The Lieslands

I just added a few new pics to our 2008 Photo Gallery.

I also created a new gallery with a few pictures from our trip.

After a great trip, we loaded up the car yesterday morning for the trek back to Cincinnati. It was nice to come home to a clean house and some cool weather. The kids did great in the car and now we are just trying to get back into the swing of things. When I get the time, I will post some picture from our trip.

The past few days in Des Moines have been a good time. We have been spending a lot of times with Mimi, Papa, and the Reagens. There has been some flooding here of late, and we have seen a lot of the leftovers. We have also come across some rivers that are still exceeding their usual banks.

We left Minneapolis this morning and headed south for about 4 hours. We drove past some ruined corn fields and flooded rivers, and arrived at Mimi & Papa’s in mid-afternoon. A good time is being had by all.

Today started like yesterday, at the lake. We played a little at the playground and walked around and explored a little.

After breakfast we met some friends for brunch and then hung out with more friends in the afternoon.

Last night could have gone better. The lovely barbecue pizza that we had for dinner yesterday kept me up half the night, and now everyone else is having some digestive issues. Digestive issues aside, we were up early this morning and headed out on a walk around Lake Harriet. Even though the lake is close, it took us forever to get there and back because Elliot insisted on walking, and pushing the stroller.

It was great to get down to the lake. This is the same lake that Susan and I used to walk around when I first visited her in Minneapolis. This morning we walked around the lake for just a few minutes because the kids were taking a long time. We settled in at the beach where the kids enjoyed the water, even though it was a little chilly.

After nap time, we headed off to Martin and Courtney’s wedding. It was at the Minnesota Boat Club, on Raspberry Island, in St. Paul. The island was a little island on the Mississippi with a great view of St. Paul. The wedding was outside with the city as the backdrop and was followed by a lovely dinner, good cake, and some dancing. We headed home a little later than we had planned, which I think is a good thing, because that means we were having a good time.

We started off this morning spending a few more hours at camp gray. Jeff was up early with us and we at breakfast, walked around camp a little, and then we were off.

We had about three or four more hours to Minneapolis, and the drive went well. Elliot has been taking his naps in the car. Mari has not. We arrived in Minneapolis in the middle of the afternoon. We are staying with Maribeth, Susan’s friend from high school, and her husband Eric. We stayed with them last summer as well, and had a great time.

After we got settled in we decided to go for a walk to a pizza place. Just as we were leaving a storm blew in, which made our walk interesting. There was not a lot of thunder and lightning, but there was a lot of wind. It was a nice contrast to the many hours that we had been spending in the car. We enjoyed a lovely barbecue chicken pizza, and then headed home for bed.

We left Cincinnati at 9 this morning, cutting across IN, IL, and stopping in Reedsburg, WI. Our friends Jeff and Rebecca Hoeben are co-directors at Camp Gray and we are staying the night here on our way to Minneapolis. We arrived at camp just before dinner, joined the campers for dinner, and then got settled in to their house. Day one went well, and we are off to a good start. The drive went well and it is always fun to be at a summer camp.

On a side note, Jeff also had another friend passing through, Cameron. When we were sitting around chatting this evening Cameron mention that he had spent some time at the South Pole. I thought it was pretty cool to be talking to someone who has actually been to the South Pole. You can follow his exploits at offyonder.com.

Mari turned three yesterday. We had a nice, little party, with a few family and friends. The kids enjoyed another piñata, which I fear may be becoming a tradition. Mari ended the evening by staying up until 11, which has left her in a very pleasant mood today.

Man, what’s Shakin?

Things have been hopping around here. Not much doin’, but we are keeping busy.

We never made it camping this Spring, which has been a little disappointing.

Elliot is walking, which is awesome. I enjoy his walking because it makes my life so much easier. He gets around a lot better and on more surfaces, which is nice.

That’s all I got for now.

I just added a slew of new pics to our 2008 Photo Gallery.

In other news, Elliot is probably officially walking, which is nice. He is not yet to the point where he walks more than he crawls, but he is almost there.