More MN pics

My uncle Chuck, cousin AJ and cousin Tom at

Grandma Ione's birthday bash.

Whole bunch of peeps...my mom is in black and

my auntie Carrie is in blue. (P.S. My mom just

told me that she is the oldest of this group.)

Dru (Leila's son) and Austin at the pool in Bemidji.
Aalydia (getting out of pool), Logan, Dru and Austin
Aalydia is older than Logan by 12 days and
Dru is older than Austin by about 7 weeks.

New driver in the house!

Kristen took her permit test yesterday and passed. She is now an official driver (with a licensed adult of course!). She never got the extensive experience I got on the backroads of Bemidji, so she is just starting out and is doing very well so far. She is fairly nervous here and there, but it won't be long and she will be an ole pro. Now I feel obligated to share the driving....I don't like to share, I like to drive myself. Oh well...I suppose I can share a little bit. It will teach me patience on the roads. Or it might give me increased road rage. We shall see.

And a few more....

Our canopy to stay out of the blazing hot sun

My brother Pat and his fiancee, Lindsey
My mom's cousin Faith
My uncle Chuck and his wife Gina from Texas

More pictures

Grandma Ione at her 74th birthday party with her brother Joe

The kids having fun with a pinata at Grandma's birthday party
My beautiful cousin Clarissa
A group of people trying to stay in the shade
Pat (my brother), Neil (my cousin) and Tim (my uncle - the midget)
We celebrated my Grandma Ione's 74th birthday on July 5th. We had a beautiful day and some great food and company. The kids had fun in the pools and playing games and swinging at the pinata. The adults caught up with whatever is going on with each others. It was nice to see so many gather with us to celebrate Grandma's birthday.

This is how they pull boats out of the water in Minnesota!

Austin in his swimwear at Lake Mille Lacs
Logan having fun at on the beach
Caught Ya! Brandon just got out of the lake.

Crap, I gotta share pics from my trip.....

I have them all loaded on the computer...I just have to get them posted here a little at a time. I will work on that ASAP....hopefully!

Endless things to do....

School here is fast approaching and the kids are very anxious to continue clothes shopping and get their school supplies. I have in my mind how I would like shopping to play out....I know in reality it will be much more chaotic. I have decided to do it in different trips. I will take Kristen and Autumn separately and then do a trip with just Brandon and hopefully I can leave Logan and Austin home on all trips. Austin likes to eat the supplies and Logan likes to pick out a massive supply of his own.

School starts here on Aug. 18th and I think all the kids are pretty excited for a new year. Brandon starts his Tang Soo Do? (martial arts) on Tuesday the 12th and hopefully that will go well. Autumn was interested in what Brandon was going to do for his PE credits, so I told her "he is doing martial arts." And she said, "I wanna do martial arts." And then I told her, "and he might do gymnastics too" and she promptly said, "I wanna do gymnastics" so then I told her, "And he is starting ballet." She said, "he is on his own with that one!" Dangit, I thought I could get her in a tutu!

So my next week will be a mess of running here and there for appointments and shopping. I cannot WAIT for it to all be over. Its always so much fun standing around a store watching a 9, 13 and 16 yr old pick out clothes. They seem to enjoy my agony and prolong it as long as they can. I don't always like their choices and hate having to critique every single outfit. Why are their so many choices!?

Wish me luck and sanity!

Looong arse flight, drunken ladies advice comes in handy, we are home....

We are home! I couldn't be happier to be home. Even though my house stunk like 5 1/2 week old food, I was so happy to be home. The flight was long as usual....maybe a bit longer this time actually. But I recalled some advice I once received from a drunken lady on a flight about 2 yrs ago. She was trying to tell me how she got her daycare kids to sleep and even offered to hold Logan and take him back to her seat so I could get a break. (I am not the type of person to just hand my little baby over to some strange drunk lady, EVEN if she says she runs a daycare!!) (OH and remind me to forever remember her face so I don't ever leave my kids in her care.) (Just kidding, I am sure she is a responsible daycare worker....she was on vacation for crying out loud!!) (Have I used enough of these yet?) (OK, just one more....for ole times sake.) Anyway, she was telling me she would rub downwards on their foreheads and it would put them right to sleep. This did not work with Logan ever, but I tried it on Austin on this last flight and it put him right to sleep. If I knew who that lady was I would send her a thank you! So, Thank You Drunk Lady on Flight from MSP to ANC!! Your advice came in handy!

I immediately started to clean and took out the garbage. I couldn't even use my own toilet until I properly sanitized it...it looked awful. This is what a true bachelor pad looks and smells like....at least my bachelors!

The boys are getting reacquainted with their toys so I have been free to get the kitchen cleaned, floors swept, bathroom cleaned, laundry started and miscellaneous garbage picked up. They really are like kids that just got new toys. They haven't seen them or played with them in over 5 weeks....its like Christmas.

K....Gotta run. I am back to the business to running to appts, the store, the everywhere.

Bachelor Life part 2

One of the many many things I appreciate about my wonderful loving wife is that after I come home from a long day at work, I don't usually have to worry about things like laundry. She is so good to me and I really really appreciate all she does for me and the kids. I love you honey! Can't wait till you are back home!

Lower Eklutna River Dam

On the way home from work I had to find someplace to try out my new wide angle lens. This is the lower Eklutna River. From this vantage point, I was sitting about 600 feet above the river sitting on the edge of a cliff. Going as close to the edge as I dared, I could not see my side of the cliff going down. Hoping for better weather to get better pictures!

Tired of eating alone!

Sure will be glad when my family comes back home!

My vacation? is almost over...

We are on our last week of time in Minnesota. The boys and I have been here for 4 1/2 weeks and we head home on the 7th of August. We haven't gotten to spend as much time with everyone as I would have liked, but that is ok for now. We will be back either for x-mas or next summer again. I think we will spend the final week hanging out with my brothers and spending time at a lake or 2. We may also get out to do some school clothes shopping before we head home.

Kristen got here on the 21st. She spent some time at Aveda yesterday and got her hair cut, her eyebrows waxed and a facial. She really enjoyed her time there and is more encouraged to go to school there when she can.

I am not feeling overly witty right now, so I will close and come back later when I can evoke some smiles or giggles out of whomever reads this.