Summer trip (Part 1)

Our holidays this year included a swing through Minnesota.  "Why Minnesota?", you ask.... because it is there.   Actually, because Sari remembered it being really nice when she was there as a kid and every time we have been through there we have said, "We should come back here sometime", so this was the year.

The trip included stops in Bemidji, Duluth (which I thought was nothing but an industrial city... but I was wrong... it was really nice), a little town called "Two Harbors" (it was our home base), a cabin 20 minutes north of Two Harbors on the northwest shore of Lake Superior (our home for 8 days), Minneapolis (for the Mall and the zoo) and then to Fargo and finally home.  Fourteen days.... some shopping.... some outdoors stuff.... tons of good times.

I will upload a bunch of pictures here and then add more in the coming days (just to give you a taste of what we saw and got to do).

If you have ever been to Bemidji, you will know that you have to have your picture taken with Paul Bunyan and his blue ox "Babe" (I think it is a law or something)

Bemidji also has a really nice lake and park right in the center of town... perfect backdrop for the girlies.

Gooseberry Falls in the strangely named "Gooseberry Falls State Park".  We spent a lot of time hiking to waterfalls in several state parks.  I think we counted something like 11 state parks within an hour of our cabin, so we had lots to explore.

This is a coal fired steam powered tug boat (the last of its kind operating) called the "Edna G".  It was used mainly in the Two Harbors port.  It is now retired and you can take tours of it (which we did).

The Two Harbors lighthouse... the only operational lighthouse on the north shore of Lake Superior.

 Breakwater at Two Harbor.  We walked out on it several times

 This is Split Rock lighthouse.  It was built in 1910 as were mainly lighthouses along this shore.  A bad storm and a bunch of lost ships in 1905 caused the locals to demand the government improve safety on the water... a series of lighthouses whose beams could be seen 22 miles away was the answer.  Split Rock remained operational until 1969.  It is now only lit once a year... on November 10th to remember the men lost on the "Edmund Fitzgerald" (By the way, if you go to Lake Superior, you better like Gordon Lightfoot... or at least "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"... you will hear it in every gift shop that sells a replica of the ship... which they ALL DO!!!  Fortunately, I like the song.... so much so that I took to singing it at random several times per day.  The girls were not quite as happy with this turn of events as I was).

Duluth has a beautiful boardwalk/walking path along the shore and through some really nice parks.... we spent one night just walking all over the place and eating ice cream

One of our favorite places to eat... "Betty's Pies" in Two Harbors.  It may not look like much, but I would drive back there just to eat pie all day (not that I ate pie all day when I was there.... but I could have).  We found lots of places like this along the way... quaint mom and pop places that served good food (often on a deck outside)... it was great!  Mmmmm - Bumbleberry!!!!! 

Another activity that took up much of our time..... wading in the streams.  The lake was freezing, but the streams were really warm (as were the days.... 100 + Fahrenheit the entire trip... very strange weather for them as it is usually considerably cooler).  The rocks in the streams were really interesting (coming out of the ore fields they were all different colors etc).  The water was weird too... very brown... but that is because it was coming from the marshland upstream and it is full of decomposed plants,etc.  It was super warm (like bathwater) and fun to play in/swim in/etc

Did I mention that Superior (which averages about 450 feet deep and is over 1300 feet deep in many places) is REALLY COLD????   Here are the girls taking the plunge anyway.  Later in the week the water felt warmer so we went cliff jumping - but that is a story for another day.

What would a trip with Sari be without nature pictures?  She was fascinated by the humming birds outside our bedroom window (one of several thousand humming bird pics that we now have)  :)

And lastly (for now) our home away from home.  Sari found the "J Gregors Inn" online.  We chose it because it looked nice but mostly because it was about 1/2 the cost of everything else in the area.... and it was great!!! Quiet.... comfy..... great owners..... really really good.

This is a shot of the outside of the place.  Each end has a room and the middle section has two units (one of which was ours).   We never heard and rarely even saw the other people staying there so it was like we had the place to ourselves.

Looking in from the front door.... one bed on the left (where the kids slept).... a kitchen/dining area in the middle.... and another bedroom (ours) through the patio doors at the back.

