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.

Re-Re-Re-Redoing Dupont Ave N

Okay, I am getting a bit frustrated with the construction company that won the low bid to repave Dupont Ave N. Today is the fourth time they have chopped up and removed newly poured concrete sidewalk and curbing at the corners. I don't know if the company has incompetent help, if they are not following the blueprint, if they are cutting corners, or if the city is changing the rules in the middle of the game. The city estimated the cost of the project to be about $3.5M, with $1.4M coming from the Obama stimulus fund. The low bid came in over a million dollars below the estimate. Everyone was assessed according to the estimate and not the winning bid, but when the city accepted the cheapest bid they did not lower our assessments. We still pay the same amount, so the city is making more money on me. Call me upset. It was 3.5 weeks ago when they said they would be done in 2-3 weeks. All the curbing must be in before the asphalt can be laid. Aarrrrgggggghhhh!

And the Construction Continues

Okay. Here is the update. This has been going on since late May and we still live on a dirt road. Three weeks ago Judy talked with the contractor who told her then that our section would be done in 2-3 weeks. I guess they missed. Twice they have removed newly poured cement curbing and poured it again. The last time was because they forgot the handicap access curbs at the corners. Our section is the easiest part of the whole project and only 1/3 of it. It is supposed to be done before November. They brought out the big equipment today. Should get a lot done now. Well actually, they did have the road-grader out and they scrapped off and removed 4-5 inches of dirt, but there is still dirt there. I was hoping that they would find a new road under there. But today they have done more work on the road than they have done in several days. But 2/3 of the project still needs to be done and there is only 2 1/2 months left, half way through their time table. Maybe they will be done before the 2011 Earle Brown Days Parade.

Gramma & Grampa's Big Adventure Day

Saturday morning was the start of the Great Big Gramma and Grampa Adventure day with Logan and Liam. The day started about 10:00AM and the plan was to visit three parks and decide which one was the best. First stop was at Hyland Lake Park Reserve at the Chutes and Ladder's park. I tried to get pictures along the way but didn't get them all.
They were excited when they saw what they were in for. Well at least for Liam. Logan is very cautious about heights and did not want to venture very far up. In fact, I had to go up with him so that he could at least go down a slide or two. Liam was lost in the maze within 30 seconds.
The boys saw the tire swing and wanted to try it. Video below. This was great fun and they were screaming with laughter. I wound them up pretty good because all of a sudden I heard, "Stop. I'm getting dizzy." So I stopped them and said I had to spin them the other way to unwind them. Within a minute I heard the same thing. They were walking around like a couple of drunken sailors. This was great fun. "This was the best park" they said, and this was only the first.
Time for lunch some place by Southdale. It starts with an M. Oh yeah. McDonald's and the happy meal. Chicken Nuggets for Logan.
And a cheese burger and fries for Liam. Both got the Hulk action figure so there would not be any fighting between them as to who got the better toy.
Park number two was Linden Hills on the west side of Lake Harriet. What caught our eye was the wadding pool. The boys wanted to play on the playground stuff first before swimming.I tried to get the boys to stand together for a picture at the park but only one showed up. The other one had already climbed on some equipment.
This is the equipment that Liam climbed on. He actually was technically in the first picture - just could not see him. "To heck with pictures", he was thinking. "I'd rather swing!"
There was a double deck pirate ship so each one got their own steering wheel and they each got to go where they wanted to go. I'm going left.
And I'm going right.
Liam just loved this swing. I had him going so high that I just about had to jump up to push him. He stayed on this swing for about ten minutes. Logan did join him so I had two dudes to keep going. Whew!!!
Ahoy there, matie! And shiver me timbers!
Then on the the water. They donned their suits and started stealing everybody else's toys. So I grabbed some of their toys. First rule was "Do not pour water on your brother!" That lasted about 30 seconds as Liam got a bucket full of water on the head.
But they had fun anyway.
Park number three was River park up by us. We let them stay in their suits for the long ride to this park. It was crowded and I had to park about two long blocks away. They were in the water for about a minute or two and that was it for them. "The water is too cold", they said.

Results: Logan liked park number one because of the tire swing. Liam liked park number two because of the other kind of swing. They both agreed that park number three was too cold. So I guess instead of picking one park out of three, it was a tie between two of the parks. Good job boys. We really wore them out. They said to us, "On the next adventure day, lets just go to your house!" Agreed.

So we came home and both boys got to push the button to make the magic fire with no matches. The flames were about 8-10 feet high at times until it burned down so we could roast hot dogs for supper. The grass looks mighty green here. But even though I was spraying water on the grass around the fire pit until the fire was below the surface, the next morning showed how hot the fire was, with singed grass on the south side.

They also tried out their new super soakers they got for their birthday. Again the rule was "Don't squirt your brother". But as soon as I said that, the devil came out in Logan and wammo, bammo. Liam got blasted. So Logan's super soaker had to have a time out. He was sad but knew he broke the rule. After two minutes we had a talk and the super soaker came out of time out. Liam still got wet. Well so did I for that matter. There were no more time outs.
Then it was bath time and camping out in the living room. They watched "The Fox and the Hound" inside the tent before they were ready to settle down.

Tire Swing action:

Liam

Logan

Construction season

June 1, 2007 started road construction on Dupont from 57th to 73rd. This has been our view for several weeks. The project is supposed to be over before November when it gets too cold to work. Looks like dirt but the giant asphalt eating machine ground up all the street surface and the dirt below and mixed it up. Then they leveled it out and compacted it (several times) with the giant vibrating steam roller. This shook the whole house so much that I thought it was going to crack.

The part of the project from 57th to 67th was only for resurfacing the road and spot replacing sidewalk and curb. But what has happened was everyone got a new gas line, they replaced all the fire hydrants and pipes and all the storm sewer (but we do not have a storm sewer on my block so we did not end up with piles of old storm sewer pipes in front of the house). The main part of the project is from 67th to 73rd where the water main, storm sewer will be replaced - that means they will be digging down about 10 feet, and they will be widening the road and adding curb to both sides and sidewalk on one side only.

As you can see, every intersection is being narrowed to 33 feet but the rest of the street is 44 feet. This is to give the illusion that it is a narrow road and slow traffic. A lot of cars are already going 40-50 MPH, including some buses, so we will see if this is true (no more passing on the right, which is illegal anyway).

Better shot of the new curbing. I have a question. If they are resurfacing the asphalt, that usually means they grind off some of it and throw it away and put new asphalt down. But here they ground it all up and packed it all down, so it is the same height as the old road - NO ROOM FOR ANY NEW STUFF.

How do you like my new car? Have to park it in the street because there is not room in the driveway. Does not go very fast but people don't get in my way very often. Since Dupont is completely baracaded at 57th and Lilac Dr (63rd) the only way we can access our house it to drive through the neighborhood, either Colfax or Emerson. That way we are still able to use the bridge - so far.