St. Peter flooding

Hwy 22 S from St. Peter going to Mankato

It's a little difficult to get in and out of St. Peter these days. The flooding is amazing! Brian's commute takes him an extra 15 minutes, which isn't too bad, just a little inconvenient. Hwy 169 is closed both north and south of St. Peter. It's completely submerged right around McDonalds. Our friends the Frey's live next to McDonalds and the water came as close as 20-25 feet from their house. They said they've never seen flooding this bad before. Not exactly sure where 169 is flooded south of St. Peter but more than likely it's around the 7-mile park area. Doesn't take much to flood that area. Hwy 22 south to Mankato is also closed with water completely submerging that road as you can see in the photo.

Hwy 99 East of St. Peter is closed too. The water is right up under the bridge and the railroad tracks and road were also under water near Whiskey River. We have quite a few friends that live out that way and their detour into St. Peter takes them quite a bit out of the way. A good 25 minute drive or more. What a pain. Somehow a large log caught a cable line near the 99 bridge. The photo shows that.




Millpond is pretty much under water too. The dock where the girls fish is bearly showing, same goes for the playground equipment. There's been lots and lots of people taking pictures and documenting this historical flood. Hopefully it won't take too long for the water to recede and life to get back to normal. Pretty awesome though. :)

Rachel is 5!

5 years ago today this little firecracker arrived and we are so blessed to have her in our family. Rachel is one spunky little kid. I know sometimes I blame it on the mochas and pop that I let her drink but really it's just who she is and we love her personality! It's good parent training for Brian and I. Just when we think we've got something maybe figured out with her she proves us wrong. It's all good! Today Rachel had her friends, Luke, Kael, Nathan, Cole and Elli over for her "kid" party. She didn't invite any of her "girl" friends from school just some of the boys and Kael's little sis, Elli. They had a great time (noisy though) playing and eating pizza and cake. In the evening we went to Rachel's choice of restaurants, Culvers, for her birthday dinner. After eating a yummy dinner we went back to St. Peter to check out all the flooding. She had a great day and was smiling ear to ear all day long! Happy Birthday pee-popper!

Natalie Pics

I realize that I'm totally dropping the ball on updates on Natalie. Must be because she is the 4th kid and we neglect her! Ha! Not hardly! :) She is such a funny little kid and showing many sides to her personality. She's very stubborn believe it or not or maybe just persistant. I tend to think this is a blonde thing that runs in our family. I told myself that this one will NOT have pop or coffee as a toddler. We all know how lively Rachel is and I blame it on the caffine! I know, its my fault. We all just enjoy Natalie so much! She has the cutest little smile, showing her 4 teeth. Yes she only has 4....not sure how she manages to chew but she does somehow. She cracks us all up when she dances. If I think of it I'll video her-it's a hoot! She LOVES her boy friends, Levi, Luke and Kael. She must just bored with us girls. :) She loves to play on steps. WHY????? She loves to escape outside as soon as someone opens the door. She wants to speak so badly. Why don't the words just come out, she must think? She still loves her Nuks-doesn't matter which one. She has about 4 floating around and sometimes she'll find one and take out the one she'd been sucking just to get a taste of the new one. Maybe it had remnants of chocolate or go-gurt??! Such an adorable little girl!!! Enjoy the pictures!

1st Day of School

Just a week behind, but the girls' first day of school was last Tuesday and they had a great first day and first week. Caitlin, our grown up 4th grader, Emily, our eager 2nd grader, and Rachel our excited preschooler all were up and at 'em early with anticipation. We didn't get outside pictures of them this year because it was very windy and cool. They had picked out a shorts outfit for the first day but had to find some warmer clothes instead. Rachel's first day was Wednesday and it was much nicer but still cooler. Good thing I had some fall clothes ready for them! The girls are still doing great getting up early but I'm sure as soon as it's darker and colder in the morning it will be hard to wake them and myself as well! It's so nice to get back into the swing of things and it has become a much quieter house during the day. Ahhhhh..... :)

Our Week at the Cabin

We had a wonderful week at the cabin at KeeNeeMooSha resort. The weather was beautiful, the new friends we met were so nice, the crafts were fun and the fishing improved from last year.

We left Saturday morning, got to the cabin and unpacked in 45 minutes and then headed to church. By this time Natalie was done with her car seat and she was very ancy. So we gave the nice elderly couple quite the show at mass. Once back at the cabin the girls explored and the fun began.

Sunday: Brian was up at 5:30am to go fishing. Bound and determined to get some fish this year! The girls and I got up around 8:30-9am (pretty much all week) and went to the beach to play in the sand. In the afternoon the resort had an Ice Cream social where we could meet the other families who were staying the week. We met an awesome couple, Louis and Leah and their 2 girls, Claire and Elle. They were staying with their parents who are equally awesome. Louie and Susan and Mike and Bev. Super, super nice people. We ended up spending alot of time with them. :) The girls also befriended Cameron, and her brothers Tristin and Tyler.

