7/4/07...Enjoying a picnic dinner while the Eden Prairie Band plays patriotic songs at Round Lake.  A Fourth of July tradition!

"Want a lick?"

On the beach waiting for fireworks to begin.

Annabelle sporting a tatoo.

Playing a card game called Nutsie while waiting for the fireworks show.

7/5/07...The first raspberries from our hill.

7/7/07...Annabelle's birthday breakfast...homemade waffles and raspberries from the garden.  The table was also graced with a flower from her Annabelle hydrangea bush.

Opening gifts!

Food was a big part of the day - Annabelle got to pick all her meals. Lunch was egg noodles, cantaloupe and fresh peas from the garden. 

Her good friend Jenna joined the celebration in the afternoon.

Annabelle and Jenna - making spinach fettucine (spinach was also from the garden!)

And Blueberry Shortcake for dessert.

7/11/07...Annabelle and Nathaniel outside the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, IL.  We tagged along on Chris' business trip in central Illinois.  We drove to Moline together and I continued on south with the kids to my Grandparent's farm in Morton.

Annabelle and Nathaniel inside one of the many tractors in the pavilion.

Biking along the Mississippi River in Moline.

A fountain downtown Moline.  I love Moline!

Watching a dump truck get loaded with sand at a depot along the Mississippi.  It took 2 and a half loader scoops to fill this truck.

7/12/07...Everybody gathered in the Brecher Farm kitchen.  My sister and her family; and Grandma Rudy came for the day.

My mom (Grandma Rudy) and my Grandma (Brecher) icing a cake for the "July Birthday's" (Annabelle, my sister and my Grandpa Brecher).

My Grandpa Brecher playing with Nathaniel and cousin Jacob.

Annabelle, Nathaniel and cousins checking out the soybean crop.

Nathaniel and cousin Jacob feeding the horses.

Annabelle with the horses.

The July Birthdays! Annabelle, Grandpa Brecher and Aunt Elizabeth (turning 40!!!!)

If you look closely in the center-right of the picture, just above the corn in front of the trees - you will see water from my Grandpa's new irrigation rig.  It is the first one in Tazwell County!

Sunset on the farm.

Annabelle and cousin Ganan played cards until close to midnight!

Annabelle and Grandpa Brecher working on a Rubic's Cube!

Annabelle with "Miss Meowsers" - a barn cat she discovered with her cousins on the farm.  See video of Annabelle and kitty on our video links page.

Annabelle and Grandpa Brecher on his big Dixon mower.  It takes Grandpa 4 hours each week to mow the grass on the farm.

Nathaniel's turn!

See video of this on our video links page...

Annabelle reading on the screened porch on the farm.

7/14/07...Annabelle's 9th Birthday Party.  She had an ice cream making party with a few close friends.

Annabelle turning the crank.  We made old fashioned chocolate ice cream.

Nathaniel's turn.

Enjoying their homemade ice cream!

Nathaniel and Annabelle picking raspberries from our raspberry patch.

More raspberry picking....and eating!

Annabelle with author Marion Dane Bauer at her last book club.  Ms. Bauer is the author of many wonderful children's and teen books and we were very excited to meet her.  Annabelle read A Bear Named Trouble.. a true story of a bear that lives in the Lake Superior Zoo.  We plan to visit "Trouble" in a few weeks!  Learn more about the author at her website www.mariondanebauer.com

Camping at Itasca State Park, July 27 - 29.  This is a great state park and home of the headwaters of the Mississippi River!  Annabelle is seen here along the bike path leading to the headwaters.  This footbridge leads to the Mary Gibbs Interpretive Center.

The headwaters - where the mighty Mississippi begins!  That is Lake Itasca in the background. The line of rocks is where Lake Itasca pours into a stream that is the Mississippi!

Crossing the headwaters!

Chris commented how interesting it was to be at the headwaters that day...when just a week before he was standing at the other end of the Mississippi in New Orleans.  There the river is so large and powerful that you'd be swept away if you fell in.

Annabelle and me in the Mississippi River!

Biking to Douglas Lodge from the campground.  It was a gorgeous path full of shade from the big old pine trees.

Annabelle climbing to the top of Aiton Tower, an old forest fire stand.  

Aiton Tower...Annabelle was brave enough to make it to the top.  Not me!

Annabelle at the top of Aiton Tower.

The view from Aiton Tower of Itasca State Park.

"Preacher's Grove"...a huge old stand of pine trees.  It is also the site of a preachers meeting in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

More of Preacher's Grove.

"Peace Pipe Vista"

Itasca had great naturalist programs...here we are at a campfire talk on the shores of Lake Itasca.  It was all about bears!

Our campsite at sunset.  Lake Itasca is just through those trees and we were treated to a nightly serenade by the loons.

A path from from the campground to the lake.

The lake at sunset.

Hiking the Brower Trail...named after the first park commissioner.  Itasca is Minnesota's oldest state park.

Boating on Lake Itasca.  We rented a pontoon boat for out last afternoon.

One of the many loons we spotted on the lake.

Nathaniel's turn at the wheel.

Cooling our feet in the lake.

We spotted a pair of bald eagles on the lake.  We had fun watching them soar and even heard their calls.  This is the close up...the next pictures show where we are in relation to their perch.

The tree where the eagle is perched.  See him on top?

Chris seen looking at the eagle from the boat.  You can make out the tree and if you look closely you will see the eagle.