Bridal Falls Hike

 Ady, Rashel and I hiked to Bridal Falls up the Gunflint Trail a little bit ago.  The rains were abundant and there were 6 overflows.  I couldn't get them all in one picture, but it was a great scene and well worth the hike in.

 Ady was a great trooper and I only had to piggy back her on the way out.

 

Rashel and I at the Gunflint Lake overlook; apparently Ady, the photographer, thought the sky and lone tree were more beautiful than the lake though. If you look really close you can see a little bit of the lake down there.

 

Next time I go, I will be sure to remember to wear long pants and tuck my socks in to my pants-hiker style.  We had probly over 100 ticks on us!  Yuck!  Even so, it was a great trip, and next time I will bring Adam along.

Awesome Clearwater Youtube Video

We haven't thought much about blogging lately because we are so busy working.  So I thought I would blog a little bit about what we have been doing at work.  One of our big issues is we have too many openings at the lodge, especially during May and June.  Kasey and I have been trying to come up with more ways to get people to want to visit the lodge.  We met someone who was willing to help us by making this video for us and traded a cabin rental for the production of this video.  We think that it turned out really well and are hoping that more people will want to vacation here.  If you want to see a little of what we do, and our lodge, please check out the video.

 Ady and I went on a 2 day canoe/camping trip last week with Uncle Carl and Cameron.  We had a ton of fun and enjoyed the beauty of the Boundary Waters together.  Our campsite was remote and we had a great sunset.

 When we woke up the next morning the water was perfectly calm and great for paddling.  Ady told me that next time we need to take Brock and Kasey.  Hopefully next year the 4 or us can go on a canoe trip together.

Ady's favorite part of the trip was when we found a family of Loons.

Ady the Literalist

These are some of the converstaions lately with Ady

Ady:  Mom I have to go potty right now.
Mom:  Are you going to pee your pants?
Ady:  Do you mean pee my shorts?

Ady:  Rashel(Ady's self-proclaimed best friend who is 20 years old, is Kasey's cousin, and is working with us this summer), I made you a sign with my name on it, in case you forget my name.  Then you can just read it and remember. Do you want me to put Brock's name on it too?

Ady was saying her prayers when Mom was putting her to bed.  She got to the middle and this followed:
Ady:  I don't know what to say.
Mom:  Say what you would like to be blessed with.
Ady:   Tell me whatever what you want me to say Mom. 
Mom:  Okay, say what just told you I want you to.
Ady:  Please bless Mom can have whatever she wants.
Mom:  Okay, that works.

Ady:  All these people are coming to see the Lodge and I have to show them all the Lodge and all the cabins.  And all the people keep coming to the Bunkhouse and I just keep showing everyone the Lodge and the Bunkhouses.  And it is driving me crazy.  And it is driving me nuts.  And I am getting tired.

Dad:  How was your pre-kindergarten day?  
Ady:  Just fine.
Dad:  Who was your teacher?
Ady:  Mr. Sleepy
Dad:  Ok was your teacher a boy.
Ady:  No
Dad:  Huh.
(her teacher was Mrs. Schliep)

Busy Busy

In the midst of smells of sawdust that is all over the lodge and another fishing opener in Minnesota, here is a "hi" from Brock and Ady in their favorite place(well, unless you count finding all the worms under the log chairs surrounding the firepit).  

The last month seems a bit of a blur as we have moved to Minnesota again and continued working at Clearwater Resort.  We have found ourselves very busy with all sorts of new projects, beginning to train a new crew of workers, and getting back into the swing of working with customers who are wanting to spend time up in the Boundary Waters.  We don't blame them.  We are wanting to get out there too, but have been a bit busy with a few things like redoing the entire plumbing system in the Lodge and putting in a commercial kitchen.  We did get a chance to paddle and hike to the palisades across our lake a couple weeks ago.  

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter! This year we actually made it to an Easter Egg Hunt with the kids. It was their first. They both had lots of fun, and so did their parents and grandparents. Brock seemed to be getting tired, but after his mom helped(pushed) him to where each egg was after the "Go" was given, he would pick up the egg and put it in his basket. After about 5 eggs he was done. So we watched all the other kids and parents run around the whole field. Ady was on the other field with her dad, and had a plan for her first egg pickup right in front of her. When the "Go" was given, she completely forgot and ran off about 15 feet right to another egg. Then, remembering the first egg she had planned on picking up, turned right around and ran back to get it first. She then had a great time running to the center of the field to pick up more eggs, the whole time passing plenty of eggs on her way to get her next one.

