4th of JULY! (aka, The Pie Post)

There's no more hiding from me with this post! Now you know how far behind I am! :) The 4th of July is a rather big thing with my husband's family. Everyone goes out to the cabin on the lake and basically eats all day. There's lunch, dessert, watermelon, dinner, dessert (these are each very distinictive and separate eating times) and for activities, well there's a lake, so swimming, tubing, sail-boating, canoeing, water skiing, wake-boarding, rafting, and regular boating. Everyone over 30 usually just sits under the big pine tree outside the back of the cabin. Like this:

(This picture is only a small portion of the family that comes)

The front lawn of the cabin looks much like a parking lot. You might think you are attending a church function or potluck:

But no, truly, you are at a Ronnevik July 4th gathering. I'm not even sure everybody even knows each other, but I was introduced to relatives that were related like this: "Oh this is Hans' (my father-in-law) uncle's cousin on his mother's side, twice-removed." So after about 50 of these introductions, it's safe to assume that I now know who some people are but have no idea how they are related. 

Enough about the people now. What you all really want to see are the pies and desserts. That's pretty much why people attend this thing. There are two sets of desserts: one after the noon meal and one after dinner.

The (lunch) pie table. More were added after I took this picture.

The pies that I tasted were added to the table after the picture. I had the most amazing lemon meringue pie I've ever eaten as well as tastes of Gretchen's Triple Berry Pie and Pumpkin Pie. She has a great blog (which I love reading)  and her 4th of July post can be found here. All the pies I tried were Delicious (notice the capital "D") and frankly, it's unrealistic to try a piece of everything that looks good! 

Snapped this cute picture of Gretchen's daughter Silje surveying the pie table! 

The after dinner dessert table looked like this:

mostly bars, but a couple of the leftover pies.

Layered dessert: brownies, vanilla pudding, strawberries. Repeat (x3) 

The 4th is also a good time to catch up with how quickly the little ones are growing! Here I am with another one of Gretchen's children, Elias, whose chubby cheeks I just cannot get over!

There is also the tradition where father and son (not sure who) do a belly flop into the lake. They've got it choreographed pretty well.

View from the loft in the cabin.

And of course, no 4th is complete without a beautiful lake sunset!

Strawberry Picking!

Since I'm still playing catch-up from traveling so much and not being around internet, I'm going to keep this post fairly short... I had never been strawberry picking before so it was really exciting (as well as delicious)! I love fresh fruit and there's nothing fresher than eating a berry you have plucked off seconds before it's juices burst in your mouth. Yum YUM YUM!!!!  We went to a local farmer who opens up his patch for berry picking and picked quite a few buckets in a short amount of time.

The strawberry patch: it's pretty big!

They had hay between the rows so your knees don't get muddy while picking.

My gallon bucket full of delicious strawberries!

More berries! (3 gallons)

We picked 6 gallons of berries total. They were only $5.50 a gallon (compared to $2.50 a pint in CT) and were soooo much sweeter than any berry you will by in a grocery store. 

The berries were used for jam, pie, shortcake, and eating fresh!

Picking strawberries with my lovely hubs (who is clearly embarrassed to be kissed while his older brother takes the picture ;) ) It was very windy that day. (See below)

I didn't really mind the wind. I've heard that picking in sunny weather is just torture.

Going to pay for the strawberries. 

Strawberry picking was so fun and I wish we had something like that in Connecticut. I'll take fresh summer fruit ANyTimE!

Mount Rushmore!

Here it is mom- the post you've been waiting for! :) After our 9 hour drive from Minnesota to South Dakota, we decided to travel a half hour out of our way and stop at Mount Rushmore. We even got to see BUFFALO! We went on the little trail around the mountain view and had a great time. So, without further adieu.... 

Us with the buffalo in the background. No fences, just nature.

They really were a lot closer than they look in the picture.

The road to Mount Rushmore.

Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.

The gates leading to the mountain.

Us with the presidents!

I think Washington had the best spot. You could get a good picture of him from almost any vantage point. The original plan had the torsos of the presidents included as well, however the way the mountain was shaped, it didn't fit in with the plans. (although you can kind of see Washington's lapel)

The was a little side camp called "Heritage Village" on the trail. It was really just 2 tepees and a park guide who could talk intelligently about Native American life.

Like I said, Washington had a great spot to live forever.

There was also a little cave you could walk through and then a split in the rock that gave a perfect view.

Oh yes, there's also a room behind the faces. (You can't go back there) It was designed to keep safe some of America's most valuable treasures and papers. Unfortunately, it is not used for that today. 

As we were passing a family on the trail, one kid said to his brother, "I don't even KNOW  who Teddy Roosevelt is!" His brother replied "Are you KIDDING me??? He's the guy who INVENTED national parks!" :)

(Yes, it was sunny that day)

Having some treats to cool us off (raspberry cheesecake ice cream and a watermelon slushie)

The Black Hills of South Dakota

Along our trip out west (mostly just to Minnesota) we decided to take a couple days and go spend some time at a friend's ranch in South Dakota. For me, it was the farthest west I've been and I was able have some new experiences there: riding a horse, 4-wheeling, swimming in the watering hole (well, I didn't swim, but I did go in) and going out in the Ranger (3-seater  4-wheeler) up into the hills.

These were the cowboy's horses. They all came trotting out to greet us as we walked towards them! 

I think my man looks good in a cowboy hat, don't you?

Karl bonding with the horses. They were quite gassy (have you ever heard a horse pass gas? oof da!).

This is the cattle corral that Karl and Adam built one summer during college. They also have a lot of cattle on this ranch but they mostly roam free in the hills. This corral is used for organizing and separating the cattle when they are being branded, inoculated, or being prepared for market. 

If you look closely, you can see their initials "AN" and "KR" carved into one of the railroad ties they used for the posts.

These are called cattle grates. Basically if you have these, you don't need a gate to keep the cattle out. You can drive and walk across them, but cattle won't because their feet will slip in between the wide gaps. Pretty ingenious, huh?

Walking off to the stables and additional corrals.

Outside the cabin, the had this wonderful outdoor fireplace. Beautiful, I think.

Antlers from hunts.

The cabin! (the fireplace is on an extended patio to the right)

Adam loosening the reins and showing me how much slack I should have.

The guys on the horses.

We went out for a ride: me on the 4-wheeler, and they guys on horses.

Out for a ride with a couple cattle.

At the watering hole! The splash is Karl.

Out in the Ranger! It was a true South Dakota safari.

Some of the damage from the fire a couple years ago.

The only right way to end the day- a steak and potatoes meal.

Some of the ranch buildings at sunset.

The setting sun (picture taken by Karl)

The sunset was pretty spectacular- neither one of these photos capture how dramatic it really was.

Next post: Mount Rushmore!