UTAH!

In January, Eric and I took a special trip to Park City, Utah to chill with our friends David and Beth Anderson. We were gone for 6 days with no kids! It was a hard decision to go since we hadn't really envisioned spending money this way and because it was a long time away from the kids. I'm so glad we went though! There is more to tell about this trip than I have time for blogging, so I'm just going to throw out a few happy pictures.

We skied, quite a lot. Two days of downhill skiing and one day of cross country. As you can see, Beth is mega preggers, so she was not allowed on downhill skis. David and Beth humbly (and patiently) invited me to teach them the basics of cross country skiing, and they caught on quickly! Cross country is a great workout for a gestating mama!
Basically, it was 5 degrees in Minneapolis, and 35 degrees in Utah the whole time. It was paradise. The sun on my fair skin felt as good as a Triple Chocolate Coconut Raspberry Entirely Decadent dessert on my tongue. (I have a good imagination for things like dessert, and I really love sunshine). David (certified ski instructor) very generously spent most of two days teaching Eric to downhill ski. Although he is still struggling a bit, David dun good! Eric can remain in control at all times and actually wants to continue learning the skills. While they taught and learned and skied a bit together, and while Beth ran all our errands and cooked our food (thanks Mom!), I explored the resort solo. It was fun and exhilarating and challenging and refreshing!Then we met up and did a few runs together. David and I also got to (recklessly) ski together a bit, allowing me to ski some new runs with a companion. David also evaluated my skiing a bit and helped me to start unlearning some bad habits and catch on to some new tricks. I can't wait to hit the slopes again and practice!
When we weren't skiing, we were settling Catan, talking politics, eating delicious food, talking economics, watching Sundance films, talking A Capella, sleeping in, talking parenting, hot tubbing, talking science, looking for Eric's lost _______ (fill in the blank), talking religion, cooking, talking Jesus, gleaning Sundance freebies, talking major life decisions, and talking some more. It was a sweet time!

Thanks D & B for convincing us to make the trip, and of course taking great care of us!

Wordless Wednesday - BWCA 2010

Disapointment Lake

Eric and I just returned from a trip to the Boundary Waters with three other couples. To sum it up in a word, it was FUN. I, personally, needed to play a little bit and got many opportunities to indulge. Eric, I presume, needed a new audience for some punny jokes that have been clamoring around in his head. The humor found it's way out. FUN.

Now, like any good drama, the highs could not have been so high without a few lows. Our campsite for three days was located on a small, rocky, picturesque island on none other than Disappointment Lake. On Disappointment Lake ...

... Eric's Teva sandal strap broke, leaving him without aquatic footwear
... it rained every night
... Eric fell in the water THREE different times trying to get in our canoe
... A lovely small mouthed bass freed himself AFTER being caught
... Eric dumped A LOT of charcoal ash in our chocolate cherry cheesecake
... then Eric dumped our chocolate cherry ash cheesecake on the ground
... we ate Ash cake mixed with dirt
... two black bear found our bear tree and greeted the men at the tree one evening
... after relocating our food pack onto the mainland, a bear still found it
... our food pack was the only pack to be completely consumed by the bear, save one grimy aluminum spoon
... we borrowed the world's slowest and heaviest canoe for the trip
... we proved to be the world's slowest and heaviest paddling team
... we were met with huge gusts of wind and billowing "seas" on our way out, doubling our paddling time...

BUT, it was still so much FUN!!!

Hopefully I'll post some pictures soon.

Colorado Christmas: Day 1

Just a warm, relaxed day at 1905 Manor Lane. Esther was a little out of sorts after our 20 hours in the car the previous day. (Side note: the weather has been the talk of the town around here. That, and how we "threaded the needle" by driving out here between blizzards, only spending about 25% of our driving time in icky conditions. Interstates and highways are currently closed because of snow, ice, drifting, or all of the above, so we are glad we got here when we did!). Great Grandpa Knudtsen had a soft touch, and fussy Esther enjoyed sitting quietly with him for hours of the day.

Eva and Hope played with the assortment of toys here, some that have been passed down through generations and some that are new garage sale finds. Here Hope is playing with huge toy trains that were an extravagant gift to Great Grandpa when he was a boy.