Fun in March

March has been a busy month for us. Two sport shows, moving out of our apartment and a trip to Vegas. But in between the chaos we had time for some fun.
Kasey, Ady and Brock made cinnamon rolls one day that were absolutely amazing. Of course we did find a few egg shells in the rolls. Being that Brock and Ady helped with every step of the process we wonder what else was in there that we didn't know about.
Last month Ady and Grandma(mostly Grandma) made Ady a ladybug quilt. Ady thought that Brock should have one of his own so they have been working on it. Brock thinks that anything Ady can do he can also handle. So here he is running the quilting machine. His blanket has sections where the design is almost covered up by very short lines of thousands of stitches.
Ady and Brock love to go to the library and check out books and movies. Being Brock broke the TV 3 months ago and we didn't get it fixed we have to watch movies on the computer. Ady picked out a learn to dance movie and wanted Mom to learn the dance with her. She even went and got her tutu on for the lesson. Brock saw the girls dancing and ran over to join them. Here the three of them are "dancing". Note that all three are watching the same lesson and all have their arms in a different position.
This is not a picture to show that Brock can play the piano. It is a picture showing that Brock and Ady put stickers on every key of Grandma and Grandpa's piano. I think that they found it to be far more fun putting the stickers on the piano than it was taking them off.

Brock's Heart Check-up

Today we had Brock's big cardiology appointment at Primary Children's Hospital. Last time they were so happy with his progress that they asked up to come back in about a year. Today the doctor said that if he hadn't seen firsthand how bad his condition was back in April of 2010 he would never have believed the medical report today is for that same boy. He was very impressed with Brock's progress and told us that he should have no restrictions and won't need to come in for 2 years! Just walking into the hospital brought back so many memories of that awful ordeal and reminded us how blessed we are to have the power of prayer and so many people who helped out by praying for Brock. The memory of the day we found out his first surgery didn't go as well as planned and finding out that Brock would need a second surgery and likely a third surgery as a teenager were days that still bring chills to Kasey and I. Today the doctor said that his heart is doing great, some very slight leakage but he may never need another surgery if he continues to progress and his heart continues to get stronger and healthier on his own. He told us to not limit him at all if he wants to play sports he can. Of course Brock is not yet two and we have decided to wait another year before he auditions to join the Jazz.
Over the summer we had a jar in the lodge store for collecting pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. Ady got to be very good at taking them off of soda cans. Ady would even tell people that we stayed there when her brother was in the hospital and collect them to give them so that we can help other sick kids and their families. We decided that today was a good day to take our jar in and donate it. So here are the kids giving the jar of pop tabs to the young woman who worked there. Afterwards I asked Ady how she felt inside since she did such a good thing like giving the jar of pop tabs to the charity. She looked at me and said, "Dad, I think I feel hungry". We decided we should probably go get lunch.
We have started having Ady and Brock do the dishes occasionally. Usually this consists of several minutes of cleaning up water and soap that is all over the floor when they finish. I thought I would share a picture of our family "activity". And yes if you look closely you will notice that Ady is wearing two dresses. I guess when you can't decide if you want to wear a purple or a pink dress you wear them both.
Another thing lately is that we have started to play more board games with the kids. Usually we play dominoes and after one or two rounds just end up setting them up on end so that Brock can knock them down.
I was up at the lodge a couple of weeks ago and thought that I should share a picture of the place in the winter. It was so peaceful and quiet. We had about 16 inches of snow to trudge through, but that was better than the almost 3 feet that were on the ground last winter when I was up there.
Kids sure are cute sometimes. Somebody once gave us some parenting advice that you shouldn't just ask your kids what do you want, but instead give them choices. Makes sense to us since that is also a great principle in sales. Well Ady seems to have picked up this technique. A little bit ago she went up to Kasey and said, "Mom, I am going to give you three choices and let you pick one. We can either have some candy, or watch a movie, or eat lunch." She was fed lunch.

