Minni trip

Okay so I forgot a few things.  First off - I missed out on Day 2 entirely... I'll cover it now.  And I mssed on Day 2 - the fact that Mandy and Dean and I went to Denny's for dinner.  Really it's not missing much.  We got there and apparently we had a slow waitress that took forever to seat.  But at least we got seated quick, and I was able to order smothered fries (essentially fries with 2 types of melted cheese, and bacon).  We didn't spend much time in there, but we hoped to go for a swim after, but we were pretty pooped.  So went to bed.

 

Day 2

We thought we could have made the typical checkout time (11) but as it turns out, it took a long time to get the boy ready.  So we had to get a little extra time.  From there we decided to hike o down to the Kolstead's.  We got there roughly 1230sh, which we figure should have been enough time for Kelly to get picked up and brought from the airport.  But, as it turns out, not quite, so we decided to walk around the park across the street, which involved walkig to the closest shady spot and watching every car turn onto the street.  Eventually they came in.  We got to have a quick visit with Kathy and Adam and Kelly before Kathy decided to go looking for her gas cap.  After a bit, we decided to go visit Mandy's grandma.  That too was a short visit, as we have plans to see her each day for the next 2 days.  We went and did a lap of the 3rd floor of the Mall of America.  When we got back to the Kolstead's it was just time to go and see the STARWARS exhibit at the Science Museum.  That was pretty neat... not sure if it's worth the $30 tho'... I almost picked up a Dean a Hallowe'en outfit (Darth Vader).  But ... meh.  After the exhibit, we got back to find that Mandy and Kelly instead of going to see stuf about Star Wars that they preferrred Target shopping.  pfft.  After it was time for some frozen pizzas, enjoy some of the George's recliners then head to bed.

 

Day 3

After sleeping in, we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the Kolstead's breakfast room - we decided to head on out.  We decided on going on a paddle boat ride down the Mississippi.  It was't too bad.  The best part, I think, was getting to o to Mickey's Diner which we decided on the spur of the moment.  A piece of Americana I think.  Then we went to a great lunch at Mandy's aunt Kathy's where alot of her relatives came to visit.  A nice time to visit with the relatives and see old pictures.  Dean was very laughy during that event.  Not so laughy on the way home.  But he went straight to bed... so the crazy group went for a crazy night out at Cub's.  We bout groceries.. wooohooo.  Now we're all sitting in the recliners again, debating about going to bed.  Tomorrow is goig to be another full packed day.  Lunch at Grandma's, where I'll put on a small concert and then go to Mall of America where I'll get my Cold Stone Creamery ice cream.  mmmm...

 

enjoy the pics

Trip to Minni

Day 1

Woke up around 8ish to seeing Mandy running around like crazy.  Good thing it doesn't take long for me to pack.  Soon enough we were on the road.  Dean fell asleep right quick!  Poor guy missed most of the car ride 'cuz of that.  He even missed out the sign by Neebing that says "Fresh Eggs & Kittens".  Only thing that would have made that sign better woulda been to offer fresh kitten eggs.

Probably the easiest time through the border.  Gave the guard the ids, and in under a minute we were through.   We had to stop in Grand Portage as Dean needed a bottle... and I needed some breakfast juice.  They had blueberry and pomegranate.  Mmmm...  After he was finished we went back on teh road and got as far as Grand Marais.

We had arranged earlier to meet with Cookie, John and Sandy at GM due to the Fisherman's Picnic.  But Cookie was feeling under the weather (hope you feel better) so it was just John and Sandy.  We told them to meet at 1230, 'cuz Mandy doesn't know how long it takes to get there.  we got there roughly 30 minutes early, and still met up with them.  It was a nice little fair going on.  Lots of neat booths.  Should have checked the LSTP benches more... Merrell's woulda been a nice find.  Anyways, we all had lunch at the Blue Water cafe.  Even Dean.  He had apples.  Mmmm.  It was a nice visit.  Thanks John & Sandy.  Good thing we didn't go to that 'foo foo' place Kris likes (foo foo kris food).  :)

What next... long driving.  Finally make Duluth... and the hope was to go to that Cold Creek Creamery... but it's in Canal Park... and those tall ships are in, so Duluth is a mad house.  Pretty much all of Superior St. was backed up... all of 21st street is lined up.  We almost could'nt get out.  So we decide to retreat to a McD's parking lot, feed Dean and head on out.  We're going on instinct at this point as the GPS has decided it does'nt want to talk to the satellites anymore.  No worries.  When we get to Minni, it finally works and takes us for a wild spin around St. Paul.  Oh, well... we made it.

It's late, I'm tired now, and I'll talk more about it tomorrow... hopefully with pictures.

later

It's been a loong time a' runnin'

Okay, I knw.  I haven't written here in a while (probably the biggest gap yet), hence the tragically hip song title...

 

But hey, I've just had a kid, my life is hectic.  Band's ben hectic.  We've done alot of parades recently:

 

• 3 graduations
  
• church celebration
  
• shelter house relay
  
• hibbing
  
• minocqua (which was 3 parades in a day!!)

plus there's Buternut this weekend

 

Dean's been great lately too... he loves his jollly-jumper (tahnks rain and rory).. he's really getting independant.  Hes starting on the thicker pablum stuff too.

