Wednesday, June 26, 2013

A New Home For Us

We've been a busy family!  After a very COLD April and May which found us tromping throught the snow and muck to look at myriad houses, we finally found one to buy.   We spent most of May packing up and getting ready to move, and most of June unpacking and trying to find a spot for everything.  But first, let's take a look at that cold April, shall we?

April SNOW Showers

For those of you who didn't know, my birthday is on April 18th.  I always remember by birthday as a bright green time, with flowers sprouting and warm breezes blowing.  My sweet husband greeted me in the morning with this birthday message.



Yes, folks, those are q-tips.

But as I looked outside, this is what greeted me...on my birthday....which is April 18th....SPRINGTIME!!






As you can see, the snow continued all throughout the day and evening and into the next day as well.  Sigh.  But just 11 days later, this is what our yard looked like.



What was left of our awesome qhinzee.


Spring finally did come and now we're into summer even though that has been colder than expected as well.  But we did manage to finally hit 90 degrees yesterday.  It was heavenly!


Gymnastics

Cate and Clare were able to showcase the skills they've been learning in gymnastics this year at the Spring Fun Meet.  They both did great and had a lot of fun.



Cate and Clare waiting to perform


Clare on the bars


Cate on the bars


Clare receiving her medal.
Mother's Day and Fish Squeezing

By May all the snow was gone and we had a purchase agreement in place.  We had started packing but took the day off to celebrate Mother's Day.  And how do you celebrate Mother's Day in the Northwoods, you may ask?  Why you go to lunch and then watch some fish being squeezed, of course!  My family treated me to a wonderful lunch at Florio's.  Note the northwoods decor.  You can't get away from it up here but it's cozy and nice.  Here I am with all my monkeys.


Then we went to the Cut Foot Sioux spawning sight to watch the MN DNR collect walleye eggs to promote healthy fish populations in MN lakes.  You can read more about that operation HERE.

The ice wasn't even all the way out on the lakes but the fish were ready to go!  They have quite a system.



They net as many walley as they can then separate out the males and the females...don't ask me how they know. 





Then they grab a female and literally squeeze the eggs out of her and into a bucket with a little lake water.  Then they throw her back into the lake.


Then they grab a male and squeeze his sperm into the bucket then swirl the concoction to promote fertilization.  They throw the males back into the net.  There aren't as many males as females and they can use the males for several more days (the operation runs about 10 days).

After a minute or two, they pour the fertilized eggs into a sieve system and gently clean the fertilized eggs before depositing them in a cooler of lake water.


Next year maybe you can be lucky enough to watch the fish squeezers for your Mother's Day Celebration!  In all seriousness, it was a beautiful day to be outside, it was an interesting operation for this biologist to watch, the kids thought it was cool and we played at a park afterwards.  It was a very nice way to spend the day.


Packing
After that, it was time to get serious about packing.  We worked into the night many times but got everything boxed and loaded on time and had a day to clean out the house before we left. 




Our New House

And then we were off to our new house across town.   Here are some pictures of our new place.  We have a lot of plans for the place which will take some time, but for now we're pretty content.


Front of house


A workshop for Scotty!


Our side yard...nice big yard!


Our big backyard and garden...soon to be a much bigger garden!


The new pool we just bought the kids to keep them occupied while mommy unpacks.


This is the view out our front windows.  Very park-like but it's someone's yard!  We have no houses in front of us or behind us.


Clare at the kitchen island with the breakfast mess.

Our kitchen


Our living room/entertainment center


Our Deck

Our basement family room

We did manage to go camping one weekend near the twin cities at William O'Brien State park to attend my cousin's wedding reception.  And we managed to make it to our lake property for a day, too.  But I couldn't find the camera at that time so no pictures. 

We are getting to know our neighbors and so far we like everyone.  The kids have found another little girl who lives down the block and it looks like they will all become good friends. 

The kids have been keeping busy with camps...basketball and volleyball for Catie and College For Kids for all of them.  Cooper will start up T-ball in July and then they will all go to VBS at the end of July.  Why oh why doesn't anyone have any camps in August!!??  That's when mammas are really going nuts and need the break!  Oh well.  We'll probably camp a lot in August.  We should be mostly unpacked by then and have a few projects under our belts.

We would love it if anyone wants to come visit us this summer!  We are just one block away from Pokegama Lake boat landing so bring your boat.  We may try to invest in a pontoon for ourselves this year.  When you're so close, why not!?

