Just Another Day

I managed to stay “car-free” both Friday and Saturday. We’ve been doing so much driving this summer, and the weather has been amazing the past couple of days, so… I decided to do my best to avoid getting in the car. Luckily, this pretty much allowed me to waste all of Friday on movies, the Yobo (remember our fake Nintendo?), and dips in the lake. Yesterday felt a bit more productive as we worked to finish the trim in the bedroom’s at Gram and Gramp’s house, went snorkleing, and took a boat ride up to Donny and Cindy’s cabin.

I broke my automobile boycott this morning in order to get to church. And now we’re working to decide what to do with the rest of our Sunday…

Tomorrow we’re heading over to Brainerd where we’ll hopefully get even more settled in. Tuesday I’ll meet with my team at Forestview to get our parent letters sent out. I’m looking forward to meeting with the folks I’ll work closely with this year, not to mention I’m excited to get into my classroom – MY VERY OWN for the first time ever! I’m not sure I’ll know what to do without my rolling cart or the comfort of the Brevig Mission ski shed. 😉

And so, life continues to move forward happily. I hope the same is true for you!

Before we even made it home from our Wisconsin trip, we stopped to grab a U-Haul trailor to load up that night. In just over an hour we had moved most of our worldly posessions into the trailor. We awoke bright and early the next morning (Monday) and started on our way.

By 11:20 we had officially agreed not to be drug dealers or prostitutes and were therefore allowed the keys to our new apartment! 🙂

We unloaded the whole trailor and back of our car quickly and then escaped into the beauty of the airconditioning. It has been so very hot and humid… we looked like we’d just run a marathon.

Shortly after we caught our breaths we headed towards St. Cloud to the Becker Furniture Outlet. We found a beautiful couch and love seat and were able to bring them back with us the same day. Again, it was a bit of a chore to haul them up, and I was reminded how very un-strong I am. Still, their addition instantly made the place feel “homey”.

We unpacked all of our wedding presents – it was a ton of fun to find things I’d forgotten we’d received! We’re both excited to get the chance to use all of our new stuff.

So – the place is still coming together, but I wanted to share what we have done with you so far!

This picture was taken from our balcony and shows the layout of the kitchen and livingroom area. The door on the right opens into the hallway.

This view is the reverse view.

I love the kitchen… I’m having fun splashing lots of color around the place with our Fiestaware!

Our couches are very comfy… the table to the side of them is a place holder until we decide on the livingroom arrangement and end tables. Then it will probably go in our second room for STAMPING. 🙂

We both slept well in our bedroom last night… it will need a little more color, I think!

Second bedroom needs some work… I promise we’ll have it ready if you come stay!

We’ve got lots of closet space and two nice bathrooms… won’t post those here right now. 🙂

And here’s the view from our porch. I’m excited to watch the green turn to red, orange, and yellow this fall… all while enjoying lots of coffee in a cozy warm sweater! (Oh yes, planning to bike on that trail in hopes of finding my way to work, too!)

And we’re hoping that this little guy will become a semi-permanent fixture here…

And now that we’ve used the high speed internet here and basically done all the work we’re going to do this trip… I think it’s time to get the U-Haul back home and jump in the lake.

Enjoy the heat!

We spent four beautiful days out in Door County last week. Bill and I picked my dad up from work at noon on Wednesday and then grabbed Uncle Glenn for our eight hour treck to eastern Wisconsin. This is certainly one of my favorite parts of the country… My aunt and uncle have a house right on Lake Michigan and there two sons are also in the area.

After dropping Dad and “Pa” off at Bill and Sue’s Bill and I drove up to Egg Harbor to stay at my cousins’, Mark and Cathy. They’ve got four kids and still graciously housed Bill and I, April & Jesse, and our cousins Matt & Deana + Peyton and Jake! That made 14 in one house and I never once felt croweded!

Our days were full and included…

a bike ride through the state park

picking cherries at an orchard

lunch at PC Junction (where your food is served by train!)

guys night at the races / girls night at the movie

salmon fishing

and playing at the lake.

We are hoping to head back that direction this fall. It’s always such a good time!