The house steps was pretty fun.  Thanks greg for the help.  MG-Krete worked pretty well.  Just have to find what kind of sealant I want on the steps beore deciding on a paint fo it.

AND, i picked up my new toy finally.  I got my ASUS eeePC.  The 4G version.  It's been great.  playing with it all... but I took of Linux, 'cuz I just coudn't figure it out at all.  So i put Windows XP on it.  Took almost 48 hours to put on.  Still fiddling... space is a premium with only 4gb of room.  I'll let you nkow how it all goes out.

Ow, my ears hurt.

Okay... wow... brutal performance yesterday.

 

It was Westgate's graduation and we had the band all tuned up and ready to go.  I'm at the tail end and as we get on stage and start forming the U, I forget my place and stop while trying to maneouver around a piano.  Apparently that (or something to that effect) caused nearly all of my side of the pipers to stop and play something different.  I literally had to tug at the sleeve of the guy next to me to get him to stop.  ugh... hideous.

 

 

anywhoo... what else is new and positive.

 

the pipes scenario sounds interesting, apparently they might be pretty old.  Just need to find an appropriate chanter to work with them.  Maybe I'll get Dylan to bring his small pipes chanter some night.

 

Dean had his first swimming lesson on Monday.  That was kinda neat.  Got to see the Lockyer kids again (well, Mac and Emma at least).  Dean didn't cry or anything during it - so hopefully it's a positive thing for him.

 

Rain's back!  So I'm gettingused to not being in the office anymore.  Kinda feel lost for a bit here.   Hard to let go I guess.

 

Oh, well, I'll keep you all posted - I'll be putting up pics of Dean in the water soon... hopefully.  So many small projects to go over lately that i'm slowly finding out where to start... weeds / lawn / steps / pipes measuring / painting / vacation time / etc...

Visiting the cheiftains

So Dean hadn't had the real opportunity to meet the band chieftains yet, so Mandy and I made it a point last sunday to do just that.

 

The hope was get out early, before lunch, then visit Rod & Louise, then Al & Muriel after lunch... Dean had other arrangements set up.  It must have been roughly 1:30 or so before we were out the door to visit Al.  And probably after 6 or so by the time we left Rod's.

 

It was a great visit.  Al showed me a set of 'small pipes' in his basement, and said if I could get 'em working I could have 'em (still havn't quite figured them out -  check the photos and tell me what you think).  I was able to get Al his copy of Edinburgh's 2007 video back, and borrowed the 2006 that Rod lent him.  Rod and Louise had a whole spread out for us as well - excellent sticky buns Louise.  And Dean got a new book... as well as 2 poopy diapers.

 

It was a great visit, and good to see the chieftains looking so well.  They ain't spring chickens.  Really helped me to appreciate the band's heritage more.  Keeps me motivated to keep teaching the students.

May long = days of blisters

So here I am on the "may 2-4" and what am I spending my time doing?

 

well, so far I've:

 

• staked in the solar patio lights (thanks Greg!)
  
• edged the garden
  
• mixed in the composted manure
  
• mowed the lawn
  
• finished the patio furniture
  
• hooked up the hose

I'm tired already and it's only Saturday afternoon.  Thankfully there's a relaxing barbecue tomorrow at Kartanson's.  Cindy's in town too, so she can get to visit everybody.

Mandy still wants to paint... dunno about this weekend.  We'll see.  Then the new blinds come in, which means we can install the A/C unit... not that we even come close to needing to use it yet - the temp hasn't really raised above 10 lately.  We had some AWESOME weather a few weeks back, then really bad, now it's just windy and almost rainy. 

So long as it isn't snowing, I'm happy, and then I can bike to work.

Pictures of the garden are forthcoming.

 

playing ketchup... it's all i seem to do.

So much more to catch everybody up on.  (get it... ketchup / catch up)

 

Since when did weekends become 'extra work days'?  Last weekend I spent several hours just doing house stuff.  The garden needed to be extended, the patio set put together, more laundry sorting and dishes...  I have to use these days Mandy's house sitting to relax.  Now we've got more stuff to do for this weekend, and I still haven't even started to make calls about the front steps.  Having a house is fun.

 

Oh, well.

 

Biking's been really good.  Really tiring though.  Burger barn's open, so I definitely need to kick the biking up a notch.  Stupid good fries.  And to further tempt me to not drive is my dad.  He means the best, I know... but now I have 2 of his old vehicles at my house.  The truck hiding in the back lane, and now the car advertising in the front driveway.  I drove the truck once, then kinda remembered dad didn't keep the insurance on it... woopsie.  Now I have the car... and it's just taunting me to drive to work.  I shouldn't, but on the other hand it would give the car more exposure, and hopefully help him sell it... mmm the dilemnas.

 

Okay, back to my wild and crazy party.  It's the last day of my bach-ing it.