Tennessee in the fall

Here are a few pictures from our trip through Tennessee, near Elizabethton where Jamie did his flight training. Sure is pretty in the fall!

Thad on his first big hike - doesn't really have the shoes for it!

Thad - sittin' on a ledge

fall road - the leaves were falling as we drove through

a cute covered bridge

Language learning

Sometimes I think that Thad can speak German...he tells me "nein" which I think is "no" in German. Ahhh, and so it begins. But then I do really think that he is learning English pretty well. Last week he said "howareyou" to Auntie Julie (we both heard it! you can ask her:). And sometimes I think I can distinguish a "momma" in his chatter--especially when he's laying in bed not wanting to go to sleep.

Fall in Wisconsin

It was a beautiful fall day here in Wisconsin! Thad and I sat on the front porch of Jamie's parents' house and watched the corn field across the road being harvested. Being a city girl, I keep making comments to Jamie like, "that looks just like a picture"--having grown up around here, he just thinks these sights are normal :)

We're planning to leave on our big trip south and west next week, so we have to enjoy all the pretty sights while we can. Though we are excited that we'll be traveling in the fall, and we'll be able to enjoy all the fall colors as we drive along!

EWWWwww!

mole cricket

Have you seen one of these? I had never seen a mole cricket before I was confronted with one in our house in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea, as I stumbled into our darkened bathroom in the middle of the night (this was sometime early this year...maybe Jan?). Jamie was gone on an overnight flight, so it was left to me to deal with the large dark jumping thing--if I wanted to make the bathroom safe for use! Happily, I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't see it very well :) Bravely I found a shoe, took care of the thing, scooped it up on the end of the fly swatter, and threw it in the burnable trash can!

A couple of other times one has made its way into our bathroom. Jamie offered to show me their really neat front legs--just like a mole, for digging, but I never really wanted to take a look. I didn't get a good look until last week, when I came across this photo as I was looking for pictures to show to a homeschool group we were speaking to. This fellow really is quite a marvel of God's creation, even if he is not one I'd like to meet again in a dark bathroom!

PS-Jamie feels that I should add they are completely harmless...I'm just being melodramatic.

Bear Woods Blue

Thad likes talking to his teddy bear, Bear Woods Blue

Lake Pepin

On our way home from visiting some folks in Minnesota a couple weeks ago, we were able to drive by the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in Pepin, Wisconsin. The museum had some items from the time period of the books, and other things.

Jamie & Lisa at Lake Pepin (Thad was sleeping)

I remember reading in the book, Little House in the Big Woods, the Laura was surprised at how big Lake Pepin was...I was surprised too! You drive past it for miles!

Lake Pepin

We also stopped at the "Little House in the Big Woods" Wayside ~ which was just a house that had been built to commemorate the book. There's not much for "Big Woods" anymore, as the land is mostly farmed around there, but it was still neat to see...the house was really small!

Lisa and Thad at the "Little House in the Big Woods" Wayside

And, as we continued on our way home, we drove by this cute little school house, which appears to now be someone's home.

cute schoolhouse in Wisconsin

Baker

Growing up, we never really were a pie eating family, and I was never interested in learning to make them. Jamie grew up eating fruit pies, though, and makes some yummy ones.

Well, we received a bunch of blackberries from Jamie's dad who went and picked them, but they started to head over the hill rather quickly, so I decided to give pie-making a try. I got the recipe for a crust from Jamie's sister, and for blackberry filling from his sister-in-law and tried my hand. It came out ok-so maybe I'll have to keep practicing :)