Summer Vacation Is Ticking By...

Hard to believe there's just over a month left until classes begin again at Challenger Elementary. The summer has gone by much faster than expected, but we've managed to cram a lot of fun into the summer break so far. Next Monday brings Vacation Bible School at Trinity and both Andrew and I have been roped in to helping by Kristi Grochow. Andrew's helping with games/snacks and I'll be assisting with corralling the kids and moving them from one "station" to another. It runs Monday through Friday next week in the evenings after dinner in the fellowship hall so it will keep the evenings occupied for a few days. I think Andrew's a little hesitant, but he acknowledges kids seem to gravitate toward him, so he should do fine.

A quote from Aaron this week:

"What's wrong with you people?!!"

Daniel's two cents (about his toy laptop):

"It frozed up, Daddy!"

We have started a new tradition here in the evenings otherwise. As of last night, the boys and I have begun taking a walk around the neighborhood. If I can just get Daniel to keep his shoes in one place so he's not stuck wearing his cowboy boots... Aaron looks forward to it and I think Daniel will too once his tootsies are comfortable. We headed North on Duluth about 4 blocks and then West towards Arnold and actually found what appears to be a Christmas tree farm down there last night. We'll have to mix it up with some bike riding to keep it interesting, I figure. A fair amount of the playing the boys do with their buddies is stationary, i.e. throwing a ball around, sitting in the sandbox, etc., so I thought I'd add a kinetic element to things and add in a daily walk. Should do us all some good.

Andrew is making up a scrumptious dinner for us tonight consisting of a 14-egg scramble with tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, and cheese topping and hashbrowns. We're having at least a couple vegetarian meals a week thanks to him and they have been pretty delicious, the last one being a fried rice dish with scrambled eggs (He's not vegan, so he can have eggs, cheese, and milk).

Four bad lookin' hombres... :o) 

Aaron's caricature drawing at the fair. 

Kaylynn (left) with two of her cousins, Scott's sister-in-law's kids. 

Scott's mom, Shirley. 

Scott Grochow with his 40th birthday cake. 

That's a cat on the trailer... Don't have any names, though. 

A Whirlwind Visit

Yesterday marked our last day of visiting with Mom, Jen, Nick and Jake. We took in a few activities during their time here, spending a long time at the waterpark down at Seven Clans Casino the end of last week and on Friday we saw the Pro Bull Riders Association bull riding event at the Pennington County Fair. That was a sight to behold. Andrew got a big kick out of it to say the last. The bullfighters/clowns were pretty funny too. We all went over to the Grochow's for Scott's 40th birthday yesterday before we said our goodbyes. They finally got to meet the kids I talked about on my blog, i.e. Dusty, Kasey, and Kaylynn. We were probably out there until 9:30 last night the way time flew. Now we're back at home about to enjoy some ribeye steaks on the BBQ ($5.88 a pound on sale) with a fresh garden salad. It'll be a perfect finale for a great week.

I'm going to post a few pictures here to update you all on this past week's activities in a more
"visual" way.

It's Hotter Than Blazes Here!

Boy, yesterday was quite the scorcher. We had Dusty and Kasey Grochow over all day yesterday and we all took a walk down to Taco John's in the early evening about 4 blocks down and Kasey didn't have any shoes with him. It was like walking on coals. When we got back, it was 86 degrees in the shade and the "feels like" temperature was closer to 91 degrees. The central air conditioning really made a difference when we got back It was like stepping into a deep freeze from the outside.

We went to church this morning and everyone at coffee hour was comparing notes on air conditioning, who had central, who didn't, etc. Shirley Grochow was telling us they just got a box air conditioner this year, I think, and have been enjoying it immensely. Speaking of Shirley, she's excited to see her son, Kevin, and the grandkids next weekend. We'll be heading out there later today too as Daniel spent the night over there last night. They didn't make it to church, so it looks like we need to go get him. During coffee hour, Carol Delap came over to tell me the church "caring cooks" were in the process of making us another meal in the near future like the last home-cooked one they did for us last month. Apparently another lady in the church baked us a bunch of cookies as well and told Carol not to tell us who she is, just to give us the cookies "anonymously."

