Minni Trip - the route home (day 6)

Okay, so we're up a bit later than we liked (830ish) and we start readying to go home.  Well first we have to go to the cemetery.  So Mandy does some research, and get this: the hotel has a print service available.  How cool is that?  Talk about a hotel... you download whatever you want to print (webpage, pdf, etc...) and go to a website, tell it to print - give it a code number and then you go to the lobby, punch in this code number and the printer spits it out right then and there... neato!

So we find out approximately where the cemetery is, and the section we'd be looking for... after a brief nod to Mandy's boss in the lobby (what a coincidence) we head out.  We've exchanged all the bottles, and we have just enough to get us home.  After some GPS-ing we make it to the cemetery and we do some searching.  Eventually we find the gravesite for Raleigh and Kathleen Blake.  No stone for Jean, so Mandy has to go and inquire.  It turns out that apparently there never was a site for her.  We take some pictures so we know how to find it at another date and feed Dean then head out.  A gas fill up later and we're ready for the highway... unfortunately some nice man lets us know that we're driving without our gas cap screwed back on.  Mandy sees it as some sort of Urban Warfare warning (oh my ryan, you've angered a black man!!).  Mandy's hardly a racist, but it was funny.

cold stone creamery

We make it as far as Forest Park, where we stop for a Culvers brunch.  Dean is also not the happiest camper this leg of the trip.  It's a long road.  We stop at another place to feed/change Dean.  It's roughly about every 1-2 hours we have to stop.  We eventually make it to Duluth, and we meander on down to Canal Park to get our Cold Stone Creamery ice cream.  Man, it never ceases to amaze me how busy Canal Park is.  We park illegally for a while to feed Dean and then do some strolling around.  The ice cream was great... I hope Mandy enjoyed it... she had to get over Dean throwing up on her in public.  She got a "like it" sized banana ice cream with strawberries and pineapples.  I had the "love it" size signature "Cheesecake Fantasy" (eat your heart out dad).  It had cheesecake ice cream with graham crumbs, blueberries and strawberries.  I don't know what it is, but I've grown to LOVE blueberries lately.

We wander around a little bit more, and we get to a store I kinda like, but Dean throws up some more, and I figure it's time to move on out.  But we stick our idea of coming back there at some point and doing some real visiting.  This time we'll invite the grandparents to help babysit!

We dared stopping at Culvers again, but we just had ice cream, so we were ok.  We did have to stop a few more times for Dean before getting Canadian side.  He was not happy.. I guess he figured he was never going to get 'home' and his routine would be ruined forever.  By the time we hit the border, Mandy and I are both exhausted.  We get to the customs official and he can hear Dean crying, the looks on our faces and just lets us go on through (he did ask the questions, mind you).

A short half hour later, and we're home.  Not unpacked, not nearly yet... but we're home.  Took some cajoling to get Dean to bed... we have a lot of bottles to clean... but thankfully we're home.  YAY... I think the next family trip will either be:

a) shorter

b) not for a while

People we'd like to thank that helped make this trip possible (this is in no particular order):

My folks	the granola was a good treat while driving (something had to keep me awake - mandy slept most of the way) - saved me having to buy Mike&Ikes (although I still did)
Mandy's folks	the GPS worked out great!
Kathy & George	the stay was amazing - you guys put on a great breakfast spread
aunt Kathy	for arranging a great luncheon / family reunion (and Dean loved his toys - we got the most usage out of the CD)
aunt Cookie	Dean loves the toys/outfits he bought with his spending money
aunt & uncle John	lunch at the fisherman's picnic was a good way to start the trip
grandma Eileen	lunch is always great at your place - I hope the concert was good for you (really brings the term 'playing for your supper' to life)
my brother Adam	for the few spending dollars i used to buy my Mike&Ikes
Kelly & Adam	to help keep Dean preoccupied - Kelly for having a good 'ride buddy' - Adam for having another male with me to deal with the Knauff females (heh)

If there's anybody I missed, I'm sorry... it's just really late.  I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

Day 5 of our First Family Trip

Day 5 already... feels like forever.  I guess travelling with a wee'un can weigh on you.  Ah well.. it's worth it for him.  And Mandy... it is HER trip after all!  :)

So, we had grandiose plans to wake up early and head out to iHOP or something like that and meet Mary & Dick for lunch and still get in time for MOA fun stuff.  That was not to be.  Dean woke up at 6am and set us all off our schedule.  We got as much stuffed into the car as we could, said our goodbyes to Kathy (I hope you can make use of the book) and were on our way around 10ish.

We started at the MOA, and went straight for the under the water tour.  It wasn't too bad actually.  Adam said it was his favourite part of the WHOLE trip... awww... Dean really enjoyed it.  It was hard holding him as he kept craning his neck to see the fish swim over the top of the tube.  Doubt he'll remember it at all... and stupid me, I left the camera in the car.  Luckily, Aunt Kelly and Adam have take alot of pictures and videos.  When they're available I'll point you to 'em.

