Petting Sheep on Vacation

When we go to a Zoo Ady just wants to stay in the petting zoo. I guess it really shouldn't surprise us that at Mount Vernon she "had" to visit the sheep pen 3 times. This time, Brock also wanted to pet the sheep. Like his sister, he has no fear.

Mount Vernon was pretty neat. I wish that they would let you onto the 3rd floor and didn't hurry you through the house so quickly. I enjoyed learning about Washington as a farmer. I hadn't realized how much Washington had contributed to the world outside of politics and war heroics. I was thinking about men like Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson. Not only were they great men in history for their political achievements, but they were also inventors, and some of them were literary geniuses.
We went to the Udvar Air and Space Museum by Dulles Airport. It was neat to see planes and craft such as the Enterprise, Enola Gay, and many others. But this one was Ady's favorite. It was the "sharptooth plane".
We went to the Library of Congress, and it was amazing. Immediately after taking this picture I looked to my left and saw a sign that said "no photography". Oops. Seriously, I didn't know till after taking the picture. In my opinion this building is a top 5 for the D.C. area.

Of course we took a trip to the D.C. temple.
We also took time to go to a masonic temple. This is the George Washington National Masonic Memorial. Very interesting building and lots of neat information of Washington and his masonic history. In my opinion too much of the tour was based on "contrary to Dan Brown's novel" or "unlike what was shown in National Treasure", but still a good tour.
I don't think the tour guide meant to create interest in Dan Brown's books or in the National Treasure movies, but after learning about the Knight's Templar we did go and watch the first National Treasure movie that night.
This is the main great hall and has a big statue of Washington in his masonic robes. The neatest thing about this building was the architecture. The front of the building is built in Greek style, the 9 story central tower is Egyptian style and this hall is Roman.

More vacation

Last night we drove out to Manassas/Bull Run National Battle Site Park. I really liked it. And then afterward we went and visited our good friends from Key West, the Johns. At first Ady and Betty didn't get along, mostly because Ady wasn't being very friendly, but when we left Ady was crying and pouting in the car because she didn't want to leave her new friend. And she didn't like leaving their cat either. However, the cat was probably very glad that Ady left. We didn't intend to be at their place so long, but we spent 5 hours just sitting around talking with them. Good friends are invaluable.

We enjoyed walking around the battlefield and looking at the cannons, old farm houses, and whatnot. But what Ady really liked was the caterpillar that I found for her. "Ooooh, look dad, so soft and nice". She carried the poor critter for about a half mile before I made her put it down. She liked feeling it crawl around, but definitely didn't like it when it pooped on her hand. I finally was able to convince her that the caterpillar had a family and needed to go home. She cried and cried telling me that she wanted to take it home for a pet. She said the caterpillar said that it wanted to be in our family. After the traumatic seperation, Ady pointed out every squirrel, and one praying mantis, and asked me if they also had a family. Yup, they do. Do they have a mommy and daddy like me? Yup. Is this there home? Yup. Are they in the same family as my pet caterpillar? Sure.

This is the stone bridge that was rebuilt shortly after it was destroyed in the battle. This would be where the Union army went across in the retreat. It was this bridge that the fleeing army encountered a turned over carriage from one of the spectators who had come out to view the battle.
Here's Brock enjoying being out in the nice sunshine.
Of course we walked over to where Brigadier General Thomas Jackson made his now famous stand and became immortalized as Stonewall Jackson. I tried to explain to Ady the significance of this part of the battle and a little about Stonewall. Ady stood there looking at me the whole time and when I finished just said, "Ooooh".
Here is Kasey, Ady and Brock standing by the statue of Stonewall Jackson.
We also spend another day wandering around the National Mall. I really liked seeing the Supreme Court building. So far we have been enjoying our little vacation and have really enjoyed seeing some family and friends. Ady and Brock have been good sports about all the running around and long car rides. Ady has provided a bit of amusement with bathrooms. A couple days ago Ady stood with me, in front of the men's restroom screaming that she was not going in to the potty unless the picture on the door had a dress. I almost let her just wet her pants in the hall. Fortunately she is small enough that she can be picked up and plunked down on the potty. However, she learns very quickly. Yesterday, when we were in the visitors center at Manassas Ady announced to everyone in the vicinity that she needed to go potty. The park ranger pointed to the sign and I reached for her hand. Ady said "no, I go by myself." And off she ran. I was able to convince her to go in the one without the dress picture, but she promptly ran into the stall and locked me out. So custodian was cleaning the mirror and seemed to be enjoying listening to Ady tell me that she didn't want me there and she had locked me out. He even liked it better when she said "dad I done pooping, please help me wipe". Of course I stood outside the stall and with a smile said, "no, you locked me out."

