Hello from North Dakota

We are on our way home and should be there this evening. I can't tell you how excited I was last night to have had a normal shower, without timer and coins. The bed was fabulous and there were no mosquitoes. Be prepared for much more blogging in the upcoming days. Our trip has been a blast and I can't wait to share it.

Out the Door.....

The cats are fed.
The car is packed. (still not sure where Alex will sit!)
The lights are off.
We're off to pick up Bobber.
Yellowstone, here we come........

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

Picnic and Paul Bunyan

Saturday, July 19th
We planned today to have a picnic with Krista, Elizabeth and Elijah. This gives Alex the opportunity to be loud and run around while Daddy is sleeping. So, we ran our errands early this morning and meet the Klecker family at noon in Carson Park.
The kids played for about an hour before Krista, Elizabeth and Elijah had to leave. Both Elizabeth and Elijah have entered many categories in the upcoming Fair. All their handwork needs to be turned in Thursday so, it will be a busy week finishing for them.
I had thought about driving around the park but instead asked Alex if she would like to go see the museum. And, she did.
She was not very interested in the 8 minute movie and asked several times when it would be done but, as we walked out we were greeted by a guide. He asked if she had any questions and much to my surprise, she had several. I was shocked! She had really been paying attention. He showed us a couple of display rooms and the activity room. He also mentioned many can't find the coyote in one of the displays. Alex had a lot of fun in the activity room, sliding in the fry pan with "bacon" on her feet, the ring toss, and making the axe fall by guessing the order for logging. We also found the coyote and she was quick to try and find the guide to let him know it was no match for her. :)
She seemed very interested in the actual logging camp and we went into each building twice. She asked if she could try out the bunks but understood that they were for display only. When we finished with the four buildings, we went back to try the activities again and then made our way for home.
I was very impressed with how interested she was in the displays, buildings and activities. We spent a lot longer there than I would have imagined. Tonight we will read the phamphet they gave her with logging terms and stories.

Alex, Elijah and Elizabeth

This water is sooooo good. Also note the almost fixed bangs. :)

Inside the bunkhouse

Alex with her new friends, Paul and Babe.

Yellowstone Countdown

T-7 days......
Next Thursday, we will be leaving for Yellowstone. Here is our itinerary for you to travel along with us. :)

July 24 & 25 - Hill City, SD (Cabin)
1880 Train ride
Mt Rushmore
Pan for Gold

July 26 - Cody, WY (Cabin)

July 27, 28, & 29 - Yellowstone, WY (Tent)
Old Faithful
Grand Tetons
Junior Ranger - For Alex not for Bob

July 30, 31 & Aug 1 - Traveling via Billings, MT, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND
and Fargo, ND to home. No reservations made for the way home.
We will play that by ear. I would put money on it being in a hotel, though
After all the previous time spent in cabins or a tent.

What else?!?!?!

So, yesterday I found out that Peyton Manning had knee surgery on Monday. No, he did not tell me. And, today, I read William Peterson (Gil Grissom) from CSI will be leaving sometime during the next season.
I don't know why these individuals are not contacting me for my input. What's up with that!?!?!? LOL

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night

Erika and Tim

Smoker's Corner - Thanks City of Eau Claire. Not!!

Amy, Jen and Sara

Jen, Amy, Sara and Krista

Ha ha Paris

Ha ha! I got to sleep on mom's bed last night and you didn't!!!!!
Love,
Sprout


And, now a word from mom!
For those of you who aren't familiar with Sprout's voice, it's very low and she talks with a lisp. Normally, when she types emails to Thor or previously Mittens, she would type with the lisp. So it would look like this:

Ha Ha! I got to thleep on mom'th bed latht night and you didn't!!!!

Due to being pc, it will be up to each of you to say it in her voice as I will not type it that way going forward.

Vacation Countdown

It's now two weeks til our Yellowstone vacation. We are all getting very excited. Last weekend we did a packing test of the car. I'm a little nervous we will run out of room. The car was packed with things we've thought of so far. What happens with the last minute items? Where will they go? Not to mention Alex. Where will she go? Ahh, just kidding. This will surely be an adventure. It's times like this that I miss the truck. Although, I don't miss filling it with gas. :) Today, I am going to recheck some items to make sure they are in with the camping stuff. I also purchased some additional things for the trip today and need to find room for them. We have tried to keep all of the camping items in one bin. We'll see how long that lasts. LOL. The next weekend I am off I will spend some time at the laundry mat washing sleeping bags. I plan to take all of our clothes there at the same time. Hopefully that will save me time in the long run.