After just passing Moosebirds (our favorite ice cream stop), Bill and I encountered a large orange truck – I wasn’t paying much attention. Enthusiastically Bill  let out an, “Oooooh!” to which I countered (with equal enthusiasm), “Oh, was it the ice cream truck?”

With a slight look of disgust he managed, “No, fiber optic cable.”

We enjoyed another beautiful weekend here… beginning with a surprise party for my Grandpa v Friday evening. Grandpa turned 80 on the 13th! Mom organized a great get together with the whole family (and tons of food!), and Grandpa was completely to see the house full when he arrived for what he expected to be a quiet birthday dinner.

Here’s a picture of Grandpa and his kids… take a good look at my mom – see any resemblance?

Saturday brought a good morning for fishing. April and I left that up to the boys… Jesse ended up with a good sized northern, while Dad and Bill got skunked. Lucky for us, it was a big enough fish for all of us to enjoy that dinner. Dad took off to visit that afternoon, so we put the guys to work. We’ve been working to update the bedrooms at my grandparent’s house in hopes of enticing more family up to use the place. (It is MIGHTY QUIET here without Gram and Gramp next door.) At any rate, the project started about a week ago. We tore out carpeting, painted walls, and installed laminate flooring. Bill, Jesse, and Uncle Glenn worked into the evening on Saturday to finish up my grandparents bedroom. The end product is very impressive, and it was fun to have the whole family  involved. I love doing physical work where you can actually see the transformation.

Yesterday was a very lazy day. Trish had stayed out here Saturday night, and Stacy & Dylan took a ride out for the afternoon. We got out for a nice boat ride, and that was pretty much the highlight of my day. Well, almost… Bill and I finished Die Hard with a Vengeance last night – I have now seen all three previously released Die Hard movies so we can see #4 in theaters now. Woohoo. (read with a little sarcasm) 🙂

Today we ran a few errands and also dropped in on Gram and Gramp. It was a beautiful day, so we spent a bit of time out in the courtyard at their apartment building.

Bill and I went hunting for a place to live on Wednesday, and we were determined not to leave town until we had our own space. The first place we saw was incredible. It was a beautiful yellow house right on the lake. We didn’t even see the inside, and I knew it would be perfect. Unfortunately, it was in Nisswa – which would tack on a 20 minute drive to work each day (and thus the extra expense of gas). It was also the highest rental price we found and did not include utilities. So, we didn’t rule it out, but we kept on looking.

We liked the location of all the places we saw, but in the end decided on an apartment just a couple of miles away from the school I’ll be teaching at. We’re excited about the two bedroom, two bathroom place we’ve rented – complete with balcony, fireplace, and for Bill – high speed internet. 🙂 I’m really pleased with the place and anxious for visitors. 🙂 We’ll begin moving in about a week.

In other events of the week… Tuesday brought my 27th birthday. It was a rather gloomy day, but perfect to  go to lunch with the couple we LOVE to double date with…… Grandma and Grandpa!  It was a great birthday.

We went out for lunch to the Country Kitchen~ and, I even got a FREE birthday dinner, with a sundae included!

YUM.  It was a ton of fun, and extra special hanging out with gram and gramps.  I also enjoyed a number of calls, e-mails, and cards which made me feel like a princess. Thanks, everyone!

We’re looking forward to a pretty low-key weekend and then a trip to Door County, Wisconsin mid-week.

Finally… why are we suddenly paying $3.19 for a gallon of gas?

Wow, it’s hot outside! It’ll be time to get out and jump in the lake after I write this entry!

It’s been a very nice week here with plenty going on! Lo came out Wednesday, so we hung around home. Thursday morning she and I worked on making a couple of cards! She did a nice job!

That evening April and I met up with four of our cousins’ wives and our Aunt Sue for a ladies’ night out. We had an interesting dinner at a fairly new place in Hibbing and then headed over to Chisholm to a bar that just opened called The Tempo Room… very cute. (Is cute the right word for a bar?)

