A Day at the Aquarium

I had never been to an aquarium or seen real, live manta rays before. And I am 25 years old. These kids don't know how cool it really is to have access to such a cool place. When I was in Albuquerque, my cousin took me to the aquarium. My aunt and the little cousins came too, even though they had been there numerous times before. The big kids (including me and Auntie Kim) and the little kids oohed and aahed over the fish and seas creatures with the best of them. Beckett loved watching the rays. He's almost 2. I loved watching them too. (I even got to touch one! woo-hoot!)

My favorite part was probably the jelly fish room. Their eery glow filled the room, while their translucent bodies moved through the water. There was a distinct beauty to these creatures and yet I had to remind myself that these were actually dangerous animals. Still it was a cool thought to imagine swimming in a pool of jelly fish..... Definitely not very practical. I left the aquarium that day in awe of God's amazing creation. He has made so many marvelous things!

Colorado

Colorado. I decided that I love that place. It is among the most beautiful places I have ever been. I also decided that next time I go there, I want to take my guys. There was just too much that I wanted to share with them, and they were not there to savor it with me. I am not sure if Adam would get as excited over the scenery as I did, but I wanted to share every mountain vista and picturesque peak with him. I thought of Josh during the entire gold mine tour, and when we were at the Bar D Ranch, all the little boys (and most big ones too) were dressed like cowboys and once again, I wished he was there with me. I imagined the fun we could have together as a family, exploring all that southwest Colorado has to offer, around the twisting curves and rising roads, and into the heart of history. Adventure breathes deep around every corner and beneath every tree. That is how it should be, deep in the mountains of Colorado.

Traveling Escapades

Did a little bit of traveling this past month. Got to hug some great people and eat wonderful food. Here's a tiny taste of the adventure.

Down By The River

Upon our arrival in South Carolina, we were greeting with fine greetings from our host and hostess. It was just after 11pm on Saturday night, so after the greetings were over, Josh, Adam, and myself collapsed into bed. Sunday we were treated to some fine Southern preaching, which brought back childhood memories of our Southern Pastor, who could shout with the best of them. (He had gradually adapted the more Northern way of preaching and was quite tame by the time I graduated High School...)

After church, Carissa and Adam H. (our fine hosts) took us to the river for a picnic. When they said picnic, my mind conjured up images of a gentle, grassy slope, where we could lay out our blanket and enjoy our packed lunches in the warm sunshine. Maybe after our lunch, we could, if we so desired, dip our feet into the cool edge of the river and watch Josh do some splashing... Well, it was awful silly of me to imagine any such thing, because there was no gentle, grassy slope to lay out our blanket on, and the warm sunshine was blocked by a cool canopy of limbs and leaves.

We picked our way carefully down the rocks and stepped into the cool stream. You could see looks of displeasure coming from my husband's face. This was not what he had expected either. He was hungry and had been hoping for a gentle, grassy slope on which to eat his lunch. Carrying the cooler in one hand and holding Josh's hand in the other, he picked his way over the slippery river rocks with a warning to me, not to drop the camera.

We walked for a ways, with Mr. Hall and Carissa in the lead, and Adam scowling more and more, as his stomach began to growl painfully. The river curved round a bend, and there along the shore line, was a rocky beach of sorts. It was here, on the rocky beach, that Mr. Hall unfurled the blanket and Carissa got out the picnic lunch. The river babbled it's watery song while we munched happily on our ham sandwiches, chips and cookies. Our hunger was finally satiated and the scowl lines in Adam's brow had softened.

By this time, the water was calling to us and we left the dry picnic blanket and dipped our toes into the water. We ventured further until the water lapped at our calves. Before we knew it, we were all kids again, our hands in the water, pulling rocks out and moving them to where they would better suit our purpose. Soon, the water was rising and Mr. Hall and Adam joyfully made a game out of seeing how fast they could get the current moving.

There was a lot of laughter and smiles as the boys got in touch with their "inner child". The current was so strong that even as grown men, they struggled to walk through the knee-deep water. One could tell that they were mightily pleased with the results of their hard work, making memories all the way.

A Brief Stop in Pittsburgh

On the way to South Carolina, we stopped in Pittsburgh and spent the night with Adam's friend Josh. We didn't have a lot of time to spend in Pittsburgh, but he did accompany us to breakfast in the morning, before sending us on our way. We went to a place called Jo Jo's where Adam bought the biggest omelette any of us had ever seen. Pittsburgh sits in a valley surrounded by hills and mountains, so after our tummies were full and had said our good-byes to Josh, we sought out an overlook so we could enjoy the view of the city.

