Family Vacation 2010

A couple of weeks ago we took a family vacation. This was the first real vacation we've taken since Cole was just over a year. It still involved a wedding, but the wedding only dictated the location, and wasn't the majority of the trip. Anywho, our trip didn't start out so hot when only 2 hours into it Tate looked like this:
We stopped on our way out and bought a tent for our first night. Just so you know, 2 small children in a tent in western North Dakota, in early June, don't equal a good night's sleep. Cole did fine. Tate was another story. He refused to go to sleep until it was dark, so with the time change that was close to 11PM our time. Then the temp dipped down into the 40s and he had thrown all his blankets out of the pack n' play. So for the first time ever we had to have a child sleep with us. Three people on a partially deflated air mattress (air compresses when it gets that cold) equals not so much sleep for mommy.
To top it off, the boys were up at 5:30 AM our time. We managed to hold them off for another half an hour and went to breakfast. Then we packed up and went to a park until the dinosaur museum opened.
The museum was ok. It was a lot of rocks and not so much dinosaurs, but it was something to do and the boys didn't care. Next stop, Theodore Roosevelt National Park:
If you have never made the trip west, I highly recommend it. There is a 36 mile driving loop around the park. The ranger at the gate told us it would take an hour and a half. We exited 3 hours later. We stopped and hiked trails, took pictures, chased prairie dogs...
The boys got a little lesson in flowers,
like this gorgeous blue flower. I've never seen anything, besides the sky, so naturally blue.
We saw wild horses and their foals.
We even saw a lone buffalo.
We stopped in Medora, the home of the Medora Musical. We didn't get to see the musical. I would have liked to, but we had a wedding to attend!
We spent one night with a college friend and headed to the wedding and reception on Saturday. Tate loved dancing.
Cole did not.
It was great to see so many "old" college friends.
So side story, we stayed at the old Super 8 in Lemmon, SD. From here on out we will call it the Creepy Clown Motel. When I went to check in, the office was jam packed with clowns. Ok, I'm not scared of clowns, but they are pretty creepy and a lot of people are afraid of them. Why would you display them in your hotel office??? Anywho, it was a place to sleep and we survived. I did have some flashbacks to that horror movie where the couple gets locked in their hotel room. No idea what it's called, and never seen it, but anywhoodle...

We even had time to see some petrified wood before we left town.
On the way home we stopped at Storybook Land. It was a good break for the kids and I thought this sign would have been helpful about a year ago:

So there you have it, our vacation in pictures. I've got some blogs written in my head, and maybe if you are lucky I'll actually put them on the computer! Wouldn't that be special?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, I realize it is mid December. We had such a great Thanksgiving, it deserves its own post, not a bulleted update. We traveled 7 hours (5 according to map quest, the one time they are under on time) to my sister's. We had a good time. My whole family was there. We had a delicious meal that I didn't have to cook! We did a little shopping, online and in store. We even had time for bowling before we ventured home. We took our sweet time (10 hours) getting home. We stopped and did some shopping and ate non-fast food. It was a great getaway, and even Pat didn't complain too much.

Coley's first time bowling.

Coley and Tova Wii jousting. Tate is trying to play too.

All Alone

Pat and I took off yesterday for a night WITHOUT kids! We headed the big metropolis to see Mike Birbiglia. We actually left yesterday morning and did a little bit of shopping before we stopped off at the hotel for a nap. We had a nice lunch and a nice supper and even a nice breakfast this morning. Every time we got the bill Pat commented "that's not bad." It's amazing how stinking much kids' meals add to the bill. Anywho, the show was great. His opening act was ok, a little raunchy for me. His act was pretty good. It was after 10 by the time we left and I was exhausted and very thankful I don't live in metropolis. I just don't think skinny jeans, leg warmers, and crimped hair are a good look for me, or for anyone really. But, I am no fashion guru so what do I know? This morning we didn't get out of bed until a quarter til 9! We got home after noon and our kids survived. I don't think they even knew we were gone. I think we definitely need to do this more often.

