more from North Dakota, though it did not seem like it weather wise.

Yes, we had short pants and t-shirt days in late October in North Dakota!  People were excited about the weather and after a cold day or two of introduction, Patt and I were quite pleased.  

Front yard football throwing and soccer ball kicking was a almost every afternoon activity.  Isaac and Luke enjoy "going out for passes" and I enjoyed throwing them.  

John Paul bought this kite and proudly flew it.  Sometimes his mind wanders while he is flying it and he finds that it is in trouble.   Surprise surprise surprise.  So far it has not been fatal.  John Paul is lucky.  And the sky was blue that day and credit to Lydia for capturing both kite and John Paul with the camera phone.

During fall break we went to Winnipeg, Manitoba a few hours to the north in Canada.  Everyone's favorite part of the trip was the polar bear exhibit at the Provincial Zoo.  Better than the exhibit at the NC Zoo by a long shot.  The bears swim in a glass enclosure above and around those who wish to see them swim.  We were fortunate to see three of the four put on quite a show.  Diving, swimming and playing/fighting with one another for quite some time.

Luke would have spent the rest of the day in the walk way just watching.

The Manitoba History museum was also very good and had big attention getting exhibits such as this with a mural and stuffed buffalo and model indians pursuing them on horseback.

Not all of our games are challenging but all are competitive.  War is WAR and it is competitive.  Luke will play as long as you will play.  Patt will play a long time too.

Matt, Luther, Isaac and I went to see the UND Fighting Hawks play Sacramento State in a Big Sky football game.  They are having a season I can easily identify with.  They lost.  It was close for a half.

We did if you will note have good, as in very very good seats.  

All was not lost as that evening we watched UND hockey team beat their number one rivals the Minnesota Gophers 4-0, while simultaneously watching Wake lose to Georgia Tech, so there was some disappointment.  It was close for a while.  Sounds familiar doesn't it.  Good times and the kids stayed up late and celebrated touchdowns, goals and and such.

There being no ice yet we played backyard football, here John Paul and I are drawing up "plans"

 The offense is about to go into high gear with our ace running quarterback.

One one afternoon, Patt and all five kids played with four and three teams.  Had a great game.  Two kids had blood on them, four cried/fussed/discussed energetically, (over rules interpretation, down and distance, tag or no tag, blood, tagging to hard, not giving enough time prior to play starting, I could go on)  To say the kids are competitive would be a disservice to the word competitive.  It was fun.  I think everyone scored a touchdown.  We finally quit when three were crying at the same time.  It was also snack time.

I hope this video plays, Luke completes a pass to Isaac

We do not rush Christmas, repeat, we do not rush Christmas as Patt unwraps a Christmas pyramid.

nor do we rush birthday celebrations as cake and strawberries and song were shared for my upcoming birthday was appreciated.

It was a wonderful memorable visit.

Settling into life in North Dakota

On Friday we took Delta to Grand Forks and were well welcomed. To say that we were the center of attention would be putting it mildly. To say that we like it would also be somewhat of an understatement. We like the attention and those providing the attention very very much.

The next morning, despite the frost on the car windows and the brisk chill in the air we were off to the soccer games. John Paul's game is first so Luke watches a bit. Patt and I have been through this drill before and it was good to experience it again.

Luke, second white shirt from left is "fast" like his Uncle Stephen, and wants to be good, so I suspect he will eventually find another sport to enjoy rather than soccer.

John Paul is all about the "well I am not sure" so I suspect World Cup Soccer participant is not in his future either. He is great for team spirit and sure looks good out there and has good soccer poses, like this one.

Matt must be a good coach or has some good players as his team did very well this year. One of his very good players is the blond on the front row named Isaac. Fast and disciplined —  moves well with the ball too.  Patt asked him what his Dad called him since there are two Isaacs on the team and he responded "Get in your position!"  Matt obviously is a good coach.

Because the day had been somewhat quiet for a Saturday and the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks Men's Hockey team was playing a home game, well guess who was going? Us. All nine of us plus Matt's parents Jan and Luther. We qualified for group rate tickets.

Of course the seats were pretty high up. But this is not your wooden seat, cheap upper deck skating rink either. These were leather cushioned seats in a beautiful facility with marble floors and the kind of place most pro teams only wish they had. 12 or 14 thousand seats, I forget, but it is huge.

Three concourses of seats with the second deck being suites. Those eight green banners are National Championships from the 1990s through last year.

Late in the third period, Lydia, John Paul and I went down to the first level for a a closer look at the action.

On Monday, a visit to the school and meeting Isaac's teacher. I did not ask but I suspect she may be Scandinavian too. There are a lot of them in this part of the country.

Julianna checking out some notes at the back of Lydia's classroom while Lydia keeps an eye on John Paul - stage left and Luke poses at Lydia's desk.

And the day ends at the girls' swim practice. Julianna in blue swim cap near bottom of photo and Lydia adjusting goggles in the same lane. They are both good swimmers and have good hard practices.

Additionally we have enjoyed some quiet time while the kids were in school. Including NAP time. (who needs a nap? Patt and I need a nap!)  Especially since Laura asks Patt to go for a walk (while Laura runs) and Luther and I played golf.