The old (but useful) kitchen

Our room (or part of it at least).  No internet..... no TV....... we would read until 2 in the morning.... sleep in until 11 or so..... eat at the room and then go do whatever (tour, hike, shop, etc).... eat supper in town.... get home by 10 or so.... read till 2 and do it all again.  It was relaxing and quiet and really nice.  Nice to have two girls that can leave their phones at home and not go crazy too.

And finally (for now) a shot of the backyard of the place.  The owners said that we could use anything out there so we had a fire in the fire pit one night..... the girls (all three) fought over the hammock.... we sat out there and read some..... it was really nice.  Superior is just beyond the trees that you see at the back of the picture, so that made it even better. (Note the Moose.... he seemed to hang around out there a lot)

So there you go.... round one of pictures/commentary.  Check back in a few days for more.

We're baaaaccckkk!!!!

Hey we just got back (literally an hour or so ago) from a great trip to Lake Superior and Minnesota in general...... rock climbing, hiking, cliff jumping into Superior, little shops, exploring, hot weather, waterfalls, a little too much shopping (for my liking), a quaint town band concert (more about that later), ship tours, aquariums, boardwalks, ice cream, little diners, State parks, campfires, hotels, rock hunting, zoos and the biggest zoo of all - the Mall of America.

I am already missing this holiday and I am thinking about the fact that we are winding down on the "just the four of us" holidays overall..... that is a sad thought... but this was a good one to add to the list of memories.  We had a ton of fun and lots of different experiences.

Stay tuned over the next few days for pictures and commentary. 

Our New Baby

Just a little taste of what we heard over the span of a month plus. Just take this cute little song and multiply it by 867874768767 times per minute (once he was out of the nest - as he is here - he seemed to calm down and sing less.... this song still haunts us in our sleep) Goodbye Woodpecker baby.... it was nice knowing you!

3685 KMs

That is how far I rode on my recent "Black Hills motorcycle tour" with my brother.  I had not really spent much time in the Hills, so it was fun to get to look around.  We started the week by hitting the stock cars races in Bismarck on the way down and then we spent the rest of the week driving every road we could find.  Pictures do not do it justice, but I will share a few anyway. 

It was nice to hang out with Lenny and it was nice to have a whole week where I thought about nothing but where to go, when to get gas and what to eat.  It was very fun and relaxing!  Sunny and 90 the whole week (with the exception of a little rain on the way down and on Tuesday evening/Wed morning). 

A big "thanks" to Sari for holding down the fort and for letting me go and be irresponsible for a whike... it was fun!  :)

Well - when you're right you're right!

So tonight I am cleaning the bathroom (this is not something I normally do so don't think I am a "Domestic God" or something, I was just trying to help out) and Megan is standing there, so I take the bottle of cleaning stuff and say to her, "Open your mouth" and act as if I am going to shoot some at her.

She turns and says, "Get lost!"

So I say, "Oh come on!  It tastes great" and I turn the bottle toward my own mouth and act as if I am going to spray some in..... but I accidentally pushed on the sprayer thingy a little too hard and I actually did shoot cleaning stuff into my mouth (it takes slightly less than "great" by the way.... like somewhere between rotten lemon juice and old socks).

Megan heads downstairs and I hear her say to Sara, "You married an idiot!"

Now I did not like the "idiot" part so much (I mean, anyone could make the same mistake.  Who hasn't accidentally shot cleaning solution into their mouth at one time or another, right? Right?), so I wait for her to come back upstairs and then I say, "I think 'idiot' was a little extreme, don't you?   I mean, I may be a lot of things, but idiot is a little over the top, don't you think?"

She looks at me and says, "Then why is your shirt on inside out?"

"It isn't" I reply.

"Then why can I see this tag?   And why is all the 'inside' stitching on the outside?" she asks.

Turns out that the shirt I wore all day to work.... the Polo-ish three button shirt that I wore to coffee.... to the office.... out for lunch with a bunch of guys (including a Harley biker dude who could have snapped me like a twig - but that is another story for another time).... and to the bank.... was on inside out all day and I did not even notice and no one bothered to tell me!

So I was about to tell her "All the cool kids are wearing their shirts inside out now, Megan.  It is the new style", but I figured she would not buy it.