The Lake

So here in the land of 10,000 lakes we all refer to our trips as a trip to the lake. You might think that would refer to the Great Lake of our state, but no. It actually means any one of our closer to 15,000 little lakes. I digress.

The four of us, yes, Pat came too!, headed up for a night with Pat's grandparents at their rented cabin. The weather was far from wonderful, but we left Tate with Grandma and headed out with Grandpa John for some fishing. It was cold and wet, but fun. Cole caught a little fish (I forgot my camera) and the rest of us didn't do much better. We had better luck this morning, with fish, not the weather. We mostly caught sunfish, some rock bass, and some crappies (pronounced croppies, although they did give Pat the crappies). It was a short trip, but wonderful to get away from the farm and relax. We took our own sweet time driving home and to complete our lazy day I fed my children apples and leftover chicken. I wonder if that will fly for the rest of the weekend...

Camping and the Cardiologist

After our trip to the zoo, we headed to the campground. We didn't really "camp" like I had wanted to, but I am so done with hotels. Nothing like spending $100 to sit on a bed and watch TV. No thank you. We were going to tent camp originally, but with the threat of rain I decided we'd rent a camping cabin instead. The bed left something to be desired, but overall, it worked out pretty well. When we arrived we grilled up some cheddar sausages for supper. Cole spent a good portion of his time chasing this little guy.
Then we headed off to the pool before it rained. I bought a swim ring for Cole and he loved it. He was comfortable in it enough to swim on his own, which was nice. He had a blast "getting that boy" that was also in the pool.

He also really liked climbing up to the top bunk. He slept on the bottom and could have used the railing. He made it until 2 AM before he fell out of bed. I woke up to a thunk and him trying to get back into bed. I made him sleep on the floor.

The next morning we made a quick visit to the playground. The boys both loved the airplane. Tate just sat back and giggled the whole time. I wonder what goes on in that head of his.
Finally a family picture before we headed off to the hospital.

Our first stop was to the hospital for some chest x-rays. Cole told the tech he had to get pictures taken of his heart. When asked how he knew that, he proceeded to tell her "cuz I'm smart!" I think he had a little coaching, but still cute. He made it through the x-rays like a pro. Pat said he was a little nervous with the x-ray machine, but did just fine. Then it was off to the cardiologist's office. After they viewed the x-rays and listened to him, they sent us on our merry way. Everything is still looking just like it should. They do want to see us again when he is 6, as that's protocol. But all in all, it was a good visit. No tears and no screaming equals success in my book.

After the Dr. we met my friend K and her little boy for lunch at Old Chicago's. Then it was off for a very little shopping. After that Pat wanted to go to the Toyota dealer. He still thinks we will be able to trade off my van next year, but we aren't sure what we want. That's another post though.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a special post on a special day! My baby turns 1!

Visit to the zoo

We headed to Sioux Falls on Thursday. Rain threatened all day, so we went to the zoo first. It was actually a pretty nice day for it. Not too hot, and very little sun. Cole had a good time and Tate, well, he didn't care too much.

There were some things I found a little odd.

"please"? What's with the quotation marks?
I have no idea what this is supposed to be, but I found it pretty inappropriate from this particular angle. Is he preg checking the whatever it is?

Oh, he's feeding? it. Still no idea what it is. We were hoping for a sign with an explanation but no such luck. I'm going with dinosaur.

June Road Trip III : Jenn and Charlie's Wedding

Last weekend we packed up the van and headed as an entire family to WI for my oldest sister's wedding. The weather was looking a little leery, but it cleared just in time and turned into a beautiful day, for everyone, except me. I have always gotten motion sickness ever since I was little, but as I have gotten older and had kids, it's gotten a whole lot worse. All it took was a trip across town in the back seat and I was out. I made it through most of the wedding, but I was pretty bummed that I didn't get to enjoy my sister's day. I did make it out of the van for the end of the reception so it wasn't a total loss, but definitely not as much fun as I had hoped. I feel awful for Jenny. Like she needed to worry about me on her wedding day! Regardless, I am thrilled for her and her new husband.