Catching up on life

It has been a while since we did much blogging and I found some old pictures on our camera. This picture here with the kids in front of the our tree that they are so proud of decorating is one that I felt had to be given its moment even if Christmas is a month and a half past. Fortunately the kids know that we care more about getting their picture, rather than the tree, and stand right in front of it so that we all can't enjoy looking at how haphazardly they decorated it.Here is a great picture of Brock asleep. He will sleep in the funniest positions. In this one he has no blankets around his lower body and you can't see them, but his legs are up on the sides of his pack-n-play. I am sure that his head and shoulders did not get cold.
Brock has decided that he likes to wear a hat just like dad. Here we are together showing off our awesomeness. On an aside about awesomeness... Ady recently decided that we all have super powers. She informed us that we all have up to two super powers. Her's are that she can see things far away really well and things that are close she has super seeing power for also. Brock we were told has a super finding ability, because whenever we ask him where something is he can go and find it right away(usually this is because he is the one that has put it somewhere). Ady then went on to list 4 super powers for Kasey(super driving was one of them-she almost never drives, I do the driving). Well I asked her what my two powers were, and was told that I am super strong. I was feeling quite flattered and figured that the second power must be something great also. So I asked what my second power is. She paused thinking for a moment so I decided to inject a bit of influence into her choice. I simply asked, "is it super awesomeness?" She looked at me with big eyes and a confused look, then after a moment of thought said, "ummm... that is not what I was going to say." Ouch.
Ady is really into helping out around the house when it suits her. She loves going to Grandma Haddocks and working on the vinyl machine. She has asked several times when we will be moving back to Morgan to live by Grandma and Grandpa again. Kasey and her made some labels for our canisters and Ady is very proud of them. Something that is quite impressive about Ady is that she knows left and right. She loves giving us directions now with left and right. If only she was as good with right and wrong as she is about left and right. I shared this other story also on facebook, but will repeat it here for those who don't use facebook. We have been trying to work with the kids about being obedient and listening the first time we ask or tell them to do something. In order to reinforce our attempted teachings about obedience we had a lesson about Jonah one night for family home evening. A couple of days later Ady was not behaving well and I told her that she needs to work on being more obedient. Then I reminded her of the story of Jonah when he wasn't obedient. I asked her, "do you remember what happened to Jonah when he didn't obey?" She recapped the story and told me that he was eaten by a fish. I told her that people who are obedient get blessings and those who aren't are punished. Her response: "Don't worry dad, I am not in the water-no fish can eat me here".Here is Brock showing off his new outfit, complete with a tie. He seems to really like wearing his tie and even likes the suspenders. Such a dashing young man! Apparently Brock is really into sharing lately. I was in Chicago recently exhibiting for a sport show and while packing my suitcase Brock and Ady were enjoying some Jello. I wasn't paying much attention but was reminded the next day when I unpacked my suitcase and found the remnants of a fairly large square of Jello in my stuff.

Kasey and I have been very busy lately. We originally thought that having a business like ours that we would work hard in the summer and then have most of the winter months off. That is not the case. Not even close. We have been very busy working on a new website. The old one was outdated and had incorrect information. I never realized how much time and effort went into websites. Here is the link to the new site www.clearwaterhistoriclodge.com. Also Kasey has been very busy getting the books in order so that tax documents could be sent to various institutions and people. Along with interviewing potential staff, writing a new employee handbook, redesigning our menus and finding a new dehydrated food supplier, coming up with plans for the spring's construction projects, ordering items for the store and so much more, I have been traveling a bit for sport shows. Last month I was in Des Moine, Iowa and then Chicago, Illinois. This month I will be in La Crosse, Wisconsin and then Duluth, Minnesota advertising for the resort. Busy, busy, busy.

Ady's Nutcracker

Here Ady is on the last night of her Nutcracker Dance performance. She was so cute and did such a good job!! Even though it was a long week, with too many late nights for a 4 year old, she made it through. We have now moved on from dance lessons to swim lessons. And Ady is happy to inform anyone that she is now brave enough to put her head underground(water). Brock is liking the pool too, and it looks like we'll be spending quite a few more family nights at the Rec Center.