Road Trip Trouble and an Anniversary

So after spending so much time the night before we left packing, we still got a little bit of a late start for our road trip to Virginia. But we left, eventually, about an hour late. We gave our selves some cushion and weren't too worried about being late to Brock's big cardiology appointment in Duluth. On the way, we called the hospital to ask for specific directions. And we were given bad directions. So we got lost in Duluth, and ended up being about 30 minutes late. I should have realized that maybe this was an omen of things to come. The Clinic was super nice about us being late, and the check-up went really well. Brock's heart is doing better, and they are hoping that as he grows his heart will continue to get better. He is supposed to have another big check-up in 6 months. This is great news, much better than the every month or so that we have been doing. After the appointment with the cardiologist I was ready to get on the road.

But Kasey remembered that her ring had a bent prong and that I had bought the ring in Duluth. So she wanted me to take it in to get fixed. So we drove back across town and got the ring fixed. Then Kasey wanted to buy some fruit and healthy snacks for the road trip. After we finally got on the road, we were 3-4 hours behind my previously assumed schedule.

We told Ady that we were going to visit Aunt Melanie. Back in July, Melanie had invited Ady to come visit her in Virginia and Ady was really excited to go see her. She asked about every 17 minutes if we were at Melanie's house yet. Every time we stopped to get gas, she asked if we were at Melanie's house. When we stopped to change a diaper, she asked if this was Melanie's house. Every once in a while, probably about every 32 minutes, she would ask if we were still on our way to Melanie's house. After driving for several hours we finally got across Wisconsin and everyone but me was asleep. I was getting very tired and saw a sign for a 30 dollar a night motel. So I decided to pull over and we got a room. Ady looked at the motel with a somewhat worried look and asked if we were still planning on going to Melanie's house.

The next morning we got stuck in traffic for a while in Chicago and it was late afternoon by the time we made it to Indianapolis. Things were going along okay, we were behind schedule, but still okay. And then Ady said, "I need go potty". I looked up and there was an exit with a service station. I was just getting ready to take off the cruise control, when all of the sudden, we had a problem. My dash lit up with warning lights, and my power was reduced. So I kinda coasted down the off-ramp and Kasey took Ady to the potty while I looked at the vehicle. The ABS light, the service engine light, the 4 wheel high, and the maintenance needed lights on. I'm definitely not much of a car mechanic. But I am a guy, so I know the usual drill of at least pretending like things are under control and I know what I am doing. I popped the hood, checked the bearings for heat, felt along the axel joints, sniffed around for burnt smells, checked the oil and even checked the tire pressure. Just like I expected all those things were fine and of course I still didn't have a clue what might be wrong. So I got out the trusted owners manual and looked up what each of the lights mean.

I couldn't remember which lights had come on so I started the car back up. It fired up just fine, and what do you know, no lights were on and the vehicle sounded fine. I decided that maybe we had just hit a bump and had some electrical fluke thing happened. We put the kids back in the car and away we went. A couple hours later, just after 6 pm when everything is closed. It happened again. This time, the lights stayed on and we the car was most definitely not running correctly. The owners manual was very clear on what the one light meant. It meant that the vehicle had gone into "limp home mode". Sure enough the vehicle wouldn't go very fast, had almost no acceleration and we were "limping" along. We were in the Columbus Ohio area and had to get another motel while we waited for a car mechanic shop to open in the morning.

Kasey handles these sort of things fairly well. Me, not so well. Actually, not well at all. My guess was that we had some computer or electrical problem and I was sure that it would be a couple thousand dollars. A couple thousand dollars that we don't have. And then I have to pay 50 bucks for a motel room that we hadn't budgeted for. So instead of getting to Virginia late that night we found ourselves entertaining Ady by playing with the Thomas the Train set at a nearby ToysRus store. When we left the lady at the door said the oddest thing. Fully expecting her to say something like- good night, see you next time, thanks for coming- the "be safe" was somewhat weird. Made me wonder if we were safe.

