Fishing Rainy Lake

Here we are on the Canadian side of Rainy Lake in front of the four bedroom, 2 1/2 bath cabin we rented. Jim and Carol, Tony, Beth, and Max, Shayne, Sarah, and Addy, Mitch and I each had a bedroom, and Bryan and Stacy pitched a tent on a mowed area behind the cabin. The cabin had two big kitchen/dining room/living rooms that worked great for working and playing. One had a dining table big enough for the twelve of us to eat around. Plans are to eat (fish), drink (it's 5:00 somewhere), and be merry(fun, fun, fun)!

Our "Alarm Clock"

"We don't need to get out fishing as early as we used too. After all, there are a lot of fish. Let's just sleep in a little," we all thought.

Evidently Addy missed out on that conversation. She was doing "The Morning Chat with Addy" about 5:30 am. We brought her in to our room to play about 6:00 to let everyone else get a little more shuteye. We played!

Fun in the sun!

The fisherman enjoyed a day of fishing, the babies (and Beth) enjoyed playing in the pool, and Mitch and Jim took care of some of the cooking duties.

We played in the rain!

Saturday it rained -- all day. The diehard fisherpersons still went out fishing. Indoors we played cards, read, or just hung out. Max took a special liking to Auntie Stacy.

Caryn has a blog!!

I've had a lot of fun teaching friends how to blog, and Caryn would check ours out to keep in touch. But there's a menu item that says "Create your own" and she did!!!

Click on this link and then bookmark the page, or copy the address into the http: address box (not the search engine) and enjoy Brayden (and Caryn and Jason, too!)


www.braydenandus.blogspot.com

Yea, Caryn!!! We love it!!!

Caryn has a blog!!

A few more Addy pictures!

Addy in her Harley shirt! Grandpa Hanni is really proud!













Addy hands out kisses, a little pucker here, a little pucker there, but only if that's what she wants.












A walk outdoors does the trick--Addy loves to take walks, especially if Daidu (Kaiser) comes along.

A Week With Addy

I got to spend the week watching Addy during the day. It was a busy week!
Monday night is swimming lessons, and Addy loves them. She paddles and splashes, and even jumps off the edge of the mat in the "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick" game.
Addy loves meal time. She is a great eater--of just about anything. She ate spinach, asparagus, loved the cauliflower, downed the turkey and chicken, ate the mac and cheese until she saw the cherries, and would probably eat a meal of fruit if we'd let her.
Addy is a busy little girl. She is almost walking and loves to "deliver mail" with her little mail cart. We played a lot.

We went to the swimming pool one day and Addy loved it. The water was warm, there were a lot of kids to watch, and we had a little picnic snack!

"I had a great time with Grama, but when Grampa came to pick her up, I got to play with him. He also read me a lot of my books!"

Father's Day Weekend

We spent the weekend at Big Sandy in our "special spot" at Shayne and Sarah's cabin. That means we get Addy in the coach every now and then. She wondered about those remotes, and finally figured it out!



Father's Day had the two "big" dads dressing alike and hamming it up.

The "other woman" in Mitch's life!

This is Jen, Mitch's Physical Therapist. She holds Mitch's left hand only, well, not really holds it--she pushes, pulls, twists, and all sorts of contortionist things. That is not a smile on Mitch's face! Jen is smiling! It all seems to be helping a lot, and his range of motion is a lot better. The nerve issue will be there for a while yet.

Days Out--Grand Casino Mille Lacs

We had to leave our place at Mille Lacs for five days before we can go back in for another 21 days, so we decided to stay at the Casino for “free”!!!

Brayden Updates!

Caryn sent some Brayden updates:



Eating a green popsicle.

Check out the hair!

Helping Mom get clothes out of the washer.

Addy Can Read!

One Friday we got to baby-sit Addy. That is always fun. She plays so hard, but took a couple of minutes to read a book--herself. Turn up the sound and listen to her read--and I’m sure she says,
“The end.”

Dale and Marlys

Our friends, Dale and Marlys, are barbers for 3M and live across the street from our “Mille Lacs place.” Dale trims up Mitch’s hair when it gets too long.

Scott's Graduation Party

Sunday we went to Scott’s graduation party. It’s hard to believe how old these kids have gotten! Kim and Mike had done a great job of doing “old” videos, pictures, and memorabilia, including the book Me written as a second or third grader. Scott wrote on one page “I want to visit Florida because my old baby-sitter lives there. She is very nice. She wants to be an architectural engineer. I’d like to see where she works and what she does there. I’d also like to see where she lives.” See Caryn--you were special to Scott! Scott plans on going to St. Cloud State and pursue a career in film.

Update on Mitch's Wrist

It’s still attached!!

Actually, six weeks have gone by and Mitch saw an orthopedic surgeon (the father of two former students) here in Minnesota. Doc said the surgery looked good and the break should heal fine. Physical therapy starts next week. Mitch is still having a lot of pain and strange sensations in his fingers however, and nerve damage is still a concern. The doctor says that the therapy should help that also, but recovery could take six to eight months.