Maybe "idiot" was not so far off the mark after all.  :)

Stuff

So here is a bunch of random stuff from the past few weeks

First, Megan's school play (entitled "Sam Spud Private Eye").  She played "Junior" and did a really good job..... here she is in all her Junior glory.....

Then we had Megan's birthday party.... a day at the beach.... movies.... hanging out with these guys...

 And then the singing group that Katie is in at school had a concert and they were singing 80s songs, so they all decided to dress up "80s-ish"... and here are some of the results.  They sounded really good and actually looked like kids should dress (shouldn't all kids dress in 80s style??? I think so)

And then there was a "Cops and Kids" basketball game at Hillcrest.... I am neither a cop nor a kid but I got invited to play anyway.  Here is a shot from that with both me and Megan looking like we are doing something.....

And lastly, the high school awards night was last Wednesday and Katie got an award for having one of the top 10 averages in her grade (top 10 out of 200+ students)..... here she is on stage....

And lastly, we have a new baby around here.... a woodpecker baby.  It is in an old tree in our backyard and it chirps incessantly!  Sari loved it at first ("Oh it is so cute.... nature in our backyard").... now she is like "Look you stupid whiny baby.... SHUT UP!!!!" (She HATES repetitive noises and this thing - seriously - does not stop from sun up till sun down).  It is cute though....

And - sadly - in over 178 pictures there is not one of Sari in this go round (when you are behind the camera taking the pictures it is hard to be in front too).  She is as cute as ever too.... even cuter than a woodpecker baby.  :)

Ok - so things do come in three

If you read the last post, you will know that I was waiting for my third encounter with the police in as many days.... and then it happened.

I got invited to play in a "Kids vs the police (and a few other dudes from the community)" basketball game at Hillcrest today.  It was a lot of fun especially because I know a lot of the kids and because it was non-competitive (or so they said.... though a few dudes were taking it sort of seriously).

I said to one of them before we started, "This is a really good idea!  The kids get to see the police in a different light and they get to learn CPR when one of us collapses", but fortunately that did not happen.

I was hoping that the cop that flashed his lights at me yesterday was there because I was going to give him the gears about picking on a minister.... but he chickened out.

All in all it was a fun event.... and now, hopefully, "The fuzz" will leave me alone.  :)

Trouble with "The Man" and a significant event

It has happened twice and, if things come in threes, I may be in trouble!

What am I talking about?  "The Man" is after me..... you know "The Man".... the fuzz.... the coppers.... Barney....  the County Mountie..... the Doughnut Patrol.... Flatfoots.... The Heat.... The Law.... you know...... and they want to send me to the pokey..... the hoosegow (yes that is the correct spelling).... the crowbar hotel..... the big house.... the  ...... (Ok - is that enough?  You get the picture?  We will move on then)

And here is the thing..... I was obeying the law (Mostly!) at the time.

The first incident happened last night.  As noted in an earlier post, I am trying to sell my old motorcycle "Hannah the Honda" (if you are interested, she is still available), so I decided to start her up and see how she was running.  Started like "a boss" (my kids use that expression - I am not sure what it means.  I argued that it should be "the boss" - like the guy in charge or even like Springsteen - but they tell me that "the boss" is wrong and the only acceptable term is "a boss").  So then I decided that the only way to really make sure it was running well was to pound it down the back alley with dust and gravel flying everywhere (just to make sure it can still do that) and then - just as I hit the brakes at the end of the alley - I saw him.... the fuss (or "a fuzz" possibly).   Since Hannah does not have a license on her at the moment and since the cloud of dust seemed to attract the attention of "the Man" (or "a man") I slowly turned around (making sure to keep the front of the bike to the policeman) and started back to my garage.  He did not come over to talk, but he drove rather slowly until he saw me turn back into my garage...... I think I will plating Hannah tomorrow.

