Vacation

I printed out maps and Google directions for each leg of the trip. We'll have our cell phones with us and old-fashioned "analog" paper maps with us if we need extra help. Paula is getting rolls of coins for all the toll roads we're taking. We'll do some shopping tonight to get food for the cooler. Tomorrow night we'll pack up so we can get an early start Saturday morning.


I can't wait!
-- C.

This is a test of

This is a test of the email updating system. I might do so remote updates while we are on the road...

Blog tour

This Saturday Paula and I start our whirl-wind tour of friends' blogs. Well, just two actually. We head to Ohio to see the Schellenbachs, then to NYC to visit Paula's friends, then to Rochester to visit Mr. & Mrs. Q and the Q-brood.

My goal is to get our photo on their blogs, and get a little write-up. I may have to do something memorable and drastic if it gets down to the wire. They both have new homes...maybe I can work with that.


-- C.

Cookout Success!

We had a Father's Day cookout yesterday and it turned out very well. I wasn't sure how many people would be able to make it, but it's about the only weekend we had open for a while. It was mostly family, but a few friends were able to make it too.

It was a busy weekend in general. Let's start with Friday. Brock spent the night with us. Since we had some work to do before the party on Sunday, we put him to work helping us clean. He was very cooperative and did a great job helping clean off the plastic lawn chairs and sweep the front sidewalks. I also replaced the bathroom faucet that has slowly been getting worse and worse.

Saturday morning we went to his T-ball game. It was a very hot morning so we didn't stay long. In the afternoon we went to an outdoor arts & crafts show. In the evening Paula and I went to my company's picnic at a double-header Wizard's baseball game. Again, very hot. We managed to find some shade behind one of the seven (7!) table umbrellas they had among the 30-some available tables.

Sunday was the big day though. We celebrated many things, such as my birthday, Father's Day, Kevin's birthday, JJ's birthday, Lori's birthday, Matt & Brandy's anniversary, Chris & Melissa's anniversary, Glenn & Marcy's anniversary, and Iceland's Independence (Paula's uncle is from Iceland). If Bryan & Julie had been able to make it, we would have celebrated their anniversary and Julie's birthday, too.

A quick side note: my sister and her husband have been "GeoCaching" lately, and getting Paula and me involved. They helped Paula pick out a starter GPS unit which I received earlier in the week. My brother, my niece, my sister, and my brother-in-law showed up early. I opened the cards they gave me, and they both had GPS coordinates written inside. In order to find my presents, I had to enter the info into the GPS unit and go hunt them down. It was pretty fun, but I need a little more practice.

All of us kids chipped in and got an underwater camera for my dad to use at the lake cottage. It has a 60-foot cable, with a small camera on the end, connected to a 4-inch black-and-white monitor. While most of the people sat in the living room, some of us took the camera around the house giving a little tour, including the cats hiding under the bed.

Matt & Brandy made two cakes, one was hamburger-shaped and the other was hotdog-shaped. I'll have to get pictures up soon. They looked great! Matt & Brandy also brought cookies that looked like hamburgers (peanut butter cookies for the buns, a chocolate cookie for the burger, with red, yellow, and green icing for ketchup, mustard, and lettuce).

Thanks to all who were able to make it. Hopefully we can do this again later in the year, when more friends are available.


-- C.

Weekend

Another fun weekend! Saturday was the Scottish Highland Games. I've heard about it for years, but never made it out. It was a lot of fun. They had some athletic events like a hammer toss, shot-put, and caber toss, along with women's rugby, which was pretty interesting to watch. Several clans had tents set up, some had crafts and some had genealogy information. We saw a few Highland cattle (very hairy), some nice swords, and some old rifles. We stuck around for a bit to listen to the pipe and drum bands. I picked up a couple souvenirs just for fun.

After that we went up to the lake and went kayaking. We did about 1.5 miles, round trip. I think I'm ready for a long trip my brother and dad took. They drove the kayaks out to Marsh Lake, then took the channels back through two other lakes. It ends up being about five miles. As long as it isn't too windy and the water is calm, it shouldn't be hard to do.

Sunday we met my sister-in-law at the zoo and picked up Brock while she took little Sarah home. As we walked around, we ran into Dave, JJ, William, and Andrew. After talking to them for just a few seconds, we saw Kevin, Lisa, Lisa's mom, and Gavin come around the corner. We hung out for about an hour, letting the kids chase each other around and play. Despite claims otherwise, I think Brock was actually worn out later. I thought he'd never run out of energy. Kids are funny.

I've always enjoyed GermanFest, especially since both Paula and I have German ancestors. But I enjoyed the Highland games more, even though neither of us has any Scottish heritage. There's more to do and see at the Highland games. The food and drink is better at GermanFest though.


-- C.

Update

We were at my brother-in-law's house Monday, watching the kids for the evening. Brock, as always, wanted to play video games. We were playing his favorite, Hotwheels Racing, and I was doing poorly. He plays it a lot so he knows all the tricks, even though he's only five years old. I did get ahead of him once, but then he told me to hit the square button. I'm thinking he's giving me some tips. Suddenly my car screeches to a halt -- and starts going backwards! The little booger had me throw the car into reverse (while going ~100+ mph) just so he could regain the lead.

Anyway, since many fellow bloggers are talking about their grills, I'll include a little story about ours. It's just a little charcoal Weber grill. Technically it's Paula's since I've never owned a grill. She knows more about it than I do, but I think I got the hang of it. We stopped by Hill's Market last night and got some ground buffalo patties and grilled them up along with some vegetables. We didn't really notice any difference, especially once you get all the hamburger fixings on top. They're supposed to have less fat and be healthier than ground beef.

While at the market, we picked up a pie from Hyerly's. It was delicious, but more than we could handle between the two of us. We took some to her parents and then to mine. We visited with my mom a while, and on our way out she said she had a little gift for Paula. It was a book with funny pictures of cats. It was titled, "Dump him and keep the cat."

Get this straight. *MY* mother gave my wife a book titled, "Dump him and keep the cat." They both laughed and thought it was funny. Should I be concerned?


-- C.

Misc

I heard a story on the radio yesterday, where a guy wrote a nasty, threatening letter to some girl that had dumped him years ago. I didn't get all the details, like how old the guy is, but I know he still lives with his mother. He left the letter out for her to mail. She saw the letter and noticed there was no return address. Being the helpful mother I'm sure she is, she put their address on the envelope and mailed it.... The cops showed up a few days later with lots of questions.

Anyway, fun stuff going on next weekend. Saturday, June 9th, is the 21st annual Highland (Scottish) Games. Sunday, June 10th, is "WoofStock" which sounds pretty entertaining.


-- C.