Strawberries!

On Saturday, we headed to the U-Pick Strawberry patch off of Hwy 141 to pick some strawberries!

Blythe finding some good ripe strawberries!

That's a good one!

It was drizzling a little, so we all geared up in our rain gear, the kids didn't mind...too much

Thumbs up and smiles from these two!

A giant ripe red strawberry!

Our haul!

That patch is awesome, if you haven't been there, I would highly recommend it. You can schedule a time slot on line and find plenty of good strawberries!
 

MN Fishing Trip - 2022

Summer starts with the boy's annual trip to northern Minnesota for some fishing! Trigg was super pumped and made this Lego model of us fishing at the lake. Garrett was pumped but a little nervous about his recent broken arm...

Loaded up in the Jeep and headed north, grabbed a map at a rest stop for the boys to track us along the way!

Our first stop is always Cabela's in Owatonna, in case we need more fishing gear!

The boys thought we really needed a side by side... not this year

We got to the lake and unloaded the Jeep. The boys hung up their hammock while I finished unloading...and then it was time to fish!

A broken arm did not stop G from catching fish! He quickly found some nice bass!

Trigg as well found a nice bass!

...and another!

...and another!  Needless to say, these boys know how to fish!

One thing I love about the lake is the early morning sunrises

The day is just waking up!

Trigg found some nice blue gill!

Action shot

Garrett figured out a technique for fishing, he would hold the rod with his legs, palm the reel with his broken arm and reel in with his non-broken arm!

It worked!

Grandpa caught a nice bass too!

Mom sends something for the boys to open each day, this day was some fun foam guns!

Another beautiful sunrise!

The closest town to our lake is Nevis, home to the World's Largest Tiger Muskie (annual picture)

Boys being boys!

We also went to see the giant Paul Bunyan

Paul and Babe the Blue Ox

Another nice bass!

The cottonwood trees were in bloom and dropping all the cottonwood seeds, so much that it looked like ice across the water, the down side is that it clings to your line and gunks up your reels...

But we still caught fish! Found some nice crappies!

Chilling in the cabin

Playing some new games!

Trigg got some putty and turned it into a mustache... looking good!

Another great sunrise

The boys built an epic sand castle on the beach

They even used a plastic bag to make a built in aquarium, complete with a fish!

Trigg took out one of the kayaks

G stayed on shore and read a book with me

Trigg enjoying lake life

Garrett found a good spot to read!

Good morning!

Playing cards in the cabin

Snuggling on the couch

Garrett, catching crappies while wearing his crappie t-shirt! Well done dude!

More fish for the one-armed G

One more sunrise!

Chillin together

Trigg usually brings a book along in the boat... fishing and reading, pretty good combo

Enjoying the sun and the lake!

This is a picture of me and my dad when I was younger

We tried to recreate the picture with me and my boys!

Our tradition on the drive home is to stop in Motley for breakfast, the biggest pancakes around!

Eyes bigger than his stomach...but such a good breakfast!

I'll end this post with a story. One morning, after fishing, we were getting breakfast on the table and my dad looks out the front window and yells "Oh No". I look outside and see a boat spinning in circles at the end of the dock and a guy standing in the water. So I quickly throw my shoes on and run down to the dock. I yell at the guy in the water to back up so he doesn't get hit by the motor as it is spinning around in circles. I have to time it just right and I jump into the boat as it is spinning faster and faster. I jump in and am able to kill the engine. At some point during these spins and getting into the boat, my foot got pinched between the boat and a dock... swelled up and turned purple! The guy in the lake was ok, he was new to boating and started the motor while it was engaged at full throttle, once it started, it lunged forward, throwing him out of the back of the boat and sending the boat into crazy spins at the end of the dock.

I did manage to catch some fish as well! Here's my highlight reel!