And... Winter

Yesterday it was 65F, today, here is what the front of the house looks like at 9am, a couple of hours into what is predicted to be a full day of heavy snowfall
One of our trees gives up the ghost

Autumn Colours

This was a spectacular autumn for colours, sadly they never come out quite as well in photos as they appear to the naked eye but they really were pretty special. The reds and oranges (and let's face it only God can really pull of a decent orange) were on the tips of the tree branches only as if someone had brushed them with a fantastic paint.




One of the popular things to do in the Autumn in Minnesota is to go to an apple orchard. We headed to one with our friends Ken and Kim and their kids Anneka and Ian. Aside from the apples there was a corn maze

A very strange huy thing that the kids ran around in. Ken and I were trying to decide how it could be made more interesting - we came up with some great ideas like 'imagine if there were a dozen angry squirrels in there as well, or some monkeys and bees.
Becky not paying much attention to health and safety
Some of the fair was a little bit like craggy island, any excuse to make some money. The best one we found was the animal balloons, not anything that weird in animal balloons but one of the ones that was $2 was a balloon snake! Surely that's just a ballooon?
The other thing that will surprise some people was that we dog-sat for a family and had their black lab for a long weekend. There's a story about how it came about that we volunteered for it - but that's for another posting. Anyway, here's Dan taking the dog for a walk in one of the parks near us.

Guy Fawkes and Toad in the Hole

Introducing our American friends to Guy Fawkes night and toad-in-the-hole.   Toffee apples courtesy of Kim Kelly

Also happy birthday to me with a lovely cake and a games night with friends

Back to School and a return visit

It's that time of year again when the American summer public amenities shut down as the hoards of teenagers who have been lifeguards, theme park attendants and the like either head back to school or off to college. I always wondered why the American summer holidays were so long and now I know, it's because they are required to staff all of the seasonal events.

For our kids too it is time to either find those things that have been buried for 3 months (in Dan's case) or in Becky's case to collect everything required for day 1 of school. Dan is now a second grader at Normandale French Immersion and Becky starts pre-school at Golden years Montessori. Here they are on the first day of school.




We were a little worried about Becky as she had been so happy at her last nursery and we were moving her to full time in a new place. As it turned out we needn't have worried as she loved it and wanted to stay longer. She pretty much skips into school and out of school every day.

We also had a return visit from Claire Greenfield - she knows the drill by now so here she is helping Andy with her chocolates
And a return visit to to Taylor's Falls on the St Croix river

Hurricane Ridge

Last full day of the holiday today, we headed into the Olympic National Forest to Hurricane Ridge which was a great walk


Then on to a walk with a 'beware of the goat' warning on it, and we were told to pick up stones to throw if it attacked. As per typical I was all nonchalant about it and Andy was a little worried, Dan and Becky were collecting rocks to throw at it. We didn't see the goat but I just saw this in the news - about the very goat we were joking about.

Hiker Killed By Mountain Goat

Pretty grim - anyway, here are some pictures from our 'more dangerous than we thought' walk.




In the afternoon we headed for a last stint on the beach

Big Trees - Dead or Alive

Long drive today from Long Beach to Port Angeles, the weather turned a little overcast as well which was fine for a driving and forest day. Stopped at Lake Quinault for a while.

One of the rainiest places in the US


Then explored a small forest with big trees near the lake, this one is 500 years old

Here are the 4 major types of trees in the forest we were in (max ages in brackets), from left to right we have Western Hemlock (400-500), Douglas Firs (1,000), Western Red Cedar(1,000) and Sirka Spruce (800)

Trying to capture the full size of one is tricky but this gives some idea.
And when they fall they make a mess
This also gives some idea of their size, see Becky at the far end of this fallen one
On a bit further and we stopped at Kalaloch where there were lots of washed up trees



Then on to Lake Crescent

Spot the stick that Becky's throwing
And a little late evening sun to round off an unexpectedly pleasant day.



ddddddd