The bride and groom with their five children, I mean, niece and nephews.

Water Fight! Later Tova turned on Uncle Jim.

The bride's family.

The bride's cousins. When this picture was first done, the bride was the tallest and the youngest had to be held up.

I don't have a copy of the professional pictures yet. I missed the gift opening, where they were handed out. I've seen them though, and they are great. I'll post some of my favorites when I get a hold of them.

We had a leisurely trip home. We stopped at Cabela's to have lunch and look at the fish. We were going to stop and pick strawberries, but they were closed. Hopefully we'll do that another day soon. June is over and we won't be going anywhere for a whole week! Next up is a short, hopefully camping, trip to Sioux Falls for what we hope will be Cole's final visit to the cardiologist. If everything looks ok,he should be discharged from his care. Here's hoping!

June Road Trip #2

I packed up the boys on Tuesday and took off for Nebraska. We stopped to pick up another friend, K~, and her little boy, D~, who is 3 1/2. It was a good trip. It was fun to get together with old college friends and just hang out with our kids. My friend, Jessica, and her husband recently had a baby boy, hence the reason for the trip. Cole and D~ played together pretty well, at least I thought so. Cole doesn't seem to really play with anybody his age, so the fact that they were fighting with light sabers was fun for me to watch. Cole was actually the bossy kid, which was hard for me. Usually when he's involved in a dispute you can pretty well bet it's the other kid. Not this time. He'd walk up to D~ with a toy and start saying "No! It's mine!" D~ would look at him like he was nuts and I had to remember to tell him he was being mean. Very odd for me. I think they had fun together though. Cole even gained some interest in potty training, since D~ is potty trained.

Wednesday we headed into Omaha and took the kids to the Amazing Pizza Machine, which is kind of like a cleaner version of Chuck E Cheese. The boys had a good time. They got to ride a train and play games. I'd post pictures, but I forgot my camera at home. Lovely, I know. After that we stopped by another college friend's to see her newborn little boy. The kids were cranky, so it wasn't a long visit, but it was still good to see them. One thing I learned is that I don't want another newborn. Maybe it's because I still have a baby that needs to be carried everywhere, but I am so over that stage. We are still undecided on baby #3. Some days I am all for it, others not so much. At any rate, we'll wait another year to make that decision. If anything, I want more like 3 years between kids, rather than 2.

Thursday we packed back up and headed home. I'm ready to be done travelling for a while, but we'll pack up again on Friday and head to WI for my sister's wedding. This time Pat is coming along so that will be nice. I'm really looking forward to the wedding. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I just hope the weather is nice. Currently it's a 30% chance of storms.

Road Warriors

Now that I am finished with finals, I can finally sit at the computer and update you all.

Last weekend we headed to my sister's new house in metropolis. We had beautiful weather so we spent much of the time in their nice, flat, backyard. The kids had a blast and it was a nice get away for me. It's nice that they are closer, but it's still a long drive. For once, mapquest underestimated the travel time. Granted, I had to stop twice but they were both quick stops. We took a different route home, through Grammy and Papa's house, and it took about the same amount of time and was actually shorter, mileage wise.

Helping with the sandbox.

That's one tough "Cheese" face.

For more pictures from our weekend, check out my sister's post, here.

I finished up my finals yesterday. What a relief! This was probably the toughest semester I have had so far and it feels good to be done with it. I just hope I passed. Hopefully the summer will be a little less busy (hey, I can still dream!)

My FIL went in yesterday for knee surgery and thus far, the farm is still running. The surgery went pretty well. It took longer than typical, but they knew that before they started. We are planning on heading in tonight to see him.

We've had a couple of casualties in our fish tank. We lost a fish the other day and our snail yesterday. Coley thinks it's a blast to flush fish down the toilet. He wanted to go get more and put them in the potty.