We had to call 3 Ford dealers before we found one that could look at our Explorer that morning. When we got there, we waited about 2 hours for them to tell us what was wrong. By this time, Ady had either eaten or crumbled and spread all over the couch thing, all the free cookies that they had for customers and I had worn a path on the floor in the waiting area. They told us that we had one of two things wrong, either it was a "simple" and "cheap" 300 dollar rear wheel sensor, or our throttle body needed to be replaced. My eyes were already bugged out with the cheap 300 dollars and then the lady made my stomach hit the floor. They don't have any throttle body parts, and they can't find any anywhere in the U.S. I asked what does that mean, and was informed that if that was the case, they would make us an offer for our vehicle for parts and we could use that towards a purchase of a new vehicle, or we could leave it there for a couple months if need be. My already dismal outlook got decidedly uglier. I told the lady that that wasn't really a good option for us.

She tried to make some small talk and asked what I do for a living. I really wasn't in the mood, and didn't want to get into a complicated long discussion about entrepreneurs and setbacks. So I just said that I'm looking for work. I know that she was just trying to be nice, and that it wasn't her fault that we were in this situation, but the look on her face almost made me feel better. After 7 hours, several tries at various things, a new set of rear wheel sensors, 5 test drives and if we crawled underneath we'd probably see a bunch of duct tape, we were told that they thought we'd make it to Virginia. Just the thing you wait to hear, "you'll probably make it, but if not, we've written down some other things that might be the problem, you this to the next guy". Knowing that the previous quote was 300 dollars, and that other stuff had been done since, I greatly feared finding out what our bill was. I went to ask the lady and she looked around, saw that no one else was around, leaned down and in a near whisper told me that she had given us her employee discount. We still had to pay 250 bucks, but I think that was about half what we should have. Duct tape is expensive you know. We thanked the lady, paid the bill and very nervous and apprehensively got back on the road. We did make it to Virginia a little after midnight. But I haven't dared to move the vehicle from where I parked it. Maybe it was just the rear wheel sensor, who knows, the Ford place doesn't.

After some recovery sleep, we spent the next day with Aunt Melanie walking around the National Mall. I've always wanted to go to D.C. Always wanted to see my Nation's capital. I was very excited to see this place that millions of visitors see every year and is somewhat of the symbol for our great country. So when I came out of the metro station and saw this, it made me a little dissapointed. Dirt walkways, patchy grass-actually very little grass, mostly weeds and a reflection pool that was so dirty, filled with algae moss and bugs I was seriously dissapointed. But then we started exploring and things somewhat improved. We went to the National Natural History Museum and I decided two things: first, Ady goes through a museum very fast, and second, that isn't always a bad thing. There were tons of stuff to look at, but so many people and with so much to see, we needed to move to see it all. So Ady led us on a tour.
This was Ady's favorite, the room with the "three-horn" the "long neck" and the "sharp tooth". Ady would walk up to one of the displays, put her hand on her hip and say "everybody, let me show you this-this is a monster". And then she would say, "let me show you something else" walk to the next display and say "let me show this bad guy-this is a sharp tooth". All through the museum we looked at 3 things. Sharp tooths, monsters and bad guys. Made us laugh pretty good. If it didn't have big teeth, sharp claws or look altogether scary, Ady would walk right by it. She liked the kids discovery area. She especially liked looking through the microscopes at the butterflies.
We walked around a looked at the Washington Monument.
Kasey really liked the Washington Monument. I really liked the Lincoln Memorial.
In addition to wanting to blog about our trip thus far. I also wanted to write a little about what day today is. Today is Kasey and my 6th anniversary. While going through this week and having several hours in the car to drive and think. I was thinking about all the different choices I've had, and all the different ways my life could have gone. I was particularly thinking about all of our ups and downs and how well Kasey handles it all. Kasey has always been very supportive of my dreams and ambitions and I don't know anyone else who would put up with all of this. Most of the time she even seems to enjoy our little adventures and goes along happily. These last few months especially have been volatile and difficult at times. Yet Kasey keeps on going and still supports me in chasing a dream. I don't know of anyone else that would go through this much with me and still be willing to keep smiling. We laugh sometimes because we don't have much in way of possessions. We have moved so much that we never accumulate much of anything. But we have had some great adventures together. And loved having the adventures together. So on this day that we remember our past 6 years, I am looking forward to the future years. Don't know what exactly might be in store, but know that we will have great adventures and be together for them.

