Reunion, Dauphin, Clear lake, Family, etc week

The Homestead

The Family


Clear Lake

Reunion (Amy and Joel on the right)

At the beach

The Girlies

In Riding Mountain Park

Big Reunion Picture

Our Clear Lake transportation

Ice Cream at the Lake

Josh and Jeanine's Boy Jonah wearing his Rider gear (being raised well - even in the USA)

Jonah wanted to try my motorcycle gear one day

Sari and her mom

Clear Lake Sunset

Sari and me at Clear Lake

Just for a laugh or two

Hey.... my buddy Darin sent me this - have a look and tell me what you think. :)



PS. We are home from a fun filled time at the Muller reunion (no - seriously - it was fun!) and from spending time up in the Dauphin/Clear Lake area with Sari's family (no - seriously - it was fun!). :)

Thanks to Shady Shane, I got to go to the last Rider game (no - seriously - it was fun).

Dave showed us around the Manson area and told us a bunch of stories about the old farm. He also showed us the places where the school and church building from his childhood used to stand (that was interesting).

Then we ended up back at Kenosee for our church's weekend at camp. Nice weather - nice people - great food - terrible football game (you can't have everything I guess).

So what can I tell you.... beaches, ice cream, family, hot weather, lemonade, football games... we even saw a mother bear and her cub (up close!!!). Stay tuned... pictures and more commentary to follow in the coming days.

Bismarck Pics

Pretty self-explanatory.... see post below for details.

What we have been up to

Sari could have a new job if she wanted.... as an ambassador for Bismarck, North Dakota. We spent 5 days there last week and we all really liked it - but Sari in particular.

Our intent was to just go somewhere nearby and relax for a few days - so we chose Bismarck. Neither Sari or I had been there in 15+ years so we did not know what we would find, whether we would like it, etc - but it was good.

First, our hotel had a huge water slide (which Megan - in particular - made good use of) and it was right across the street from the big mall in town - about twice the size of Minot's (which Sari and Katie -in particular - made good use of).

Second, there are lots of parks by the Missouri river - so we spent parts of several days down by the river and even a little in the river. On our last night. we went on a sunset cruise on a paddle boat - it was nice.

They had a nice little zoo (biggest in North Dakota apparently) so we spent a whole afternoon there.

And we were there in time for the fourth of July fireworks - that was something. Held on the grounds of the state capital building - thousands of people gathered on the lawn - playing football, playing catch, just relaxing, lots of flags - very much a slice of Americana. To add to the experience, the Bismarck symphony played for a couple of hours - and also played during the fireworks display (the 1812 overture and that sort of stuff). Given the fact that it is the state capital, the fireworks were really good! Their finale had as many fireworks as most of our entire Canada Day fireworks - it was really nice.

So we shopped - I went to a couple of motorcycle places - we made ourselves sick on restaurant food (4-5 days is enough for me), we went and saw "Toy Story 3" in 3D (that was interesting too because the theater has 15 screens and each theater has a different theme.... we were in "Pharaoh's Palace" - so think purple curtains on the wall, Egyptian art, columns and 1500 lights in the ceiling to represent the flickering stars overhead.... very cool) - we stayed up too late (1 am most nights) and slept in too late (almost 11 am most mornings)..... it was great! Stopped in Minot on our way home and got here Friday night.

Last night Katie and I went to the stock car races (I was a little late getting there and the announcers were wondering where I was - they were about to page me to see if I was going to come and do the invocation...... I am needed now! Soon I am going to run the place..... insert evil laugh here). Actually, I love that.... I am meeting new people, getting to know the track people better - to me it is cool. Really close racing - two roll overs - a couple of big "incidents" on the front straight - unfortunately someone in the stands got hit with debris from a crashed car (good thing we prayed for safety hey?). It was quite a night.

While we were at the track, Sari and Mumpy babysat a little boy named Liam.... one of the teachers from school is his mom. He was so funny. About a month old - content as could be - almost made Katie and me stay home from the races..... but not quite. First time momma had left him with anyone, so she cried more than he did - but that was a nice thing too.