Oh Dear!!!!

Alex started her level 3 swim class last night. And, she jumped off the diving board without help on her second attempt. She's doing so well with swimming. I'm so proud of her.
So, now the reason for the post.
As I was going to show Alex ways to keep her hair out of her face while swimming, I noticed her hair was cut. When I asked about it, she said "It's always been like that, Momma." Now, I, like my fellow mothers know every hair on our kids bodies. So, I said "No, it wasn't!" She had decided to give herself bangs because she wants to look like everyone else. We had a long talk about God made us individuals and we will never look like "everyone" else and that's part of what makes us special. Anyway, while I don't have a picture yet, it's quite the site. Her hair is always parted on the side so, her "bangs" go from the part to the right side (when looking at her). It's angled with the shortest hair by the part. Lovely! Fortunately, her hair grows super fast and we should have it corrected before school starts. My crazy girl! She definately does what she wants when she wants to!!!

The best day EVER!!!!!

I wasn't planning to post anything today but, when you see a big U-Haul at the neighbors, it's a cause for celebration!!!!!!!!! Here's to many more happy grunts for her on Madison St. :)

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!
Traditionally, we grill out with the Kleckers on the 4th. Because Bobber had to work, we grilled out on the 3rd this year. Alex and I joined up with Troy, Krista, Elizabeth and Elijah just before 9pm to go to the park. We use the park so the kids can run around but, we always make sure they have some sort of glow necklace or stick with them. We have a hard enough time finding them when there's daylight. :)

Brownies go Horseback Riding

Monday, June 30th, our brownie troop went horseback riding at Trinity Equestrian Center. The horseback riding itself went very well. We are happy to say 11 of our 12 girls were able to attend. The staff was very helpful and informative. The horses were beautiful and very gentle. After the girls participated in riding, crafts and handling, we roasted hot dogs and marshmellows.

Vegas 2008 part 2

I think I left off going into Friday.......

Friday morning, I woke up at 8:30 but let Bobber sleep until 10:30. Our plan for today was to purchase tickets for Second City at the Flamingo. Denise and Scott were planning to go to the Price is Right at Bally's. We met up at 1 at Caesar's buffet. If you ever have the opportunity to eat there..... Don't. Avoid it at all costs!!! Overpriced and lacking edible entrees. Anyway, after lunch, we walked through the forum shops towards the strip. We happened to catch Pete Rose signing autographs in one of the stores for the low low price of $70-$4000. Needless to say, we are not the proud owners of a Pete Rose autographed anything. We played for a short time at the Mirage and Treasure Island before I needed a nap. Bob and I wandered through the Venetian before heading back to Bally's. Denise and Scott made their way down to the Strat via the Wynn. They were able to win two buffets at the Wynn. About a $100 deal for dinner. I slept for about 40 minutes and then got ready to go to Second City. Second City is skit comedy similar to SNL. The show was hilarious. The drinks were overpriced. We had a beer and a Mai Tai and it came to $22. Coming out of the show we were a bit disoriented. Fortunatly we were able to see Donnie Osmand while looking for where to go. Next we had planned to walk a block behind Bally's to Ellis Island for dinner. We enjoyed the sirloin steak special with choice of potatoe and veggie for $6.99. I had a 2 for 1 coupon and payed for the rest with some of my 11,000 points. Apparently, I'm a high roller at Ellis Island. LOL. So, free dinner! Not quite the deal Denise and Scott had but a much shorter walk. We played the slots and video poker for a time until a spot opened at the craps table. Had a little luck there and then walked back to Bally's. We had done a small amount of packing already so there wouldn't be too much to do in the morning.

Saturday we woke up still needed to buy some things for Alex. I was able to find her a NYNY light up cup to replace her Luxor one. Whew.... I also bought a sparkly blue Bally's cup for me. It's so pretty. Bob and I headed to the airport at about 9:15. Our flight was scheduled for 11:25. By time we got there, we were starving. We went through security in no time at all and ventured to our gate. We were in a different section than we usually were and there were not as many options as we are accustomed to. We settled on Burger King and gasped at the prices. I had a double cheese burger meal and Bob had a whopper meal all for the low, low price of $16.90. Ouch. Oh well. The flight was ok. A lot of tourbulance close the MSP and a rough landing but, it was good to be on the ground. Next, we picked up Denise's van and made our way back to Deana's house. We picked up our car and drove the van to the Mall of America. It was an uneventful drive home and we picked up Alex shortly after 8:30.