Homeless--Again

Tomorrow we leave Minnesota. Not the position we hoped we'd be in right now when we came here 4 months ago. I asked Kasey what she thought about the lack of stability in our lives right now, and her reply was that she is "kinda used to it after the last 6 years." Ouch. Being as we don't know where we are heading next, aren't sure when something is going to happen, or even if something is going to happen makes it too expensive to just continue waiting around. We started packing up and Ady asked why I was packing her toys. I told her that we were moving and would be taking them on a trip. She said, "Oh, we take the toys in the trailer to another place again?" Obviously my family has moved too much. So the question then is where do we go? Well we don't know. We are waiting on another possible deal, but have no idea the if/when thing. Kasey has been wanting to go East and visit her sister Melanie. So I called Melanie and asked if it would be okay if we visited her. She said that would be fine, and wanted to know when and for how long. I asked if it was okay if we came right away, and stayed for "a bit." So that is our new plan, we are going to visit Melanie and Ryan in Virginia. Were not exactly sure how long we will be there. Now I know that some of you may be wondering how that helps us figure out a new game plan or how that prepares us for the next challenge. Well to be honest, it may not. But we decided to go this route for now. We are heading East tomorrow at daybreak. Here are some pics of our last couple weeks in Minnesota.
Ady and Brock sitting on a log with leaves of various colors in the background. And yes, that is Ady's hood. She likes wearing her coats backwards.
This was the view from our living room window two nights ago. Definitely going to miss those views.
And of course, the thing I will miss the most.

Being Domestic

I made Ady a dress. She even likes it. Here it is. It has pockets, a zipper, and sleeves. I also even made a scrunchy to match, and I even made me a skirt out of the same material. I think I am pretty proud of myself for doing it. It always feels nice to finish something. The fact that I know how to sew is something I should probly be more grateful for. I remember not liking sewing growing up. My mom taught me to sew, and then a few ladies from 4-H helped as well. I had to do a project or two every year for the fair. I usually got it done the night before it was due, had to unpick and sew everything five times, and was a big frustration to finish. Now that i am just trying some things on my own, for my family, with no time frame(other than my kid outgrowing it before I finish), and nobody to judge the inside to see if it was correctly sewn, it is not so bad. So thanks Mom for being persistent and giving me a talent to make and repair things. I think it is diminishing these days in the world, but is worth a lot.

Also, since staying home with the kids, I also get to hear alot of Ady and her funny sayings. The latest has been "Don't talk to me Pigtails." I don't know where she gets it, but whenever she doesnt' want to hear what I am telling her this is what she says. She will once in a while change pigtails with Sam(Sam-I-Am, from Green Eggs and Ham). So "don't talk to me Sam!"

Ady also says "I love you too" alot. You never have to say it first, but she always adds the too. The other day it was very funny because I wasn't real happy with her and was lecturing her and she just looks at me and says "I love you too, Mom" all sincere. It was one of those times you just have to stop and think and laugh. I'm glad she knows she is loved no matter what.

The last funny thing, I think I can blame on Adam; whenever Ady or Brock may do something not quite convenient, like spill milk all over, he'll say "oh, Kid!" Well Ady has also picked it up. It is so funny to hear something go not quite right for her and she'll yell out "oh, Kid!"

Some of you may have noticed that this is my first blog post in quite a while...more than a half year to be exact. We have had a lot of crazy or unexpected things happen this year. Adam is the one who has all the credit for keeping our posts updated. I am glad he does. Adam has been a rock thru all of it and I am really glad that he is a team blogger with me and picks up my slack. Plus, he is a good writer as well. If I could only get him to finish writing that book he started!

