The Newly Wedds

Robin and Nora rode into town a couple weeks before the scheduled event to spend time with friends and family and to take care of the last minuet details.

On Thursday there was a Pre-wedding party for Nora at the home of a life long family friend of Nora's. Nora's college friends arrived that afternoon and were also at the gathering. All the guest brought a favorite recipe to share with Nora and Robin.

Friends and Family

Nora sat by the fireplace while everyone presented the recipe to her.

Nora Robin

On Saturday was the rehearsal at the little church in Marine on St Croix where they are going to be married on Sunday afternoon.

Vickie and Charlene did a little sidewalk art to welcome the guest to the grooms/rehearsal dinner at the home of the groom. Besides the cool 3D chalk greetings there was plenty of good food and beverages to satisfy the taste of the guest while they reminisced about school days and reconnected with family from out of town.

Nora's nephew and Nora's Mom.

Newest Family Members and Original Family

Family and Childhood Friends

College Friends

Robin's college band, 'Vegetable Medley' had a chance to play together again, even if only for a short time before the rain started.

It was a lot of fun to see and hear.

Robin's grandparent Ruth and Charlie Reid were there to see Kathy (their daughter) assist in the marriage ceremony of her son. Charlie is also a minister.

The church filled with loved ones.

Robin entered with his parents at his side.

The attendance wait.....

And Here Comes the Bride. Nora is beautiful as she walks down the isle with her parents, Kevin and Caroline Shields.

The ceremony was beautiful and the couple are now husband and wife.

Nora and Her Grandmother

The Happy Couple welcome the guest to the dinner and reception.

It was a great dinner. It was wonderful, everyone had a great time.

Char Ridley Nana Diane

Rinn Lake

On Labor Day weekend Rinn will be the flower girl at her Aunts wedding.

The cakes were made by Nora and her Mom.





And the Happy Newly Wed Couple ride off into the sunshine.

Best wishes for Happy Ever After........

Now a new chapter of their lives as they settle into their new home in St. Louis and prepare for the final leg of their educations.

Happy Birthday Joyce

I pulled out the hard-drive with the memory's of my family's past and had a relaxing time looking through the old snapshots; even the pre-Diane ones. Augest is a busy month on our calender. Birthdays and Anniversary's that have filled this month with wonderful smiles and memory's.

Hope you had a great Birthday Joyce and many more.

AML

Happy Birthday Carol

Hope it's a great one.

AML

A busy August

Robin and Nora have arrived in Minnesota after they closed on their new home in St. Louis this week. We have seen some online photos and it is adorable. We are so excited for them. One more week till the wedding and they are busy taking care of the last minuet details. Nora's Mother, Carolin I believe has been key in the arrangement of event. Jeff and I are going to host the 'grooms dinner' on Saturday. Rough, all I had to do to get ready was to make the garden look good. It will be a Grill out/Bonn Fire kind of party.

I am a bit excited about my new form of Anna Bell Hydrangea, Invincibelle Spirit; that is producing the first antique pink bloom since I planted it in the garden. It was introduced to the gardening public this year and the proceeds go to breast cancer research.

Goldie is recovering well from her dental work on Wednesday. They removed two broken teeth and cleaned the others. Wish I could get her to eat her medicine; no mater what I try she spits in out or bites my fingers. (not hard). I tried to get a picture of her puffy face but she kept turning her head so it's hard to see that she looks a bit like a chipmunk. I am hoping that now that her mouth will heal she will put on a few pounds and not look like she has an eating disorder. Well I guess she dose, it's called 'picky'. But maybe it was painful for her to eat hard food. For the next week she is on a mush diet and one of her favorites, sweet potatoes.

And don't forget to mark your calenders that August 5th is International Beer Day. If this is the first time you have heard of this; please feel free to celebrate a little late.

Here's to your health.

Rally on the River

River boat ride on Friday of the Motorcycle Rally.

Sun set from the paddle boat.

Last weekend Jeff and I went to a motorcycle rally in La Cross Wis. The day time weather was pretty good, a little hot on Saturday but the rain came at night when most of the bikes were back at the hotels. There were about 200 bikes and the riders there. No mishaps and only one sticker that got a ticket for being foolish.

This event is planed by a group of Honda owners so needles to say there were a lot more Honda bikes than Harley's for a change. A lot of VTX's and quite a few Goldwings. The event was well organized and well received by the local folks. The local Honda dealer was very kind with a grill out and bikini bike wash. Of course not many guys would let the girls wash their bikes but they enjoyed watching while the washed others.

Don't we look like a wild pair?

Jeff went down on Thursday and met up with Paula in the evening. Paula hung out with the biker gang and showed Jeff a nice route to enjoy the hills, curves and the beautiful valleys and bluffs along the river. It truly is very pretty country side.

David Vicky and Diane

David and Vicky happened to be staying in the hotel next to ours. They were in town to visit with Paula. We had a chance to see them for short spurts during the weekend. It was such a great bonus to combined motorcycling through beautiful country, friends and Family. We even played Apples to Apples. This is a scrapbook weekend.

We re-mulched the garden this week. We only do it about every three years, it was 22 cu. yd.s of mulch and luckily I know of a crew of good people that are experienced and spreading that much mulch. Oddly, the garden looks bigger and not as full now, but the plants stand out much better. I have some paths that I want to get in now

I am amazed at how fast the month is going by! One more week in July? how can this be?

And three weeks until Robin and Nora's wedding!

Note the cool shirt he has on.

On Saturday Ridley hung out here with his Nana and went to the park to play.He enjoyed the different slides, but still isn't too crazy about the swings; he didn't want me to be on the swing either! Later in the afternoon Vickie went shopping with me to see if I could find a few items I need to go with my dress. I have the good luck shopping with Vickie and found the cover and shoes that I was looking for. Even stopped to pick up the lotion that I am hoping will even out this silly looking gardens tan. Keep your fingers crossed for me, I am going to look rather silly in a sun dress with a tee shirt tan.

4th of July Weekend

Seems strange to be writing about a weekend that hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure everyone is going to be busy with cookouts and other fun holiday weekend stuff; so I just wanted to wish everyone a safe and fun filled Holiday weekend and I will have more pictures to share with you after the weekend.