I think that about covers it. Hopefully I will be able to update a little more often now that school is done for the summer (yup, still dreaming).

Dairy Expo

I don't even know where to start. I am exhausted. Tuesday morning we left for the Dairy Expo. We had to make a quick stop at the lawyer's office to close on our house. Yes, we are now officially homeowners! When we got checked in to our hotel for the Expo, we headed down to the pool. It was Tate's first time swimming. He was unimpressed. The water was a little cold so he wasn't terribly happy to be there. After swimming we headed to the banquet. It was a long wait for food, so the kids were crabby and I ended up leaving with Tate shortly after the speaker started, which is why we went to the banquet. We wanted to hear Baxter Black. He's a cowboy humorist/poet. They also had a silent auction at the banquet and Pat was trying to win an AMPI semi for the boys. Unfortunately, someone else wanted it worse. We later found out it was probably a good thing since you can apparently buy them for about $35 and it went on the auction for $125. Wednesday was spent touring the trade show. Pat took in a couple of sessions and I tried to take in one, but Tate only lasted about 10 minutes before he decided it was time to go. Thursday morning we took a quick swim, then back to the trade show one last time. Then it was off to Menards.

I've been searching for fencing on craigslist, and found some a while ago. We were waiting to hear back from a local guy that had some, but it turns out he didn't have much and he wanted a lot for it. So of course the stuff on craigslist was gone by the time we decided to go that route. Anywho, we ended up buying new at Menards, along with a little storage shed for all the boys outside toys. I don't usually do store credit cards, but with milk prices so low we don't have an extra $1000 lying around this month, or ever, so we got a Big Card and have the rest of the year to pay off the fence, interest free. Pat is working on installing the fence as I type.

Tate and I were supposed to head to Nebraska this weekend for a baby shower, but with the forecast calling for a blizzard on Sunday, we decided to not risk it. I'm bummed. I was really looking forward to it. It's probably a good thing though. Tate had an awful night last night. I wish I could blame it on teething, but there are no signs of the little devils getting even remotely close to poking through. He went to bed at 8:30, was up at 9, up again at midnight until almost 1:30, then up again at 3:50, when I finally brought him into bed with me. I'm exhausted. I'm also crabby. Pat and I don't do projects well together. He thinks that if something is my idea, I must do ALL the work for it. I have no problem helping, but I don't think I should be responsible for anything that does not go according to plan. It was the same with the stove. Since I picked it out and it didn't work correctly, it must be my fault. Grrr. Anyway, I suppose I should go do something productive, like fold laundry, so he doesn't think I'm wasting the day on a nap. I wish.

Spring Break

I can't believe my spring break is over! I'm not ready to go back. I still have to much to do. Since my nephew, Ethan, and I have the same spring break, we all met at my parents' house for the week. Tuesday we headed up to Como Zoo. When we left my parents' the weather was gorgeous. Not so much at the zoo. I felt like a pretty awful mother, since my two small children were dressed only in sweatshirts. Thankfully, much of the zoo is inside so it wasn't too horrible. After that we headed out for some delicious Davani's Pizza. The rest of the week was spent playing with cousins Coley had a blast running with the big boys, and wasn't too terrified of Tova either. Fortunately, Tova was content to play with Tate which left Cole free to play with Ethan and Gavin. We did some walking and a little shopping. We found the kids coordinating outfits for Jenn's wedding. Cole managed to catch a little cold, and a little attitude from Krissy's kids ;-) There is nothing quite like hearing yourself talk in a two-year old voice, "Child!". Apparently I say that a little too often, although, I don't think I say it quite as annoyed as Cole makes it out to be. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures for you. Sorry I don't have more, but I left my camera in the van while we were at the zoo.

Tova helping Cole undo his jammies.

Tova and Tate watching PBS.

