Taylor Swift Concert!!

Last Sunday we took Jordan to see Taylor Swift as part of her birthday present. It was a great concert, though a little dramatic for my taste. The crowd loved her, and they screamed their heads off to prove it. Jordan had a good time, but she was feeling a little under the weather. She knew all the songs she sang and was singing along too. The screaming was a little loud for her ears, and we left a little before it was over because she was very tired, not feeling the greatest and the screaming was really starting to get to her. She did great though for her first concert Taylor sang right in front of us on a smaller stage. It was nice to see her so close for 3 songs. Jordan was asleep before we were a block from our parking spot!

Birthday party

Jordan turned 6 on Monday! We had 2 parties for her. Saturday was her friends party. There were 6 other kids, besides herself. They had a god time, playing in the yard, pint the tail on the donkey and the pinata.
We had the family party Sunday. Good food and god Vikings game, at least the end! The guitar cake turned out great! She oved it and it looked and tasted good too.

First Day of School

Today was Jordan's first day of school. Her teacher is named Ms. Maul. She is very nice. Jordan made her first school friend today, her name is Jessica. She liked the lunch, chicken nuggets and tater tots ( Shep's fave ). She didn't have any homework today, but the teacher said she will most days, so we are looking forward to that. She liked the bus ride, and since they were running a little behind on the way home Joe was able to make it there to see her get off the bus, so I think they were both excited about that. She can't wait to go back tomorrow!

week in the woods

Laundry room paint

After seeing an offer about free paint I went online and ordered 4 different colors for my laundry room. It was the only room in the house I had not painted at least once, so it was due. I decided to go with blues and be bold about it. So I went with 14 inch squares in the 4 colors. I think it looks really good, different, but good. Besides, if I didn't like it only me and cat would have to look at it. So now that that is done I will have to find other projects around the house to keep me busy until school starts.

still here

It has bee a while since I have blogged. We have not been doing much, my last day of work for the summer was friday, so yee-haw, I'm free!!! Summer school kept e busy with no time to spend on the computer. This past weekend we spent at my sister-in-laws cabin in Thorp, WI. The weater was not the greatest, on and off rain all day saturday, but not a total wash out either. I didn't even take my camera out of the case. Joe's whole family was there, with the exception of Eddie, he had to work saturday and had no ride up after that. Dave and Patty are always good hosts, and Dave is entertaining as well, I don't know how anyone can keep up with him. Phil had is girlfriend up, Erin, she seems very nice, if not overwhelmed with all of us. Jordan loved hanging out with Jenna, Emily and Erin. She loves being with the big girls.

Today I put the second color in the laundry room, only 2 more to go. I'm doing 14 inch squares, in 4 colors. In another 2 weeks I should be close to done and I'll get some pictures up of that.

On the 16th Jordan and I are going to Finland, MN with my family for the week. I can't wait to be there and relax. I'l have lots of pics and stories from that week I am sure.

Swimming on the 4th of July

We spent the 4th at the cabin this year. The weather was warm, but not hot, perfect! Eddie and Pat were also at the cabin. We went into Moose Lake for the parade, which Jordan thought was awesome! She got a bag of candy and got to see the jets fly over head. Trey spent the afternoon with us so we went across the road to the swimming pond. Jordan tried her hand at the rope swing, she did better then I thought she would. Trey, Jordan and the 4 dogs swam for a while and really had a good time. We also visited with Becky and Jim on Thursday night, congrats on the new house! Friday we spent some time at the Johnson's so Jordan could play with Anja. It was a fun weekend, but we were all tired out on Sunday. Jordan fell asleep on the couch at 4:30 and she is just like her Dad, not wanting to wake up after nap and crabby the rest of the night!

The new pool

Last year I picked up a 12ft pool on clearence for Jordan. We set it up a week ago. As you can see there is about 4 inches to spare between the garage/pool/fence. Jordan has been in it everyday since Saturday, Joe and I have also been in it as well. Jordan spends more time with her head under the water then above it. So far it is a huge hit, well worth the money spent. It sure beats a membership to the pool, and the crowds that go along with it.