Tomorrow starts fall break and we are driving up to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for a couple of days to see the sights. It will be fun. Patt and I were there last summer on the way home from Colorado and it is a very nice place to visit.

well I ought to do a little transition

Since the kids left back in the summer we have been out of the house on a few occasions (more than church, the Dr. office and the grocery store).

For example with Eric and Barb I heard Rev William Barber speak on the "Poor People's Movement".  Rev. Barber is the leader of the Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina and quite an inspirational speaker.  If you ever get a chance to hear him.  Do it.

We also participated with our Church in our adopted school's clean up day and here are Patt and Robin cleaning and painting a storage cabinet.  I was the official gofer.  Not goofer.

Nature has been abundant in our yard this summer including this large box turtle who liked our driveway.  A dangerous preference, but so far not fatal.

A great attraction of Raleigh is the annual Blue Grass Festival which has in addition to street art, food great blue grass music.

just one example.  We heard some wonderful shows.  Come some time.  

This was the crowd for the largest show we attended, most were not so large.  Oh and they are free, so the price is right.

 And this family does not show up nearly as much as we would prefer.  The mama is extremely skittish, much more so than last year when she (or her mother) kept her twins here nearly all day every day.

Winning Deacon games have been fun and looking forward to more.  Yes we have so far won more than we have lost.  A great feeling.  A new feeling.  We like it too.

But now it is time to head to North Dakota.  and see the kids.  We like that too.

Preparing for parties and a little reading time too

Well, the grandkids and Matt and Laura have migrated north now and all is quiet in our house. It was great while it lasted. We had a ton of fun. Part of the fun was getting ready to host a family get together.  

As a part of preparations for the party, I organized an early morning work party for outside chores.  Willing helpers were everywhere.  

Bucket carriers, weed pullers, choppers of weeds, and you name it, we had it. Luke talked about as much as he worked, but he talks a lot so you know he worked a lot too. John Paul was more into chopping of things.  

The leaf blower was a hit. Julianna had her own ear plugs saved from the packet she got on the flight across the Pacific so she took charge of leaf blowing.

Isaac liked the lawn mower, and mowed a good bit, but the mower and the dead man cut off would get him stuck on occasion. 

That was when big sister Lydia came to the rescue.  She was so proud to have mastered starting the mower. And not so easy to do on this not so new mower.  

In addition to working we celebrated John Paul's gotcha day and Lydia's early birthday. Wish I had a photo of John Paul, and his first gift - a jar of molasses. John Paul, as do the other kids, likes molasses mixed with butter on biscuits.

Grandmama can flat out figure out a good present. The hit gift of the day. Everyone's current new favorite game — Nop-ly as Luke calls it.

After a work morning we had, or rather a subset of us, had some serious cooking and food preparing for a big time dinner later in the day.

Eric and Barb came early and Big Uncle Eric was swarmed with kids explaining how monopoly was played.

Well of course we played, and played, and then guests came and this game broke up and two more games started. Involving just the kids that were here.  

Unfortunately I do not have photos of the party - and we had big time attendance too. Lots of good food and good times.

I do have a photo of Patt reading to a majority of the kids. We, and they enjoy, the reading out loud a lot.

And on another day, Patt took a picture of me in the same spot reading - perhaps even the same book.  

We look forward to having even more grandchildren here for Christmas. Hot diggity dog.

Graham and Charlotte for the kids - a little heritage and family history

A few days ago we took the kids and Matt and Laura by Mom and Dad's old house in Graham. It looks kinda rough compared to how it once looked but it was nice to see it and have the memories it prompted. Eric met us there and regaled us with stories as only he can. The kids allowed as how he would be a "good grandpa" too.  

Part of the tour included a trip down to the barn where part of Eric's charm included telling some stories about Paul's horsemanship - or rather propensity to fall off one or another of our various horses. The kids thought those stories were funnier than I did. In fact, some I do not remember.  Could be like our TV though.

We then went down 54 to the graveyard to visit Mom and Dad's graves. Was a nice remembrance time there.

The kids asked good questions and seemed genuinely interested in the lives of my parents. I am so glad they went. John Paul stayed connected to me the whole time we were there.

Then it was on to Charlotte and Betty and Arthur's back yard for a picnic lunch. Guess who had the boys excited? Well the three boys, especially these two, followed Art around like he had the keys to the riding lawnmower or something.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we had a nice luncheon. Randall and Sheryl came down from Concord to visit and it was good to seem them too.

Standing on the fence hollarin' for the donkeys. It was in vain. But it was not for lack of effort.

Later riding in Eddie's van — 10 of us, yes 10, we found the donkeys and got to pet one of them.

A lot. He, the male, was quite friendly and patient, apparently enjoying the attention from somewhat reluctant attention givers.

The donkeys hang out with the cows. Actually donkeys keep coyotes away and are social animals who get along with other domestic animals. That is your animal husbandry lesson for the day.

And Ed led an excursion to try to get close to the mother donkey and her two week old baby. To cut to the chase, that is as close as they got.  Mama donkey judged approaching crowd as potentially dangerous — which I assure you, was not.

We reassembled for a swim party and dinner at Ed and Cathy's — you know, work hard, play hard.

and rest hard.

And on the way home got eye exams from Randall while Patt and I visited with Sheryl and Jackie.  A great day — long indeed and slept that evening so we could play Nop-ly the next day.