Vegas 2008 part 1

Tuesday evening we drove to Denise and Scott's house. We arrived around 9. Our flight left at 7 am Wednesday morning and our plan was to leave for Deana's house at 4:40. Denise's sister Deana was driving us to the airport and we were parking our car there.

Wednesday, our flight left on time and we arrived in Vegas at 8:10am. Grabbed our luggage and a taxi and went to check in at Bally's. Our rooms were not ready yet so, we walked to O'Sheas to play while we waited for Bob's bar to open. At 9 we grabbed yards of 190 Octane and Pina Colada. Denise and Scott had a margarita and daquiri. Bob and Denise drank about a quarter and were loopy. We ventured to the buffet at the Flamingo. Good news, it was better than last time and the real flamingos are still there. After lunch we played and walked until 1pm and we could see if our rooms were available. Ours was so we took all the luggage to our room. Bob and I rested for awhile while Denise and Scott went to the pool. Bob then went down to play and I went to see Big Elvis at Bill's Gambling Hall. Guess What!?!?!? Big Elvis was on vacation. Oh well, maybe another time. I still had my free drink, caffine included, and it took care of the headache I couldn't get rid of. So, since we weren't meeting up until 5, I went to the Bellagio conservatory and caught a few fountain shows. Two were instrumentals and the middle was "All That Jazz". The conservatory was beautiful as always. At 5 we decided to go to Mandalay Bay's House of Blues for dinner. Very good dinner. Bob, Denise and I had hamburgers and Scott had I don't remember what but it came with a habenero pepper. Next we planned to meet at MGM's monorail station at 10. Bob and I wandered through Mandalay Bay, Luxor, NYNY, and Tropicana. We had heard Luxor was starting their dethemeing process and wanted to check it out. Mainly the casino area had changed. New bars, carpet, and chairs. The main entrance was the same. At 10 we ventured via monorail to the Hilton. I couldn't find the Top Gun game anywhere but, did play for quite a while on Deal or No Deal. We turned in for the night at 11:30.

Thursday we rented a car and drove to Primm, NV. Primm is one mile from the California border and has only three casinos and a huge outlet mall. Bob and I toured the three casinos and played for a short time at each. Denise went shopping and Scott played at Bufffalo Bill's until they went on the roller coaster. From Primm we drove to the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson. GVR was the casino featured in the reality show "American Casino". Since we had just missed the lunch buffet, we wandered around until 3:30 when the buffet opened for dinner. Bob and I signed up for the players club and had a very nice talk with Marsha at the players club booth. She gave us shirts, cards and pens after we asked if any of the staff still worked there from the show. She said they didn't. Sad. After lunch/dinner (our first meal of the day expect for the hot dog at Buffalo Bill's) we went to the Palms. Denise and I bought some soveniers there and also won free key chains. Ohh Ahh. I know all my friends will be jealous of my new green key chain. Before we returned the rental car to the Strat, we dropped off our bags of treasures. I accidentally dropped off my money also but wouldn't find that out until I went to buy a drink. I watched Bobber play for a long time at the Strat. He had his first good luck there. We also went up the tower at night. Very, very cool. Lights for miles and miles. It was also very windy so my hair was wild in some of the pictures. Coming down the tower we decided to go look at the pictures they had taken. It has been a long time since I laughed that hard. They failed to mention the green shirt I was wearing would blend in to the green screen. Hilarious! My shirt became part of the strip. Needless to say, we didn't purchase the picture although we should have because you couldn't tell where my waist was. :) Bobber bought me a BIG drink at Fat Tuesday's. He also bought me an extra shot with it. So, here's a good combination. Drunk, sad and bored with no money. When I finally convinced everyone to leave, we opted to take the Duece. The Duece is the double-decker city bus. I made the mistake of not going to the bathroom before we got on but Denise assured me it would only take a few minutes to get down to Bellagio. Unless of course, they are working on the road and it goes from 3 lanes to 1. Ugh. We made it to Slots-a-fun before I had to leave the bus to pee. The relief was great. We also picked up 2 free decks of cards before getting back on the bus. We then stopped at Bobber's bar to get him another 190 Octane yard. Before turning in for the night Bob and I played for awhile in Paris and Planet Hollywood. We have not had the chance to go to PH since it's remodel from Aladdin. Very different, very modern. I had a bit of good luck to end the night. As we walked back to Bally's we decided to get some food at the Sidewalk Cafe and then turn in. It was 3am Vegas time.

To Be Continued........