The weather here in northern Minnesota just doesn't want to warm up. We had another chilly night and today the temps reached the low to mid 60's with cloudy skies.

John was up and out early this morning as Matt had called last night asking for some help today with a tiling job. They got the entire floor tiled and grouted and were finished by mid-afternoon. We are seriously considering tiling our kitchen floor this summer, so this was a good learning experience for John--he feels we should be able to tackle the job okay by ourselves. While John was off tiling, I did some cleaning, organizing, and generally getting things gathered for packing. I also spent some time reading the instruction manual for my new camera and taking a few photos.

Wild flowers in front of the shop

Today was Matt's 40th birthday and this evening we held a surprise party for him at Applebee's in Bemidji. This had been in the works for over a week and we all managed to keep it a secret--he sure was surprised when he walked in and saw everyone waiting for him. Matt had been plannng to work up his food plots this evening, so Sara called the guy who was lending his tractor to Matt and got him to tell Matt the tractor had broken down and it wouldn't be available for use until tomorrow morning. He fell for the story and Sara was able to get him to the party. We all had an enjoyable evening eating and visiting with family and friends.

Birthday boy trying to smile with a mouth
full of steak

Matt and Sara looking over his
birthday gift of prunes while he
wears his new Twins hat.



Rachel enjoying her meal

The clouds cleared off this evening and we had a beautiful sunset. A perfect ending to the day.