Monday: Brian up again to fish this time he took Caitlin. Later in the morning we all did the craft of the day, Tie-Dye t-shirts. We LOVE this craft day. In the afternoon Brian, the engineer was "challenged" by grandma Susan who didn't know what profession Brian is in, to build a better sandcastle than the huge sand whale she and her granddaughters had made. Well, he rallied the troops and made an awesome castle and then let Susan know what he did for a living! After dinner Brian, Caitlin, Emily and Rachel went out fishing while Natalie and I went for a "nature" walk. As we're on our walk I noticed that there was a dark cloud coming our way but got preoccupied by the 6 deer that came out of the woods. Freaked me out so I turned for home and RAN! When I got back it started to rain. Brian and the girls were no where in site. It rained harder and harder. I was worried and my mind was racing. About an hour later, FINALLY, they came home drenched! Emily and Caitlin were so pumped up, Rachel was scared. After drying off and the rain subsided we met everyone at the campfire for s'mores. A good end to a very busy day!

Tuesday: Brian out fishing with Caitlin and Emily. Emily was the fisherman of the day with 8 sunnies caught, but on the way back to the cabin the string let loose and they lost all the fisth! Craft was Batik painting-very fun. Brian took Natalie out for a walk while I was with the other three. He was walking down the road and listening to his Ipod when all of a sudden he hears a crack and boom! A tree fell over the road about 50 yards from where he had just been. He thought maybe God was trying to get his attention. Timing IS everything! In the evening we met up with the rest of the group for S'mores by the fire.

Wednesday: Brian out fishing again-starting to see a pattern??!! This time he caught a big northern, a perch and a sunnie. Enough fish for about a meal and a half. Turtle races in Longville. None of our turtles felt like moving this year. Brian came home with the slow-poke award. The girls enjoyed dancing and at the end of the event we all got ice cream cones from Frosty's. More sugar later in the evening when we had Mini-donuts by the campfire. The most exciting thing happened in the evening when Caitlin and the rest of the crew caught a chipmunk! Brian said he'd give her $5 if she caught one and I guess her determination paid off! She even shared her reward with her friends. Just two little scratches or bites-no rabies. Grandma Susan got her all patched up with neosporin and a band-aid. Gotta love those grandmas!

Thursday: Fishing with Caitlin in the early a.m. Craft was painting picture frames. S'mores by the fire again. Surprisingly enough we're not getting sick of s'mores. Leah is becoming an expert on roasting just like Brian does. Nice and brown and perfectly plump. Yummy!

Friday: Fishing one last time and Brian caught a big blue gill. We get to have another meal of fish!! In the afternoon Brian, Natalie and I went on a nature walk while the other 3 girls and the other kids built another sand castle. In the evening we rented the pontoon and rode back to Longvilled to pick up our free cones and cookies we had won at the turtle races. It was so windy but we thought we'd head out anyway. We get the pontoon ready to go and Caitlin realizes she doesn't have her life jacket so she has to run back and get it. This is typical Salfer routine. So off we go. Waves are huge but we find a bay that is calm and ride to Longville. Have our treats and then head back out to do some fishing. Find a "hot spot" and realize Brian forgot the bait back at the cabin. Again typical salfer outing. We try and head back and the waves are just too much so we decide to use wax worms and Emily and I are lucky. We both catch big rock bass-not good for eating. It's still fun thought to get a fish. Natalie did pretty good despite the life jacket. She finally fell asleep on our way back. Which was good! Our last night wouldn't be complete with out S'mores by the fire.

Campfires everynight, great conversation, kids laughing, margaritas.......priceless. :) Another great end of the summer vacation

Nicollet Co Fair

I'm not really a fair lover so when it came time for the county fair it didn't excite me and I thought maybe it would go unnoticed, but it didn't. Oh well. Brian and our friend Jeff went to the demo-derby while Jeff's wife, Sharon, the girls and I went to all the barns looking at the animals and petting some. This was Natalie's first up-close and personal experience with animals and it was quite funny. Her expressions cracked us all up! After the barns we got ice cream cones and after that we got cheese curds. (Sharon's pregnant, hence the food choices) We took cover in one of the tents where, Michael, a very talented musician that we know was playing. Two downpours came while we were listening to him and people were scrambling out of the demo-derby just drenched. Brian and Jeff being two of them! The night ended with Rachel slipping off the picnic table and scrapping off the first layer of her skin (a 4 inch scrape) and crying very hard-almost a scream. Luckily most people didn't notice because the music was loud enough to drown her out. It was a good night and thank goodness it'll be another year before the next one. :)

Park Point Beach