So tonight our family is doing one of its favorite summer Estevan things.... we are going to "Souris Valley Theatre" - a live professional theatre company that does comedies and stuff down in Woodlawn park. It is a yearly tradition that we have been doing for 16+ years (It used to be a Sari and me tradition which has now grown to involve the kids). We are really looking forward to that

Tomorrow we are back out to the race track for the "Dakota Modified tour" - a big race of the fastest cars from all over (Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas.... ) it is truly bizarre to see how fast some of these guys are and how much money they have in some of their cars.

Tuesday we are going to a wedding celebration for a girl from church named Jasmine. She grew up here - coming to church since she was like 2 - got married in Toronto a few weeks ago so the celebration here for them is this week.

Also this week, Sari Brother Josh and his family are coming here prior to going to a Muller reunion this coming weekend - so we are looking forward to seeing them.

We set up the pool in the backyard yesterday and I can hear it filling as I type (should be ready to use by tomorrow)

And because a buddy of mine (Sahdy Shane) was given tickets, I am going to sneak away from the family reunion and go to the Rider game this coming Saturday. I am looking forward to that too (the game - not necessarily the sneaking away part)

So lots going on - we are hanging around the area mostly but doing fun things.... off to Dauphin next week, Estevan's weekend at camp after that, back here, away...... I am sort of on a "one week on/one off" schedule for most of the summer. Not sure whether that will be great or bad - we will see I guess.

So - that is likely long enough hey? Thanks for reading. Will post some pics when Sari downloads them off the camera

Beaches, Sunburns, races and other things

Ok - due to the overwhelming response to my last post (seriously - I thought it would take 868768 days to get four people to show up at the blog) - I decided to fill you in on a few of the happenings of the past week.....

- Monday: Sari's parents were here - last day of school for the girls. Sari and I went to a Hillcrest school staff BBQ that night - very nice!

- Tuesday: Sari's last day of school. After work I went on a fishing trip with Bill Muirhead, Adam and Trinda and the youth group from church. Just out to Rafferty south of Bill's farm.... as for fishing - let's just say that with 15 - 20 of us fishing - no one went hungry (we had hot dogs at Bill and Mary's afterwards..... no one caught a thing) :(

- Wednesday: Sari and the girls mocked me for having to go to work (ok - maybe that only happened in my head - but it seemed real). Sari got some paper work and stuff done before vacation - the kids started whining about how bored they were now that school was out... ok - that actually did not start until the next day but..... (Seriously - they are not the "bored" type - always something going on)

- Thursday: Slept in (sort of) - I went for a motorcycle ride - we all went out to the beach (I haven't seen that many people out there in a while) - got a bit of a sunburn - in to town to watch the rodeo parade (Rodeo was starting on Canada Day this year) - ate DQ ice cream thanks to Richard (for like the past 5 years or more out buddy Richard has given the girls money and sent them to DQ to buy Dilly bars - we pass them out to the church people who are hanging around and then - if there are any left - he hands them out to strangers - it is cool) - out to Beinfait to Jeff and Velma's with all the church people for a wiener roast - then walked down to watch fireworks at the school - then home and started watching the rider game that I had PVRed - to bed at 3 am.

- Friday: Sari was doing some work for the Muller reunion, so I went golfing at North Portal with Shady Shane (sadly for her that is sort of how it always sounds/is..... Sari works - I play - poor girl) - back from that and then out to the beach again to work on the sunburns some more (I have a doozy going now) - back in for supper and then Katie and I went to the Stock car races (some of the best racing I have seen out there - I got to do the invocation again - I have pretty much taking over that job..... first the invocation..... next I will be running the place.... insert evil laugh).

- Saturday: Got van ready for short trip to Bismarck coming up - packed some - went to a 50th anniversary tea for Vern and Norma (nice visiting with a bunch of people I have not seen in a long time) - home for supper - then over to the rodeo (I told my Korean reader buddy Juwon that I would take him to the rodeo as he had never seen one before). We really enjoyed that - fireworks finished off the night for us.


So there you go - a week in the life of....... will report more in a couple of days and post some pictures too (though not of the sunburn!). :)

Anybody out there?