Grandpa's Funeral and Glacier National Park

My grandpa Hamner passed away last week. He was 81 and had cancer and Alzheimer's. He had been suffering for a few years now and is finally not in pain. Being as we had no company to take over, we decided to go to the service which was in Idaho. The service was nice, and short-which is a definite bonus in my book. Now we are on the way home and we decided to go through Glacier National Park on our way home. Here we are at Lake McDonald.
And here is Brock smiling while walking around at a lake in the park.

I have been trying to teach Ady how to skip rocks this summer. So far I have failed miserably. Well here we are at this beautiful lake and there are millions of rocks so I thought we'd try again.

Take a look at this picture and you can see one of the reasons why Ady has been unable to pick up the concept of skipping rocks. (Look at the size of the rock in her hand.)Tomorrow we will be taking the "Road to the Sun" drive through the park. So we'll leave you with this last picture of the Lake McDonald with the mountains and sky reflected and the perfectly clear water.

Our deal is dead

Well after 4 months of negotiating, studying, debating, dealing, praying, thinking, arguing, auditing, working with banks, and all the other stuff you have to do when you pursue a purchase of a business we have pulled the plug on the deal. Although we actually terminated the contract almost a week ago, we've been feeling somewhat discombobulated and didn't feel like blogging about it. However, it has been made clear that ignoring the situation, isn't changing the situation. What a weird and crazy ride this summer has been. Those who have been aware of the collapse of the deal have asked some interesting questions to us, such as: do we feel that we wasted several months here?, or do you wish you hadn't tried?, did you make a mistake in your timing?, and of course the standard-what now? Being that this blog is something akin to our family online journal I thought I'd address some of these questions.

The first question being was this summer wasted? That answer is no, and I am responding emphatically no. We have had many adventures, learned a ton and met some great people. Kasey and I have had a goal for some time now to pursue the acquisition of an outdoor recreational venture, preferably one that is family oriented, and this experience in no way detracts or hinders us in our pursuit of that dream. In fact we still feel that we have progressed and furthered our capacity to operate such a venture when we someday get to that point. As for do we wish we hadn't tried, well some days it does feel that way a bit. Knowing how close we were to being in possession of such a property and business is a bit painful. However, we do feel that we would have regretted not trying, and sometimes one needs to chase a supposed dream to find out if that is what they actually want. Then when one arrives at the supposed destination, one is more fully able to decide if that is actually the desired destination or merely a launching point for a larger more grandiose or simpler more realistic dream. Simply put, we feel that we made a good decision to pursue the opportunity that was presented to us, but have now decided to change course a little bit. As for the third question, timing. Timing is always an interesting thing. Especially in today's economy with banking regulations being tightened, property values falling and lines of credit being more difficult to obtain. The short answer is that we have determined that the time wasn't right to make this specific purchase, but the time was right for us to investigate and put ourselves in a position where we could make an educated decision. All along our goal has been to pursue such a business venture. But our goal was not to simply possess or own the business, it was to operate and be successful in the endeavor. During the process or pursuit of this business we have learned that the business was not cash flowing as we had originally thought. While the location was fantastic, the general facility was incredible, and a decent foundation of repeat business, there were issues that were going to cost money, fairly substantial amounts of money to rectify. I put together what I felt were very realistic projections. They included my assumptions on the current marketing needs, gear/equipment overhaul and such along with a gradual growth due to the current economy. The bank asked a ton of questions and then approved us for a loan of 80% for the value of the business. However, they used my projections as a base and did not value the business as highly as the seller had, thus the total loan amount was less than what we needed. After having a week to step back and look at the situation we have realized how important timing is. Did we mess up with our timing? I don't think so, but I do think that the time is not right for this venture at this location. Given the continued decline of the economy; risk and return on investment is all important. So while the timing was a factor, it is not something we are upset about. As for the final question-what now? That is being worked on. I am working on the next step. We are looking at some job options, along with starting the process of investigating some other businesses that are for sale. We feel that we are in a good position to make a great decision and find a great deal. We are not looking for a deal, we aren't looking for a good deal, we are looking for a great deal. We don't want to settle for good when our pursuit is something great. The effects of this economic recession have driven and are continuing to drive down prices of land and businesses. We feel confident that there is a great deal out there and if we look hard enough, we'll find someone who wants to sell at a price that makes it a great deal. Until then, we wait patiently and continue to work and learn so that we are prepared when the right opportunity presents itself.