Beartown State Park (I told you I wanted to go there)

This month we took a family vacation to see some good friends of mine. Adam, Josh and I drove 14+ hours to Greenville, South Carolina. It wasn't a bad drive, but I did take us two hours out of the way to see this really great park called Beartown State Park, in West Virginia. Josh had a hard time driving through the mountains, as all the curves and hills were making him carsick... But he loved the rocks and caves at the park. I'm pretty sure we even heard a bear, though it could've been something else... I'm hoping to share little clips of our adventure with you so "bear" with me!

Josh loved exploring the boardwalks at Beartown. He

often ran ahead a little ways to get a peek before we could.

"He hideth me in the cleft of the rock."

Each rock formation was topped with trees

and ferns like a little island. It was so gorgeous.

We had to stay on the boardwalks,

but they too us to all the good spots.

Isn't he a cutie face?

Another Out of Town Adventure

Let me start by saying that it is unhealthy to eat greasy potato chips at quarter after 10 at night. Not only that, but they are not very tasty. :P

*Adam and I in Central Park*

Last Thursday, Adam, Jim, Wilson and I went on an adventure. We drove seven hours to stay in a city that is noisy, dirty, packed with people, and extremely prone to visitors. The place was New York City. It was my second visit. My first visit was last year. Last year we seemed to do more things, so I am trying to decide if this was a more relaxed visit or more stressful because we did less. We went with a small list of places to go or things to see, but we crossed Ellis Island off before we even got into the city. I still want to go there, but the consensus was that Ellis Island was more of a summer kind of thing to do. And since it was not summer... *duh*. But we did get everything else crossed off our list by the end of two and a half days. We visited Santa Land at Macy's, saw the King Tut exhibition, walked through China Town, got lost on the way to our favorite restaurant, admired the store windows along Fifth Avenue, and went to the Top of the Rock all on the first day in the City. The second day we split up, Jim and Adam going their way and Wilson and I going our own way. We wanted to be able to do girly things without the guys getting in our way. ;) The boys found their way to the "flat iron building" and Katz's Deli. Us girls went uptown to Alice's Tea Cup for breakfast tea. The tea was most enjoyable, although they lost our order and we waited for one hour for our food and drink. To make up for their mistake, we were given double scones, which made for good breakfast the next day. The two of us took our time getting back to the guys, and we leisurely strolled through the little shops on the street and in Grand Central Station. The rest of our day was spent waiting in line at TKTS, shopping at the Bryant Park shops, "oohing" and "ahhing" over the New York Public Library, and seeing the amazing Broadway show, Mary Poppins. Our last day in the city, we managed to squeeze in Jim's request, going to the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. They currently have a very interesting display of "green", earth friendly, economically friendly ideas and designs. Quite fascinating, the things that people have come up with or done in recent history.

When I get to it, I'll share some more photos and tell more about our adventure. Now it is bed time. Good night!

Wrapping Up the Journey

Maybe you are all tired of hearing about our trip to MN and our visit with Jim. After all, we've been home since the 4th... But I still have more photos and since I'm sure at least my Mom wants to see them, I insist upon sharing them. (So deal!) One more photo journey. This time to Gooseberry Falls and then a couple additional shots from the next day, so this brings our journey to a close...

Days # 6 and # 7:

We started the day off driving around Duluth, which is where we had spent the night. We were looking for a good place to eat breakfast and our GPS led us to this little cafe. It was quite funny actually... Adam asked Jim to look up bakeries in his GPS and the first one that was on the list was the Amazing Grace Bakery. It was 0.0 miles away. It just so happened to be in the basement of the building next to us. Talk about delicious, homemade, good cooking. And a great atmosphere to boot. I'd recommend any day.

After a hearty breakfast, we headed a bit north to see the falls. They are as follows.

Falls #1 (or 2) Notice the bear cave in the background. We climbed
up and peaked in, but it wasn't really big enough for any bears.

Jim, being a good mountain man, commandeered the falls for us.

Another view of the above falls. In all there were three or
four different falls. We saw all of two of them. Boo to that.

Jim, being a good photo bomber. I will unfortunately never be as good as he is.

