We made it to our usual early season Gopher football game this year!  I feel like it's been awhile since we've been to a game.  We had so much fun!!  The Gophers won, the weather was awesome and all the kids are now old enough to truly enjoy the tailgating, the game, the crowd and the length of the day.  We ended up being almost the last ones to leave the parking lot after the game because the kids were have so much fun playing football and pretending to be the coach and players running out of the tunnel.  We all agreed this day was a highlight of the fall season.  

Back story:  Mason has had it in his head for years that he wants to find a snake on our property.  He checks the woods ALL THE TIME.  He's constantly snake hunting.  I've literally only ever seen one snake and it was the week we moved in, 8 years ago.  Erik has never seen one.  But I've never had the heart to tell Mason that.

So Kade and I were home alone one Saturday afternoon and I had run to town to pick up some groceries, when I got back I stepped out of car and THERE WAS A SNAKE!!!!  I wasn't about to grab it but I knew I had to trap it somehow for Mason.  I watched it go under my car but I wasn't sure what to do.  If I left it to grab a bucket, I'd never know where it went, but again...NO FREAKING WAY I WAS PICKING IT UP.  So, I grabbed my phone and called Kade, who was sitting 20 feet away in the house 😆. He came right out, went under the car and picked it up with his bare hands.  

Have I ever mentioned how handy it is having boys?😉

Mason was beyond excited, he played with that snake for hours.  Unfortunately he didn't quite think through his plan of letting the snake "get some exercise in the grass" on Sunday morning, so less than 24 hours later the snake was gone.  That was a hard pill to swallow watching how absolutely heart broken he was.  Lo and behold on Monday afternoon, as they were walking up the driveway, they found a very similar snake dead on the driveway!!  Mason buried it and gave it a headstone (it's still in the yard as I type this almost a month later!).  

Needless to say, he's still on the hunt for another snake.

 

This past spring we were at one of Kade's baseball games and Mason was picking a field of dandelions with friends.  All of the sudden he get very sneezy, itchy eyes--the usual allergies.  But also his face started to swell up, and his eyes and lips were getting puffy.  I'd been telling myself for years I needed to get him tested for allergies but that reaction really lit a fire.  Because that reaction is the beginning stages of anaphylaxis.  Thankfully after we got him washed up, it went away and he never experienced breathing problems with it.

I called right away that Monday but it was about a 3 month wait to get in, so all summer he suffered like usual.  

The day finally came and after meeting with an allergist and describing his symptoms, they decided a skin test was the way to go.  They pretty much tested all of the known seasonal allergies, so he had a lot of skin pricks.  And, as you will tell in the next picture, A LOT of itching.  Unfortunately you can't itch, you can't touch your arm for 15 minutes after the pricks.  Mason was a CHAMP.  He did so well, he just itched my arm when it got to be too much for him 😂

This picture was immediately after she put all the allergens on him.

This was about half way through the wait...he's pretty much allergic to everything.

This was after they gave him the anti-itch cream.

We had decided we wanted him tested for a horse allergy because we weren't sure if it was the hay or the horses that makes him react to Grandma's horses.  Unfortunately they forgot to test that the first time so he had to go through the 15 minute wait AGAIN!  Poor kid!  He did well though, and yes, he's allergic to horses too.

Needless to say, we got a few prescriptions filled that day.

Mason is playing flag football this year!

He seems to really enjoy it and I'm happy to report he hasn't thrown an errant tackle all season.  I was a little worried he would because he LOVES tackling his brother.  And, this should come as no surprise, he's pretty darn good at it!!

Mason is the gray shorts on his knee

on the right, bent over

he's the hunter in this one

Kade decided he didn't want to play football this year (he's fully regretting that choice).  He did sign up for fall baseball.  Unfortunately his season was cut extremely short because he pulled a hamstring in PE.  It took about 3-4 weeks to heal, which was the length of fall ball season.  I think he only got 2 games in.

Number 8

Basketball season starts next week for both boys!!

 

Picture catch up from a camping weekend in July.  It was meant to be a quick camping trip to a campground we always went to when I was a kid.  There's tons of trout fishing nearby so Mason was SO excited.

Kade had a baseball game that Friday so Erik, Kade and I got to the campground super late and had to set up in the dark, which is never fun.  Mason went down earlier in the day with my parents.  While they were getting supper ready, their campground neighbors discovered a rattle snake in the grass!  So that was the first excitement of the weekend.

Saturday started off pretty well but around mid afternoon the weather took a pretty significant turn.  Nobody had good signal on their phones but thankfully I was able to message with a friend who was at home watching the weather.  A severe storm with hail and wind was heading our way!  Once the weather actually got to us, a tornado popped up.  Thankfully it missed our campground (we were fairly protected by the bluffs around us) but less than a mile away was very significant damage.  Well, that knocked out the electricity, which took out the well, which meant we didn't have any water either.  The boys were supposed to stay til Monday with my parents (we were leaving on Sunday) but without water and electricity, none of us felt like roughing it.  Mason was extremely disappointed but thankfully they did land the biggest trout either of them had ever seen!  And they did get a little fishing in.

Kade reeled it in but Mason helped him land it.

And finally....back to school pictures!

Kade started the Tuesday after Labor Day as he is now in the high school!  

How did that happen?!?

Mason didn't start until Thursday.

So far the school year is going great for both of them!  Although conferences are on Monday so we'll be getting the full report then.😉

But hey--no bad reports, phone calls, emails or pink slips for Mason in the 1st quarter, that's a win!!

 

Vacation #2 Part 2

Grandpa and Grandma with all of the grandkids, showing off their trophy fish grandpa carved for them

Everyone knows a great fisherman kisses their catch!

Water fun!

Bubba got up on skis!  I wasn't there to see it but I guess he lasted for a couple loops.  He never actually stood up straight or looked very suave, but he muscled his way through and plowed on--just like you'd expect from our Mase!!!

Kade tried once but the skis didn't fit his feet very well.  

Here he is--hot and hangry!

Only the cool kids wear fancy hats and red tops!

More yard games.  I got the brunt of this bucket challenge.

Bingo on a cold, drizzly morning

That's a face of a happy fisherman and his northern

Can't beat that view!

Crawdad catchers

Erik with his dad and brother