You bet, it's summer in Duluth!

This is Hazel.  She is one of our favorite little people.

This is what summer looks like in Duluth--peonies, and 4th of July picnics-two of them.

                                                             And fireworks!                                                


And a ride on the tour boat under the aerial life bridge.

                        And these two (crazy) brothers went on a 37 miles bike ride!! And then they went 47 miles another day!!                                Paul and Ron

 And we went berry picking!  They were so yummy!!!  Then we had strawberry everything.

 And we went on an adventure on the Brule River in northern Wisconsin.

Paul paddled a kayak.

Wade and Patti Newton

 This is really a beautiful river. It is not very swift or very deep for most of the route but there were a few  rapids...
There was this big rock just under the water that we couldn't see until our canoe stopped right on top of it. It tipped the canoe enough that things started floating away--my paddle, Ron's life vest.  I didn't actually float away because I found a rock to stand on.  Ron eventually freed our canoe with Wade's help. Meanwhile Paul was rescuing the things that had floated down the river.

These forget-me-nots were blooming all over.  All they needed to grow was a water source and a log to anchor them.

We went last week to Nauvoo with our stake youth conference.  We enjoyed being with the youth and talking about Nauvoo and Church History.  I helped in the kitchen and Ron became an instant success with his selfie stick.  Then he posted some of his photos and now he is Facebook friends with lots and lots and lots of youth in our stake.  And he thinks it's pretty fun.  I will not post his hundreds of photos but just a few.

making brownies

I have been reading a book called "How To Speak Minnesotan" and I have learned some things.  One is that you only need three phrases in Minnesota and the most useful one is "you bet" or "you betcha".  This phrase can be used for just about any thing. It can be used to say yes, no, I agree, or you're welcome.

For instance:

"Here is your suitcase.  It got stuck in the conveyor belt."  

" Oh. Well, thanks." 

"You bet."

"Warm enough for ya?"

" You bet."

"My mother is coming to stay with us for a few months."

" You bet."

"We also lost your dog"

"I am really gonna miss him."

"You bet."

( more useful phrases next time!)