MEA road trip continued....

After Itasca we drove across the State to the iron range cities of Hibbing and Chisholm. Behind Gabe and I in the picture is the Hull-Rust Mine, the largest open pit iron mine in the world. It is one of the few still in use in Minnesota. As you drive across the range, you can see many that have been abandoned for years and years. We ended the trip in Duluth before heading home. It was a great family road trip, creating many fun memories.

a quick road trip over MEA weekend...

The four of us took a road trip to parts of northern Minnesota over the short break from school for the teacher's convention. We stopped first at Itasca State Park, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. You can see Abby and gabe in the second photo acting it up on the log bridge across the mighty river. Itasca also has a record white pine, which is quite impressive, as well as a red pine that was a national record holder until the big storm a few years ago broke the top off. The fire tower there is 100 feet tall and it was chilly, drizzly and windy. Abby and Krista had no problem with it but I stayed at the top less than one minute....and I went back down with Gabe.

Rock climbing at REI

Today I went climbing with some friends from church. I did ok. It was scary at first as it seems high once you start up. I climbed the easiest one and made it to the top, then trusted the rope and the REI employee to get me down by just sitting back and repelling down. I tried a harder route twice but got worn out both times just before the top. I might try it again someday as we are talking of repeating this outing.

We had a lot of fun in two hours.

I was recently in Stillwater Oklahoma for an agricultural show. This show focused on Kiko goats. That is my brother Thom in the blue shirt. I love travelling with Thom to these events as we always have a good time.

This is a picture of Krista's grandmother with her six great-grandchildren. R to L is Jake, Abby, Max, Nana Lee, Zane, Gabe, and Piper. This picture was taken at the Johnson cabin in Hayward Wisconsin.

This is Gabe and I outside of his cabin at Camp Nathanael. He stayed for about a week and had a great time . This is an all boys camp and he did swimming, campfires, cook-outs, fishing, archery and pellet guns.

35W bridge collapse......

The collapse of a bridge here in Minneapolis that I have used hundreds of times in my life has reminded me of how fast things can change. You can add as well the many times I have driven under that bridge on my way to lunch over by the University of Minnesota from my workplace in downtown Minneapolis.

We just never know what is going to happen. Things like this tragedy and 9-11 cause me to be more reflective of how God has blessed me and how I take so many things for granted. I hope that we all take the time to thank God for His blessings. It wouldn't hurt to tell those in your life that you love them.

My golf loving son at the range.

Here is the newly installed bathroom floor. It is green in color and is linolium. We really like the look of it.

Here is the bathroom ceiling with the new light box and the new vent fan attached.

























This is my brother-in-law Doug putting some of the mud on the wall. Doug and his partner Brian do this work for a living and they are very good at it.


Here is that same part of the ceiling with the sheetrock up.

Taking down the ceiling was the dirtiest part because of the dust from the insulation.
I could not have got this project started without Thom. He is always willing to help.

These are a couple of photos of me clearing snow off of our driveway. We had two good snow storms in a row. These were the first big snow falls in the last few years.

We are now in the middle of a bathroom renovation. My brother Thom and I did all of the demolition, taking out the wallboard, flooring, ceiling, vanity, etc. It was great fun.


















We created quite a mess to haul outside.

As you have seen before if you read this blog, we head out on the weekend after Thanksgiving every year to cut down our Christmas tree. Once again it was warmer out. No snow. We had a wonderful time with the Fries family as we do each year. 

Just before Christmas we finally got some snow. Abby made this great snowman near the end of the driveway. Like all snowmen if the weather gets warmer, he melted away.