Busy Summer

In addition to our family trip to Utah, I've been on the road this year around the country.

 

From the frozen tundra of Green Bay...

 

... to the warm sands of Florida.

 

I have accumulated nearly enough miles to get a round trip ticket for JP so that she can join me sometime. Just need to decide whether it should be a romantic weekend at Kohler, or bring the boys along to the beach in FL.

Wedding!

Last weekend we attended JP's cousin's wedding in Galena, IL. We've been waiting forever for him to tie the knot, and it finally happened.

 

The boys had fun drinking Pepsi & Mountain Dew and dancing all night. It was really fun to see them out on the dance floor. They both have some sweet moves. I'm glad they're learning more than just sports in P.E.

 

 

Rockband

This summer, I've been spending my free time trying to learn how to play drums on Rockband. It's one of the greatest video games ever made! Sure, the plastic 5-button guitar is cheezy, but the drum set is reasonable, and the microphone is the real thing. The boys enjoy playing the Beatles, and I've been enjoying cheap (sub-$10) used copies of the various game titles. My latest acquisition was Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock, which features all 21 minutes of the original 2112 song, complete with the band members reading the inter-song comments.

When my foot gets tired, I switch over to learning to play guitar (and now bass!!!) on Rocksmith. It's like guitar hero, but with a real guitar or bass plugged in. It has taken my playing ability from none to some.

 

Minneapolis

I was finally able to bring the family along on a trip up to Minneapolis for work. I need to get up there once a month, but Delta has locked in their price at $950 (it's $290 to go to Orlando via MSP), so it's a driving trip. I can't afford to drive up there once a month, so I end up not going.

 

We stayed at the hotel with the indoor waterpark next to the Mall of America. The boys were able to spend an entire day there.

 

After work, we hit the MOA and had a fun time. Next time we'll get passes and do roller coasters for a day.

 

Fireworks!

Needless to say, we shot a few fireworks on 7/4 this year. I was glad to get my garage cleared out of all the explosives. Nothing better than kids with lit punks running thru.

 

We had close to 25 people participate in this year's celebration. There were kids everywhere.

 

We spent most of the afternoon rigging up displays so that we could light it once and sit back and enjoy rather than lighting a new one every 30 seconds. Our artillery barrage would shoot 21 shells per loading. We reloaded it six times.

 

CP enjoyed his tank wars. At $0.25 each, how can you not buy a bunch of them?

 

This year, we decided to go with quality over quantity. However, the little boy in me kicked in (as did all the neighbors & friends) and we had both quality and quantity.

 

 

We were graced by the full moon. What a night!!

4th of July Friends

Our old neighbors from OK drove up for the 4th. As usual, we had too much fun.

 

This year we had a semi-permanent kiddie pool in the back yard for most of the summer. I'm thinking that next year we need to make it permanent.

 

 

Saltdogs

We only made it to one of the company-sponsored Saltdog games this year. It has been a busy summer for us.

 

I'm sure next year, the boys will be more interested in chasing girls thru the stadium than watching the game.

 

Anniversay Dinner with Cthulu

For our anniversary this year, we went over to the Lodge @ Wilderness Ridge. There's nothing better than a fine evening on the deck there. We ordered calamari for the appetizer and received a greasy bowl of nothing but tentacles with poorly adhered batter. I think they had all been cooked at least three times - they were rubbery beyond belief.

Once we showed the manager what we were faced with, he deeply apologized and brought us a round of drinks. It was a memorable dinner.

New Tree

We've been thru two white pines in the northeast corner of the back yard. Each lasted a few months and then got yellow and dropped their needles. We gave up on evergreens and are going to try a native Nebraska cottonwood. That corner of the yard is wet, so this guy should do well in his new home. The tree barely fit in JP's Odyssey.

 

Storm Clouds

This was the hottest summer here since the dustbowl days of the mid-30s. We only had one tornado watch all season. We had some cool clouds roll thru with that storm, but no twister. This is actually a color picture from my phone. There was no color in the sky.

 

Soccer Mom

This summer GP played in the Y soccer program. We were halfway thru the season before we realized that one of GP's teammates belonged to the general manager of my company. Lincoln is such a small town.

 

Seven Years of Cat Hair

Earlier this summer, when the temperature and humidity started to creep up, our A/C started to slow down and couldn't keep up. I tore into it and found that the evaporator was completely clogged up with dust and/or cat hair.

 

We change the filter regularly, but after seven years, some stuff managed to get thru and stick in the fins. Yuck. It took a couple hours, but I was able to toothbrush it clean and get our cool airflow back.

 

Day 8 - Back to Reality

Our last day of time away from reality was spent getting back to Lincoln. First was the 2-hour drive back to Vegas. Then the hour-long wait in the security line. Funny how everyone arriving in Vegas is alive and full of energy, but when they leave it's a different story.

 

CP found what he wants to do next time we visit Las Vegas.

We had a 2-hour layover in Minneapolis, so I took the family to my favorite airport restaurant: Ike's. They have fantastic food and a nice atmosphere. I usually travel thru MSP, and Ike's makes layovers something to look forward to.

 

They serve "The Weekender"; a meal-sized bloody mary that makes for the perfect ending to a long trip. Cheers!

Day 7 - Winding Down

For our last full day of vacation, we stayed in St. George and took it easy. After breakfast at Gramma and Grampa's, we did a trail hike at Snow Canyon. After a week of scrambling around in the sun, the boys were tired and cranky, so we spent the rest of the day at the pool.

 

We did dinner at the Chuck-O-Rama all-you-can-eat buffet. The boys made sure that they got their money's worth. CP's dinner highlight was mixing every flavor of fountain drink together to make "suicides". They caught up with him later.

 

After dinner, we went back to the red rock of Snow Canyon and watched "Aladdin" at Tuacahn. What a cool venue! The boys enjoyed the performance, and it was truly a magical night with the special effects and backdrop of the desert.

 

We had a blast on our Utah vacation. The boys were the right age to be able to enjoy all of the outdoor destinations. Thanks Gramma and Grampa!!

 

Day 6 - Zion

Our backsides needed a rest after riding mules thru Bryce, so we took it easy the next day and only did a quick tour of Zion.

 

The weather was perfect, and the water level was low, so we hoofed it up the canyon to the start of the narrows. The boys had fun wading and swimming their way upstream.

 

By the time we made it back to the lodge, we were tired, cold, and hungry.