First Tooth

GP Lost his first tooth the other day. He was very excited. Of course, the tooth fairy paid him a visit and exchanged his tooth for cold hard cash.

Legos aren't just for kids

I bought the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit for teaching the guys @ work some programming concepts. For $250 it's a cheap corporate training aid. It's also way cool. I brought it home last weekend to see what it could do. It has three servo motors with position feedback encoders, a touch sensor, sound level sensor, ultrasonic rangefinder, and a light/color meter. After building the demo robot, I turned my attention to building something really useful... A CD labeler! Servo #1 rotates the CD (clamped in place by the tire), servo #2 moves the pen in and out, and servo #3 picks up the pen so you don't have to write in cursive. The controller is programmed in a kiddie version of LabView - the same software we use @ work to program our test rigs. It's scarry to imagine what tomorrow's engineers will be able to do after growing up with stuff like this.

Windless Hill

We had a beautiful 6" snow last night. This morning it was near 30 with absolutely no wind. I think we were either in the eye of the eternal Nebraska windstorm, or we got lucky and experienced the 30-minute window when the wind changes from south to north.




For some reason the Lincoln city snow plows had acutally plowed the streets with their blades down and made the streets passible. We took advantage of the fortunate conditions and went sledding at Pioneers Park. The tobogan run wasn't crowded and the snow was perfrect. The boys sledded until they couldn't walk up the hill any more (and JP's feet were frozen).


By the time we left, there was a line on the slides, the wind had picked up out of the north, and it was getting crowded enough to be dangerous flying downhill on a snow tube.

Last trip to Zoo in 2006

2006_12_30-Zoo

Click on the picture to go to the photo album.

We took advantage of the crappy weather after Christmas to hit the zoo one last time in '06. Although it was cold and yucky, the Omaha zoo has more than enough indoor attractions to fill a day. We wandered through the aquarium, ate lunch, did the rainforest, and then finished off with an underwater I-Max.

Christmas 2006

Christmas was once again an exciting event. Not only did Santa stop by our house, he even brought Gramma & Grampa from Utah. G&G were in SLC, planning on driving out on the 22 or 23, but a big snowstorm between us and them nixed those plans, and they returned to St. George. We figured that they would not make it, and the kids were sad. Upon hearing the news, GP promptly wrote a letter to Santa and asked the big guy to stop by and pick up G&G and bring them to our house. At 5pm Christmas day, G&G pulled up in the driveway, just in time for Christmas dinner. What a treat!

2006_12_26-BoxingDay

Click on Katrina to see all our Christmas Photos.

Snow!

We thought we were going to escape 2006 without any snow. Wrong. After three days of rain, the temperature cooled off and we had a good old fashoined blizzard for most of the day. Gramma & Grampa had to wait yet another day here. They left this morning (1/1/07) with a blue sky ahead of them.

CP had fun running the snow blower. GP does not have enough weight to get the necessary traction to move the machine. Both had fun getting blasted as I cleared the driveway.

CP's December Activities

What could be better than boys, sticks, and thin ice? I was tempted to let them fall through, as it was only inches deep, but I was afraid that they would then assume if you fell through the ice it was no big deal.

The lake was surrounded by a ring of mud. GP got stuck and had to be winched out. CP lost a shoe in the mud. Needless to say, JP was thrilled when we returned covered in mud. Southeast Nebraska has no shortage of mud. It is everywhere!

We saw two bald eagles out on the ice in the middle of the lake and two muskrats swimming in some open water near shore.



Glory be to the digital camera!! CP really got into taking pictures at the zoo. By the end of the day he was clicking off some very nice photos. I think the time has come to get CP his own camera.



Lincoln now has two skating rinks in addition to the museum of roller skating. This is the old one. It's fun and a good workout. CP finally got out and tried the Limbo. My favorite is doing the Hoky-Poky, although this time I fell flat on my face while turning myself around.



CP works on his Pinewood Derby car. We scanned a Hot Wheels car, stretched in photoshop so that it fit the block of wood, and then carved it out on the scroll saw. Race day: 1/27/07.



CP shows off his new TBF Avenger. We built it light and it's a great flyer.



The Avenger takes flight!



CP has been wanting a Japanese Zero for a long time, and I found a nice 1/16 scale model in the new Woodstock hobby shop over thanksgiving. He painted the entire thing and is quite proud of his work. We finished it last night, and he has not put it down since.

2006 Christmas Card

We did it! We actually took a family photo and sent out Christmas cards before Christmas. This year really feels like Christmas. Last year we were still getting settlted into the new home and city. This year it feels like we really live here and JP knows her surroundings. We are anxiously waiting for SANTA. Please come soon, Santa!

Starting at 3pm today, we are switching the boys over to their pre-santa sugar-only diet so that they will have enough energy to make it to Christmas. I have been worried that they lack excitement and enthusiasm for Christmas.

Mississippi Palisades

While we were in Illinois for Thanksgiving, I took off Saturday AM and went out to the Palisades where we used to camp, hike, and climb. I had not been there in over a year and suprisingly, a lot had changed. I forgot how pretty the river bottom is. It's incredibly large compared to the Missouri River. I always thought that they would be of similar size, but the Missouri is a trickle compared to the Miss.



The sentinel tower that we used to climb (120' limestone pillar) had a sign that said not to climb on the south column. When we used to climb, the top of the south pillar was always a little wobbly on top; now it must be to the point that someone could knock it off.