On a more lighthearted note, I threw 9 strikes in a row on Wii bowling the other day and shattered our Wii bowling record with a score of 279! Here is a photo to prove it.

Our "e-fish-ient" Kasey

Kasey thinks that she is now a fisher-woman. In fact the other day she claimed to be very "e-fish-ient" with her fishing pole! We went fishing 3 times this week and twice she out fished me. This is the first Smallmouth Bass she has ever caught and she said she needed a picture with her fish to go along with all the pictures of fish I've caught. Ady was pretty funny about the fish. She wanted to touch the fish and kept saying "look Dad, look at what mommy got". Ady was very proud of her Mom's fishing skills.
This was our latest evening family canoe outing. Perfectly calm water and amazing colors. And yes, Kasey caught the most fish this night.
And another random sunset picture .

Ady tries to kill Brock

Today we had to go into town so that I could get training on from the Forest Service for issuing permits for the BWCA. When I came out I saw Kasey walking with the kids on the far side of the parking lot around the bog/pond that is there. Ady was pushing Brock's stroller and you could hear both Ady and Brock laughing. Ady would run forward with the stroller and Brock would laugh which in turn made Ady laugh. I was halfway to them when today's chaotic moment occurred. Ady's running with the stroller had put her 10 yards ahead of Kasey and she started running with the stroller again, however, this time after a few yards of running she decided to give the stroller a good shove and let go of the stroller. Of course there happened to be a bit of a turn in the path and the stroller went right off the walkway, through the cattails and into the bog/pond. Kasey took off running to fish Brock out of the water, found the stroller upside down, with Brock strapped in and completely submersed underwater. Brock was not very happy, but calmed down fairly quick. He did have three pretty large scratch marks on the left side of his face from the sticks and cattails in the pond. Crazy kids, can't leave them alone, they might kill one another!
Monday night for our family activity we went swimming. Actually Ady and I swam, and Brock and Kasey just put their feet in the water. Ady was so excited when we told her that we were going to go swimming. She loved jumping off the dock, and the water felt so nice after the last couple of very hot days.
Here's Brock and Kasey enjoying the nice evening. Kasey kept sticking Brock's feet in the water and Brock would just start bawling. After his plunge earlier that morning he was terrified of water. Even when we gave him his shower he cried when he got wet. Before today he loved bathing and has never shown any issues with water.
Ady did pretty good at trying to kick, float and dunk her head in the water, but her favorite thing was riding on my back while I swam around.

This is a picture of the fog lifting off the lake while the sun was coming up. The water was perfectly flat and looked very picturesque.

The Last Two Weeks

Well, we've had a very busy last few weeks. First Grandpa and Grandma Haddock came and visited us. Of course Grandpa and I had to spend a couple of days on the lake fishing. Grandpa really wanted to catch a Northern Pike, so here we go, he caught one. Actually he caught about 10 of these. We also went and picked wild blueberries and raspberries. The last night they were here we had fresh fish, fresh blueberry cheesecake and Minnesota wild rice. Yummy!

While they were here we also spent some time playing around and visiting some local attractions such as the North American Bear Center. Ady really liked looking at the bears. Two of the bears were very active and playing. Then Kasey, Ady and Brock left with Grandma and Grandpa to go back to Utah for Brock's check-up and a couple of family get-togethers. Kasey took the kids to a Clark family reunion in Wellsville. Things seemed to be going well, and then Saturday night someone from work came over to our house and told me that I had a family emergency and that Kasey needed me to call her right away. Fighting off feelings of panic I ran down to the lodge and got a hold of Kasey. Then Kasey told me the kind of news you never want to hear. Kasey's youngest sister's husband, Brandon, had killed himself. We were both shocked. Suicide is one of those things that you hear about, but never think of anyone you know actually doing it. And then to have someone in the immediate family, someone that you actually knew, had spent time with, always assumed would be there at the next family get-together to be dead hits you pretty hard. Suicide is one of those things that you always assumes wouldn't happen to your family. As Kasey and I talked questions came tumbling out, some of them answerable but too many have the answer of "I don't know". Emotions including anger, guilt, shame and deep sadness get thrown together all at once. We decided that Kasey would stay for the funeral, but that I would stay in Minnesota. Then Monday at Brock's Check-up it was decided that Brock would have another surgery and the surgery was scheduled for the following day. Kasey called me, and we decided that I should join her in Utah for a few days. So I got off work, got in the car and headed South. I stopped in the middle of South Dakota for a nap and eventually arrived in Utah 25 hours after getting off work. Brock's surgery went "okay". The doctors said that it wasn't exactly what they were hoping for, but it was an improvement. They don't know if he will need another surgery later, but if he does, they will probably do open heart surgery.

