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!

ka...BOOM!!!

Holy schnikes!!! Andrew got initiated to a Minnesota thunderstorm big time! He was fixing dinner, Daniel was off at the corner house and Aaron and I were in the dining room. It had been thundering most of the day and raining off and on when all of a sudden, abut 45 minutes ago, there was a brilliant flash of light that seemed to completely surround us in the house followed by what may have been the loudest crack of a thunderbolt I've ever heard. To illustrate how close it was, we were unable to count to ONE... It was DIRECTLY OVERHEAD and the house shook as if we were feeling God's wrath focused on 716 Duluth Avenue North. Shortly after, I got a call from the pastor's wife three houses down to advise me Daniel was scared witless and needed to come home, but it was a torrential downpour the likes of which Seattle has never seen and he didn't have an umbrella, so I escorted the eldest Widerski boy, Tyler, over there under the golf umbrella and brought Danny back. I saw a Pennington County Sheriff's cruiser drive by us with his lights on and stop only a block down by 8th. I'm wondering if a tree may have been hit down there...

I was beginning to wonder when we were going to get some more good thunder going. It was supposed to be thunderstorms all week and late last night they streamed warnings on the television screen of flash floods, floods, and tornados in about 12 different counties across the tri-state area of ND, SD, and MN. I guess today was the big day for it. I knew it was going to be some bad weather when the dog elected to do her business just inside the back door entryway rather than ask to be let outside... I think I saw her tail stuck between her legs last time I let her out to do #1... :o) That's an indoor dog for ya.

As for me, I'm healing well from the other day's visit to the dentist. I don't have anymore pain, but I still have 98 Percocets left over for "headaches." :o) I even called the pharmacy and asked the pharmacist to verify the script and he told me yes, the doctor wrote it out as "hundred," so it couldn't have been a mistake. Maybe they just dispense pain medication in TRF in advance for the year...?

I gotta go now as the power is flickering again.

Ciao!

It's Gopher Season, I think...

I think I've already told most of you out there of my dental problems these past couple of weeks. For those who haven't been filled in, I've been looking for a dentist to take care of a tooth broken in half for some time now and haven't been able to find anyone in town. It's made getting any work down around here a challenge as it's hard to concentrate with the at times all-consuming pain. I did find a nun who's also a dentist in an outlying town, so hopefully I can get in to see her next Tuesday. If not her, I'll be looking in North Dakota (Grand Forks). I never considered how difficult it might be to get a dental emergency taken care of locally.

We just got back from setting a few gopher traps out West of St. Hilaire on the old 80-acre field. I thought I may have lost my touch as in order to set traps you have to be able to find the entrance/exit hole to the burrow by shoving a stake into the mound of dirt. I was able to set a couple within 5 minutes, though, so now we'll just watch and wait a little bit and see what happens. We have Dusty back over again tonight, so the house will be active a bit more. Andrew picked up a few ribeye steaks since yesterday was his payday, so we'll be firing up the grill for the second night in a row now (brats last night).

We have new neighbors already that just moved into the house our old neighbors moved out of only a week ago. They have two small children, a boy and a girl, the boy a year younger than Daniel and they happen to be friends with the pastor's familiy on the corner and go to his church in town, First Baptist. We helped them move in their 32+ inch television set and entertainment center to put it in.

As for other happenings in TRF, there hasn't been much different other than having to mow the lawn every week and an ever rising mosquito count. It was 86 degrees on yesterday or the day before so air conditioning has come in handy. I'm looking forward to the next three weeks following which at long last we'll be seeing Nana and Aunt Jen, Nick, and Jake. I don't think I knew this before, but it appears they'll be coming to town right at the start of the Pennington County Fair!! Nick and Jake will get to see some 4-H animals and have some small town fun with Aaron and Daniel. Yet another thing to add to their travel itinerary besides the water park.

I gotta go play some football right now, though, as Aaron is beckoning. I bought myself a bike so I can also ride with the boys, but it's nice to mix up the activity a little and throw the ball around now and then. Hope everyone is enjoying their summers! :o)

An Extraordinary Accomplishment!!

Today brought a most joyous accomplishment in Aaron's life. Aaron has been diligently working on learning to ride his bike. Last night, I witnessed him coasting all the way down to the neighbors with his legs just hanging down barely above the ground. He didn't touch the ground the whole way. Today, just about 5 minutes ago, Aaron and his buddy, Drew, came running inside to announce he has just learned how to ride all by himself!! I went out to watch while Drew gave him a little jump start and off he went down the sidewalk... The look of pride on his face was literally priceless! Today was truly a milestone of which Aaron can be most proud. Especially so as he never used training wheels and did it 95% on his very own. I am so happy for Aaron also because he has come home so many times this spring and early summer with a dejected look on his face, commenting how all of his friends could ride their bikes and he couldn't and therefore couldn't play with them as much as he liked. Now he's opened up a whole new world to himself. Three cheers for Aaron!!!

Dusty and Duchess last night...