So it has been over a month since I posted anything on this blog and I was wondering.... Is there any point? Have blogs gone the way of the dodo bird?

I will add some new stuff - but I don't want to waste my time - so here is the deal.... if you are still checking this thing and thinking, "Why is there nothing new on here?" - please leave a comment on this post. I will wait a week or so..... if there are no comments - then I will know that it is not worth my time - but if someone is still looking at it - I will update it.

Power to the people, right? Have at it! :)

Tomatonauts and other things

So Megan has a cool school experiment at home right now.... a "Tomatonaut"...... it is a tomato plant from some seeds that were up on the International Space Station. How cool is that? They are growing them to see if there are any differences between them and regular earth bound tomatoes. I really do not care much about the experiment itself.... I just like the name "Tomatonaut" - I think it is funny. (Actually, I am interested in one thing about the experiment..... How did they get each of the seeds into their little tiny space suits????? I mean Tomato seeds don't have hands so......) Anyway, if nothing else I have a cool nickname for the girls now, "Come here you Tomatonauts" - ah the memories.

And for those of you who have been worried about Murphy.... not to mention our bank account..... he appears to be on the mend. Stitches have dissolved (or he ate them - one way or the other they are gone) and the cut seems to be ok. As for the picture of Murphy in his "cone head" thing (which by the way is extremely funny!).... Sari and the girls think it is hard on Murphy's feelings and somewhat embarrassing to post a picture of him wearing it...... so (obviously) I am going to have to do it when they aren't looking. Keep checking back! :)

That's about right!

(If you have not read yesterday's post - please read it first - you will need the background)

I do not believe in Karma - that the universe somehow evens things out. I do believe, though, that "If you don't have something good to say, you should just not say anything".

That phrase was rolling through my mind last night as I slandered our dog Murphy by telling everyone how much money he has cost us over the years, how clumsy he is, etc. I actually thought, "I should not be writing this" - not because I felt bad about slandering him (he doesn't have internet access in his kennel anyway so I doubt he would be reading anything I wrote about him - and since he does not have opposable thumbs he can't turn on the computer anyway ), but because I figured that this was not quite the end of the story yet (It is never as painful as it first seems - it is usually more painful) ...... and I was right!

Last night Murphy decided to eat the bandages off of his paw and rip out the stitches! (He is a smart dog..... an overachiever really).

So Sari took him back to the vet this morning - more anesthetic (which is doing wonderful things to his digestive tract just by the way) - more stitches - more whimpering and whining (from both him and me) - and one more payment on the vet's boat (I have never actually seen anyone's eyes turn into dollar signs like they do on the cartoons.... until our vet met our dog. He is now planning a trip to the French Riviera - we are very happy for him!) :(

They admitted that it was partially their fault as they failed to give us a "cone head" thing for him so that he would not be able to eat his bandage.... and we admitted it was partially our fault because we said "yes" to getting a dog in the first place - so we each paid 1/2 the bill this time around (which seems like a real deal.... until you think about it for more than 2 consecutive seconds).

He is still too dopey to eat his bandage right now (or is it that the drugs have made him less dopey ....... because you have to be pretty dopey to eat a bandage..... either way - he is not eating it) but when we do put the cone head thing on him - I promise I will post a picture. (Yes I know that is a rude - embarrassing - humiliating thing to do to him.... but he has to learn someway. Maybe (if he gets internet access and sees his picture spread across the World Wide Web) it will shame him into acting differently.

Or maybe it will just make me feel better. Either way - I am good with it.

Seriously!!!! (Where is my "rolling my eyes" Smiley here?)

Many of you know my "love/hate" relationship with our dog Murphy. I can't really remember why I have trouble liking him sometimes....... Oh - wait - it is coming back to me...... I think it had something to do with him getting sick and costing us like $1200 in the first month that we had him.

No matter what we do with this dog - he seems to get hurt. Like the time last spring when I took him for a run after a long winter of lying around (for both of us) and he tore up the pads on his paws so badly that we had to wrap them up and keep them moist for two weeks until they healed.