Grandma referred to the month of December as "the great freeze", during which she baked and cooked and froze food every day. Now we are experiencing the "the great thaw", eating the fruit of her labor. She says that the real challenge is to get everything thawed on the right day and at the right time :). It is no small task to feed 28 people and still have time for plenty of card games!

...Or Scrabble games. Eric and Dalton had the highest scoring words, 120 and 108 respectively.
And what would Christmas at 1905 Manor Lane be without a few hands of "Pounce"?!? The women gathered around the table to raise their blood pressure and chip a few fingernails. The alternate name for this game is "Bloody Knuckles." Enough said!

a little of this and a little of that

This post is a brief recap of our Labor Day weekend visit to Eric's hometown. We gallivanted a little, and we sat around a little, and we worked a little, and we ate and talked a little. OK. We ate and talked a lot, but isn't that what you do when you get together with family?!? So, here comes a little bit of everything I captured on camera.

Our first destination was pure craziness: The Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion. If you're not from the rural Midwest, you would have been a total fish out of water here. But, since both Eric and I come from agrarian roots and cherish our days (or years) spent sitting on a tractor seat, we were fond of this gathering. It was really something too! I've never seen so many OLD and UNIQUE tractors in one place. It was a mecca for all things mechanical or antique. Most things were steam powered (as the title suggests) or horse powered. There were demonstrations of practically everything I could imagine that was involved in the early days of making our country the industrialized nation that it is. Brother Ryan, you would have been enthralled! It might not have been the perfect destination for a woman who was (and is) about to burst forth with child, but the day of walking and jostling along on tractor wagons couldn't have been bad for preggo here :)!

Human powered (old fashioned) teeter totters, everyone but myself took a turn!
Steam powered carousel, which the kids adored. We watched a parade of zillions of different tractors, vehicles, and steam engines. This one was cool...So was this one.... (it is water cooled with that pretty little waterfall that flows over everything. Even growing up with my dad- Mr. mechanical- I had never seen anything like this).A highlight of the trip for Eva- taking a ride around a lake on an old steam train.

Here we all are in our cattle car...We left the festival at dusk, enjoying the full moon over the wheat fields and machinery. Onto a little more of this and that- Brian, Mom, and Eric discovered that they all have the same, work-issued laptop. So, Eric spent some time guiding Mom and Brian through some of the finer features of their machines (not steam powered!). I thought maybe I could send this pic into HP for a $5.00 off coupon or something :).No trip to Crookston is complete without time spent at the farm. On this occasion, I decided that my favorite part of visiting the farm is the sound. Or lack of sound. Or perhaps just the wind. That is what you hear out there. Only wind rushing through the grasses and trees. And the occasional chicken clucking. It is peaceful, and a little like stepping back in time.

Speaking of stepping back in time, Eric took the opportunity to photograph some iconic shots of old farm equipment that is no longer in use. If you're unable to read the writing on this rusty 5 gallon pail, it says, "Asbestoline." Hmmmm.There is always something quirky and surprising to be found at the farm, and this trip did not disappoint in that regard. Y'all know about John Deere, right? But did you know about the "John Deer Stand?" That's right. A John Deere tractor, converted into a mobile deer stand machine (also not steam powered!). So, Eric and the girls went for a spin in the deer stand mobile. Who would've thought!?! The designer and engineer himself-We also clamored around in the hay loft of the barn, which is something I haven't done since I first visited the farm (when Eric was still a hopeful college girl's infatuation). Believe me, it was not the same experience to climb that rickety ladder this time around. Let's just say, my current weight is not well proportioned for ladder climbing!

This is coming back down the ladder.
Hope peered out of the big windows at the fields and trees below. Later, Grandpa took the girls for a spin in a stanky wheelbarrow. Eva's imagination was alive, imagining being a kid when this hay loft was in it's glory days. She had the perfect spot for a rope swing. Eric jumped on board the imagination train and told us that he had always wanted to host a barn dance up there. I think the Patenaude siblings might have to revisit that idea some future summer. It sounds like so much fun!