Green Striper

Jordan received her next belt in karate the other day, white with a green stripe. She was really proud of herself, and so are we. She is really enjoying karate so I am going to sign her up for another 6 months, through January and we will see how she handles it when she starts school.

Jordan on vacation

Jordan had a blast camping. She got to drive the boat on Whitefish, which she loved. She also made a sailboat from a boyscout kit. It went for it's maiden voyage at the beach at Kilworry resort. It probably would have sailed better if someone didn't get such a kick out of swamping it, oh well, fun is fun. We also brought along a butterfly net and Jordan caught a moth. She walked around with it for a long time, she touched the wings so much that it could no longer fly away. She wanted to keep it as a pet but I told her that Diego would eat it if we brought it home. She also did a lot of bike riding at the campground, up and down the driveway, to the pump and the outhouses. I am so glad that she was old enough this year to go to the outhouse by herself. Albert was a big thrill for her too. She loved socializing with him and asking about Anja among other things. She even left him a note on his camper door telling him to have a happy day, he swore not to tell Gail so she wouldn't get jealous!

She also spent lot of time swimming at various remote sites and the beach at the campground. Coming in at a tie for her favorite vacation moments is meeting her new friends, Jordan and Faith, who she played with all evening on Monday (they even exchanged numbers) and the camp potties at the remote sites. She can't stop talking about the socks in the potty hole at the one site. I guess someone forgot to bring t.p. and that must have been the only other option. She even told the kindergarten teacher at her assessment all about the socks in the potty. I can just imagine what kind of people they thought she had for parents. She just does not hold anything back!

All in all I would say she had a good time,but was happy to be back home and is currently watching Mama Mia in my bedroom.

Fishing trophies

Vacation started out good this year. We went up to Kilworry resort on the Whitefish Chain. I caught 2 nice keeper walleyes, which tasted really good. We also caught more northerns then we could count. We has a nice meal of fish with Joe's Mom and Dad and Patty and Phil. We stayed there from Wednesday to Friday morning when we headed up to Cut Foot Sioux.

Here is one of Joe's big fish, he caught 6 walleyes that had to be thrown back because of the slot limit.

Up until the last day of fishing I was the one who was able to catch fish we could actually eat. These are 2 of the ones we got to have for dinner.

Finally I catch one that had to go back!!!!! This is the biggest walleye I have ever caught. A nice 21 incher, big but not big enough to go on the wall has to be 30 or more for that. I guess I will have to keep trying.

And finally Joe, the big cheater, caught this monster. At 27 1/4 it wasn't big enough for the wall either. We could have kept it for dinner, but at that size if you are not going to stuff it you might as well out it back.

Jordan did not catch any fish, but she didn't really try either. She was content to watch and play Barbies in the boat. I'll get some pics of her up soon.

Gardner Joe

On thursday we all spent the evening outside. While I was mowing the grass Joe and Jordan replaced one of the leaky sprinkler heads in the side yard. He did much better on this one then the one he replaced last year. I think he dug up half the yard fir that one and the grass still hasn't recovered. Anyway, they replaced the sprinkler and it worked great. This inspired Joe to adjust all 30 or so sprinkler heads so they had better coverage of the yard. We should have no dead spots now. It only took 4 years to get the sprinklers spraying right, now we just have to figure out how to program the system!

We also trimmed the trees in the yard. There were quite a few branches that were touching the ground an some that always attacked me as I was mowing. So the yard is looking good dispite this drought we are in. It is raining a little now, hopefully we will get a good soaking, we need it.

Next week we are off camping, should have some good stories and pictures when I get back from there.

Cabin Fun

We spent a wonderful memorial weekend up at the cabin in Finland, MN. The weather was great and the kids were good. Thursday when we got in, about 8:30, we seen a bull moose, Limpy, come in. Captain warned us he was coming by acting all brave and barking. Surprisingly it did not scare Limpy away and we were able to watch him at the salt lick for an hour. Unfortunatly my camera was in the bunk house, but it was so close to dark that the pics would not have turned out well anyway. The next day Jordan got her first shooting lesson with Grandpa Dave, on the new Red Rider BB gun. Someday she will be a dead eye hunter like her parents! There was a lot of work to be done. An ice storm came through the area this winter so there were lots of bent and broken trees. Joe Dad Riley and I cleared one trail of fallen poplar tops and fallen pines. Joe and Dad, with Dennis help later, got down some of the branches from the bent birch by the cabin. So what happens when you can't get a ladder and chainsaw up high enough. Let me tell you.