We were able to spend a couple days "relaxing" with family. Don't get me wrong, seeing people is always nice, but I'm not sure I felt that the time was relaxing. We wanted to spend time with both of our families, so it was back and forth a couple times. Juggling multiple family schedules, figuring out priorities and still remembering to smile was hard at times. We went to the new Trafalga with my family and Ady loved it. She must of rode the rides 100 times or more. Wore me out just watching her. With Kasey's family we enjoyed a family dinner and took a family picture. After the funeral we got back on the road and headed for Minnesota.
Being as the funeral was in Blackfoot Idaho, and we had our Yellowstone vacation cut short this last May with Kasey's kidney stone, I asked Kasey if she wanted me to drive through Yellowstone this time and give her an opportunity to see Yellowstone Falls. She thought that was a good idea and a so Yellowstone trip #2 it was.

A very nice lady saw me trying to snap a picture of ourselves and took this photo of all four of us at Artist Point. Of course since we were healthy, we couldn't just do a normal lookout point. Kasey wanted to hike down one of the trails. So we did. We went on Uncle Tom's Trail down to the lower lookout point of Lower Falls. In addition to the path, there are 328 metal steps that traversed the side of the cliff. Of course Ady decided that she wanted to wear her plastic flip-flops and was completely useless on the steps so she ended up on my shoulders. Kasey and I were pretty tired when we were done. Not to worry though, Brock and Ady were as chipper as can be after the climb back up!

The view at the bottom was pretty neat. The roar of the falls was really loud and you could feel the spray. After we left the falls we enjoyed the drive, once again marveling at the beauty of Yellowstone and had fun trying to point out the animals before Ady could find them. Once again we were successful in finding a Grizzly bear with cubs! After it got dark we left and headed East again. Of course, as soon as we left the civilized area, Ady told us that she had to go potty. So we asked her if she could make it to the next bathroom, she replied "No Dad, I need go in woods". I found the nearest pullout and quickly got her out. So there we were, just off the road, in the dark and Ady was doing her impersonation of a squat-which means that she was squatting while leaning back with me holding her under arms keeping her balance and there she was trying to see what was coming out. Well that was taken care of and we were about to get on the road again, Ady was in her seat and she informed us that she had to go again. She was holding her stomach and making a funny noise, so I quickly grabbed her and ran back over to our spot. This time I could tell that we didn't have much time, so I just pulled her shorts and panties off and she didn't even wait to squat. Of course she was impressed that she could go in the woods and wanted to see what was going on back there. The problem was that she didn't think she had a good vantage point so she decided move for a better view. Not to worry, I caught her foot just before she stepped in her mess. Then when she was in her new position pointing at her accomplishment she proceeded to add an additional deposit. By this time I was sure she was done. Just to be safe, I asked her. She told me she was done. Seriously she looked right at me and told me that she was finished. So I walked back to the car, got the toilet paper out again and returned. Then as I was wiping her bum she pooped on me. Freaking unbelievable!!

After driving all night and with no further incidents with the children, we arrived in South Dakota early the next morning. I was ready for a short break so we went and visited Mt. Rushmore. After leaving Mt. Rushmore we spent another day and a half traveling home. Between potty breaks, McDonald's playpens, fuel-ups, and Brock's feeding breaks we finally made it back home at 9pm Monday night. 25 hours to drive from Minnesota to Utah, 52 hours to drive from Utah to Minnesota.

