Minnesota Road Trip

The boys and I drove nearly 20 hours (over three days) to visit my family in Minnesota. On the way, we stopped at Reptiland in Allenwood, PA. The boys LOVE Reptiland! So many interesting creatures to see! I know photos can be great, but I also hate to inundate people with them, so if you want to see more photos from Reptiland, just click on the picture of the turtles, above, and it will take you to my Reptiland photo page.

One tired, worn-out boy, snuggling with his new "friend" from Reptiland.

We arrived safely in Minnesota and spent the first couple of days at Grandma's house. We crammed a lot of fun into just a couple of short days!

I was glad we brought the boys' scooters along with us. It gave them a way to burn off energy right in Grandma's driveway. And anyone who knows my boys knows they have energy to burn!

We celebrated MY Grandma's 85th birthday. Colin was quite upset that I didn't get a pinata for my Grandma's birthday party, because, doesn't EVERYONE love a pinata? (Sigh. Maybe I should have gone ahead and got one.)

Grandma picked up a Slip-N-Slide for another energy-burning activity on the hot, hot days. It was a GIANT hit!

We visited the Mall of America...including Legoland. Colin thought the life-sized Boba Fett made of Legos was VERY cool!

We also visited the "Underwater Adventure" at the Mall of America. It's one of the world's largest underground aquariums. I thought this shark photo made me look like I must be one heck of an adventure photographer, diving with the sharks! Hee hee! It was all from behind glass!

Now Fred has finally arrived for a few short days, and we are at my Dad's house at the lake. I'm sure there will be MANY pictures to follow, but here is a fun one to share. If you click on it, it will take you to the other photos from our visit to Grandpa's house. Enjoy!

Exciting Day

Well, we've had some excitement today. We woke up at about 7:45 this morning to some low rumbles of thunder and a very dark sky. I decided to check the radar to see what was coming our way before we drove 2 hours to my mom's house. Hmmm...severe thunderstorm warning and winds in excess of 65 mph headed straight for us.

I headed back into the bedroom, figuring I'd distract the boys with getting dressed and stuff. Not a chance. The wind picked up like crazy, the rain came pounding down...and then the power went out. The room was as dark as night, and the boys were scared. Then the sirens started going off. (My dad's house does NOT have a basement, by the way.)

Knowing that taking cover would possibly scare the boys even more, I debated it, but only for a second. There was a loud THUD on the roof, and I ushered them under the built-in desk in that bedroom and hauled pillows and sleeping bags in there with us, figuring they would at least be protected from flying glass if something should come through the window. We sat under there, listening to debris flying around outside and the loud wind and the thunder and the sirens. Once it finally quieted down, I got up to go see if it was safe to have them come out yet.

Here is what I saw looking out my dad's patio door...and yes, the sky was still that dark and it was now 8:15 a.m.

That tree lying across the walkway to the lake and leaning on the picnic table is NOT normally there. It is a huge oak tree that blew down and took part of the roof off of the building where my dad keeps his fishing and boating equipment.

I decided to wait until it got a little bit lighter to come out of our spot under the desk for good.

Finally, (it was really only about 5 more minutes), we emerged from our hideout. Then, my dad and my cousin, Andy, came home from work to survey the damage.

As you can see, there was lots of small debris laying around all over the place:

Here is a view of my dad's back yard, with tons of debris and the tree on the ground. I don't recall the chair on the deck being up there...I think it was blown up there, and it barely missed the patio door.

Here is part of the oak tree that blew down, apparently trying NOT to land in the lake!


Another shot of the tree and the damage it did to my dad's storage building.

Oh, there's where the roof landed...in front of the door of the building!

More debris:

My dad told me that he heard on the radio that it should be clear for driving now. So, we decided to head up to Minneapolis, considerably later than we had planned.

We stopped a few times as we were leaving my dad's neighborhood, to look at some of the other damage the straight-line winds caused.

Here is a camper that was flipped onto its side:

And a dock and a boat lift all mangled by the storm:

Another mangled boat lift, and a boat completely flipped over:

A pontoon that was COMPLETELY flipped over. Do you have any idea how HARD it is to flip a pontoon?

A broader view:

The road signs were casualties as well...

We learned later today that these were straight line winds that were up to 84 mph.

Hey, Becky, aren't you glad you and the kids weren't camping in a tent for THAT?!?!

ON A HAPPIER NOTE... Fred picked up Juno today! Here he is, at the home of her breeder, holding our "little" puppy!

She's only 12 weeks old...I don't think she's going to be "little" for long!

Evening Reflections

I've been experiencing technical difficulties with my blog for the last couple of days. Nothing major, just difficulty getting photos posted. So, I am posting what I can for now...here are a couple of my favorite photos from the last couple of days...

Aidan & Colin having fun on a big rock in Grandpa's yard:

The surface of the lake looks like glass in the evening. Isn't it beautiful?

More of the lake...

My dad and all the kids out on the end of the dock:

Becky searching for the turtle:

The sunset pinks starting to peek through:

Pretty, isn't it?

I'm listening to the sounds of the lake and the breeze as I write this, and it brings me an amazing feeling of peaceful calm, even as the boys have their "sword fights" with the Star Wars sound effects!

Home Again

A few photos from our last evening in Colorado:

Grandpa worked his magic on Brayden, and got him to fall asleep on him.

One very proud papa:

It's hard to see from this angle, but they're BOTH asleep here...Joe has no idea I took this (well, I guess he does now!!)

It was rainy when we arrived home, and our little airplane got tossed all over the place by the winds. For those of you who know what a bad flyer I am, you can imagine how much of an effort it took for me to not let my 4-year old see how badly his mommy was panicking. I honestly have no idea how I held my composure together. As soon as we got the kids home and safely tucked into bed, I burst into tears...just finally letting go of all that tension.

Everything is finally beginning to bloom here. I am always surprised at how happy seeing all the greenery makes me feel.

Aidan had his first t-ball game on Sunday. Here he is having some fun in the dugout:

Dinosaur Ridge / Morrison Natural History Museum

Today began with a surprise this morning: Grandpa Jim showed up at Joe's house! Aidan and Colin were very excited! He came with us on our trek to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, CO.

Grandpa Jim, Colin and Aidan in front of a colorful stegosaurus sculpture

Grandpa Jim pointing out fossilized footprints to Colin


Colin checking out an interesting rock formation



Some of the local flora of Morrison:

A pretty little bridge in Morrison:

We had to decide where to eat lunch, and I couldn't resist eating at a restaurant
called the Blue Cow



Our next stop was the Morrison Natural History Museum, which is refreshingly hands-on. Aidan even got to talk to a REAL paleontologist and ask him questions about what he does. He also got to explore many exciting artifacts. Here he is determining how much T-Rex could eat of him in one bite!

They also have live reptiles at this museum.

The boys and I all got to touch this beautiful rat snake.

We did NOT touch the Monitor Lizard, though.

There was a cool-looking bull snake, too, but she's expected to lay eggs pretty soon, so we didn't get to touch her.

Aidan thought the Utahraptor replica was amazing.

Aidan was extremely excited to live out his lifelong fantasy...here he is working on a fossil with all the REAL equipment that paleontologists use.

Colin got to try it, too!
We finished our day by going out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. The boys initially threw a fit about going someplace that doesn't serve chicken and fries or macaroni and cheese, but pulled themselves together before we were seated at a table. Thankfully, they were really good at the restaurant for dinner. I think the highlight of their dinner was when Liz took them to a store across the street to pick out cookies for dessert. The sugar crash put them right out as soon as we got home!