When life gives you rain...

Hurricane Isaac brought strong winds, put out power for hundreds of thousands, and also brought significant rain.  The storm surge (water from the ocean or large lakes piles up on one side due to long periods of strong winds), coupled with heavy rain, is making local lakes and bayous rise.  So what can you do as water rises in the backyard?  Enjoy it!

 Kayak lessons are fun!

 Beautiful wetland paddling... in the neighbors backyard!  Hope we don't get much more rain!

 Maybe I'll just ride.  He enjoyed it so much he didn't want to get out at the end.

Hope this video gives you a bit better idea of the neighborhood after Isaac.  Still beautiful and not too many trees down.  Better enjoy it while we can.

Isaac

 Sorry this picture is so blurry, this is my garden, not much in it except for okra.

 The bayou where we cross to go to the lakes.

Well, Isaac wasn't as bad as we had thought it might be.  I think some areas might have been hit harder than we were.  We had a lot of rain but not nearly as much wind as during Gustav. 
The first two pictures are of a water oak that came down behind our neighbor's house.  No property was damaged that we could see.
There was a fair bit of flooding and the waters may still rise significantly even after the rains subside.

socks

 I've started a new project, my first pair of socks.  I've found that it's a nice kind of thing to do at night when I'm too tired to work even on sewing project, this I can just pick up and do a row here and there.
We are awaiting the coming of hurricane Isaac.  He seems to be very slow which is not very good since that means more flooding.  We are prepared to stay inside all day tomorrow.  School was canceled today and tomorrow for the children.  My guess is they won't reopen the schools till the power is on again. 
It was actually a beautiful day today, breezy and partly cloudy.  We had a fun going fishing, playing at the park and visiting with friends.  We are all sleeping in the hallway, middle room, near and under the stairs.  It was so exciting I though maybe they wouldn't go to sleep very easily but they must have been tired out. 
It is predicted that we will loose electricity so if you can't reach us, don't worry, we are probably having fun playing scrabble or boggle or fixing puzzles.

Happy Birthday!

After tennis lessons for the three oldest, we returned to a birthday party for F.  Definitely a girly party and lots of fun!  Happy Birthday!

 Happy Birthday!  Everyone got to decorate their own cupcake to enjoy.

 Having fun inside since outside is a bit wet right now...

 Princesses in the rain...

Unofficial color theme: pink... (some of these were sewn to the theme by Mom)

No "tape" yoga in the book from Auntie and Uncle (Thanks and Happy Birthday!) but having fun with gifts and decorations.

making pesto

 It seems like most everything in our yard doubled in size during the two weeks we were away.  The basil may have quadrupled.  Out of a large arm load of basil and over an hour of grinding and blending these six jars of pesto were the result.  Well, it was worth it.  Our eldest daughter loves the stuff, I won't tell her just how much garlic is in it. 

After struggling with some illness and days where there were plastic cups stacked in the dirty dishes pile, I decided it was about time we each had our own mugs, or at least the children have their own.  This was something we did as children and seems like a good way to cut down on dishes and spreading germs.

Gold!

There's gold in them thar hills!  This line delighted investors and ultimately led to native Sioux/Lakota peoples being forced from the Black Hills.  The gold mine closed recently but is still available in museum form. 

 Did I say she's a climber?  Gearing up for the olympics?  Nice cupola and a great 7-passenger vehicle in the background.  Keep smiling!

 A bit of water gets intercepted by the Black Hills as well - providing for waterfalls and nice green areas that can appear dark or almost black from out on the plains...

 M could barely be dragged away from the train...

 Oma and a half dozen gold quality grandkids...

You may think we were there for gold but notice how Homestake mine has nice cupolas on the buildings...  (to be continued...)

Cicada eating wasps

These wasps sting and eventually eat cicadas.  We discovered one in the process, then had it climb my leg and finally realized there were dozens of the wasps underground nests near the Iowa playground.  Fascinating and a bit scary.  The kids investigated for over 30 minutes.
The first photo shows the wasp fighting with the cicada.

 G. then calmly photographed the wasp climbing my pants-leg, somewhat reminiscent of seeing hundreds of ants drag an injured scorpion up a wall in Mexico.

The kids then discovered there were dozens of nests below this play structure - perhaps the sand was easy to excavate?  Here several investigate, each from a distance they found comfortable.

I climbed to the top of these roots.I was scared. D

Family Reunion

 Pretty dry in between, but south LA and Sask are both pretty green this summer

 Is that miles or kilometers?

 A walk in the park with a few cousins

 These guys are a bit brassy (Saskatoon along the river)

 Shekinah - glory of God - a stunning wood beam structure.

 Plenty of room for the 100+ relatives of the Van clan

 Nice bunks

 A morning walk with Oma

 Crafty - painting wooden klompen can  bring people together

 Some of these folks are real climbers

 That princess has some muscles!

 This one managed to ring the bell at the top.  Good job G!

 Fly!

 Ziplining was a breeze for the kids, a bit more interesting with some of the big ones!

 Hi flying B

 Oma Mina is still knitting!  This little lady is responsible for this whole crew, amazing!

 Worship and prayer for Oma Mina by the ten kids

 Brothers having fun

 Cousin P with his sun hat

 Red runs in the family as demonstrated by this cousin.

First cousins back in SD where we had a "smaller" family reunion and quite a party with Oma and Opa.  Thanks and blessings to all.

Rocky Mountains

 The water was cold coming off the snowmelt

 Beautiful foreground and background

 Tent camping

 View from the campsite

 Neighborhood deer

 Hail at 12,000 feet looked a bit like snow

 Morning light from the tentsite

 Enjoy the cold while it lasts!

 Sisters enjoying God's good creation

 Nice view kids!

Family time.  Note beetle damage to pines in background.