Jamison and Peter were fascinated by the kitties that lived on the farm (in the tree) This one was showing us where the good apples are!

and yes....Peter has an eye for fashion! Orange, or other bright colors and the craziest pattern ever!

Labor Day weekend

Do you all remember that thing called film.....it still works! No new camera, but a cheap disposable one! We went to Sand Beach, near the cabin over Labor Day weekend to get some last sand castle building in.

And then went to a flee (flee or flea?) market. We got some new dinosaurs and mom got an icecream stool. We rode in style and got many complements on that cool Schwin wagon. (gma got it at Farm and Fleet btw)
We also enjoyed "a relax" on the hammock with dad
Mom caught some frogs! What a great weekend!
Meet my new friends....Duck and PigWe also started wearing big boy underware and using the toilet. How could you cover up the cool dino underware with a pair of shorts?!
PT has been going ok....still working on! Hopefully by the time we are 8!

Short Break

Sadly, our digital camera has died. We will be happy if for some reason it comes back to life after we hit it on the table a couple times but I am not holding my breath. Pat is excited and has started on-line "shopping" but that purchase needs to wait.

Ciao!

Ale and Valentina came to stay with us the past couple weeks and enjoyed themselves a lot! We learned some italian words and more importantly, Pat learned how to make Pasta Carbonara! His new favorite dish. How can you go wrong with bacon, cheese butter and eggs!

A morning at the zoo

Do these orangutan's look familiar?? Wait, that is my family! Saturday we went to the Henry Vilas Zoo and had a great time!
Peter and Jamison feeding a goats- They were very hungry!!!

Uncle Tom's Cabin

We had a wonderful time at what appears to be a re-occuring event...Weekend at Uncle Toms' Cabin. Katie flew in from the big city. Gparents, Rob (and family) and Matt (and family) all came! The only one missing was Pat, as he was recovering from having his appendix removed earlier in the week!Everyone enjoyed digging in the sand and playing in the water!!
Katie gave the boys a hippity-hop.....which lead to chaos!! (surprisingly no one got too hurt!)It must have been a super special weekend because we got to eat Chocolate/Peanut Butter Pops! (can see the trend in the pictures...all making funny faces or have their tongues out!)


How about a big smooch on the nose!!!!

Great photo opportunity (and all the boys sat very weel because Katie promised ice cream after!!!!)
Grandma and Grandpa Van and ALL the Van Nelson Boys!!!! Will there ever be a girl???

And to finish the photo shoot......Cullen Boy Funny Faces!!!