Main Contents
July 13, 2009
This past Sunday we decided to visit the MN Zoo. Looking at the price list we decided it would be best to become members for the year as we would only need to visit the zoo one more time this year to make it worth it. A pretty good deal if you live near the zoo!
I will let the pictures speak for themselves mostly.. The kids enjoyed seeing the animals that were on display. We remembered to bring a pair of binoculars and the camera. Amazingly the camera’s lens just fit in the eye pieces of the binoculars so I have a few shots of “extreme” zoom. A little blurry as the auto focus could not quite focus, but close enough.
Aiden loved the giraffes the best and Brandon and I liked the prarie dogs.
The boys also loved all the kids play ground areas the zoo has. Now there is at least 3 large play area which is a great feature to let the kids run off some energy between animal sightings. With out these play areas I doubt we could have spend the 5 hours there we did.
We did not have time to hit the indoor water animals so we will save that for our next visit. So enjoy the pictures below.
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Comments (0)
June 15, 2009
Wow another month has gone by and I have not updated the blog at all. I guess since this is my blog I do not need to apologize, I have no subscribers paying for regular, timely updates.. But I should try a bit harder to write more posts and keep those that do occasionally read my blog up to date on my family life. So in a nutshell here is what we have been up to..
- More tee ball
- Brandon’s class play – E I E I Oops
- Trip to Green Bay
- Helping out Andersen Windows @ MS150
- Fryar Deck 2009 Project
Every Tuesday and Thursday has been tee ball with Brandon. Him and his team are getting much better at fielding the ball and throwing it to the person manning the bases. They have not gotten may outs but they seem to be paying more attention to it. Brandon’s hitting also has improved. A few times last week he hit balls to the outfield and took the max double play he is allowed. Four more games and he is done with tee ball and advances to coach/machine pitch next year.
In early May all the first grade classes put together a play called E I E I Oops. Basically it is the standard EIEIO song but the cow forgot what it is supposed to say so the other animals need to tell him what he says. Brandon played a chicken, so we dressed him up and he had brightly colored feathers. His speaking part went well, he remembered his lines and spoke loud enough to hear him. And best part is we have the whole thing on tape to torment him on his High School graduation!
In mid May we went to Green Bay Wisconsin for a running event there. Danith ran a 5K and her sister ran a half marathon. This event is cool as not only do the runners finish by running through the stadium, they get brats and beer at the finish line. While there we toured the field, Brandon loved it. We stayed at a water park and both boys did not want to leave. A good time was had by all.
This past weekend Danith’s sister Megan rode in the MS 150 which is a bike ride from Duluth to the twin cities metro. Megan is riding for the Andersen Windows team and we volunteered to man her tent and help provide water and food at the finish line. It was a nice warm day with a gentle breeze, the boys enjoyed sitting and watching the riders and helping where they could. After a few hours the boys had enough and we had to pack up and head home.
This spring as people were pulling on our aluminum deck railings they started to pop off due to the wood warping (Cheap Menards wood). We thought it would be best to rip out those failing railings and replace them with wood spindles before someone got hurt. So at the end of May we ordered the wood and started tearing off the old railings.
At the same time we wanted to resand the entire deck and put a better stain/paint on it. So every free hour has been spend sanding the new wood, sanding the old deck frame and painting the new wood. This last Saturday I rented a large drum sander and resurfaced the decking floor to make it more even and reduce the bumps between the deck boards. It looks nice at the moment but still needs a final light sanding before we start painting the decking.
Today I plan on finish sanding the decking so Danith can paint the decking and a few joists. This will allow me to start assembling the already painted posts and railings. Hopefull we will be done with this project before the end of June!
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Comments (0)
May 8, 2009
Well it is that time again, summer sports! This year Brandon has chosen to just be in Tee ball. Last night was his first game and I managed to capture this perfectly timed shot of his second at bat. This year they keep track of runs and outs. The strange rules are that you can only have 10 runs an inning, or 3 outs whatever comes first, and they play 4 innings total. So after the 4 innings we were surprised to say that they tied at 24/24.
Last month Brandon also finished up his bowling league. He got his first real trophy as his team came in second. In related bowling news, we attended a charity bowling event to raise money for MS and Aiden got to bowl for the first time. I have not downloaded that camera yet but he was really cute. He would ask if it was his turn to bowl right after he took a turn. Eventually we got Brandon and Aiden their own lane. During that event I bowled a 210 to take the high game and I also managed to take the high series award and came home with a new tee shirt.