All sharked out, we decided to head on to further MOA excursions as we did some of the fun rides.  I got to be Kelly's ride buddy for the 'funner' ones.  We decided first would have to be the SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS ROCK BOTTOM PLUNGE.  Now I haven't been on a real rollercoaster in years, but I used to love crazy ones.  This one looked nuts... nothing extravagant, just a fun ride up, then straight down and some curves.  So Kelly and I went in with some high hopes.  Apparently Adam doesn't like fast things that are above the ground.  Anywho - the ride was well above anything I expected.  The ride went up... vertically - so you felt like you were going to fall backwards out of your seat, and then you were thrust forward really REALLY fast.  The did a loop, and then some fast curves ad then a spiral... yoiks.  I'm defiitely too old... I was left almost woozy.  Not that I was ever afraid, but it left you on edge and wondering how locked in you really were.  We did a long wait for the Fairly Odd Coaster.  That one was a roller coaster where teh seat spins... it was like a tilt-a-whirl + a roller coaster all in one.  The neat thing about this was that there was a mounted camera in the seat... and when you're done, for $10 you could have had a DVD of your trip.  We would have got it, but we figured there was no audio, or at least nothing audible probably... that would have been the funniest part ("this angle feels like it's only 45 degrees", "my back hurts", "this isn't helping my nervous disorder" - again, we're getting old.)

Then Adam decided to go on A ride, and then Dean puked up on me.  I had asked Mandy for a bib, but it was 'already put away'... a few minutes later i really coulda used it.  Ah well... the joys of being a dad.  After that we had pretty much toured all of the mall we were going to, so we did lunch at the Kokomo's Island Cafe. Mandy thought it was going to be loud, but it wasn't - they even had a place to park your stroller.

Lunch eaten, we figured it was time we got the toront-ites onto the plane.  It took some figuring out where exactly we were to drop them off at the airport.  We EVENTUALLY figured it out - and the decided we have to go to our hotel to nap.  This hotel, the Cambria, is apparently new.  Talk about SWANK.  I'll post pictures later.  It was teh kinda place that I walked into, holding a baby, a little spit up still on my shirt, that I felt that I don't belong.  Ah, well.  We setllted in well.  There are 2 flat panel tvs.  We then went to Babies R Us to get some new stuff for Dean.  At Kathy & George's, they had a well for water, and it has higher Iron content.  Which means that eventually the bottles we were making up would have that orange/brown precipitate.  It's totally fine, but just looked odd.  So at the store we bought BABY WATER.  So we refilled his bottles with this... and it's 100x the amount we'll ever need.

We also went to Culvers... new favourite place.  We went looking for Cold Stone Creamery (which we've been meaning to go to since Duluth on the way down).  The GPS (and I'm surprised how easily I'm deferring to it already in a few days) said it was right next to the Baby store, but we couldn't see it.  So we went to Culvers... and they have a system where ... although it's fast food, you can order your meal, and dessert ad get your dessert to come later.  How innovative!

After all that... we brought the upset Dean home (hotel) and fed him and put him to bed... he's up way past his bedtime.  At least he's asleep now... for now.  Hopefully no middle of the night wakings.  We want to do the cemetary tomorrow, Cold Stone Creamery in Duluth, and then Culvers (again) in Two Harbors.  I'm thinking we should be home roughly like 10-11pm.  grrr...

later all...

Minni trip day 4

So.. day 4 is it? (let me count... Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday... yup 4)

For today’s activities, we woke up around 9ish... well Mandy and Dean woke up at 6... ouch. And puttered around long enough to get ourselves motivated to go and visit Mandy’s grandma. We got there a little later than we expected – 1140 or so. We had an excellent brunch of pork ribs and turtle ice cream sundae. Mmmm. After which, I put my little ‘concert’ on in the courtyard. It turned out to be a perfect day to play, as it was overcast and that meant it wasn’t too hot or humid. I intended to play only for about 10-20 minutes, but as people heard they kept wanting to come down and see. Which normally isn’t a problem; however the mean age of the people wanting to see was about 90. So it took them a while to get there. So I ended up playing for approximately 30 minutes or so. I enjoyed it tho. I enjoy playing for people who appreciate it. Even when my reed isn’t quite up to snuff. It’s really going, this has been a busy summer.

After playing, the crowd enjoyed Dean and how he met a new girl – Mackenzie. She was 10 months old, and was keenly interested in Dean (I’ll say ‘dean’ and not just the most likely answer – somebody her own age category). After that there was some discussions with the residents – like how they’re from Hamilton, or where Kelly’s from (this one lady must have informed us she was from Hamilton about a dozen times a minute – each time prefaced by asking Kelly “where you from?”)

At that point it was time to get dean back to the Kolstad’s where we got more bottles for our excursion to the Mall of America (take 2). This was much longer than the previous days’ adventure. But near the end of it, we were all pretty tired and we decided it was time to head home... we got another bottle for dean – just in case – and the tried to find a restaurant. At a certain point, Adam had to have a white castle burger. So, Kelly allowed him to buy one. And if he was buying 1 – I suggested he also buy me one. He came out with 4. SOOOoo greasy.

We stumbled upon a SUPER Target, and thought we better check it out before it closes... which we found out was at 9, so that left only like 20 minutes – not enough time, so we went to Chula Vista, a very nice Mexican restaurant. We have never had faster service! They even apologized it was slow... crazy. Not until part way through our dinners did Mandy start to wonder if by the ‘nobody else is here’ clue if they had closed. Sure enough, they had closed at 9. So we were THOSE PEOPLE.. the kind of people who show up 5 minutes to closure and expect full service. I felt so guilty.

By the end of the meal we were all too tired to care... Adam practically bolted towards George’s comfy chairs. An hour’s worth of vegging time, and putting dean to sleep and here I am on the futon typing this story up. Hopefully the Windows Update will finish soon, so I can upload it. Stupid SSD, takes forever to do any sort of update. Ah well...

I realized earlier that I didn’t take any pictures from the day’s travels – at some point tomorrow I’ll abscond with Kelly’s/Adam’s digital camera and get theirs.

We’ll see how tonight’s rest goes – which should be a good preamble towards what day 5 holds in store.

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...