All throughout the park on top of the bluffs, there are sinkholes that are full of sediment & debris. I have probed them, hoping to poke through to the underworld, but never found anything. This trip I was exploring one and found that the bottom had finally broken through to the cavern below (lower picture). I wish I had a rope & harness (and another person) with me. The cave looked like it went down for a while and would be explorable. Maybe next trip.

 

Thanksgiving in Lanark

We spent Thanksgiving in Lanark at the Grammas' house. Everyone was there except for Glenn & Sue - they were in Michigan on a business trip.



After dinner, we played a couple rounds of "The Dice Game." The boys had fun stealing presents from everyone.



The day after, JP & I traveled to Woodstock to see the old neighborhood. We walked down to the square with the Newmans. The square is changing - new $450k townhouses have been built behind the train station, Harvest Moon (our favorite resturant) was sold and went out of business, the Jailhouse is under new ownership and is being remodelled, and the toy store has been replaced by a spectacular hobby shop. The hobby shop has more stuff crammed in it than our Hobbytown superstore. I almost bought the big P-38 model I've been looking for, but JP (the voice of reason) talked me out of it. I did, however, get a nice 1/16 scale Japanese Zero for CP to help me build. He has a thing for Japan and has been wanting a Zero for quite some time. I'm anxious to get started, but I think we need to build this year's pinewood derby car first.

Little House looks the same except for some giant weeds in the back yard, an air conditioner (permanent, not window), and a satellite dish. It's hard to believe that we used to be able to get by with a sub-one-car garage. The neighbors to the rear built a nice 3-car garage that matches their house. Nancy & Chet are doing well.

The main purpose for our trip to Illinois was for JP to get her hair cut by a real stylist. She hasn't been able to find anyone here that she likes. I gave her a hard time about driving 8 hours to get a haircut, but when she emerged from the salon, I realized that she was right.

Sunday Flyers

I returned from Cedar Falls Friday afternoon after stopping at the new Cabela's in Omaha for an hour. What a store!! They have nearly as many animals there (stuffed) as the Omaha Zoo.

Saturday was gorgeous, so I siezed the day and put up the x-mas lights.

Today was even better than yesterday, so CP & I got out and flew some wind-up planes in the new development to the south. The Stuka & Super Cub did not do very well, but the dorky looking Lancer flew like grampa. CP tried it, but found that he liked running the camcorder better than winding the rubber band. Afterwards, we went to Hobbytown to check out RC trainers. I told Santa about them, but she laughed in my face. How heartbreaking.



 

Iowa

We spent the weekend in Dez Moynez with our old neighbors from Woodstock. They have family there, so we decided to meet up and let the kids swim, swim, swim... Friday night a blizzard blew through and left a few inches of sticky white stuff all over. Every sign post and tree was platered. Fortunately, we went out Saturday AM and had nothing but blue skies to accent the snow.

DesMoines has an incredible mall!! We went there for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, but decided that the 30 minute wait with 6 kids would not be prudent. We opted for supper at the food court. The kids had burgers & fries, and the grownups had some tasty Panera chow. After dinner we poked around the mall. I wish Nebraska had a mall like DesMoines. Pottery Barn, Coach, J. Jill, etc. The Scheele's there was the same as Lincoln's, but the tree in the middle is an Oak (vs. Redwood) and they have a floatplane hanging from the ceiling.

Sunday I parted ways with the family and took a rental car from DesMoines up to Cedar Falls, which looks like it is very close to DesMoines, but is not. I stopped in Boone to see if I could see the fantastic Boone & Scenic Valley RR bridge, but I only had my Iowa road map and didn't feel like getting lost/stuck on a dirt road as the sun set. I did manage to find the train depot, which was closed. Maybe next time I'm in Boone, I'll take more time and find it.

I'm in Cedar Falls for a week-long LabView training class. It's making my head spin, but that's not always a bad thing. I'm looking forward to going home, but it's a 5.5 hour drive, and the company truck doesn't have cruise control...

This web site has some nice photos of the Boone & Scenic RR: http://www.pbase.com/gazeboy96/boonerr

Week of Nov. 6

Katrina sits on her perch, waiting for a scratch or to pounce on the dog.







JP is getting a head start on her x-mas carrols. 

Bear Lake

Today was spectacular - total sunshine and NO WIND. We had a heavy frost, but by 9:30 am it was warm enough to go in short sleeves. I stopped by Bear Lake which is a Nebraska public land site where I go fishing on the way home. Nebraska is blessed with lots of open public lands. Not as much as Arizona or Utah, but a bit more than Illinois. Anyway, I was able to shoot a few frames with my new camera in the daylight. What fun! I tried my luck with the fly rod, but I think the fish were too busy enjoying the nice weather. There were some guys there from Kentucky that had come here to shoot deer. One took a nice doe with his bow. The crows were really noisy - either someone in a tree stand, or an owl. Seems like the crows are always noisy at this place.
 
 
  

Halloween

Sunday it was in the mid 80's. Last night for trick or treating it was below freezing. At least it wasn't windy.

The boys had fun until they got cold and tired, which was a relief, because we were cold and tired, too.

CP went as a Clone Trooper, and GP was a Power Ranger. I went as a longshoreman, and JP went as an antarctic explorer with all her warm clothes.

Jen's mom helped us finished up the bathroom. The old mirror sans frame is on the wall, but it looks awful; it's too small now. We will have to call a mirror guy to bring us a nice big one.

JP's mom & gramma bought us a piano today - we should have it here in a few days. It will finish our living room, finally. We have been living in this big empty feeling house. We are slowly filling it up, but it's more difficult than I thought it would be.