Stuff that happened way back in October

 I think I am finally about caught up on the old blog.  Sorry peoples.  Despite all the craziness of the world this summer and fall and how we were all suppose to be staying away from each other, the last couple months have been super busy.  Thankfully, I have almost all my fall yardwork done and not much on the calendar for the next couple months so I am looking forward to putting on my pajamas when it gets dark (which is around 4:30 here) and sitting by my fireplace with a good book.  

October started a little rough.  John was playing on his tractor in our woods and somehow disturbed a wasp nest that was in a dead tree.  He got stung quite a few times in the head and neck but thankfully was wearing his thick coveralls and ear protection so it could have been worse.

John's mom spent three and a half weeks by us in October.  It's always fun to have her around.  We didn't do anything real special - went out for breakfast, played cards, did some puzzles, and got some projects done for one of her favorite daughter-in-laws.  I think her favorite part was visiting her three boys.  She is easy to have around and I kinda missed having her around (and not just because she did my ironing).

While mom was in Oregon visiting with Gene and his family, we had dear friends visit for the weekend.  We became friends with Joel and Tabitha in Iowa and they moved to California about the same time we moved here.  We hadn't seen each other for about 15 years and we picked right back up where we left off.  Such a great family, I hope it doesn't take another 15 years for us to get together again!

On October 16, my favorite guy in the world turned 50.  Wow.  We celebrated with a party in the shop.  Lots and lots of fun.  Thankfully no one got Covid since there wasn't a lot of social distancing happening.

Mom and her boys.

Surprise!  Doyle and Susie were back!  

I wonder if they'll come when I turn 50?!

I came up with the brilliant idea that since John had to drop mom off at the airport, he might as well drop me off too so I headed to Michigan to see my favorite oldest daughter.  She was pretty happy to see me.

The feeling was mutual.

A good friend told me once that when my mom came to visit, I needed to make sure I had fresh flowers and a magazine in the guest room.  Holly did extra good with the Reeses.

I LOVED seeing her super cute house and meeting her super sweet roomies.

We spent a day in Holland. I keep telling Holly if she doesn't ever come home that I am going to have to move to this fancy retirement village by her. I am sorta not kidding. Freedom Village....isn't that a great name for a senior living community??!

I got a kick out of this couch that was in a fancy furniture store.  The first couch John and I bought was plaid and apparently it is making a comeback.

It was a little chilly but we still braved the beach.

Of course, she had to take advantage of mom's Costco card.

Rosy Mounds State Park in Grand Haven.

Holly LOVES Michigan beaches and I sorta understand why.

It was the tail end of the fall colors but still beautiful.

Hoffmaster State Park.

This is one of Holly's favorite places in the state of Michigan.  Apparently it's never too cold for ice cream.

Robinette's Apple Farm.

Holly and her roomie Bri.  

It was so good to see her and although it's always hard to say goodbye, she's doing so well.  She really loves Michigan, not sure I'm going to get her back. :(

Friday the 13th

Sam is kinda into scary movies.  Not like gory, slasher movies (like Texas Chainsaw Massacre) but more just plain scary (like It).  When I was his age, I watched all the horror movies - gory and scary ones.  I'm not sure I really liked them but my friends were into them so I sat there with my hands covering my face for three quarters of the movie.  Most of them were stupid and I never gave them a thought but one has affected me my entire life.  Children of the Corn.  I literally cannot walk by a corn field to this day once the corn gets to a certain height.  I took this picture on August 25 while on my walk.  Right after I took it, I crossed to the other side of the road. 

The fear is real people.

Stuff that happened way back in September

 Wow.  I am nearly caught up.  Here's a little fall funny before I get into our September.

After the wedding reception in Iowa, we convinced the parents of the groom to come home with us.  YEA HOORAY!  Doyle and Susie were here for about five days and we had a wonderful time.  The only negative thing about their visit is that we all still think we can stay up until all hours of the night.  We can't.