Now the other day we went for a walk - decided, "Wouldn't it be nice to let him run up that hill to chase the girls?" Let him off his leash - he runs up the hill - comes back limping and bloody. Have a look and he has cut his leg just above the paw right down to the bone in one place. So off to the vet today - almost $300 later he is stitched up and ready to go again - though I don't think that we are going to let him go anywhere ever again at this rate.

You have heard that cats have nine lives.... I am the only person who owns a dog that has vet bills like he has lived nine lives! I am surprised he did not drown fetching stick in the dam in the picture above. Good thing he didn't start to - my girls would have made me give him mouth to mouth I am sure.

Oh well - what good is having a pet if you can't help your vet pay for his brand new boat - one visit at a time???? :)

Pictures

So the past week has been busy..... Megan's baptism..... Katie was in a play at school.... we have been working in the yard..... I took my motorcycle on a 200 km ride Friday afternoon..... we worked at the "Collage Cultural Festival" in town..... we went to the races at the Speedway where I got to do the invocation..... church stuff today - singing at a nursing home...... it has been something.

Here are some pictures of the girls...... a baptism and a "man"??????

Biker outreach

Our church has a unique feature...... a bike gang!

Another guy just bought a motorcycle today and so I think that makes about 7 or 8 of us that have them now. A few of us took Corey on his inaugural ride and "bike gang hazing ritual" (we made him buy us coffee at Tim Horton's...... I know that is not exactly a mean biker hazing - but it was really cold and we needed something to drink)

Currently we are searching for a 6 foot 10 inch 250 + guy to join the church (and then the bike gang) just in case Paul tries to start another rumble at the Tasty Freeze in Newtown, North Dakota like he did last year.

Apply any Sunday morning!

Megan's Baptism

Megan was baptized tonight. She has been talking about it off and on for a year or so - and she decided that tonight was the night.

It was really nice.... lots of people from church.... a bunch of her friends from school..... a nice gathering of people who care about her. It was simple but good! If you were able to be there, thanks for coming! If not, we wish you had been there.

I will try to get pictures posted in the next couple of days.

A Working weekend

Some weekends you lie around in the sun, reading and doing nothing.... this was not that weekend! First of all, it was not sunny and, secondly, we did not lie around.

It started on Thursday night when I took a whole winter's worth of junk to the dump. It was free dump week - and who can resist "free" right?

Friday I went and helped some new people at church (Russ and Donna) move from their apartment to their new house. I think that every preaching course should contain a few semesters dedicated to "Heavy Lifting" and "The proper use of furniture carts", because in my 20 years of preaching, I think I have helped 869045689489078 people move. Not that I am complaining.... in fact this was sort of fun. About 6 guys showed up to help - which was nice. Then too, we were moving them from the top of a three story building to a house - not the other way around. Coming down the stairs is the much nicer proposition. It was quick, a good work out and a good visit some good friends. All in all, a nice day (even the rain was good - cooled us off).

The next day, Sari and the girls went to help one of our other friends wipe down the walls of their new house so that they can move in next weekend. While there were gone, I went to the lumber yard and bought enough wood to start framing out my old work room in the basement of the house so that it can become Katelyn's bedroom. I also ran around town buying shots and nails for my Hilti gun (the thing that uses 22 shells to blow nails into a concrete floor - that is about the best part of framing). After that, I started some demolition in the room (some of the original framing was done with econo studs and it was all out of line/out of square etc). Not sure when I will get done, but I least it is a start.

That night we started moving things around in the garage (to accommodate a bunch of the things that were taken out of the work room). In that process, I decided to hang a bunch of my Nascar stuff on the walls in the garage (instead of just leaving it in bags where no one can see it). I will post pictures of it sometime - I think it looks nice.

Today - three sessions at church - our annual "High school Graduation lunch" (a chance to honour kids we know who are graduating - give them a Bible - say some nice things to them - etc) - a counseling session after evening Bible study for an hour..... all good stuff - but a busy weekend.