Stone Age

Well, we finally have internet again. We were without internet at home for the month of November and felt like we were living in the stone age. We had to go to the library or to our parents' houses just to check our emails. It was awful.

During November Ady started attending preschool and she loves it. I am not sure if she is learning anything but she always looks forward to attending school. She is in her cousin Landon's class and I wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper and easier to just schedule play time with Landon twice a week because that is all she ever tells me that she does at school. Hopefully Ady will soon be able to count correctly to 20 or say the abc's correctly and then I will feel better about spending money to send her to preschool. Brock seems to really miss her when she is gone and gets so excited when she comes home. Brock has started going to nursery at church and hates it. He screams and cries as soon as he realizes where he is going. Kasey and I rotate who has to take him in and then pry ourselves away from his clutches while he cries and has the saddest look on his face. Today Ady gave her first talk in Primary. She did so good. She had the whole thing memorized and wasn't even a bit afraid of speaking at the pulpit.

Brock has started wanting to use the potty and now uses his toilet every morning when he gets up. This morning we awoke to some weird sounds coming out of the bathroom. After a quick investigation we found Brock and Ady in the bathroom with Brock sitting on the toilet. Ady informed us that she got Brock out of his crib and helped him get his diaper off so that he could use the potty. I looked at her and asked how she got him out of the crib and was told "Dad, I used a chair, then I picked him up. Don't worry, I didn't even drop him." Not sure what to think about this. Lately Brock has really wanted to have a book read to him. All the time. He is constantly bringing us books to read. This is a major development because a couple of months ago he wouldn't sit still for more than about 18 seconds at a time. And that was only if he was having a drink or taking a bite of some food. But now he loves to sit with you and read a book. Brock is also finally starting to say a few words. But never on command.

Yosemite

After we went to Disneyland we continued our vacation by going to Yosemite. Kasey and Ady are really big into Disneyland and all, but it is not as much my thing. I really love National Parks. And I enjoyed Yosemite more than I did Disneyland. Here we are at Yosemite Falls.
While we were walking through this meadow we saw this buck. We saw lots of coyotes and deer.

El Capitan was impressive, but I definitely liked Half Dome the best.
This is us at Vernal Falls right before we decided to be crazy and climb the stairs up to the top. Note to others who have interest in hiking to Vernal or Nevada Falls, don't take kids with you!
I have to show a picture we took of Nevada Falls from Clark's Point just to prove that we made it this far. We all had a bit of a cold and did not take enough water for the 2000 foot vertical change and 6 mile round trip hike while carrying kids. Great view, but when the ranger tells you that it is a 6 hour round trip hike and not a hike for kids, believe her.
Here we are at the Tunnel Tree. The Sequoia's were freakishly huge and very impressive at Mariaposa Grove.