And now we are onto the next day, back in Minneapolis. The weather was cruel to us while we were in MN, but how could anyone expect Minnesota weather to be any different than cruel? The week started off in the 90's but by Friday, it was 55°. We were freezing and ill prepared. I had forgotten to pack Adam a sweatshirt so that was our first order of business. The second order of business was to toss around the "ol' pig skin" at the park down the street. I am not much on playing catch, but I brought a book and found a park bench. Before too long, Adam and Jim had some company. Three neighborhood boys came along and asked if they could play. And they played for over an hour and a half. It was a riot!

We wrapped up the day with a baseball game at the Target Stadium. I got some great picture of the guys and I waiting for the game to start. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Another Day at the Beach Scenario

Minnesota Trip Day #5:
Today I am going to take you on a photo journey. Come with me, through this tunnel, up to Split Rock Lighthouse. Built in 1905, the Split Rock Lighthouse stood to protect the sailor and his vessel from crashing into the steep coastline on the darkest and stormiest nights. Many a sailor was lost upon the ravaging waters of Lake Superior. Especially that cold cruel day in November so many years ago. 29 boats were lost to the depths on that day. And hence the Light of Split Rock shines on brightly, to warn the weary sea captain, lest such treachery befall them.

The now retired lighthouse.

Looking out from the inside.

The lighthouse keeper's homes. There were three keeper's. One house for each.
(If I remember properly.)
Along this coastline is where many a ship foundered
on that dark and stormy night, before the lighthouse was built.

This is how Adam stands still so we can get our photo taken together.This is Jim next to a really big rock.The shore of Lake Superior is equally as rocky (or rather more so) as Lake Ontario, but a bit more picturesque from this angle. Notice the lighthouse on the top of the cliff in the background.
There was a small rocky island next to the mainland, where we could view the lighthouse perfectly. Adam thought it would be fun to dive off said rocky island and go swimming. But I said it was not safe.
A pile of rocks.

Just Another Day at The Fair

(Adam helps Josh check out the John Deere tractors at the Erie County Fair.)

(Uncle Rick is a fireman, and his firetruck was at the fair.
.Lucky Josh, to have a fire captain for an Uncle.)

(Josh trying on Uncle Rick's fireman hat.)

Day #4: This was the day that we went to the State Fair. My camera had run out of batteries, and I left it at the apartment to charge. Therefore, I will share photos from the Erie County Fair, in NY. We had gone there with my in-laws a couple weeks prior to our visit with Jim. The Minnesota State Fair was a little more fun than that fair. There were the typical fair foods, smells and sounds. A few more interesting animals (I liked the birthing center exhibit, where there were newly born animals or soon-to-be mothers) and art exhibits... Food on a stick... You name it, pizza on a stick, pickles on a stick, potatoes on a stick, spaghetti on a stick, donuts on a stick... It was my goal to eat something on a stick while I was there, but I failed. Miserably. I suppose I'll just have to go back next year... Jim made sure that I got to see the historic section of the fair. Adam was not impressed while we dawdled in the printing press room and meandered through the corridors of the antique train cars. But I loved soaking it in. (Thanks Jim!)

When we finally left the fair, Adam was cross and needed a nap. So we headed back to the apartment and let Adam get some sleep. Our evening plan included dinner with a couple of Jim's friends, Dan and Jesse. Dan brought along his wife, Dee, and I got some much needed girl time. Spending days on end with two guys can wear a girl out, you know! It wasn't that we giggled like two school girls or anything like that, but having another girl around was something of a stress reliever for me. Oh, it was also this same evening that Jim took us to IKEA, the most amazing store in the world. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. I wish we had an IKEA down the street from us. But then, maybe it's good that we don't. To tell you about IKEA, I would need to write an entirely separate blog post, so I'll save you the details. In addition to seeing IKEA and eating with Jim's friends, this was also the evening I said good-bye to my orange Converse. They were my friends for three days, but they would not fit. It was a fun dream to have orange shoes, but simply not to come true. For just the night before, I had found a pair of black Converse at Target that fit me so much better and were $5 cheaper. Good-bye orange Converse!! And now it is 11:09pm and time for me to go to bed. Goodnight.

The Capitol Building and The Como Zoo

I decided that I am much too factual when it comes to relating happenings in my life. For instance, I like to go through every detail of each day. And who likes to read that?!? Gross... Pictures and short descriptions may be that way to go, but then how will I remember all that I have done ten years from now? Maybe that is why I get dialoging when I write. But anyway, more about our trip to MN.

