Wild River Adventure

I was lucky enough to be invited to join Kirstin, Jeff and the boys for a camping outing at Wild River State Park. Judy was in Rugby, ND visiting her mom and I was available and happy to go. They went ahead to find a first-come-first-served spot and I joined them after work. The journey took me across county road 95 through North Branch. Little did we know that Hay Days was going on and traffic was jammed up for miles. Hay Days is snowmobile races on hay. They expected 20,000 people but got double that. CR95 is a small narrow 2 lane road with 2 foot shoulders. There was no place for the traffic to go. I did get through and made it to the park and found camp already setup and everyone waiting. Of course I told them I would call when I got to the park but guess what? Zero bars on the cell phone. We decided to go on a short hike to the St Croix River but it turned out to be much longer that a short hike. The boys were getting tired on the way to the river and we still had to get back. Liam brought his binoculars.

And so did Logan.

Kellan was just along for the ride. The mosquitoes were terrible. And bug spray had no effect. So it was swat, swat and swat.

We made it to the river and everyone had fun throwing rocks and sticks into the river. The way back was not on paved paths but just a cut path through the trees. The boys were really tired by then. I put Logan on my shoulders and Kirstin gave Liam a piggy back ride. As long as Logan was on my shoulders, the bugs didn't bother me. They go for the high point - Logan. Thanks Logan. He did a great job swatting them.

We made it back in time to start a fire, make foil dinners, smores and go to bed. You can see Kellan's face all bug bitten and he is ready to go to sleep.

On the other hand, Logan was tired but he was fighting going to bed. Literally. He and Liam were going to share the bed but poor Logan ended up being requested to sleep on the floor.

I think that Liam really wanted to go to sleep but was excited to be camping.

The next day the real adventure began. The Alpine slide. The view at the top of the lift.

This is the view of daddy and Logan at the bottom of the run.

A short video of a portion of the track. I had the camera going the whole way down with Liam but it was way to big to post. So I cut the portion of the run where there is a blind dip and an immediate left turn. It caught Liam's stomach. We went down the slide twice and then took some laps around the go-kart track. I again I had Liam with me. I tried to lap Jeff and Logan but I think there was a heat problem with my car because after about three laps, the car would slow down on the last half of the lap to a crawl (I could have walked faster). Since we were the only ones there, they said we could go until we were done. We had a good ride. This was a good adventure for the boys. Pretty soon big boy Kellan (23.3 pounds @ 6 mos) will enjoy these adventures too.

The Great Minnesota Get-together times three

This was my third trip to the Minnesota State Fair and this time we took Gretchen with us as part of her birthday present (an outing with Gramma and Grampa). We were there last Saturday during the all time one day attendance record of 234,387 people. It was too crowded even to get a picture of it. The lines were so long that for the second time I didn't get the bottomless cup of chocolate milk. Our last time there was Labor Day and there was 100,000 fewer people there and we did get our Chocolate Milk. Finally!


We decided to go to a free park and ride and take the bus to the Fair. Gretchen thought that was the high lite of the day. She said the seats were soft and comfortable. Her eyes were glued to the scenery outside her window. First stop was the Dairy building to get our Chocolate Malt. And while we were there Princess Kay of the Milky Way was there with her court. They begged her to come up and get her picture taken. She didn't want to at first but decided she would, since they were princesses and they are always nice.Next stop was the giant slide. Gigi and I climbed the 103 steps to the top and had a fast ride down. Now This was the best part of the day. I turned around and she was gone and I finally found her (well at least I found her head). She posed for the "Ta-da" picture.
After the flying ride down.
We picked up some Tom Thumb Donuts on the way to the Miracle of Birth to see new born animals. She did pet the piglet but digital photography is slow and she already put her arm down by the time the camera snapped.
And a calf. Both were three days old.
We got our Chocolate Milk (I had my fill) before going to our next stop, "The Kidway" and flying bombers. It was an okay ride. She chose that ride because the teacup ride had just started and she started walking away.
After landing, the teacup ride was stopped and she jumped on, the only one on the whole ride. It was not too busy at the fair.
We then jumped on the "Lady Bug", similar to the "Caterpillar" at Valley Fair but for kids. Now This was her favorite so far. Keeps changing because we planned it that way.
Gigi wanted to ride the unicorn. I could not find one but she led me here and climbed up on the horse with the pink hair.
Our last stop of the day was Shenanigun's Comedy Wild West Show. This was Sheriff Hop-a-long Casually. He's the good guy. Yeahhhhh!
This is Bad Bob. He's the bad guy. Booooo! He broke out of jail and was coming to town to shoot the big, fat, dumb, ugly head off the sheriff. Video at the end.
At the end we got a cast picture with all of them. It was a very funny show. And even though some of the one liners and jokes that they told were way over Gigi's understanding, she was laughing anyway, mainly because of the gesturing and actions.
The bus ride home was just as fun as the ride there. But Gigi said the cowboy show was the best part of the day. We ended up at our house and watched a Tinkerbell movie before taking her home. It was a fun Labor Day
Here is some of the free entertainment at the fair. These guys from South America are there every year and usually play in a corner of a small eatery close to the DNR building but this year they got the DNR stage. There was also a girl band from Sweden at the fair.


Riding the Lady bug.

Then the Carousel and the horse with the pink hair.


A small snippet from the Shenanigun's Comedy Wild West Show.

What Gives?

Over the past 2-3 months I have been trying to get my BMI (body Mass Index) back in check. My blood pressure was high and was monitoring it at work. Then I bought my own blood pressure monitor and checked it twice per day for several weeks. It was still high. So I decided that I would lose some weight to get back to where I should be. As the weight came off the blood pressure came down. I was not on a rigorous exercise program. I just controlled the portion size at meal time and changed my big meal to noon and a light meal in the evening.

I had a checkup earlier in the week and I was within a half pound of my goal weight before going in. So the nurse always gets your weight, height and BP before seeing the doctor and I was surprised that I was now one half inch taller than I was last May when I saw the doctor last. It' a miracle. I guess you must get taller when you shed pounds (you stop growing out and start growing up). If I keep this up, I could be six feet tall by Christmas.