A Good Old Fashioned Arm Wrestle

This is our kitchen table.

Very interesting things occur at this table.

This would be one of them.



I have an athletic husband.

I have athletic sons.

I have athletic friends.

I EVEN have an athletic sister (blue and white shirt).


So it was bound to happen...happens all the time in fact....

physical competition at the dinner table...

because we can't just eat ALL the time.



So we decided to have arm wrestling matches. Mike (orange shirt- you've seen him here before) seemed to be an expert on the rules...so we pretty much followed his command. We really matched it up evenly (wink):





STOP! Before you pity my sister Alyse, you should know that she is an athlete by profession, trains daily, is very strong and TOUGH AS NAILS (that would be as compared to ....um.. me.)

Here they go! Notice the crowd in the background. Good entertainment. And cheap!

Start thinking about who YOU think is going to win!

Look at her face! See the determination, the strength, the cords popping out on her neck! THIS girl's not gonna go down easily! But then look at her opponent....

Hmmmm...looks like he's laughing. Still, you can see the veins at his temples...the thought throbbing through his head that he better win this or be forever branded with the loathesome curse of being BEATEN in ARM WRESTLING by a GIRL!....after a summer of lifting weights!

The crowd roars! The end is near!!!......

OOOPS! I missed the finish with the camera!

Sorry about that!

BUT, it makes for an interesting question....WHO DO YOU THINK WON?

Study the faces in the background and vote on my poll question at the top of the blog. We'll see who's right!

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While we would have liked to put Zach right in the hot seat to arm wrestle Alyse again, it didn't seem fair so....

..... Zach got the lucky straw of getting to arm wrestle MIKE!

They are taking this very seriously.

And it was very quick. No sweat!

This post was brought to you today by Royal Dried Mangoes...sure to give you serious problems if you eat too many at one time! Take it from the experts.

A Birthday Party Lindquist Style

Labor Day weekend was our last time up to the cabin for the summer. Unless we have guests up (which we did not this year), it's usually pretty sad because we mostly take things down and put things away.

If we do have guests we don't mind so much because we make them take things down and put things away too.

We are not shy that way.

But THIS YEAR was happier, because right in the middle of all the "shut down," we took a couple of hours to honor Tim's mom Linda and celebrate her birthday cabin style, and for a little while we forgot that summer is over and the long winter of work and schedules (and bone freezing Minnesota cold) is just around the corner.

So if these pictures look a little giddy, you'll have to excuse us. We were all grabbing hold of the fun with both hands! Happy Birthday Nana!


...not sure what Jake was doing in this picture. There is my mother-in-law, the birthday girl, enjoying the spectacle we were making on the deck of their cabin. At least I think she was enjoying it....maybe she was wondering what she had wrought!....



NOTE: We were doing the wave...but looking at the pictures...I don't think we were very good.
SECONDARY NOTE: Would you get a load of Timmy (green t-shirt)...I didn't realize this until I uploaded the pictures and viewed them on the computer, but he's stuffing his face! Shamelessly!
We hadn't even prayed yet! "TIMMY!!!!........"


He's never far from the food when it's time to eat. In fact, he is always the first in line, a result of careful positioning beforehand. I don't know why he does this. Survival technique, I guess.




YUM! Makes you want to make sloppy joes for dinner, admit it! The filling was from scratch (made by Linda), and it was delicious.

Here's the rest of the spread. Summer fare the whole way!

This is my beautiful neice...she's lovely on the inside as well as the outside, let me tell you. I owe my first experience of being an aunt to her, and she's as sweet as they come.

Timmy....back for seconds...still chewing!...

Lily had unusually bad hair that day...just for the record.

...AND the mouth is still full....maybe he's storing it up for winter......

...trying to scavenge what Timmy left behind.....

Then it was out to the dock for a present opening ceremony. And Timmy is STILL eating!!!! For those of you who are aware of Lily's swimsuit obsession, you might think that that she's giving the swimsuit one last whirl...but you'd be wrong...she's still wearing them two weeks later....we have a problem....

Singing Happy Birthday!

Tim was being funny and trying to get in all my pictures. I'm posting this one just to punish him.

Does Timmy's cheek look funny in this picture (above)? He's been complaining of a toothache on that side lately...maybe he IS hoarding food....I am wondering about this just as I'm typing this!

Sigh....food intake exhaustion. Notice Waller's Market on the t-shirt....when I think of this summer, I'm going to think of Timmy and that green shirt. They are inseparable.

Her dad cracks her up. He makes me laugh too.

She insisted I take her picture. So cute!

If you want a young child's attention....put something in a bag and "OPEN GIFTS." They can't resist! They have to be in front...even if they know it's something like flashlight batteries...they just can't resist somebody opening presents!... They scoot closer and closer until they are breathing the same air as the present opener!

It's an interesting phenomenon!

These are the sorts of things that interest me.

They outgrow this compulsion, however....as you can see...

These are the sorts of gifts we give here in Minnesota...even in the summer...because did I mention that summer is over?????and that winter is coming?????and we are all going to freeze?????

And there she is....breathing Nana's air, I tell you. Lily picked the necklace and earrings out for Nana, and she was SO excited (can you tell?)! Since then, Nana has worn them to church (she's a good egg), and Lily came up in the hall and excitedly told me, "Mom! I think Nana REALLY loves her 'julery'!!!"

Thank you Nana, for the lovely afternoon at the cabin. We enjoyed celebrating you and all you mean to us!