Emergency Christmas

Apparently the Twin Cities are loyal Daily Show watchers. A couple of weeks ago, John Hodgman announced that a cure for the recession would be to have an emergency Christmas. MSP must have theirs scheduled pretty soon. Shopping in the cities was insane. Traffic was backed up on 494 and finding a parking spot at MOA was almost impossible. Is Valentine's Day comparable to Black Friday? Despite the crowds we managed to make our rounds on the search for my sister's wedding dress. Unfortunately we didn't have much luck on Saturday in that department.

Sunday, Kristen and I found our bridesmaid dresses. Since Jenn won't bend on this black and white color scheme, we've decided to make green the unofficial color and will be dressing our boys in green matching ties. Although, I'm rethinking that to green plaid shorts and white shirts, but we'll discuss that later. Anywho it was a busy weekend full of shopping. We did find the perfect dress for Jenn on Monday.

Cole did really well with his cousins. He loved running around with the big boys and even shared with Tova. Still not crazy about being touched, but one step at a time. Tate did fine except at night. I'm not anxious to travel with him again any time soon.

On Monday, after dress shopping, I headed to the mall for a final stop. I decided to run through ranges at Sears just to compare. Low and behold, I found it! I found my perfect range. It has 5 burners and a convection oven, and it was about $300 less than anywhere else. The only problem is that I hate our Sears in Marshall. They have absolutely no customer service. So I thought I'd buy it in Rochester and have it delivered to Marshall. The only problem is the one here is privately owned and won't take deliveries for customers from other Sears stores. So my dad is going to bring it out for me. Yay! I'm so excited. I bought a cast iron griddle to use over the middle burner. I actually think I'll use that a lot for burgers, pancakes, grilled cheese, etc.

Saturday also marked 7 months of life for my baby! Can you believe it? He's getting pretty good at sitting. He still won't roll, but I think he's just stubborn. He's got the strength. He tries to sit himself up from laying on his back. Crazy kid.

Week in Review

It's been a very busy week. I'm glad it's over, but I don't think we're in for a slow down quite yet. Tuesday Cole had play group. It turned out to be just him and B~, the teacher's daughter. It went ok though. We finished up a little early so we headed to the Usborne book fair at school. We have a couple of Usborne books, but I don't think they are anything spectacular. They are nice books. Nice enough that I managed to spend $70 on 5 books. They had some really neat tractor and truck books, and heaven knows we can't have enough of those. The nice thing is that the school gets like 20% or something, so that made me feel better. I told Pat other than the couple of toys I had in mind for Tate, I am not allowed to buy the boys any more Christmas presents. I've gone overboard already and it's barely December.

Tuesday afternoon I took Tate to get his RSV shot. He weighed in at 13 lb, 14 oz, up a pound from his 4 month check up about 3 weeks ago. I think he's doing pretty good! I also made his 6 month appointment and decided to try out the pediatric nurse practitioner. Hopefully that will go well. He's been sleeping pretty well at night. He's unpredictable, but rarely up more than once at night. That, I can handle. Last night he slept until 6:40 this morning. The only bad part is that it really screws up my morning schedule, since I usually feed him at 8, before I leave for class.

Tuesday night we had an ECFE class. It started out with a music class for the kids and then we had a parent class on the book Say Yes to No. The parent part meant we had to separate. I don't have a problem with this, but Cole does, big time. I know he needs time with other kids without me there, he strongly disagreed. It took me a while to be able to leave, but I did eventually. He screamed at the door, but I figured he would calm down, and he did. He lasted just over a half an hour before they came to get me. I was impressed. The teacher said he did really well, but was getting harder and harder to distract so she told him they'd read a story and go find mommy. She didn't want him to get upset and then dread going to school.

Wednesday I headed to the cities with the boys. Pat had left earlier that morning for a retreat for the local elevator. They were going over their business plan and doing some brainstorming. We stayed at this fancy hotel and conference center. I was not impressed. The parking was incredibly inconvenient. Apparently having cars park anywhere near the hotel would mess up the look or something. The look was about all it had going for it. The room was your typical hotel room. Two regular beds, a desk, and a TV. The kicker was they wanted to charge $10 for high speed internet and they charged $20 for me to stay there. What hotel charges for internet anymore and isn't based on double occupancy for a 2 bed room??? Dumb. No comment card either. I would have let them know how stupid that was. Granted people don't go there to relax, they go for a conference, but still. I did get to hang out with some friends though. I met up with one college friend Wed. night for supper and my friend Cathy came up from Rochester to shop with me on Thursday.