Disney Vacation

After several years of promising to take Kasey and Ady to Disneyland, we finally went. For the last couple of months Ady has asked everyday if we are going to Disneyland today. Well last week we finally said "yes, today we are going." Then our flight got delayed. We sat in the Salt Lake Airport for about 3 hours, and Ady's patience was really tested. But once we got there, she was super fun to watch and hang out with. She wanted to meet all the characters, talk to princesses, and ride the rides. Brock, he wasn't as picky, and occasionally decided it was more interesting to wander off and explore by himself. Good thing we had several uncles, a couple of aunts, cousins and grandparents to help keep an eye on him!Last year at Christmas, Kasey was talking to Brian and Jennifer and thought that it would be fun if Carissa and Landon(and Brian and Jennifer) came with us and we all went to Disneyland. Then she told her parents and said they should come too. Next thing I know, Melanie and Ryan are invited and then Blake is invited, or maybe told he is coming. All in all we had quite a crowd. So how many people ending up going with us?
I am a bit of a crazy vacation planner. I like to do tons of research and make sure that not only are we getting a good value on lodging and other things, but I like to research crowds and off the beaten path options. Well I really dropped the ball this time. Really in our group there was only 15 people. The rest of those people in the picture were people from Utah on UEA break. Yup, that's right, all that research and I didn't know it was UEA(Utah Education Association). Seemed like half of the families in Utah were at Disneyland. Even so, we managed to have fun.
The kids loved going over to Pirate's Lair(formerly Tom Sawyer's Island) and looking for the treasure. The whole time the 4 of them were walking around saying "Aaarr".
And Ady got to meet or see tons of characters. If you notice, she is wearing a princess dress and all day long workers at Disneyland called her princess. Every time she would smile so big. (And yes, she is wearing pajama pants under the dress).
For the most part we tried to be at the parks early and stayed till they were closed. The kids did great. They were having so much fun and were excited so they did a good job of the long hours. But, as soon as we would stop, they crashed hard.
Ady started out wanting to ride every ride at least once. But I think this is where that all changed. We took her on the Tower of Terror and as you can see from the look on her face(back row in pink) she did not like this ride. She was holding on for dear life and screaming the whole time. The rides she did not like were Tower of Terror, Space Mountain and Star Tours. Star Tours was really funny because I told her that we were going on a space ship and she thought it was real. Part way through the ride she started saying, "dad, we're gonna die." And when it was finished I asked her if she was okay and she said, "well, I didn't die, but I thought I was going to die."
Brock really liked the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland and the Toy Story ride at California Adventure place. Brock's favorite thing wasn't the rides though...
Brock really loved playing with his cousins, especially Asher(who he is trying to wake up in this photo) and Carissa.
And for closing, here is Ady showing her awesomeness while wearing the 3-D glasses for the Bug's Life show. 4 days at Disneyland and one day at Knott's Berry Farm. Kasey and Ady could probably handle going back tomorrow, but I need a few years before doing that again.

The First Season Ends

Well usually I give Adam a hard time when he writes a really long blog. But I suppose this time I am also guilty. We survived our first season in the “North Woods” as owners of our own business. That’s what people say…just survive your first summer, and then each year it gets better. Starting your own business is hectic. At the same time it is rewarding to see all the changes and improvements. People always ask us how our summer has been. I usually answer “fun and crazy.” Adam’s usual answer is that “we learned a lot”. Both statements are very true.

Here are some examples of fun. A few mornings ago, we had some customers eating breakfast in the dining room. The kids were helping me clear a table for some people staying in the Bed & Breakfast who had eaten earlier. A table of 4 was observing us and commenting about what good “help” my 4 year old and 1 year old were, as they would carry one glass-at-a-time into the kitchen. As they were talking about Ady she walked right over to them with the glass in her hand, complete with her turtle neck, blue dress, purple coat, and princess shoes, flexed her arm muscles and said “Look how strong I am!” They of course, humored her, and she spent a good 5 minutes talking to them. She is taking after her Dad(the talking part I mean, I haven’t ever seen Adam go flex his muscles to a group eating breakfast)!

Another reason I know she is taking after dad is that she is a great story-teller and tour giver. She has a great story from this spring about the seagulls in the back of our truck. You should ask her about it if you get a chance. Also, if you know Adam, and understand that we have a very historic lodge, you wouldn’t be surprised that he will give several tours each day to people who stop in. Adam’s tours are all about Charlie Boostrom being the first white man to come up the Gunflint Trail to live with the Indians, and about how he built a cabin so his wife would marry him, and how he picked Clearwater Lake to be their settling place with the Lodge being finished in 1926…and on and on…. Anyway, starting about mid-summer, every once in a while you could over hear Ady in the lodge telling people, “Do you want me to show you a moose? And over here is a rainbow fish. Etc. Pretty fun!

We also had some examples of crazy. I think people realize beforehand that all things usually won’t go as planned or as expected. But we had some things happen this summer that we never would have thought of. Two examples: In July, the State Government of Minnesota shut down! Although we are located at the edge of a national park and didn’t get affected that way, we were affected because no one could get a fishing license for nearly 3 weeks. Over 60% of the people who come up to our area, say that fishing is either their 1^st or 2^nd reason for coming. That was a pain. Then, just this last month, the Pagami Creek forest fire took place. This fire has now been recorded as the worst fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area spreading almost 100,000 acres. In fact, at one time, the fire spread 5 miles in just ½ hour. Luckily, no one was harmed, and lucky for us, we are far enough away from the fire and it finally has been recorded as under control.

