Summer weekends

 Great Grandpa's memorial. 

Summer is coming to an end.  NO!!!  This summer has been a unique one that's for sure.  It feels like its been really long but full of limitations.  The boys have hardly seen friends and didn't have any sports to be involved in.  We were lucky enough to fill a lot of our time with RV adventures.  We camped and camped some more!  We still have two trips planned before the season is over.  This weekend we stayed in town and camped on Lake Byllesby.  We enjoyed the sunshine and swam in the little cannon river.  It was a fun different spot in town to cool down.  The water was super cold but the mud felt great on our feet.  

Mud!! 

It was hard to dunk all the way in 

Gummy worms by the fire

Giant smore's- 4 marshmallows! 

The garden

 

The Tabasco plant.  I love how the peppers grow right side up!   They are starting to turn a nice red color also. Can't wait to try one! 

We've had some many wonderful tomato's this year!  Bruschetta, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce and BLT's!  

Sweet and hot peppers and more tomato!  

Home made pizza.  Our own sauce and basil.

The first squash is ready! 

I love our little garden!  We've had so much fun with each harvest and learning to cook more and more foods with the veggies we grow.  The boys (mostly B and Axel)  have been eating peppers like they are candy! 

How do we do better??

Our new yard sign. 

 I normally don't post a ton of things about politics, religion or other hot topics but this topic can't stay in the back ground any more.  There is a much needed awareness about inclusiveness in our communities.  I want to do better then what I have been taught and shown. I want to do better as a mom, a neighbor, a friend and a professional.  I want to teach my kids that racism is NOT ok and that all people have rights and deserve the same respect and opportunities.  I want to teach my boys about the social unrest that is happening and why it's happening.  We talk in our house with our kids about all of this.  We talk about the history and why we aren't where we should be by now.  We talk about unconscious basis and how it affects people and interactions.  We talk about things we see on the news and things that we have witnessed in person.  We talk about no longer staying silent.  We talk about how our words and awareness can help create and drive the change.  We talk about how important this topic is and what is means to families around us.  Families that we LOVE!   We have started doing little things like posting signs in our mostly white neighborhood- to once again bring awareness. I know it's not much but I have hope that I can help lead my boys the right way- to love all people and really love them for who they are!  I'm going to start doing other things like calling people out that are being racist around me.  It's sad to say but I have heard people being racist and I didn't stop them.  I'm sad to say I've heard these types of comments since I was a kid.  I heard them from family members and people in my community.  Well no more.  I will be calling people out no matter who you are.  I will do it in a way that will hopefully teach you what you are doing is wrong.  I have to do this to stop my children from learning that its ok to say these things in a 'private' setting.  IT'S NOT OK!  We have to do better for our next generations.  I thought growing up that all this stuff was figured out with the hippies.  Well it's not and never was.  The conversations started but have been paused and WHY?!  Because they are hard conversations?!  Well look at how hard this year has been.  We all are working through it and this needs to be the year of major changes!  Please open your eyes to what is going on in our communities and how we each can do little things to help create big changes.  I have so much hope that our kids generations will do better then our Grandparents, parents or us.  I know this is hard but we can make it better and easier on all of us.  Start talking about it.  Starting teach people around you to do better.  

Lake Vermilion

 We took the RV to Lake Vermilion this weekend. I really liked Lake Vermilion and the area around it. I had never been here before.  It's been so fun going to places in our state that we haven't been to before.  We drove up Thursday night and came home Sunday.  I would definitely come back to this one.  We stayed one night at Hoo Doo Point campsite and two nights at the State Park.  They have a coal mine there you can tour but it was closed this year.  We drove to Ely on Friday.  Had pizza, got bait and window shopped a little.  Ely was a fun town- I could have spent more time there.  We rented a pontoon on Saturday and attempted fishing but had no luck catching any thing.  Of course it rained on us Thursday and Friday night.  I don't think we have had one camping trip that it hasn't rained on us.  Luckily Saturday night was prefect and we got to sneak in a camp fire.  The weekend trips always go fast.  

The campsite

Smores 

The dino's that were excavated   

The excavation begins 

Tie Dying 

Boat selfies 

The boys each got to drive 

Cheese 

We were hoping to get some fish :(

Abel's turn 

The boat life!

So many islands on this lake!  So cool.

Ansel's turn to drive 

This lake is HUGE! 

Fishing off the dock 

Learning to skip rocks 

Pizza in the RV

Love his swag 

Hoo Doo Point 

They couldn't help but want to swim