We got back to Lynden in time for a quick tour of the Hiemstra Hide-a-Way (they hadn't been here since we moved in) before supper.

Happiness is seeing Doyle outside Gramma's Cottage the following morning...

and having your Tante Susie here for your first day of 7th grade!

Of course we couldn't walk the kids into school this year but I love this picture Susie got of Katie getting out of the car.  I think it totally captures the combination of first day jitters and excitement.

When we got home, I took Doyle and Susie on me and Carly's (nearly) every day walk route.

John had to work the first couple days of their visit.  They kindly offered to help out with some house projects.  I never say no to that!

Susie worked too, just didn't get a picture of her!

That evening our friend Todd offered to take us four-wheeling.  It was lots of fun, a beautiful night and none of us died.  Can't ask for much more than that.

I needed a little tutorial from Chris on how to drive a manual shift.  I think I only killed it like 2,396 times that night but by the end, I was getting the hang of it!

On our walk the next morning, Doyle and Susie were saying they remembered visiting some relatives who were camping at Berthusen Park many years ago.  They were talking about some bear carvings that they took their pictures by.  I told them that yes, you used to be able to camp at Berthusen but no, there were no bear carvings.  I assured them I had been on every path their multiple times and had never seen bear carvings.  Lucky for us, we ran into the caretaker that morning and so we asked him.  And...YES, THERE ARE BEAR CARVINGS AT BERTHUSEN!!  

They are pretty hidden away now but we found them.

Mystery solved.

Carly and I sure miss these guys on our walk.  I miss those dry paths too, it's pretty muddy now. :(

We took advantage of the nice weather and walked on the ferry to Friday Harbor.

We rented a super cute convertible jeep at Susie's namesake.

And had a wonderful day exploring the island.

Pretty sure this is my favorite picture taken that day.

We ate lunch at Roche Harbor.  I wouldn't be mad about it if John decides to build me a retirement house there. 

If you ever want to see a whale, do not take John and I with you.  We have been to Lime Kiln State Park three times now and each time we have missed seeing a pod of whales by a half hour.

We did see deer though.

And a little later on, a fox.

  

We had a lovely supper overlooking the water.

We decided to take the last ferry home.  In hindsight, this was a mistake.  The last ferry ended up being about two hours late.  

This is what we all did on the ferry ride back to Anacortes.  Susie was just the lucky one to get a picture taken of herself.  

We got home super duper late so the next day we slept in and just took it easy.  Doyle and John installed a horn on Sam's four-wheeler.  The six days they were here went really fast and we did have to share them with Doyle's family too.  So happy they came home with us - wonderful visit with wonderful friends we miss lots!

A couple other September things.

*It got really warm for a couple of days.  Ryan took advantage of the sunshine and soaked up some rays.

John started putting up cedar shakes on our pavilion.

*Some metal "trees" were installed in downtown Lynden this summer.  I have to say that even though I am no fan of petunias, they did look really nice when they were all in full bloom.

*I put a watercolor app on my phone.  Look at this cool "painting" I have of my cottage now.  Holly made fun of me for paying $2.99 for an app but I'm pretty sure she is just jealous.

*Katie and some friends slept overnight down by the creek one night as part of their science plot study project.  Between the cold night and the coyotes howling, I was pretty impressed they made it all night down there!

*We finally addressed our mole issue we had going on by borrowing some great traps from a friend and paying Katie five bucks for every one she caught.  I think she got three of them.  She was super proud.

*At the end of the month, we had another wedding here.  Some day I would like to host a wedding here when it doesn't rain. The coffee guys are getting really good at setting up tarps though!

Despite the rain, it was still a beautiful wedding and a good time was had by all.  

Congratulations Brianna and Micah!

It's been fun to see how people have gotten creative for their Corona weddings.  I have to say I am not minding the scaled-back versions I've been to.  I'm kinda hoping they stick around even after this is all over. Anyone else? 

I think that's a wrap on our September!