Then today I am riding my Suzuki around town (her name is "Miranda" b/c she is an "M50") and I see Crystal Quilliams walking across the street near her house, so I stop in the street to talk to her.  Within seconds, what do I see in my rear-view mirror..... A cop car with its lights on!!!   I am thinking, "What?  How can this be?  I have never been given a speeding ticket in Canada (I got one in North Dakota years ago) and now the police are all over me?????  What is going on????"   Turns out this cop knew Crystal and he thought that I was Paul (he knows that Paul has a bike) so he was just goofing around.  When he found out that I was not Paul, he asked, "Well who is it then?" and Crystal said "The minister from my church".   The cop then said "D'oh!" (or something like that) and then, "Ah... tell him he has a nice bike" and then drove away.

So I am not sure what I am going to do if this harassment doesn't stop.  I have always respected the Police, but if this keeps up......  

At least now I know how my cousins feel!  :)

PS.  And the significant event.... Sari posted something to the blog yesterday!!  The "rules" post below... first time in 5 years that she has posted anything.  Maybe you will actually get to hear her perspective on our life if this keeps up!!!

PPS.  I have pics from Megan's play and Katie's singing group from this past week.... I will post them in the next few days.

There are lots of 'rules'....most of them i hate...these i like because they motivate and don't restrict.

A Birthday present from the Birthday Girl

Fourteen years ago, we were blessed with Megan.  Having already been given one sweet little girl, we now had two... and both of them have changed our lives in ways that have been nothing but good.

For her birthday, Megs wanted us to eat Chinese food and watch a sappy chick flick that she had picked out.  I somewhat reluctantly agreed (what am I going to do?  I was outnumbered and it was her birthday) and am I ever glad I did!

In the movie, a Dad who was estranged from his daughter gets to spend the summer with her... she is mad and predictably pouty.... then she meets a boy (who is "dreamy" apparently)... she opens up... starts to live and love.... blah blah blah (you can fill in the "Chick flick standard form" here).

Anyway - at the end of the summer (and the movie) the Dad gets cancer and dies (Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like a good funeral film.... am I right?).

The good part:  watching this Dad and his daughter say "good-bye" made me think about my life and how blessed I am..... a beautiful and wonderful wife.... two lovely, funny young ladies for daughters.... I have a job that I love (99 days out of 100).... I have good friends.... I am close to my family (on both sides).... I live 5 miles from a stock car track (A strange thing to include on this list I know, but a little perk in my book .... and if it ever stops raining I may even get to see them race this year).... I am going on a week long motorcycle trip with my brother and then when I get home - a week later - I get to go on vacation with my family (Even when we had very little money... every summer of our marriage we have gone somewhere and done something for at least a few weeks.  Some of the cheapest trips have been some of the most fun).... I could go on and on and on.

I guess watching this on screen Dad have to say good-bye and leave all the stuff he loved made me think (once again) about living in and loving all the blessing that I have right now - because I will not have them forever.

Surprisingly, the movie did not make me cry (one of the reasons I don't watch many movies is that I am a "soft soap sap head" that cries when (a) someone has to say good-bye to someone they love and (b) music is playing (music is the Kryptonite.... I can't take the two in combination)

Anyway - long story short.... I love my life.... I love my family (both immediate and extended)... I love being in Estevan (I had a dream a few weeks ago that I was forced to leave Estevan and I was really sad about it.... Imagine my joy when I woke up and realized I was still here.... I may have been the first person ever to be happy to wake up in Estevan).... I have more than I need (in every way you can honestly think about it)..... life is good and I was reminded to enjoy every blessing in it.

So, in the end - on this her birthday - it was Megan that gave me the present!

Hannah the Honda :(

So I finally did it.... I put "Hannah the Honda" up for sale. It is a sad, sad day!  :(

I remember the first time I met her..... she started up without a hiccup and that first ride round the block.... well, it was heavenly!  I had never ridden a bike so nice and comfortable and cheap (that last part was the best part). 

We had lots of good times like....

- Riding to Newtown, North Dakota with Paul (and whatever he calls his bike) twice
 - Going to Moose Jaw to meet my brother and sister to go to a NHL game (It was in the fall not in the middle of winter.... Hannah was amazing but not that amazing)
- Coming home on that same trip and seeing the speedometer at 100 mph (I am not sure how that happened - just in case any policemen are reading - but let me tell you, it feels A LOT faster than that when you are on a 30 year old motorcycle that could fall apart at any minute)
- Lots of nights cruising around the streets of Estevan just enjoying the evening.