Back in town at Eric's mom's house, we spent a sunny Labor Day playing outside and getting wet. By the end of the day, the kids were ready to chill out on the couch and enjoy a few good books. So was I. (L-R: Katelyn, Eva, Elysa, Evan, me) And while we played in the yard and chilled out in the basement, Eric earned the son-of-the-year award. He spent his day attempting to install a new light fixture and fan in his mom's living room, where there was no existing wiring. He spent hours in the tiny crawl space above the house, fishing wires around, army crawling, and talking himself out of claustrophobia and panic attacks!

He was gasping for air and dripping with sweat when he finally emerged looking like a walking dust bunny! Sad, but true, the wiring work was perfect, but the light fixture and fan ended up not looking right. So after all that hard work, we ended up driving home that night with an unfinished job. Mom and I were feeling major pangs of sadness for Eric, but he claimed that working in the crawl space and living to tell about it was enough of a victory to leave him satisfied. Bless him!
So, that's the end of a "little" of this and a "lot" of that. It sure was a relaxing end of summer for us. Thanks family!

Ohio Vacation: Final Edition

Did you think I forgot all about the last days of our Ohio vacation? I know you were waiting on the edge of your seat for it (hah!). Truthfully, I've been without my computer for a week or more now, and have had to use Eric's laptop which does not house any of our family pictures. So, we were on hold. But we're back now!

So, we spent our last day in CW in a very laid back fashion. In the morning we hit some neighborhood garage sales, finding a few little treasures. The girls were starting to really melt down from all the chaos of the week. I mean -good- chaos... you know, vacationing and sightseeing is just very different from our predictable days at home. So, garage saling was not the greatest outing for hot, crabby, hungry, tired little girls. But we all survived, and maybe even had a little fun along the way.

After much needed naps, we decided to hit the CW pool. Due to Ryan's status and popularity in their small town, we were waved on through the admission gate, saving a few bucks. The girls had a lot of fun playing in the pool and meeting other little fishies to splash with. One kind little girl shared her goggles and foam noodle, which were a total thrill for our uninitiated little swimmers!Ryan and Eric goaded each other on to great acts of bravery on the 3 m. diving board, which (to me) seemed like child's play after the cliff jumping adventure earlier in the week. For some reason, they were both a little nervous about the high dive, but by the end of the afternoon they had conquered their fears. Stephanie even took a turn, making a great splash in her sunny, yellow swimsuit. After pool fun, we headed back to the house for pizza and packing. We sat on the patio eating small town pizza and drinking Ryan's home brew (except I drank water :). And watching Thor gnaw on unripe black walnuts. It was perfectly restful.

I have no recollection of our activities after pizza, aside from lots of packing and puting little children to bed. I do recall my last full night's sleep on the world's most comfortable couch though (a pregnant woman says so!). We slept in every morning in CW, and both Eric and I LOVED sleeping on the long brown couches. They were perfectly supportive and cushy, and for some reason we woke each day feeling wonderfully rested. I'd say that is a great feat to be accomplished by couch sleeping!

Anyway, after one more night on the couches, we quietly slipped out the door and into the van at 6:15 the next morning. Mercifully, the weather was basically cool and rainy most of the way home. We had another excellent day of travelling, sans air conditioning, and made excellent time cruising across the Midwest. Once we hit the MN border it was like a switch flipped, and the girls immediately started bugging each other. So, 30 minutes from home, we pulled over for our first and only disciplinary action in the car. All in all, after 30 total hours of driving, they did well and I cannot complain! We're already planning our next journey East, although we're doubtful it will be next summer. Maybe the following year, and maybe I'll be 28 weeks pregnant on arrival as it's been the last two trips!

And that's all about the Ohio vacation.

Ohio Vacation Day 6

We've been busy, busy, busy around here, so I haven't had much free time for blogging. I'm back to chronicling the Ohio trip for two more days though.

On Thursday of the great adventure, we took a much anticipated trip to the Columbus Zoo. This zoo is rated one of the top zoos in the nation, and, based on our experience, it certainly lived up to it's reputation! We only saw about 2/5 of the whole zoo, but it was really fun and we can't wait to go back and see the rest.