We also did learn-a lot. We learned a lot about our business- things like marketing, being employers, bookkeeping, outfitting for canoeists or kayakers, taking care of overnight guests, and all sorts of hospitality things. We learned a ton about being owners of a property—things like taking care of a water system, a septic system, a heating system, and all those things. We learned that we like working together and we actually do a pretty good job together. As we have worked together as a family for something it has definitely created a stronger bond one with another. So much time, planning, praying, patience, work along with dreaming, remaining passionate, and harnessing our ambitions has gone into this project. It wasn’t easy. It would have been easy to give up so many times and just decide to get a 8-5 job somewhere instead of getting a place and business of our own. I don’t know many people who have the same passion and drive to really know their dream, and to go after it like Adam did. We also appreciate my Aunt Laura and Uncle Carl, as our partners in this venture, for believing in us and giving us a chance to go for the dream.

While I am at it, I should also thank our parents, who rode a lot of the start-up roller coaster with us to actually get a place of our own. They also supported the ambition and the long road here(even though they probably thought we were crazy-and still might:D) They also both came out this summer to visit and help out-which they did a lot!

Well, we have been winterizing everything here and will be headed back to Utah in a couple of days and then on to California for a much needed vacation! Wish us luck on our loooong car ride back! In closing here are a couple pictures taken in the last week from right in front of the resort.

The fall colors are so pretty and we love the way things look right now.
We have been able to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights a few times this summer. Last week when this set was going Adam and I took a boat and rowed out in the middle of the lake to watch. It was pretty cool and very beautiful. This is the picture that one of the staff took while we were out watching the sky dance.

Summer Fun

Labor Day weekend is almost here and it looks like summer is about finished. This will be a summer that our family will never forget. While we may mostly remember the insane hours worked or the occasional difficult customer, we did have some moments that we want to remember.
At the start of the summer we bought Brock this little four wheeler for him to scoot around on. Well Ady and Brock discovered a "more fun" way to ride the 4 wheeler. Brock and Ady have both managed to wipe out going down the little hill in front of the lodge, but that hasn't stopped them from doing it again and again.
Kasey and Ady took an afternoon to paddle/hike to Rose Falls. Here they are in front of the water fall. Ady is turning into quite little canoeist/hiker girl.
I was able to get away twice in August to do a little "research" on fishing in the area. We get a ton of questions about fishing and now we know a little more about a couple of lakes. This is one of the fish I caught that night, this one is a 19 inch Smallmouth Bass.
One of the kids favorite activities this summer was roasting marshmallows or "smashmellows" as Ady calls them. Ady is even able to do it sometimes without catching the marshmallow on fire. If you look closely at Brock you will see that he has one on his stick and one in his hand.
And what does Brock think about those sticky white messy mallows? Well, he likes them a ton, and everything else that gets stuck to them as he waves his stick around. Usually we find that he eats a couple pine needles, some ash, some dirt, maybe some grass and a whole lot of marshmallow.
Here is Ady and Brock sitting in front of the totem pole at our lodge. Seems that even though we often feel like we are in a little over our heads as we learn our new business, we enjoyed our time together.
And our final picture for today is the picture from the dock looking down the lake. We have spent countless hours working together this summer trying to help others enjoy their summer vacations and time on the lake.

July

Once again we find ourselves realizing another month has passed and we haven't found time to blog about our adventures. So here we go with a quick recap of our month.
Grandma and Grandpa Van Tassell came to visit in late June and have been with us since! The kids love having them around. Ady had fun one day with Grandma when they were making a pie. Ady and Brock also both love to go to the lake and swim.
We got a new item to rent-stand up paddle boards- and they have been a huge hit. Ady and Kasey love them and you will often find them out in the evenings paddling around. Ady is getting to the point where she doesn't want to do it with you, she has to do it herself. She has also started to kayak on her own.
Brock has also decided that he likes the paddle boards, but generally doesn't paddle around on his own. Brock seems to have decided that he doesn't want to talk. He understands us pretty well, but he will not verbally respond. He points, shakes his head and grunts. Ady seems to be able to understand him just fine and we are trying to get her to stop translating for him.
Kasey decided that I was getting stressed and needed a break so she sent me off yesterday for the afternoon. I took a kayak and headed across the lake and then hiked to the top of the palisades. The view was amazing and I had a nice respite from work.