Friday morning brought Bill and I back to Chisholm to watch a boat building event. C.O. and AnnMarie are friends of ours from Brevig Mission that spend the summers down in Minnesota. Each year they and a group of their friends get together and spend a day building boats and the following day racing them out on Side Lake. (Sounds like a bunch of engineers, huh?!) The rules are simple enough… everyone must use the same materials. Bill and I, however, weren’t brave enough to join in the building fun this year and instead stuck to bocce ball. It was fantastic to see the Rudstroms, though, and we’re hoping for another day with them before they venture back to Alaska for the school year.

Speaking of heading back to AK… I was just thinking about the fact that if we were returning to teach there this year we’d be looking at just three more weeks of time down south! I’m so thankful for the additional month of vacation we’ve got this year!

Anyway… the lake was looking good when we got back from Chisholm, and Stacy and Dylan were here waiting for us. We took a ride up to Black Bay and enjoyed the WARM water! It definitely feels like July!

We finally had the chance to meet Evan Joshua Wallestad… you may remember his first introduction on the blog back in March. Well, Evan is now about four months old, and his Josh and Melissa move with such parental grace! I am continually amazed to see my friends in their new roles as parents – they’re all such naturals!

Though their time up North is busy, Melissa and Josh always seem to squeeze in a visit with Bill and I. I graduated from high school with these (then) high school sweethearts! We continue to be blessed by their friendship through e-mail and blog updates from afar, and I count on our continued ice cream dates in the future. After all, Evan’s so small and new… we’ll have to get to know him! Thank you guys for the lovely afternoon!

What an amazing couple of days in my home state! We met up with Amanda, Mike, and Axton Svir on Wednesday at our cozy little hotel and made the birthday boy (Mike) choose a dinner spot. After a tasty meal we headed to the Twins game with hopes of catching Frank Thomas’s 500th home run.  No such luck, but we did have a nice time at the game! Axton was quite a trooper through the loud late night!

Thursday morning it was off to the Minnesota Zoo to see all kinds of fun animals.

Of course I missed the Johnson’s when I went to the goat pen… I’m still waiting to meet Riley! 

We spent half the day at the zoo – everyone humored me as I read every sign I could find. (You learn a lot more that way!!!) Then we headed to the science museum. I think I could spend a whole week in that building! We walked through all kinds of science displays  from light experiements to an exhibit on the human body. We even got to go to the “Cell Lab” and do experiments! It is one of my new favorite places in Minnesota!

This morning we slept in a bit and headed over to Panera for a little lunch. (YUM!) We packed a lot into a couple of days and enjoyed every moment! Thank you, Svirs, for taking the time to meet up and play with us!

Now we’re getting geared up for some family time as folks head this way for the 4th of July. I’m still debating running the 10K (if they have it), and looking forward to fireworks and other fun!

One of our summer past times is to spend some days out on the lake snorkeling. On Saturday April and I let the guys do the snorkeling while we swam around a bit and then caught some sun from the boat. The boys (my dad being the biggest kid of us all!) race around rescuing old anchors that fisherman have gotten stuck on the reefs. They’ve started a collection (The Anchor Wall) down by the lake… What a bunch of nuts!

We got home from church on Sunday to a great surprise – Laura came to spend the day. Stacy and Dylan were on their way, and Uncle Glenn showed up too! So, we loaded the pontoon and headed to Black Bay to swim. Dad and Bill had been working to get the pipes at Gram and Gramps patched up, but they discovered that the whole place will need to be replumbed. So, the rest of the day we sat around outside, grilled dinner, and enjoyed a beautiful summer day.

Bill and I decided to head to Virginia and visit Grandma and Grandpa on Monday. The four of us were on our way out to lunch with no real destination. We headed towards Chisholm to see if we could get a peek at Lo’s house, and she joined us for lunch at the Iron Kettle. When we got back to Gram and Gramp’s apartment we spent sometime sitting on the swings outside. They were doing really well that day; I love those days.

Today we’re on our way to the cities to play some more. We’ll head back north on Friday, and my cousin, Mark, and a couple of his kids should be around through the weekend. Of course, the 4th of July is just one week away – it’s incredible how quickly it all goes by! I intend to enjoy each moment!