Enjoy the warm weather.  We definitely are!!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

A New Year Brings Changes...Again

Our new year started sadly.  Our sweet old dog, Attley (a.k.a. Big Dog), has gone on to greener pastures.  And oh how we miss him!  We knew he was slowing down but were still surprised at how quickly he declined once we knew for sure something was wrong.  He made it through all the traveling during the holidays (barely).  But once we got home we saw him quickly declining.  A visit to the vet showed many cancerous tumors in his lungs which they believed had metastasized from another main tumor in his abodomen.  We were able to have the vet come to our house to put him to sleep and we were all there loving him up and telling him what a good boy he was.  It was very sad and we shed many tears but we were thankful he wasn't suffering anymore. 


Here is a picture of Cooper helping Attley to feel better.
 It's taken us a bit to get used to not having him around.  I still expect to hear his thumping tail on the floor whenever we walk in the door.  And every night before bed I still think that I need to give him his medicine.  Every once in a while I will sweep up some stray black hairs and miss him all over again.  He was such a good dog.

A few days after that sad event, our littlest turned 5!  It was nice to have something joyous to turn our attention to.  I can't believe our little man is 5!  I made him an awesome cake that nobody could eat because it was way too sweet.  But it looked good!




We were thankful that Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Kenny came to visit during that time.  All the kids love their grandparents!  We were able to celebrate both Cooper's and Cate's birthdays with them as well as just do the fun things that you do with Grandma and Grandpa.  We were thankful they made the trip all the way up here from Waterloo, IA!

Being that we live in the State of Hockey and live in Hockey Country, we figured we'd better go out and get some skates for all of us.  Scott was off winter camping so the kids and I all got skates and went to the local rink to practice.  It was fun!





Then in early February our oldest, Cate, turned 9!  She celebrated by having a bunch of friends out for pizza.  They all had a blast and acted very silly all night.  I can't believe she's getting so big!



The next day, my parents came up to stay with the kids because Scott and I were heading out the next day for Mexico!  But first they gave Cooper and Cate birthday presents from them.  As I said earlier, it's always a treat to have Grandpas and Grandmas come for a visit.





The very next day, Scott and I drove down to the Twin Cities and boarded a plane to Cancun, Mexcio the following morning....we had to get up at 3:30 am to catch the shuttle!  Ugh!  But we arrived to gentle, warm breezes blowing in the palm trees and a taxi driver who promptly sold us two cold beers as we drove the 45 minutes to our all-inclusive resort.  Did I mention it was 10:30 am?  On the way we noticed this sticker attached to the window of the taxi.  I thought of sending it in to Jay Leno (hint - see the bottom right corner).


We had a wonderful time there!  The weather was perfect - 85 and sunny (but windy) every day.  We spent most days lounging on the beach or hanging out by the pool.  We did one excursion to see Mayan ruins in Coba and to see how a Mayan family still lives in the old ways - completely subsitance living.  We didn't get many pictures of it because we weren't sure if we would be offending them.  We  met so many wonderful people - most from MN and Canada - thanks to Scott's ability to talk to anyone anywhere.  But we spent the most time with a couple from London, England,  Terri and Eric.  They were a lovely couple and we hope to stay in contact with them for many years.  Anyway, here are some pictures of our trip:

 
Scott heading out for a swim in the ocean

 
A view of the beach at our resort

 
We ate lunch here everyday


Scott at the pool bar meeting some Canadians and horsing around with Enrique our bartender


Our room, behind a beautiful palm tree


Complementary drinks (very small!) from a restaurant in Playa Del Carmen


Ruins at Coba - the only one you can still climb


The Mayan family compound - they still live in thatched-roof huts called Palapas


Our last day in Mexico with our friends from London, Terri and Eric


One night we ate at an authentic Mexican restaurant where the locals eat.  That's a pork leg up there on the spit and a pineapple over it.  Yummy tacos!

We also ate at a restaurant on the beach in Playa.  We were dining with other Minnesotans who were from Nicollet.

 As you can see, we had a blast!  We decided the next time we go somewhere warm we'll have to bring the kids.  They would have loved it!  I believe my liver and my bowels are finally recovered - I definitely couldn't live like that every day but it was fun.

We came home to cold temps and lots of snow.




We spent Valentine's night with our family eating heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphey's.  It is good be home.




Looking forward, our main objective is to buy a new house!  The house we are currently renting is on the market.  We've had to vacate a couple of times now for showings.  I think it's going to sell pretty soon.  So if we don't want to move twice (which I don't!), we'd better find something to buy, proto.  We were hoping that there would be more homes coming on the market this spring but so far there hasn't been much.  We look at almost everything that comes out that fits our needs but decent houses for a bigger family are just few and far between. 

Other than houses, I think we are all just waiting for the cold to go away and the snow to start melting.  But that could be a couple of months out for us yet.  Sigh.  So we'll continue on bravely and snuggle in for a while longer. 

I hope all our friends and family are doing well.  Please drop us a line, give us a call, or comment here.  We miss everyone and would love to catch up.

Until next time....