In there too I found time to watch some hockey, some racing, "City Slickers" (it was on TV - still funny!)...... so don't feel too bad for us..... it was not all work! :)

PS. I am losing in my family hockey pool but I am second in the radio station one. For me to move up in the family pool I need the guys in the radio pool to lose (and vice versa). I am very conflicted!

Car show and stuff

Every April, the "Majestic's Car Club" in Regina has a car show. I went to it when I was in grade 11 or 12 and ever since then (almost every year) I have said, "I should go to Majestic's this year".... and then I don't! So this year - I did!

Shady Shane (a buddy from town) and I met a couple of other guys (Dennis and Justin) up there and went to the show. It was really fun! In particular, I really enjoyed visiting with the guy who had the late model stock car shown in the picture above. When I walked up and started looking at it he said, "Jump in - see what it feels like" - so I did and then got out and visited with him about the car, the tracks in Regina and S'toon, the tour, the costs of running a car - it was cool.

The show had everything from older cars done up in original condition, to hot rods, to custom bikes and even a Lotus. A Bible camp was selling tickets on a brand new Harley - draw being made on Father's day - so there are going to be 3 999 sad little Daddies when I drive away with that bike! :)

From there we went to Princess Auto, Peavey Mart and a motorcycle shop. When I got home the girls had started a fire in the fire pit so we sat outside and enjoyed the nice night with the first camp fire of the season.

I almost stayed home. I had other things that I could have/should have been doing around the house and what sense does it make to go to Regina just to look at a bunch of cars..... but I am glad I went. It was a good day!

You know you live in a Redneck town when...

Three examples.....

1. Vanity plate on a car that I saw today...... "Sea ya" (Now maybe "See ya" was taken but how about "C ya" or something...... it ain't a boat!)

2. Neighbourhood kid (child of the people that we used to refer to as "The Hillbillies") rides her bike down the block (usually plays in the street but that is another matter).... runs into the side of my motorcycle! There literally is not another vehicle parked on our side of the street for the whole block and this kid still hits my bike.... she falls over.... lays on the ground for a while.... after about 3 minutes - without crying or saying a word - just gets up and rides off like nothing happened. Sari sees this and tells me about - so while I am out checking the bike to make sure nothing is wrecked I overhear this conversation between the kid and her dad - 20 feet from me.....

Kid: I ran into that motorcycle

Dad: Well.... did you scratch it?

And that was it! Didn't ask about the kid. Didn't acknowledge the fact that I was now 10 feet away looking at the bike..... no "Hey I am so sorry man!" Nothing! Just taking the word of a 4 year old kid.... "Did you scratch it? No? Good!"..... and that was it. Then they played in the front yard and on the street as if we did not exist (which is odd b/c we usually can't get them to stop talking).... "If you don't acknowledge it.... it didn't happen!" :)


3. Actual conversation at school recently.

Dad: Here is my kid's band instrument. He forgot it at home.

Sari: Oh - I think they had band already - he missed it

D: Well - that is ok. I don't see why he has to take band anyway - that is stupid. That and french - two stupidest things in the world

S: Well - he does not have to take band next year. He gets a choice I guess, but he may want to keep up with it - and with french - good to have in high school

D: My kid ain't going to high school. He is droppin' out after grade nine. All I got is my grade nine and I am making $1000 a day in the oil field. Kid doesn't need to waste his time in school. He gonna go and get a job and do something with his life. Sit in school - that is just stupid! :)


And there you have it......if you have seen or heard these things - you may live in a redneck town.


PS. Still waiting on someone to give and opinion re. the Tim Horton's winner rule - buyer wins - yes or no (See below)

That is funny!

So I a friend of mine - lets call him "Sally" (why? Because I like the name Sally and no one ever names their kids Sally anymore. Why is that? When is the last time you met a Sally? Does anyone know a Sally? Seriously! Even more rare would be a guy named Sally - so that is the name I am giving him to protect his identity because it is not really Sally) - came and got me for coffee this afternoon. We ended up going to Tim Horton's and - because Sally drove - I paid.

We sit down at the table and I offer Sally the choice of "roll up the rim" cups and he chooses one. I look at mine - nothing (I have not won a thing all year). Sally rolls his up and it says, "Win a netbook!"