I did manage to accomplish most of my Christmas shopping. I only have one person left and I know what I'm going to get. Today I wrapped everything up and tomorrow we are going to get our tree. We decided we would go cut a tree this year. We cut one the first year we were married, but the past 2 years we've bought one from Hy-Vee. I don't think we are going to take Tate along, but I think Cole will get a kick out of it. Santa is supposed to be there, and that makes me nervous. On our way home yesterday we stopped in Olivia. They happened to have their holiday parade and then Santa came to Pizza Ranch, where we were eating. We asked Cole if he wanted to go see Santa and he started crying. He doesn't even know who Santa is! I can't imagine he remembers last year. So I think we will be skipping Santa Day in town this year.

Weekend Road Trip

It's been a while since we headed out to my parents' for a weekend. I think the last time we were out there was back in May. So I figured we'd head out for an early Thanksgiving. It was a good trip. Pat and I got a night out Friday. I did some shopping with a friend on Saturday, and we hung out with my family Saturday night. Cole was pretty excited and was Papa's shadow most of the weekend. I got most of my Christmas shopping done. Sad, I know. I used to not like to start until after Thanksgiving, but since living in the middle of nowhere, I start when there is free shipping, or whenever I get a chance. We are heading to the cities in another week or two and I don't really have any shopping left. I'm sure I'll find something I need to get. I bought Cole the Candyland Castle Game. It's kind of bingo with shapes. I had it sitting in the bedroom and he came in and worked really hard to get it out of the bag. Then proceeded to try to get Auntie Jenny to open the box for him. She didn't give in. He is just enthralled by that package. I did put it away when we got home. I guess I'll have to wrap up presents before he discovers my not so hidden hiding spot.

My exciting news is that I got tickets to see Jeff Dunham for Pat and my anniversary. I'm so excited. I haven't figured out how we are going to work it with the kids yet. I'm not sure if we'll leave them here and stay in a hotel, or take them out to my parents and head there after the concert. I'd love to stay overnight, but with nursing it's a tough call. Night time and mornings are hard to miss. Granted I can pump, but the one night he had a bottle before bed he was up at 2 instead of 4, which means more feedings. I'm sure he'll be fine, I just worry that whoever he stays with won't wake up right away or Cole will have trouble going to sleep, or etc. I guess you never stop worrying. I just want to be able to relax and have a good time.

Wii would like to play

We had a pretty successful trip to Sioux Falls. The roads weren't great this morning and we saw about half a dozen cars and as many or more semis in the ditch. Not sure how they got there, but it did take us slightly longer than normal. They fixed the van. It only took about an hour. They just cleaned it out and got the door working. They are going to replace the latch, but I'm going to see if we can get that done in Rochester instead of making another trip back to Sioux Falls.

I got some shopping done. I bought some Christmas gifts and picked up a few odds and ends. While at Target Pat mentioned about getting a Wii. I thought he was joking, but turns out he was serious. I know they are hard to come by, so I just kind of wrote it off. When we were walking through the mall, we saw they had some in stock at Game Stop. So we bought one. We just have the basic Wii for now. I'm thinking we'll ask for MarioKart and maybe a WiiFit for Christmas. We played a little bit tonight when we got home, but Pat took off to finish up some field work. They have to get out either early in the morning or at night when the ground is hard enough to drive on. We did have our first Wii casualty. Cole got a little over excited watching us play and grabbed the nunchuck, which isn't hooked up and started swinging it. He caught me and gave me a nice little cut on the bridge of my nose. He was having a blast watching us bowl. After every bowl he would clap and proclaim "Nice spare!" He's too funny