Due to budget cuts, 3M has outsourced their building security with a cheaper solution. This goose and his mate decided it was a good idea to build a nest right next to the main employee entrance at 3M Center. One would sit on the nest and the other would stand by the glass and hissed at everybody walking by. Yesterday the chicks were finally born and they have resigned their position at 3M. I wonder how many crooked plans they foiled in their tenure.
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Comments (0)
April 23, 2009
Today is my birthday, I am turning 34. My sister who is current living in Japan sent me a nice box of Japanese goodies and a birthday hat. Since I am at home today I will sample a few of them and gauge my reactions!
When I first opened the box last night I was greeted with a plethora of items, various kit-kats, some hard candies and some chip like items. Some had obvious pictures like the banana kit-kats, and some had English text describing the flavor like Teriyaki, some had a picture like little shrimp, and finally some were just Kanji text. Each was going to be a surprise.
Last night we saw this item, a teriyaki corn stick and decided to give it a shot. Upon opening the packaging Danith was the first to comment on the very strong odor. Yes it was definitely covered in a heavy teriyaki flavor. Brandon took the first bite and here is his reaction. I took the second bite.. Tasted like a really thick Bugle that has been soaked in Soy sauce a bit too long. Unfortunately this one we did not finish.
Next was a chocolate item, again we had this one last night. These were little chocolate pyramids with a pink tip. I assume this is supposed to be chocolate covered strawberries. These had an excellent chocolate flavor with the usual fake strawberry. They were quite tasty and Brandon and I quickly finished off the box. Now this is more like it!
Next was a snack from Calbee. I have had some of their previous snacks and they are always a potato based snack with some special flavors. Based on the packaging I would guess shrimp. I was imagining a cooked shrimp flavor but upon opening the package it smelled just like fresh caught raw shrimp. Popping one into my mouth the taste was very similar to the smell. Actually not too bad, but a different shrimp flavor than say a pack of Ramon noodles. I finished off the bag except for one that I tossed to Max. He did not see eye to eye with me on this one and after smelling it for a good two mintues decided to pass.
Stay tuned for more Japanese food sampling!
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Comments (2)
April 20, 2009
First off I apologize for the lack of posts, no real excuses, everybody is busy, so chalk it up to being too lazy to sit down and write something.
Let me start with the recent and work backwards. This weekend we decided to replace our leaky kitchen faucet with a new one. The old one was leaky, cheap and ugly. It could have probably been repaired and saved, but why when we can have a nice new faucet in it’s place.
After shopping around at Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards we bought a Moen Torrence edition brushed nickel model. Looked nice except the sprayer was cheap looking, but we did not care as we have a better sprayer that I would just hook on.
After getting it home and the old sink taken off I took an inventory of the parts needed.. Two hose extensions.. Oh and I needed to hook up our old sprayer. Well that is the hard part I guess. Moen faucets come with a quick connector for their sprayer, however the Kohler one we have has a compression end. So first trip to Menards and I picked up what I thought would work.
Getting home I had to use the hack saw on the new faucet to remove the “quick connector” and was left with a 1/4 MIP male pipe fitting. The same connector as the Kohler sprayer! But alas the inside diameter of the pipe was too narrow so the sprayer did not fit. Back to Menards for an extension.
Second trip to Menards for the extension coupler. Well I forgot that I needed a Male – Female coupler and just picked up a Male – Male one. Doh! Third trip for the right connector and 30 minutes later we had a new kitchen faucet.
Other news.. Brandon had his friend Hunter spend the night Friday, his first sleep over at his house. It went very well other than the occasional melt down where he wanted to do something and Hunter wanted to do something else. Typical 6 year old stuff.
For Easter Aiden got a new big wheel. He loves it but is not big enough to pedal it yet. I will get a picture of him on it shortly. Brandon got new roller blades from the bunny, again a picture will be coming soon.
Summer sports are starting this week for Brandon… Tee ball Tuesdays and Thursdays and Swimming MWF. In May he is starting Golf lessons and Dad gets to come with to dust off his rust.. Hopefully in time for his Golf weekend on May 28th.
Danith is scrap booking again, so time to print out more digital prints!
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Comments (0)