Sally says, "What is a netbook?"

I explain that it is a mini-computer.... worth maybe $300 - 400.

Now here is the question: What should Sally have done at that point?

I bought the coffee - but I gave Sally the choice of cups. Sally chose his and I got what was left over (by my choice - I could have gone first but didn't).

Should Sally have said, "You bought coffee - it is your cup and your computer" or did Sally win on the cup that was Sally's and the computer is his?

As it turns out, Sally said, "Lets go claim this thing". He got the form to fill out and that was that. Sally is taking the computer.... and the funny part is that Sally does not like computers - Sally does not even have an internet connection. :)

It may turn out that Sally comes back and offers it to me after all, but even if not - it is worth it just to have this story to tell. :)

PS. Please don't ask the identity of "Sally" - I could tell you but then.... well you know the next part right? :)

Thatsa Nice!

I am not sure why I wrote the subject line with a cheesy Italian accent, but none the less we had a nice weekend. Sari had an unexpected meeting for the magazine that she helps with (ask if you need more details there) so we ended up going to Regina and hanging out with the Mooneys Friday night and Saturday.

- We stayed up way too late Friday night (2 am I think)

- Fed my "I want to go to New York" addiction by looking at their pictures and hearing about their trips out there

- We walked around Wascana - along with everyone else who lives within 30 hours of the place (Don't get me wrong - it was nice - but obviously it was the first nice Saturday of the year b/c everyone was out there)

- We got slurpees and played road hockey in the back yard

- Then today church was good - especially our Bible study tonight (if you have not come you are missing out - it is really interesting to hear what people have to share)

- We worked in the yard for a while this afternoon

- And I went for my first motorcycle ride of the year. I put plates on it on Friday, but I was so busy changing oil in our vehicles and getting ready to go to Regina that I did not have time to ride. (Funny thing: I went to SGI to get the bike registered and there were like 5 people in line.... then more and more came in.... until we had a group of about 10 people. The last guy to come in said, "Huh - I thought I would just run in here - plate my bike and be gone quick". The guy behind me said, "Me too". The guy in front of me said, "I am plating my bike too". I said, "Me too". All 10 of us were there to put plates on bikes. It must be spring)

So - a nice weekend - a good day - hopefully a good week as well.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!!

Wwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! NHL playoffs start tonight!!!

The first round especially = 4 games per night, drama, tension, late nights, double overtime that goes till 1 am, lost sleep..... it is great! :)

The good news: I am in two hockey pools this playoffs (One family pool and one with the guys at the radio station in town)

The bad news: I got beat by two little girls in our regular season family pool!

The good news: They are my kids, so I can claim part of the victory as they have my genetics

The bad news: In both playoff pools I ended up taking a bunch of guys from two teams that I do not like (LA and Philadelphia)

The Good news: My brother in law is a Philly fan - so I will either have someone to celebrate with or someone to cry with

The bad news: San Jose lost in the last minute tonight (I have Nabokov - SJ's goalie in the radio station pool)

The good news: Detroit lost (I have none of them- others have lots)

The bad news: I have not won the family pool in a long time (came in 2nd and 3rd a lot - no wins)

The good news: The guy in the radio pool gave everyone cool nicknames like "Spittin' Matt Litton" and "Rippin' us Tim Pippus" (Not bad - what are you gonna do with Pippus??? I think he did ok)

The bad news: I now have to wait almost 24 hours for the next game to start!

The good news: There are lots more games to come

The bad news: It is going to be really hard to stay awake all day after a few double overtime games b/c my office is so sunny and warm and my chair is so soft and recliney and there is no one else in the building and it is hard to read when you are tired and after a while the words all run together and the traffic noise is sort of lullying and ...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Why Not Minot????

Ok - so I have not been a good blogger lately - I will try to remedy that this week. Part of the problem is the "No pressure" aspect of not having to blog every day. No commitment = no writing... but I will see what I can do.

