Mini Getaway to the Waterfalls!

We snuck away to Duluth last week for a one night stay in a hotel and a day exploring the state parks around the area! We started our morning at Aminicon Falls State Park, then headed over to Pattison State Park (home to WI's tallest waterfall) and ended our adventure at Gooseberry Falls! Colton had so much fun climbing and exploring and throwing rocks into the waterfalls! It was a great little family get away - wish we could get away for one day every week!!

Just had to share these...

Frankie's Sister-in-Law, Melissa, took these pictures while we were at the farm on Sunday and they are just too amazing for me to not share with everyone! She is so talented!! Thanks for sending me these pictures Melissa. She has also agreed to take my pregnancy pictures later on so stay tuned sometime in December or early January for those (as long as I don't chicken out)!!

I am still a Farm Girl at Heart!!!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Shepard Buffalo Farm in Mazeppa, MN for a Peterson Family Reunion. It was so much fun and great to see everyone! As soon as we arrived Colton ran to the giant haybales where he played with his cousins for at least an hour before agreeing to stop for lunch. After a fabulous pot luck lunch (my favorite because there is always such a good variety of food) we were back to having fun on the farm. The kids played more on the giant haystack while the adults took in some time to just visit and of course play a couple games of Beanbags. Now here comes the real fun, Uncle Ron thought it would be fun for the kids to get a ride in the Bobcat! Well I am not sure who had more fun the kids or the adults. I couldn't wait for my turn behind the controls of that thing (it has been almost 20 years since I have driven one). Me and Colton took it for a spin all around laughing and having a great time! After Bobcat rides it was time for our Buffalo Adventure. We piled into the back of Uncle Ron's truck and he took us out to the pasture to see the herd. Now I was expecting to see them from a distance but what I got was way more than I bargained for. We passed through the gate into the pasture, up a big hill, down the other side and wouldn't you know it there stood Erving - the leader of the Buffalo Herd. He stood right in the middle of the road and just starred us down as to say - Go Away or You will be Eaten. Of course Uncle Ron did not listen to these warnings and away we went driving right towards the giant animal. Are you kidding me? There are about 100 Buffalo in this herd and he just pissed off the leader!! This can't be good! As we got closer to the heard we became surrounded by Buffalo, some standing in front of the truck, many alongside the truck and few coming up behind us! At this point we realized why there was a giant bucket of apples on the truck with us. Uncle Ron starts yelling thorwing them apples, throw them apples. Yeah like apples are gonna get a giant buffalo away! Well surprisingly it worked, they kept their distance (and for some of them that meant about 5 feet from the truck) but we were able to continue our journey and escape out of the pasture with all kids and adults unharmed - of course not without one more encounter with Erving who was now blocking the gate that we needed to pass through for safety! We eventually made it back to the house and were able to breathe a sigh of relief. We had a great time, it was such a fun day and one I hope we can repeat again soon! Thank you so much Bonnie and Ron for allowing us all to come and hang out for the day and for helping us create memories we will never forget!

Labor Day Weekend

We spent Labor Day Weekend at the lake with my parents! I was lucky enough to get Friday off so we headed up to the lake already Thursday morning and stayed until Monday. The weather wasn't very cooperative on Thursday or Friday so we spent some time inside playing games, watching football (although we had to watch the Packers becuase we were in WI) and spent several hours Friday shopping in Rice Lake. The weather got better as the weekend went on and we were able to get in some fishing, go for golf cart rides, enjoy campfires, take long walks with the dog and of course play Bingo. The campground puts on Bingo for the kids on Holiday weekends and Colton absolutely loves it. The weekend was very relaxing and a much needed 5 day break from reality! Although I am sad that summer is over I am ready to jump into fall!!