Step 1: Shoot the offending branched with whatever firearm you have available. Be very careful that the bullets don't come back down and hit you on the head.

Step 2: Toss up a rope with a giant bolt on the end, hoping that you can get it around a branch.

Step 3: Pull really hard, example in video below.

Step 4: When all else fails attach the 4-wheeler and hope to hell that it doesn't kill you, ask Joe.

Step 5: Shoot more branches for pulling at a later date.

We also did some wheeling and a lot of hiking looking for sheds. We were not lucky enough to find any. We all ate good and had a good time. Can't wait for August to come when I get to spend a whole week up there.






Here is a short clip of the tree branch coming down, and Dad going down with it.

Finding nemo...er Swimmy Dragon?

Last night Jordan went to feed her fish and started yelling to me that Swimmy was gone. I went to look and sure enough the tank was empty, no Swimmy! I looked on the floor and around the tank and did not see her there either. Joe came in as I was explaining to her that sometime fish don't live long and she can always buy a new fish. We moved her book shelf and I seen Swimmy laying there, covered in lint and cat hair, because who vaccumes behind those things anyway! So she looked pretty dried and stiff, Joe reached down to pick it up and she started to wiggle! He put her in the tank, hair and lint and all and she was swimming around slowly, still covered in stuff. I cleaned the tank, changed the water and proceeded to give Swimmy her first bath. Now never in a million years did I ever think a fish would need a bath, but there is a first time for everything I guess!

All that kept going through my head was that scene from Nemo where Nemo got out and was flopping on the dentist tray hoping to get back to the ocean. I have no idea how long she was out of the water, but she was still swimming this morning, lets hope she is still alive tonight.

Pray for Swimmy Dragon!

Mother's Day Gardening

We had a good mother's day at our house. Jordan gave me a potted flower and a picture she drew of me. She also gave me a recordable card with a really cute message on it. I had to take it away from her so she wouldn't wear down the batteries.

We did some shopping at Menards the day before and got a bird bath and some solar lights for the front of the house. Jordan also got to pick out her flowers to plant under her swing set. So we planted it all on Sunday. She was excited to use her new tools, a bag with a small rake and shovel. She planted marigolds, impatients and pansies. Hopefully her little garden will do as well as it did last year.

New Addition

Yesterday we got a new addition to our family, a beta fish. Jordan has wanted a fish for a long time so we finally gave in a let her get one. She had to buy the fish, tank, food and tank decorations with her own money. It all came to $14.50, she had plenty of allowance to spare. We got her all set up on Jordan's bookshelf. She named the fish Swimmy Dragon, what a name. I hope this fish lives a long life.

karate tournament

Yesterday was Jordan's first Karate tournament. She did great! I was really surprised at how many kids there were there. In Jordan's ring there was probably 40 or more competitors. She did a great job waiting for her turn and watching all the other kids go. When her turn came she was very focused on what she was supposed to be doing. The commented she had a good side stomp. She did not 'place' to earn extra points, but she did get a cool trophy. All the kids under 8 got a trophy, so that was cool. She played and carried that thing around for the rest of the day. We also got to watch her instructors perform. Mr. Hui and his partner got 1st in the black belt open competition, they were awesome to watch. They did several jump spin kicks. It was great. Mr. Allyn did a sword routine and Mr. Hicks and Nelson did a form together. It was a fun day. Grandma and Grandpa came down to watch so it was extra special for Jordan.

Last nigh Jordan got her next belt in karate. She is now up to the white w/2 yellow stripes. She is so proud of herself when she earns her belts. Although she wanted a solid green belt, but that is a long way off. They are busy getting ready for the tournament at the end of the month. Jordan knows all her skills really well. She just needs to work on her balance a little with the side stomp. Sorry the pictures are not good quality but I only had my camera phone.