Olmstead Family News: October 2008

A Little Sneak Peak of Texas.

I am not going to give put up too many pictures, because some of you who will be seeing this will be coming.... So I don't want to give away all of the surprises of this great place! :)
-there are lots of fun animals...

Here is Ash. hanging out by the pool.

Everyone has been playing lots of mini golf... right now Mom, Eli, Joel, and Noah are playing a game.

There are some very beautiful places!

Mom and Dad played a game of tennis just a few minutes ago...

I don't know who won. :)

The pool is beautiful, but it is still too cold to enjoy. (but we are not complaining being that when we left, it was snowing!)

Talia and Tovala.

The bunk houses are great! Everyone slept really well last night!

This is one of my favorite spots so far, the green house! It is an old, kind of run down green house... very pretty!

We can't wait to see you all who will be joining us in the next couple of days! And we miss you all who won't be here....

Thank You!

A while back Mrs. Carden and Jennifer gave Mom, Hannah, Talia and I gift certificates to get manicures... we had decided to save them and get our nails done right before we go to Texas. So last night the four of us went and had our manicures! It was a lot of fun! Thank you both for your thoughtfulness! :) :)

Let's Go!!!

Sylvia is all packed and ready to go to Texas!!! ;)

Happy Birthday Behn!!!

Today was Behn's 8th birthday! I still can't believe he is 8! I was just remembering the day that he was born... it was mid afternoon and one of our barn cats had kittens that same day, but despite all of the excitement that would normally be had over baby kittens, no one had any interest in finding them(until later of course)... we all wanted to see Behn! :)

One of Behn's gifts today was a big lego set from Eli, Joel, Noah and Seth... they had fun putting it all together! Then later while the boys were at soccer practice, Behn took it apart and put it all together by himself!

Happy Birthday Behn!

Sunday.

...actually this is from Saturday. Everyday we get to see lots of eagles flying over the river and even catching fish sometimes! On Saturday there was one perched in a tree pretty close to our house! They are incredible birds!

Yesterday afternoon we all went into the park and played kick ball, climbed trees and played in the leaves.

Sylvia decided to try climbing the tree also, but I think she got a little scared once she was up there...

It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

First of the Birthday Celebrations...

Dad had a meeting this morning with an old friend that he has known since highschool... he offered to bring Dad and a couple of us up in his airplane!

So, Dad, Behn, and I went up and flew around for about an hour and 45 minutes...

It was a lot of fun to see our home and town and river from above!
(On the left you can see our home! and yes, this is our beautiful river!)

Here is St Croix Falls and Taylors falls from the south...

Behn and I had the back seat! We had a great view!

so much fun...

This is where we often go swimming- under this bridge...

Here is Chisago City... lots of lakes...

This was the first part of Behn's birthday celebrations...

It was a lot of fun!!!

Fall Days and Soccer Games...

This past weekend I think the leaves reached their peak in color!

It was beautiful... and still is, but they are falling...

Yesterday, the boys had their last game before their tournament... They did great! Eli got a goal; Joel got an assist... and they won!

We enjoyed watching and cheering!

The little ones really enjoyed exploring!

This is Talia! :)

It is pretty chilly here... yesterday, during the game everyone was a little cold!

Behn, Tovala, Asher and Sylvia have really been enjoying playing in the leaves in the back yard.

This afternoon they made a big pile in the back yard and took turns burying each other in it!

A Few Pictures....

Yesterday we went to some friends farm for an all church annual potluck... we visited the calves...

and there were hay rides, one pulled by a tractor and the two others were pulled by some beautiful horses... Here is our tractor driver, he was a lot of fun!

A few of the kids got to have horse rides... Mr. Hill tried to get Sylvia on the horse, but she was a little worried!

This is from below and to the side of the dam right in front of our house...

It was beautiful!

On Friday I took family pictures for our good friends, the Naegelens...

We had a fun time and got some good pictures, I think!

Weekends....

For the past week Behn has had his trap up, hoping to catch a squirell. Yesterday after church, with Seth's help, he caught him! Shortly there after, Behn let him go...

On Friday we went and watched the boys soccer game and Hannah brought Ava (the little girl she nannies) to watch also!

The boys had a hard game, they all played very well, but lost. :(

On Saturday, Dad, Mom, Hannah, Eli, Joel and I went into town to do some shopping... In preparation for Aaron and Jennifer's wedding.
Eli and Joel waited very patiently outside the womens dressing room. ;)

For the past several months - probably about 6 months - we have been having a lot of trouble with our washing machine. Some days it will take nearly all day to get through one load of laundry... Well, on Saturday evening it completely quit working. So after church we brought 5 loads of laundry down (one block) to the laundromat. Dad found the piece that we needed replaced on the internet and ordered it. A $100 piece... Anyways, after ordering that, Dad and Joel took apart the washing machine and found where the problem was and Joel soddered it back together! Now it works beautifully! After 6 months... We are very thankful that we will not be needing that part that Dad ordered!