I AM GOING TO MISS HER!!!!  (sniff, sniff)   But we do not have room to keep her and owning two motorcycles is just a little silly (nice - but sort of silly).

So if you know anyone who would like to get into biking - give me a call.

The fortunate thing:  My wife told me to price it so high that I may get to keep her anyway!  :)

A Fun Fundraiser

Our church hosted a fundraiser for Clearview Christian Camp tonight and it was a good time.  We did a "Loonie Auction" and thanks to a bunch of stuff donated by church people and by local businesses, as well as the generous ticket buying of those who attended, we raised over $2000.

I am always impressed with the generosity of our church.  Not just in the way they support the camp (both tonight and all year long) but in little things too.  Many of the prizes that were won ended up being carried out of the building by someone else.  A older guy would win a toy car and give it to a little kid who was really hoping to get it.... or one of the kids would win something and then realize that one of their friends really liked it, so they would give it away.... necklaces were won and then passed on.... some people kept what they won, but much of it (including a lot of the baking - cookies, pies, etc) was shared around between friends.

It was a fun and entertaining night that raised some money for a good cause, but it was also a good "family night" - a church family night.

Anyone have a safe they want opened?

So those of you who read this thing once in a while will remember my heartbreaking story about the bike lock that I was going to use to lock my motorcycle helmet to the bike (if you don't know the tragic details, stop, read the post below and come back).

Anyway - tonight I went and got the lock and in less than 5 minutes I picked it..... and guess what???!!!   The word that I was trying to use and thought was right.... wasn't even close!!   Not one letter was right.  Not one!!!

I think what happened is that I was going to buy a lock with a certain word as the combination and then I ended up leaving it there.  When I went back, it was gone and so I was stuck with a different word... but I still remembered the first word (Is this all making sense???  Do you even care????)

All that to say this.....

   1.  I saved myself $8 (because I do not have to buy a new lock).... EIGHT BUCKS!!!

   2.  I am now 2 for 2 picking bike locks (the one from when I was a kid and now this one)

Apparently it is good to have some criminal genes in your past after all.  :)

PS. I know what you are thinking.... if YOU picked the lock in 5 minutes how secure is anything that you lock to your bike (like a helmet or a coat) going to be????   Well, I figure most people aren't going to stand there trying to pick a lock in broad daylight with a bunch of people watching them.... and if they do, well... meh.... you can have it.

PPS.  There are actual important and maybe even interesting things happening in our lives (beyond motorcycle related bike locks).... I promise I will report some of those thing soon.... stay tuned!

A bike lock and a four letter word

When I put saddlebags on my motorcycle last year, it created one little problem... my helmet lock is now inaccessible.  Most of the time, this does not matter because I just leave my helmet hanging on the handlebars, but I got thinking about what I would do if I wanted to lock the helmet to the bike so that no one could steal it.

My solution: a simple bike lock.  Wrap it around a bar of my bike, around the helmet and "Tada" - problem solved - so I went in search of a lock.

When I got to Canadian Tire I realized that one of my options was a "word lock" (Like the combination lock above but with words rather than numbers).  I thought, "Well a word must be easier to remember than a number" so I purchased a "word lock".  That was last summer. 

I did not use the lock all summer, but in the fall I dug it out and tried it - just to make sure I still remembered the word.  Then (in my brilliant thinking) I left it unlocked so that I would have to have the proper word in order to lock it... or, if I somehow forgot the word, I could simply look down the empty barrel, spin the letters until it was unlocked and then read the word that the letters spelled.  Perfect!  Brilliant!  Foolproof!

That is until some pinhead (me) locked the lock last fall because he was sure that he knew the word.  I tried that word today.... nothing!  I spun the dial and tried it again.... nothing!   I tried similar words... nothing!  I asked Katelyn what my word was because she was with me when I bought the lock.... nothing!  I looked for the little word tag.... nothing!

So I tried for an hour to pick the lock (I actually did that with a bike lock when I was a kid.... I found one at the bike racks at our swimming pool.... a 5 digit combination and I cracked it and used the lock forever).... nothing!

