We must be nuts…

…cuz we’ve gone Loony again.  Yep, at we’re at Loon Lodge.  My cousin Nicole gets married this weekend in Crookston so we had to make a pit stop here.  My sister hadn’t seen the place yet either, so theres that too.  Avery looks amused.  “Oh yay.  We’re at Loon Lodge again.”

In the brief time that we’ve been away from Loon Lodge – fall arrived!  

They are busy trying to close up the cabin for the year, so we had to eat up what was left in the cupboard.  Which meant it was finally time to break down and eat the last bag of Costa Rican Frijoles Rojos.  Translation: Costa Rican red beans that ROCK.  We’ve found a site online to buy them, so all is well in the world.  Which is good because my Avos is OBSESSED with them.  She ate nothing but red beans and milk for dinner last night.

Dylan had nothing to do with them.  He’s busy with his bulldozer.

Bean coma.

Screaming at Grandpa to give her more beans (we had cut her off for diaper changing sake in the morning).  

“Uggggg.  Why won’t anyone LISTEN TO ME!?!?!? Fine!  I’ll wipe my face on the couch! That’ll show em!”

Today we got the stupid idea to take a boat ride.  At first it seemed okay, but it turned out to be a baaaaaad idea.  Summer and fall have collided.   Th

e crew examining the wall falling into the lake.  It was serious bidness.  

Fall fashion statement!

Its a good look for her, me thinks.

Stoopin to a new low!  

Finally!  Documentation of the sunglass collection!

(note: these are Jon’s actual sunglasses.)

Fallllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Here’s were it got ugly.  Yes, that

‘s Susan snuggling with a dog.  Yep, a real dog.  This is not a fake dog.  Real dog here people!  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  It was COLD!  The sun left us, the wind picked up, the waves were splashin’ and we took cover and comfort with a blanket and lap dogs.  It had to be done.

Back on dry land, it was snack time.  Best almond butter ever! Paired with a lovely honeycrisp apple! Avery was “helping” feed the dogs. 

 

 

It wasn’t just me she offered to share her apple with.  Yuck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I’ve run out of things to tell you.  Eric came and took the kids to his parents house, so I will be having a kid free night! Woohoo!  Crazy times to come!  Okay, so probably not, but I like to pretend I can still hang with the best of em.  There’s talk of another showing of Hot Tub Time Machine and I can’t pass that up!  G’night!

Mystery revealed

  It’s been raining all day long here.  Good thing I have a lot to do indoors!  The kids are happy that they get to watch tv and build forts, tho Dylan keeps bringing up a bike ride getting Avery all riled up for nothing. Literally, it’s been raining all day.  I see no bike ride in their future.  Avery doesn’t really watch tv all that much yet, but this morning I caught her watching for a minute or so like this: (take note of my beloved Fluidity bar and Dylan on the couch in the background)

Rain, Rain, go away.

Our special guest came bearing gifts!  Well, not gifts as I shall pay her for efforts.  I requested that she bring me as many of these babies as possible.  Yes, I’ll admit.  I have a problem.  

These are AMAZING.

Lunch today was the same as yesterday, but I’ll post the recipe today.  Wouldn’t ya know it, the one time I don’t post a recipe – I get a request wanting the recipe!  Dang it, Derek!  It’s okay – not your fault I was being lazy this morning.  So here it is:

Black Bean Burgers Ala Trishy
  Ingredients:

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 carrot, grated (could do more if you want, but I’m lazy when it comes to grating carrots)
1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), but if you can’t find them – unsalted sunflower seeds would be a lovely choice
1 TB olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Mash up the black beans in a large bowl using a fork or a muddle or even a meat tenderizer would work!  Don’t mush them up so much that they become paste like.  They should be more of a chunky texture.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix it all up.  Preheat a frying pan coated with cooking spray.  Wet your hands (to prevent it from sticking to you) and form the mixture into patties (it will yield 5-6 patties).  Fry them until each side is golden brown.  I like to gently smush them down some with my spatula while they are cooking.  We topped them with cheese, guacamole and a tomato on a 100 calorie bun.  You can do whatever toppings you want though! 

Onto the news of the day – the mystery mission we are on.  Ever since we moved here, we have had it in the back of our minds that we wouldn’t stay here forever.  While we love our house, the lakeshore and the distance from town were not quite as appealing.  So, we’ve decided to list our house for sale!  So now you’re probably wondering how we will continue to have “Our Life on a Lake,” right?  Well, we are on the lookout for new lake properties that are closer to Brainerd.  We realize we have a tall order, but we will try to remain hopeful that something will work out.  We need to sell our house before we can move on and that will probably be the hardest part.  But you never know – we could be surprised!  When the time comes, we will definitely miss this house, our neighbors (sorry Lingy!  We wanted to tell you before we posted it here, but well, it’s raining and I didn’t feel like going outside today! LOL) and this area in general.  The kids have loved this place very much, but we think they would love to have a better lakeshore where they can swim freely and also have a shorter commute into town for school and activities.  I know their driver will LOVE that more than anyone!   So anyway, I spent a good portion of the day staging and taking photos for our listing.  BIG THANKS to Auntie Susan for keeping the kiddies occupied while I did all this.  Let me tell ya – it was no small feat.  This place doesn’t always look so magical, if you can believe that! Ha! So here are the pics I took today:
My helper!  She makes a mean teepee.

We have a helper down!  I repeat, a helper down!

And that’s it for today’s photos.  I did pull some old photos of our yard to send to our realtor.  They may or may not include the wild rice.  I’m sneaky like that. 

Well, dinner is marinating, so I better get to preparing it!  Have a lovely evening!