Sunsets of Minnesota

As some of you may know, I love taking pictures of things, as long as the photo has no people. I sometimes wonder if this is something I get from my father. See my Dad hates being in photos. I have taken it a step further, I don't really like anyone being in my photos. But I really enjoy taking pictures of anything related to nature. Kasey does insist that I take pictures of the kids, and sometimes I will even put her in a picture. Here in Minnesota I am in an amateur photographers dream. We have the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises. So I decided to share some of the pictures that I've taken this past month of sunsets on the lake.

I just like how the colors came out on this one. Although I would never be caught wearing purple and orange(thank goodness I'm a Jazz fan and not a Suns fan) I think that in a sunset the two colors go together really well.

I caught this sunset through the trees and was worried that it wouldn't turn out well. But after loading it on the computer I decided that I kinda like it.

This is my favorite one, I really like how the clouds look like they are on fire and that same effect is reflected on the water.

Moving day.

We moved into a more permanent place this week. Great view of the lake and way more room. Ady was worried as we were packing up and decided she wanted to personally move a few of her things. Even though I explained to her that we were just going down the road, she didn't want to lose her stuff for another month. So here you see her with her favorite sippy cup, her princess Belle water bottle, her current favorite stuffed dog, in her hand is a purple ducky bath toy and a todder chew toy that she likes to give brock, and if you look closely at the pocket on her dress you will see that it is stuffed with things like bouncy balls and a fishing pamphlet that she got from me. Quite the character.
So on one hand you have the negative effect of having moved so much that our three year old fears for her toys when she sees us loading a box or suitcase. But on the other, we had as good a time as any Christmas morning with Ady when we unpacked our trailer and pulled out stuff that has been in boxes for either, one month(since leaving Utah), or 6 months(since leaving Hawaii), 2 and a half years(since leaving Key West), or for 4 and a half years(since moving to Key West and leaving stuff in storage). Ady loved finding her old stuff and things that she didn't know we had and even some that we had forgotten we had. Ady has an awesome sense of fashion(Kasey blames me since I dress her in crazy combinations on a regular basis). Here she is wearing purple snow boots(it was in the 80 degree range), a summer dress, several kukui nut leis, a cheap bead necklace, and a light jacket. To make it more interesting the boots are about 5 sizes too big, but she wore them all day long.

And finally here is Brock in his life jacket. He hates it and cries most of them time when it is on, but hopefully he will learn to adjust. I also think it wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to lay him down in the bottom of the canoe and allowed him to look about.

When we were looking around for somewhere to move into for the summer we commented on the amount of open space around the apartment and mentioned that it would be good for Ady to have somewhere to run around. The landlord was right there and he quickly told us that she shouldn't be allowed to run around unsupervised. His tone wasn't suggesting that we wouldn't watch her, or that she would cause problems so I looked at him somewhat curiously. He then went on to inform us that wolves and bears in the area make it unsafe for children to just play outside unsupervised. We left the appointment and were discussing how odd a comment that was, and were sure that we'd never heard that line before when looking at an apartment. Kasey of course was worrying and asking me how many bears are in the area, do we need to worry much, do you think we'll ever see one, how many people get attacked each year... I immediately began to inform her that bear sightings are rare, and we'll probably never see a bear or wolf, and the guy was a little off his rocker. Just as I got done saying this I had to slam on my brakes as a bear came out of the woods in front of us and crossed the highway. Two days later I had to slow down for a wolf. I guess in Northern Minnesota you keep an eye on your kids when they are outdoors, and one eye on the woods.

Evening Canoe Rides

We have finally got a signed purchase agreement and have been pretty busy the last week or so trying to learn all we can about this business that we are getting involved in. In the evenings when things slow down we usually like to take a canoe out, and paddle around the lake or fish. Ady is so funny when we catch a fish. She wants to touch each fish but will close her eyes while doing so. She gets super excited when she sees the fish on the end of the line and starts screaming "fish, fish, fish" and we sometimes have trouble the canoe violently rocking as she will be moving all over the place trying to contain her excitement. Then as soon as we let the fish go adn watch it swim away she will turn to me and say, "again Dad, catch another please". She is a great fishing buddy. Last night we were out and I asked her what kind of fish should we catch and she said, "a big one, catch a big big fish Dad, okay?". As of yet, we have no big fish to report but together we are working on it.

Ady loves being out on the water, Brock, not so much. He does okay as long as we are paddling, but once we stop to fish, he starts to cry.