Winter Carnival

No, not the one in St Paul! Last night National Karate had a winter carnival for the kids in class. I think there were over 40 students, and their parents, and all the volunters ion the small studio. It was roasting in there! I got stuck running one of the games, the football toss. It was fun and the little kids were cute, but the older ones were leaning towards obnoxious! JOrdan had a blast. The broke into groups and went around to all the 'stations'. It was very organized. Jordan got her hair sprayed pink. All the pink color is now all over Joes pillow (he's out of town so Jordan sleeps on his side). The end of the night all the Karate students got to break a board. Jordan and Danny will get to do theirs on Tuesday in class after they learn the proper way to kick so they don't get hurt. Which is a good thing because I did not have my camera with me last night, first time ever! So I'll get those pics up on Wednesday. Joe will also be there to see it too. So it was a fun night for us, I hope all the pink color comes out of the pillow case!!

Just for Mike

Because you were feeling left out.

How many nights are there in the Arabian Nights?

P.S. Please no more sweaters. Miss you.

Captain

He is almost 2 now, so we have given him free reign of the house while we are gone. Things went really good the first couple weeks. There was the issue of the complete disaperance of 3 princess figurines and the decappatation of another. The cat is the only witness and he is not talking! Last week he ate 3 bars of soap, that's right 3! Why, because he is an odd dog. He really has a good heart and I think he wants to be good, but something happens and he just can't follow through on the good behavior. But 3 bars of soap in a week, come on!!! I did some checking on the web and found some info that said dogs eat soap because the smell the rendered animal fat used to make most soap. Ok, that makes sense and I'm glad it is just not my dog who has gone off his rocker. He puked up on bar of soap, whole, but the other 2, well I'm sure you can figure that out without my help.

So today was all about the dog because life for us is business as usual. Josey is coming for an overnight so I'll have some pick and stories from them I'm sure.

Features

Jordan asked me what her best features were. Where did that come from, really, where does a 5 year old get a question like that? I didn't know what to say at first so I just stared at her. I came to a very quick decision that I did not want to answer her by focusing on looks, there is way too much of that already in the world. So the best answer I could come up with was her energy. That is her best feature, she has energy to spare, I just wish she could pass some along to me! To have the energy and enthusiasm of a 5 year old again, what would I do? Drive everyone nuts I'm sure. Anyway, I realise she is growing up so fast. She was even excited about Obama becoming President yesterday.

Karate

Last night Jordan got her first belt in Karate, the white belt. She tested in front of her class and the teacher put the belt on her. Everyone clapped for her when she was done. She was really excited to get her first belt. She is still undecided on continuing after this trial period, but I think she is leaning on staying with it. We'll see after Thursday what she wants to do.

Just for Nell

I am putting these on here just for Nurse Nell. Happy Birthday! These are this years deer hunting pics. I got a decent 8 pointer at 7:08 opening morning. My sister followed it up with a 7 pointer 20 minutes later. The kids were all thrilled with the deer when we drug them in. I think we havbe a future hunter on our hands.

Captain and Diego

Here are some recent pictures of my cat and dog. Captain is currently loose in the house, no more kennel life for him. So far he has only chewed on a bar of soap while unsupervised. I'm sure the two of them fight all day, but so far both are still alive and happy.

Karate

On tuesday Jordan started Karate. We got a great deal on a trial 5 lessons and the Gi (karate outfit) for $10. She really has a blast when she is doing it and is catching on really quick. She claims she does not like it and she is going to quit. We told her that she had to go the 5 times and then if she really does not like it she can be done. I hope she sticks with it, but I won't push her into it if she really hates it. Besides, it is really expensive and it will save me money if she decides not to continue. These are some pics from last night after she tried on her Gi.

Ice Fishing

The beginning of the year started with a trip to the Iron Range to visit with our friends Jamie and Emily and their daughter Anna. We stayed at Emily's parents place for 2 nights. The highlight was fishing on Blue Lake with the 'other' Walsh family. We were out for 6 hours fishing among the tree tops. It was a sunny but cool day, topping out around 10 for a high temp. We were really proud of Jordan, who is now 5. Not one time did she say she was bored, cold or wanted to go home. She pulled up a few nice Sunnies and helped pull up 2 nice northrens . She kept a close eye on all the tip-ups and called out "flag!" for each one that went up. She put on many mile running on the ice to be a part of all the action. She even took Emily on a journey towards shore. She is definitely an outdoor girl. Joe caught a bunch of nice northrens and even I managed to haul in two keepers on my tip-up, a first for me. We were well taken care of at the Walsh residence, Mikey fed us well our last night there. Thanks for the good time guys!

First post, hello

Hello to my family and friends and anyone else who may be interested my little life. While this is not my first time blogging this is the first time I have set up a blog like this. I hope not to be too boring for you all. I hope to keep you entertained with some stories and to keep you updated on all of Jordan's escapades.