One unique thing at the zoo right now is the baby elephant exhibit. Apparently it is very rare for baby elephants to be born in captivity, and we were lucky enough to see one. We waited in line for 30 minutes or so, but it was definitely worth it. The elephant calf was super cute, and watching the mama and baby interact was really endearing. We didn't take any pictures of the actual animal, but here is one of the girls sitting on a bronze elephant outside the exhibit. Here we are eating lunch in the zoo. The girls picked out all sorts of junky snacks to bring along in our little brown bags (is there anyone else out there who is inexplicably fond of brown paper bags?!?) along with PBJs and fruits and veggies.I'd like to prove that we actually saw animals at the zoo, but I took very few pictures. Here is a sting ray in the aquarium exhibit, just for proof :).

At the end of the day, upon realizing that I had been negligent with the camera, I made the girls sit in front of a huge photo of a frog. Enormous frog pictures shout "I went to the zoo!", right?!?

Eva quickly shifted to silly faces, so there aren't too many great shots. We indulged the eldest daughter by allowing her to get her face painted, so you can see the really sweet green bird she chose here.

Final installment coming soon... stay tuned!

Ohio Vacation Days 4 and 5

Continuing on our journey, reliving last week's vacation, I present Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday was quite a day. We left mid-morning to drive to Northern Kentucky with the Creation Museum and Cincinnati as our destinations. As a science/math education major, Ryan loves the Creation Museum. Being that we believe in the intelligent design and the account of the book of Genesis, we were interested to see it too. It ended up being a nice museum and professionally put together, although truthfully it wasn't the highlight of our vacation. Still, we were glad to have seen it.

We crammed all seven of us into our minivan for the 2.5 hour drive, discovering along the way that our Air Conditioning had most certainly gone kaput. It was a hot day, and with all of us together in the car, and being pregnant, it wasn't the best ride ever. But, everybody kept a good attitude, even when Eva screamed, "my whole back is wet and my underwear too!" referring to our sweaty state of existence. Thor didn't much like being able to see his mother the whole time we were driving (she was in the way back with Hope and me), so he gave us a sampling from his vocal chords. Hope just kept trying to convince us, "I all done car seat, mommy." Anyway, we arrived no worse for the wear, and feeling a little more "bonded" as a family.

The museum consisted of several exhibits depicting the creation of the world, using lots of Bible references and confirming evidence from the scientific world. The girls enjoyed the wax displays of the Garden of Eden and Noah's Ark a lot, though the actual dinosaurs on display were a big highlight for Eva. I thought the planetarium was awesome. In addition to the museum, there was a huge garden and petting zoo outside, which we enjoyed too.

Originally, we planned to stay the night in Cincinnati and enjoy the old city on the Ohio River the next day. But through a series of mishaps, we ended up deciding to have dinner then drive back late to Canal W. We imagined that we could find some cool outdoor dining spot near the river, but alas, after an hour of scouring the city in our hot minivan on empty stomachs, we ended up in a hopping little section of down town. The food was good, and our high spirits were revived, despite the change of plans. After departing from downtown, in a stroke of pure genius, Eric and Ryan found the most delicious frozen yogurt I have ever tasted. Truly, if you find yourself in Cincinnati, you MUST try Yagoot Frozen Yogurt. Hot and sweaty, after tasting the mango yogurt with fresh raspberries, Stephanie proclaimed, "I feel like I just took a refreshing shower." Mmmmmmm. And then we drove back home, arriving late with sleepy babes. Pictures-

Wax Adam, enjoying paradise and some dinosaurs.
Hope looking up with awe at a dinosaur skeleton.
Eva is a little reserved at petting zoos, but Hope was all about giving this camel a big hug. For the record, Eva would tell you that she did pet the zebra!

Very tired little girl finally fell asleep in the dark planetarium. Yes!

Once we were settled at our patio dining experience, we all let off a little steam. The goofiness ensues-The girls and Thor sacked out in the car on the way back... so sweet!
Day 5??? I already blogged it up- check out our historical farm outing here.