Day 3: We were going to spend our Monday at the Minnesota State Fair, but when we learned that Tuesday's were "$2 off each ticket day", we decided to save ourselves the $6 and wait the extra day. Instead we went to the state capitol building in Saint Paul, which is one city over form Minneapolis. If you know anything about MN, Saint Paul and Minneapolis are called the Twin Cities, because they just are. There are like twins. So we went to Saint Paul. One great thing about going to see the State Capitol Building was that they give free tours and you could see nearly every part of the building. We were even able to go up on the top, where they were having the Quadriga replated. Even though we weren't able to get the best look at the gold artifice, the rest of the view was spectacular.In the afternoon, Jim took us to the Como Zoo. Adam and I both agreed that going to this zoo was waaay better than going to the Toronto Zoo, which is super sad. Not only was the Como Zoo free, though a donation of $2 was suggested per person, but we were able to see sooo many more animals. The Toronto Zoo cost at least $20 per person, plus parking, and it was so expansive, that very often you could barely get a look at the animals because they were so far away. One might think that going to the zoo would be for kids, but we really had such a nice afternoon there. The Como Zoo also had a butterfly conservatory and an arboretum. I absolutely loved the arboretum and would've spent longer in there if Adam wasn't waiting for us. (Adam, will you take me to the arboretum in the city? I would really like that. It'd make a good date.)

(Hitching a ride through the Como Zoo.)

(A butterfly. Duh!)

By the time we were done at the zoo, the heat had really gotten to me. It had been in the mid 90's all day and my head was pounding. We all decided that a relaxing evening in the park would be a good way to end the day. Jim and Adam made a quick trip into the grocery store for some picnic supplies and a football, while I rested my eyes in the truck. It was tough work scouring the park for a grill to cook the burgers and corn on the cob, but once we located one, it was easy going. One grill over, there was a rather large group gathered, where a few rednecks were cooking up their own corn on the cob. They seemed to be a friendly bunch and they let us use their lighter fluid. Haha, they even offered us beer! Jim said they were probably from Wisconsin, they were so friendly... Not that Minnesotan's aren't friendly or anything... And that basically sums up day 3.

Day #2

(Overlooking the City of Red Wing, MN)

Minnesota, Day 2:

Jim goes to a church in Eagan Hills, MN. It's about a 1/2 hour away from where he lives. I was excited and nervous to go to his church. I was nervous about meeting his friends and feeling awkward, but really I didn't have any awkward moments meeting his friends. Really, I loved everything about the church service. The congregation stood during the entire worship session. Some lifted their hands, some swayed with the music and some were just as stoic as could be. Just like our church, I suppose. I learned some new songs, which I have been craving to sing. And the message was very good. I could still tell you what it was about a week and a half later. Wanna try me? I dare ya. Anyway, if I ever moved to Minnesota, I would probably go to church there, with Jim.(Jim, the prepared Minnesotan, on the top of Barn Bluff)

After church, Jim had a great adventure for us. We drove to Red Wing, MN, home of Red Wing boots, where there is this mountainous hill that rises out of the ground. This hill is called Barn Bluff and it rises 350 ft up, up, and into the sky. After stopping for lunch, we put on our hiking shoes and made the trip up and around and back down the bluff. The view was so picturesque. And hiking up took our breath away. Good thing we brought water, because it was 90 degrees out there that afternoon. We found that Barn Bluff was not only a good spot for hikers, but for rock climbers too. On our way down the bluff, we went around the other side where the bluff does all it's "bluffing". The hillside gives way to a sheer, rocky, cliff-edge and we passed several groups of rock climbers. That was an activity for another day though... Adam wanted to go to the Red Wing Shoe Store, but he was disappointed that Red Wing shoes doesn't make more of it's shoes in the USA. He also couldn't find just what he was looking for, so he put off his new work boot purchase until a further date in time.

(Myself, checking out the view and being quite hot and out of breath)
(Rock Climbers climbing up the face or Barn Bluff)

When we were done touring Red Wing Shoe Store, we drove on back to Jim's apartment, which was nearly two hours from Red Wing. By this time it was already evening and we were exhausted. Both the guys fell asleep and I puttered around Jim's apartment for a while. I decided that, once it got to be 8:00, it was time to find something for supper. So I looked through Jim's cupboards, and started to "rub up some grub". He had some good ingredients and it wasn't long before the guys were awake and dinner was ready. Rice, beef, beans, and tomatoes. And that was the end of day #2. Photos forthcoming.