The other issue is that we went away for three days and I was completely "computer free" - in fact, I had a total "computer-ectomy" (Something that - having survived the procedure - I would recommend to everyone once in a while). I did not touch a computer... I did not look at a computer... I did not even sit down in front of the free one at the hotel.... nothing! And guess what???? Contrary to popular belief - the world did not stop spinning.... I did not really lose any "quality of life" by not knowing every time one of Sari Facebook friends blew their nose..... NOTHING BAD HAPPENED!!!! (Spread the word!!!!!!)

In fact, some really nice things happened.....

- We went to Minot for a few days (more in a moment) and just relaxed! It was great! I even enjoyed wandering around the mall (which I normally HATE!!!!) I guess that is what happens when you get trapped in town for like 8 straight months - it makes you appreciate freedom!

- On the way down, we took a detour over to Newtown so that the girls could see the big lake/bridge etc. They whined about it a bit.... "Lets just go to Minot" - but in the end they were really impressed and had a lot of fun looking around (Sari even got "Whooped" at by a passing car as we walked a trail by the highway - nice hey?) :)

- In Minot we just hung out, shopped, ate out - I went to motorcycle shops - nothing intense - but really really nice. Good just to hang out together with nothing to do.

- I even brought out "the special wallet" (The is a quote from a Scottish comedian we saw one time who said, "I bought ice cream cones for the kids.... note the plural.... two cones... because when I am on holiday I bring out the 'Special wallet'")...... so we ate ice cream at this 1950's dinner place (some one told us the shakes were good)..... we went to a 3-D movie (the girls really liked that.... and we got some "cool" glasses out of the deal)...... the girls bought enough stuff to load the whole back of the van (When i got home I realized I should have spend more on myself - just in "self-defense")

- I did buy three NASCAR coats though.... regularly $60 - 80 dollars ...... on sale for $5 each (I did not even need the special wallet for those ones). They are not teams that I particularly like so I may just give them away.... but $5!!!!! I could not just leave them there.

But the best was just being there together. We laughed and hung out and stayed up too late and slept in too long and drank too much coke and ate too much chocolate..... and it was great! I am looking forward to summer holidays now..... and to the next weekend getaway. Hopefully it will not be another 8 months away.

Hiking, snakes and water

Sunday afternoon found us out at the dam again - walking along the shore - throwing rocks in the water - trying to determine what kind of skull we found on the beach (after some research tonight I am saying it was a White Tail deer head).

Not only did we find dead things - we also found some living ones..... snakes!!! Sari was walking ahead of me and all heard was this yelping scream - turns out that she almost stepped on a garter snake. There were actually two of them ahead of us - so we watched them for a while (I did not pick this one up this time) - it was neat b/c he was out enjoying the nice sunny day like the rest of us - so we just left him alone.

Shady Shane and his boys met us out there so that was fun too. We don't get to see them that often these days. The we ran into a whole bunch of our Ukrainian friends who were out there having a picnic and playing "football" (soccer) - it was cool to see them all together - speaking their own language and having fun. I am certain too that the laughter after I left had nothing to do with the Ukrainian comment that one of them made while pointing at me..... right????? (Actually - I just made that part up - those guys just would not do that - they are about the nicest and most respectful people around - good guys)

Church this morning was nice too. I often get up and say "Well - lots of people are away today" (usually about 30 on any given Sunday - a different 30 every week but 30 none the less) but today most people were there (a handful still missing) and it was really nice! Nice to see the place full - nice to have to look for a table to sit at during lunch b/c they are all full - nice to hear the singing with that many people - nice to see people smiling b/c it is nice out...... it was just nice.

On a not so nice note: My mom's husband's brother passed away this weekend. He had been battling cancer. The family knew that it was just a matter of time and so it was not a surprise - but not easy either. Mom and Laurie are coming down tomorrow for "prayers" tomorrow night and then the funeral is Tuesday in Lampman. It will be nice to see mom and Laurie - but the circumstances could be nicer.

So - off to another week. Looking forward to our trip to Minot over Easter break. It is not an exotic destination - but I am really looking forward to just getting out of town - seeing something new - eating out - wandering the mall (some) - going to the motorcycle shops - sitting in the hot tub....... it is going to be lovely!!!!

Have a good week!