The last few weeks

While Nate was hunting in Canada and S.D., the boys and I did a lot of driving back and forth between our house and Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Of course they loved spending time with Gramps, Grandma and the Mimis. 

Playing the guitar with Mimi Megan

Just a few days left of Dad's trip - Pretending to be the Bentley Brothers singing 2 Chronicles. 

They couldn't wait to try on their costumes for Trunk or Treating...and then play in them.
Henry was Boba Fett.

And Walter as "good" Darth Vader.

A few days later Walter put on another Bentley Brothers concert with his friend Amar. 

Their cover song was 2 Samuel.

And the next day - resting in their favorite spot at Grandma and Grandpa A's house.

Bonding

Brothers bonding over a few phone games...

Birthday Party

In September the boys and I took a little road trip so we could help celebrate our friend's 5th birthday in Blaine.  Henry fell asleep just as we entered Blaine and Walter said, "Blaine is a really far away place...I think it's more far away than where Mimi Erin is (Italy)!" 

Thankfully, Blaine is NOT as far away as Italy and we did arrive at Parker's house on time.  Henry and Walter were thrilled when they learned that it was a Lego themed party.  Oh, the fun they had outside climbing, jumping, digging and running with the T Family's kids (and eating a few dozen gumballs out of their gumball machine!). 

The birthday boy taking his turn at Pin-the-shark-on-the-Lego-lake.

Walter's turn...

And now, Henry's turn...

Parker, Walter, Noah

 

Two sweet boys!

A fantastic japchae dinner.

A wild balloon battle.

In the midst of the balloon battle, Henry was completely absorbed in a Lego's catalog.

Happy Birthday! 

Back outside:  A running start...

...jump, and a priceless facial expression on the landing! 

It goes without saying, but everybody slept well that night!

Duck Opener (Warning)

WARNING:  Dead ducks are pictured in the following post...

It looks like I'm finally getting close to catching up because these pictures are from September 22 - MN duck opener.  It was a successful expedition (a little too early in the morning for me) and Henry and Walter couldn't wait to run out to greet their Dad and see all the ducks.  By the time I got outside with the camera, Henry was heading back in to play with his Lego's but Walter was happy hanging out with the guys as they cleaned the birds.

"These ducks aren't in heaven because they didn't have Jesus in them."  I thought that was pretty deep - he definitely understood that the ducks were dead.

Walter just loved carrying around these two...

Talking with Daddy about bird identification. 

He plopped this little duck up on the cleaning table and talked with it for a little while and then, "Bang," (notice how he's using his left hand?).  I think he may be counting down the days until he gets to go duck hunting.

Lots of curiosity - figuring out how the wings work.

Telling me about his blue winged teal.

Learning how to clean a duck.

Helping Uncle Jon - he doesn't mind digging and getting dirty.  



And a few more pictures...

At the lake

This is the problem with not posting pictures right away - it's hard to remember the details!  But I noticed that Walter has a cheese wonton in his hand and Henry is opening a fortune cookie so I think this was after we picked up some dinner at Cathay Chow Mein.  We spent the afternoon with Mimi Erin (including a delicious stop at Sebastian Joe's) and then grabbed some dinner to eat at home.  So much fun.

Kenda and Gus stayed with us with while my parents and Mimi Megan were in England.  Can you see the fur on Kenda's back standing up?  She's growling at the "fox chair" - she was certain it was a real and dangerous animal...until Henry sat on it (the she seemed a little embarrassed).

Dentist

The boys had a dental appointment in August - it was Walter's first appointment, so Henry hopped in the chair to show him how it's done.

Walter caught on pretty quickly.

Dove Hunting with Daddy

On dove opener, Nate asked the boys if they wanted to go hunting with him.  Henry wanted to stay home that morning, but Walter was more that excited to join Nate - he grabbed his wooden gun as they walked out the door.  It ended up being a slow morning so they didn't bring home any doves for lunch, but apparently Walter had fun shooting at the one dove they did see in the distance.

Our happy hunter