Winter in October?

Ummm…. What happened to Fall and Spring? We went from Winter to Summer, Summer to Winter?

At least that’s what is seems like to those of us in Northern Michigan.
We had some visitors again. No bears this time, well maybe a couple depends on your definition of bear. We had a fun filled day with freezing temperatures and snow! Took a trip to the local corn maze for another visit and I was correct the colors were absolutely gorgeous! All of the kids enjoyed climbing on the tractor made of hay bales. We had a little slower trip through the corn maze as I told the Pixie to take it out of Marathon mode before we even started. They enjoyed the zig zag turns and loops that make the tractor in the maze. While we were walking through it began to snow, just flurries but none the less the were trying to catch the flakes on their tongues. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough to get pictures of that site. Next on the list of things to do was a much needed warm up in the barn with the cutest calf. I have to tell you is quite the ham when it comes to getting his picture taken with small children. All of the girls squealed with excitement when it was their turn to go in the stall with him. However he was quite intrigued with one of the girls jacket zippers, in fact I think he was trying to eat it! He made sure to give each and everyone of them calf kisses before they exited. On to the next fun thing was the hay mound and the hay bale maze, made for people just the size of our smallest visitor. All of them enjoyed it no matter the size. Our final adventure on this huge farm, our hay ride. Sure it was cold and I along with MarBear were the only ones with our winter coats on and zipped but none the less we all had fun on the bumpy road through the fields and woods, but no Grandma’a house to go to.

Thanks to the help of my personal decorator I finally got the huge wreath hung on the end of the house and some other things on the inside done too. Also put out our welcome sign thanks, Tathia for touching up one of your beautifully painted windows. I have to say it looks like it was made to go there. I got in trouble from the big bear for climbing up on the ladder to do the hoisting of the wreath. He is the one that climbs for a living, up to 1000’ chimneys! YIKES! I didn’t even get close to that on my ladder and I did wait for some one else to be here to hold the ladder. Well that’s my story and I am sticking to it even if he didn’t buy it. I know, I know what if something happens to me, who will be here to take care of kids, that’s why I waited for a spotter. I guess the next time I need something done up higher than 3’ off the ground I will be patient and wait for him to come home. Yeah right, me be patient! I heed his warning though.

Monday morning I saw a strange sight, snow in early October! It snowed all day until we saw a final accumulation of 2”! I have to say though, it was so peaceful and beautiful to wake up on Tuesday morning to the site of everything covered in a white blanket of snow. Nothing more grand than to see the tree limbs bending with the weight of this white stuff we call snow. Those friends that ride snow mobiles in the winter I am sure were quite excited to see this. My father is already prepared for his winter full of skiing everyday except Saturday week in and week out. Here is a 70 year old man that is healthier and more active than most teenagers! He jogs, or rides his bike almost 5 miles everyday in all seasons, if he doesn’t ski that is. Not much holds him back from skiing not even winter storm warnings, which leads me to believe he is a little crazy. Sorry love my Dad. Lone little MarBear found a frozen puddle to play on, trying to make sure she cracked every square inch of ice. Pixie was and still his sick with sinus pressure and low fever and don‘t forget the cough that keeps her up all night. Poor baby, she hates to miss school and her friends.

Girl Scouts has begun. I will have pictures from that soon. The girls loved their first meeting and look forward to many more! They have a great leader that loves to have fun and teach the girls at the same time. YEAH!!

I leave you with some of the peaceful shots of our first snow in DA U.P. eh…

Visiting Fall

Our Indian Summers seems to have left us now as fall settles in all it's splender. As I look around at all the glorious color surrounding us, I have to stop and take it all in. All of the yellow to orange and red catching my eye as I have camera in hand.
Girls have come accustom to watching the critters outside. We have 3 bucks and one doe along with all of the birds, squirrels and Alvin(the chipmunk), that come in regularly to munch on our corn. There of course are the nocturnal animals such as the Raccoon family that stumbled into our corn. Also found out there is a bear roaming around our property. Yes you read that right, it's not blurry, we have a BIG BLACK BEAR here in heaven, imagine that! Caught him on the trail camera coming through at night too! Imagine my surprise when I was downloading the pictures and this big black image shows up! The porcupine is no longer with us, yes this critter is not a welcome addition to our wildlife. It's quills can hurt other animals not to mention they destroy the trees. Don't mean to offend anyone that may be reading.

We had our first visitor to our new home last week. My friend/sis Jodi, Aunt Jodi, to the girls, came to see us and our new home. Had a great relaxing time. She brought us gifts too! Yeah! Girls love their new kickin' sweatshirts! If I were a young girl, these would be my everyday throw on and go out the door shirt. I gave her a tour of the city and country and lakeshores we like to visit. Girls and I took her for a short walk in the woods before dark and before we viewed the bear photo! I hung the wooden sign Jodi brought for us in our entry way.



The girls and I have been busy doing crafts and making Halloween suckers! Yummy! They look pretty good and the girls even put fancy ribbons on them. Hope their friends and teachers enjoy them as much as we did making them.
Our home has become our Home Sweet Home, just as the sign from Jodi says. We are making it our own. Poor Bear got scared by a little defenseless squirrel on the porch yesterday! She screamed as she went to the front porch. Poor little thing (the squirrel) probably got the poop scared out of it!

We are suppose to have more visitors this coming weekend! Yeah!! Looking forward to showing them our Yooper home and life. Hope we have better weather than today! Today is a rain day, that is not muting the pretty colors. I will leave you with some of the beautiful images that surround our home here at SweetPea's Heaven.
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.