So I am down now to a few choices.....
    a.  Continue trying the word that I am sure is right but is not working
    b.  Spend hours and hours trying to pick the lock
    c.  Blame Katelyn because she does not remember the word - take the money for a new one out of her allowance (if we gave her an allowance)
     d.  Do surgery on the lock just to see if I have the right word but it is just malfunctioning for some reason (This will destroy the lock but it will give me the peace of mind of knowing what the word was supposed to be)

I think I am going to go with "b" for a while... then "a" again.... then "c" just to make myself feel better... and then I will definitely have to do "d" just to satisfy my curiosity. 

Anyone know any good four letter words?????

On second thought, never mind!  :)

PS.  I told this whole thing to Sari and concluded it by saying, "Now I have to go spend another $8 to buy another lock"...... she just about came across the room at me.  "I thought you were talking about some specialty motorcycle lock that you spent a fortune on.... not some dumb kid's lock for $8.   Why would you even waste your time, or mine for that matter in telling me this story, for $8??????"

Girls.... go figure!  :)

A Birthday rainout

Have you ever had your birthday rained out? 

Well, more specifically, have you ever had the one present that you wanted for your birthday rained out?

All week long I have been watching the weather forecast because I have been looking forward to going to the stock car races tonight.   It did not rain on Wednesday when it was supposed to.... or on Thursday... we missed the big downpour that was threatened for this morning and then again this afternoon..... so things were looking good as we headed out to the track tonight and then.......

We ended up at Tim Horton's an hour later - soaked and cold - not having seen any racing at all.

I hope that this is not an indication of how my year is going to go.

Maybe a rained out birthday present is like rain on your wedding day..... it is supposed to be good luck right?

Ya - I don't believe that either.  :(

D'oh (times 2)

So, after less than a week of "new to us" vehicle ownership, our Acadia is headed to the Car Hospital because it is hemorrhaging anti-freeze.

I think the technical term for it is that it has "puked a water pump".

The good news is that the dudes who sold it to us said, "Get it fixed and send us the bill" so she goes in tomorrow morning. 

That is d'oh #1.
_______
D'oh #2.......

I was sitting in my office today when the phone rang (shaking me into a state of consciousness so suddenly that I almost fell out of my chair).  The voice on the other end of the line got my attention very quickly.

"Hey Tim, this is Tammy from Dr. Blischak's office" (my dentist).

"Aaaaacccckkkkkkk!" I screamed, but she did not react, so I asked, "Did I just scream 'Aaaaaackkkk' in your ear?"

"No"

"Whew!"  Then I thought, "What is the deal here?????  My dentist is tracking me down at my office????  What sort of crazy, psycho, bird dog tracking guy is this?????   Is he gonna start following me around???? Am I going to have to check behind the shower curtain to make sure he is not hiding in there waiting to jump out, grab me and drag me off for my yearly check-up???????  IF I WANT TO HIDE FROM YOU PAIN INDUCING, DRILL-WIELDING CRAZY PEOPLE.... I SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO!!!!!!"  (Fortunately, most of that I kept to myself).

"Tim, could you guys at your church use a big box of toothpaste?", Tammy asked.

I was wondering where this was going..... and who in the congregation had bad enough breath that the local dentist was offering to send free toothpaste over (Though I had a few guesses).  "Maybe I should see if they have any free deodorant too", I thought (but that is a completely different rant having nothing to do with the church).

"I was told that you guys give stuff away at your church and I was wondering if you would be interested in giving away free toothpaste.  If you want some, come by the office and I will give you a big box full".

So, in the end it turned out that the dentist was being super nice and he was not out to hurt me, make me cry or terrify me.   Imagine that!  

But the words, "Hey Tim, this is Tammy from Dr. Blischak's office" still make me shudder.  :)

Hippie, Dippy or Cute?

 So it was "Would you still be my friend if I wore this?" day at school today and Sari went like this.....

The funny thing is that she had several people tell her that it was actually a really good look for her.  She got the same comment when they had "70's days" at the school (as in the 1970s not "act like a 70 year old".... that is a completely different look).  In fact, a local business owner came to the school today and when Sara finally said, "You have not commented once on my hair" his response was, "Well - what do I know? Women are always changing their hairstyles... it looks good".

So the question:  Should Sara go "Full-time hippie"?

And if so, what would her hippie name be?