May, Graduation, Grandkids, and BWCAW spring trip

Visitation School in K.C. has an annual grandparents day, so I spent the morning with Pierce.  What a great time I had being with him one-on-one!!

Pierce showed me around his classroom, including his special projects.

I especially enjoyed his undivided attention!

Afterwords we went to lunch and then to Glace, an artisan ice cream store.

Pierce picked Peanut Butter and Jelly ice cream.

I felt honored to be a part of Pierce's day!

On the 8th of May we had a record-breaking rainfall of 6.5 inches in just a few hours.

I took this picture of the area behind our house hours after most of it had already drained. 

During the night, this entire field was filled with rushing water.

My niece, Maddy Fowler, graduated from Pious X High School.

Maddy will study physical therapy at UNL this fall.

Rusty and I delivered Celeste's birthday present.

Celeste hopped right on and took it for a spin.

Celeste found a crayon box that fit right into the basket.

Happy 6th birthday, Celeste!

Once again Rusty and I made a spring trip to the Boundary Waters.  Each of our trips is a unique experience.

We camped at Fenske Lake the night before our trip.  It snowed during the night!

It was a chilly night to be in the tent.

The trees were beautiful!

Day one was a 7-hour trip of portaging and paddling.  Because I am still healing from my broken parts, we rented a 3-person canoe so that I didn't have to paddle when I was tired.

This 21 foot canoe felt like a Greyhound bus compared to what we usually paddle.

Much of the river was twisty and turny, so Rusty had a lot to do to get this "bus" around the corners.

We got fairly close to this pair of trumpeter swans.

They left a long trail in the water as they began to take flight.

...and away they go.

Rusty took his fly rod and caught these two, beautiful, small-mouth bass.

Pretty yummy!

Di, fishing in the rain.

A tarp over the sit-logs kept us dry while preparing meals.

The other tarp was used to keep firewood dry and hang some wet clothes.

The scenery was beautiful.

It's fun to paddle on days when the reflections are deep.

Most of our dinners begin with a little "enhanced" hot cocoa.

Steve caught a nice Lake Trout.

The Laker made for some good eating!

I was looking for a good fishing spot and decided the base of this rock was it.  Unfortunately, after casting in vain, I slid down the rock and into the water.  No new injuries!

Silly Rusty

How many shades of green are there?

After the sun came out, we had plenty of clothes to dry (including the ones I wore into the lake).

On our last day the sun was shining and it was over 70 degrees.  Of course that means the bugs come out.

Most of the time my headnet covered my entire head.  Here I'm doing my "oneness with the Preakness" which was the same day.

Steve is quick to lose the shirt when the sun shines.

We had a couple of rivers to paddle through and there were about 6 beaver dams.  On the way in, we had to unload and lift the canoe over the dams.  We had just enough rain that if all 3 of us paddled as hard as we could, we were able to blast over the dams, even though we were going upstream.

It takes a big head of steam to blast over this with a big, long, heavy boat.

This happy couple can't wait to go back!