The service this morning was rather hot in the sanctuary, even with the windows all open. They had nice special music this time with a violin and piano duet. It would have sounded nice with the addition of a cello, I think. We sat near the back of the sanctuary this time for a change. At the end of the service, just after we finished the last hymn, this lady in her late 40s or early 50s who I didn't recognize turned around with her teenage sons and said to me, "You have a beautiful voice!" Apparently she heard my bass harmony. I suggested if she liked good voices, she should join us in the choir. She responded she had been in the choir previously, so I just welcomed her to return this fall, which she just might do. I also suggested she get her sons involved too as we could sorely use guys as well in the tenor section if not bass.

The boys with Uncle Andrew after our July 4th BBQ. 

Tyler, Zachary, and Daniel with King's Corner. 

Funny Bunny with her two favorite caregivers. 

Just Call Danny "Butta" 'Cuz He's On A Roll...

Today marked yet another summer milestone for the boys, or more specifically, Daniel. I removed his training wheels at his request and he rode his bike across the front lawn. He refused to go down the sidewalk, sticking only to the grass, but he did a fantastic job. I got it on videotape.

Dusty's back again for a sleepover tonight, though he'll be heading home tomorrow night so he can go to church with his folks on Sunday.

This week's been fairly productive with Spring cleaning in July. I'm posting a pic or two from July 4th last week. The bunny got a little fresh air out on the front lawn while I worked on clearing off the porch. It was back inside, though, as we've had a bit of thunder and lightning lately. We must have gotten a good several inches of rain in just the last 24 hours. I've got even more flowers blooming outside the house I didn't know I had besides the orange tiger lilies I have these 4 foot tall things with purple blossoms all up and down the stems.

Not much else is goin on over here, I'm afraid. Until next time...

Worst Day Fishing Is Still Better Than Best Day Working...

Last night was another heckuva lightning storm with not as much thunder. Aaron crawled into bed followed shortly thereafter by Danny and then last, but not least, Duchess at the foot of the bed. We didn't get much rain, though.

Today we headed out fishing for the first time after lunch. We went down to the dam behind Northwest Medical Center to throw our lines in first and didn't have any luck, though the guy and his boy standing next to us were reeling them in. We didn't think we were in a good spot there and the water was pretty rough with the dam open so we headed North of the bridge on 8th towards Northland Community College and threw our lines in there. Unfortunately, we were far better at catching the grass along the shore than anything else. One of our lines snapped after getting caught on something a little ways out (log?) and we lost a $3.00 lure and barely escaped with my favorite daredevil lure from childhood. We then headed to the South side of the same bridge just in front of the Indian chief statue and Andrew fished off the dock while Aaron and I fished off the bank about 25 yards South of Andrew. After about a half hour, Andrew's rod stopped casting, so we were down to one functional rod and decided to call it quits at that point. We were situated right across the river from the old swimming buoys Jenny and I used to swim at in town here. I'm thinking it would have been more fun to take a dip over there instead. The weather was sunny with only a few cotton candy clouds in a powder blue sky. The wind was pretty quick today too. It's been a chore keeping the flag unfurled out in front of the house.

We're back home for the evening now and the boys' buddies from the corner house are back from their camping trip so they're playing with them now. We'll see what the holiday brings tomorrow. Probably a little housecleaning downstairs and on the porch in preparation for Mom and Jen's arrival in just over a week.

Oh... I almost forgot. I already told Dad yesterday, but we managed to catch one gopher with our two traps out by the old farm. The trap worked pretty good, though we shoulda made it up there sooner to take it out. That minimum maintenance road back there gets pretty muddy after it rains and Andrew's Honda isn't the best "ATV" when it comes to mud.

I think that's about it for news that's fit to print at the moment. Hope all of you have a wonderfully relaxing 4th of July!