Momentous Firsts and Other Stuff

Isaiah turned over from his back to his tummy a week ago. Below is a set of photos to show the momentous event (the photos are replays). He worked so hard turning over that he promptly fell asleep. It is hard work being a baby!




This past weekend Isaiah experienced another exciting 'first.' Our friends Laura and Sam were up to visit for the weekend so we decided to go on a hike on the Superior Hiking Trail (http://www.shta.org/). The hike took us along the Split Rock River and was just beautiful. At one point we decided to stop to dip our toes in the water. We had thought about stripping Isaiah down and dropping him in the water so that he could have his first actual swimming experience, but we didn't have a towel... So he still experienced his first body of water (that isn't a bath tub), below are some pictures from our hike. Two areas of note: one is the spot that we stopped to wade in the water and the other is an amazing view of Lake Superior from an overlook at the end of the hike.











Below are some other odds and ends pictures of Isaiah. His Grandma Kathy came up to visit so there is one of them, and the rest are of him looking funny or cute or both...

Its Harvest Time!!!!

Well in Duluth (also known as the Great white north) we are beginning to harvest some fruits and vegetables. So the Langer family thought we would take advantage of that and go picking strawberries. It was quite an ambitious goal, to pick 5 gallons of strawberries on a rainy, cold day with a 3 1/2 month old. But we succeeded. We used a bouncy chair, covered activity mat and a baby carrier to keep Isaiah entertained and it worked! We now have a couple gallons of frozen whole strawberries and about 12 pints of strawberry jam and 8 pints of strawberry rhubarb jam. If you come visit, you may get to try some!

We have also been gardening with our friends Jay and Mary B which has really made us look like better gardeners. :) Yesterday we got some basil, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, snap peas and lettuce and made some great spaghetti sauce and salad for dinner. In years past we have never done that well. Hooray for people who know how to garden! We have really learned a lot from them. Below are a couple pictures of our gardening exploits. Isaiah is such a trooper as you can see we just put him on a blanket under the pear tree and he gets mesmerized by all the leaves.

Our Family Chickens!

Three and a half weeks ago the Langer family welcomed four baby chicks into the family! Two Araucanas and two Buff Orpingtons. Our friends watched them for a few days when they first arrived and gave them foster names, which we have not changed yet: Erica (the dark chick), Anna (the lighter brown one), Buffet (the bigger of the yellow) and Buff-E.

They are growing quickly and were introduced to their new home over the weekend...their coop that Nathan built! The coop was Nathan's spring project and all he has to do now is build the run (the outside portion of the coop). The chicks seem to be doing well in their coop; however, now it's hard to catch them to hold them. They say the more you hold them, the nicer and calmer they will be. Unfortunately, we are beginning to worry that one of them (Erica) is actually a rooster; which means that we wouldn't have him for much longer. We'll keep you posted!

Another wonderful Duluth weekend!

Believe it or not, we had our first full weekend in Duluth all summer! We had a lovely weekend roaming around the city and spending time outdoors. Isaiah had his first big hike this weekend...in fact we went on two hikes! We hiked the first two stretches of the Superior Hiking Trail, which equated to 11 miles over two days. It was a beautiful hike both days and Isaiah did really well in our carrier. We saw three deer just a few feet away from us...it's always so neat to see animals in their natural habitat like that. We ended our Saturday with a lovely picnic on Brighton Beach; the weather was spectacular! Below are pictures from our great weekend. We would love to share Duluth with everyone, so feel free to visit us any time! We love having visitors! Hint, hint! :)