Bike Riders of the World, Unite!

Another one has entered the exclusive club of people who can ride bikes without training wheels:

Milena!

The key for her to learn how to ride was simple - I needed to stay as far away from her as possible. If she could see me, she would fall over and whine. If she was by herself, she would actually work hard at learning to ride.

Here is the proof:

What's This PIcture?

It's time for everybody's favorite blog game - What's This Picture?

Can you tell what this is a picture of?



How about if we zoom out a bit?



OK, how about now?



Can you tell me what it is? There's a prize for the first person with the correct answer!

(Actually, there isn't. Unless you consider useless things like personal satisfaction a prize.)

A visit to a mysterious place

We paid a visit to Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Larry this weekend. On Saturday we walked with them to an obscure Minneapolis location. Can you guess where we are?



I know, it's tricky.



Here's another hint.



Now, at this unnamed place (you didn't think I would give it away, did you?), they had a garden, and in the garden they had artichokes. Is this what happens to artichokes when you leave them out too long?



They don't look nearly as tasty that way.

There was a wedding a while ago...

... and I took some pictures. The Deitz boys were in town. It's always fun to try and get a nice group photo.



Jorgen takes a picture of me taking a picture of him. (Or am I taking a picture of Jorgen taking a picture of me?)



Ah, how cute. I have a cheesy smile, and Jack is wondering why he's being held by a dork.



It was a wedding, so Kelson wore his wedding hat. Sometimes things are just that simple.

Some Up North Pictures

OK, a few more pictures from our recent trip. Here is the beach where we played a lot. A nice sandy area for sandcastles, good water for swimming. You can see Grandpa Gary taking two kids out for a canoe ride.



I'm not sure about your dog training skills, but I've taught my dogs to walk on water. That's pretty cool.



Wow! It's a fish!

They grow up so fast

A couple of weeks ago we added a new member to our family. At the time it was a Parsleyworm, which we found, strangely enough, on our parsley. We cared for it, loved it, named it Pet, and brought it with us on our vacation.

Pet wasn't much for travelling, so it spent the entire time up North in a chrysalis. This morning, however, it decided to come out of its shell.



Pet is actually a fairly pretty butterfly. Here is Pet trying to figure out exactly how it had fit into that tiny little shell.



And now Pet is being artistic.



Pet has since flown away, without so much as a "goodbye."

It's a touching story, I know.

Catching the Big One

I've already shown the giant fish that Koleman caught while we were on vacation, but you will be excited to learn that there is more. You see, when I bring my family up north for a vacation at a lake, my single goal is to catch giant fish. And that's what we did.

Eli started out our boat fishing extravaganza by hooking this beast. I think it's a tiger shark.



Milena was a bit more crafty. She caught this one (a great white shark, by the looks of it), by snagging it on its side.



My dad got into the act, as well, bringing in this incredible orca whale.



And, of course, I took home the top prize. I am very proud of the sperm whale that I was able to catch while fishing on a pontoon.

New Camera

On our trip my camera died. It is possible that actions on my part contributed to its death, but that's between me and the camera gods. Anyway, we needed a new camera, and we got one - a Canon SD870. One of the nifty little features it has is color accent. You select a target color, and then when you take a picture, that color is shown, but everything else is in black and white.

This was my first test of it. I'm sure I'll find something more artistic later.

Possibly the Greatest Photo Ever

While mini golfing at Nevis, I paused to take a picture of two of my kids, with their grandpa in the background. Grandpa saw that I was going to take a picture, so he quickly pulled off his hat, took off his sunglasses, "fixed" his hair, and smiled big. Just before I took the picture, my wife (who will remain nameless) said, "I heard that you shrunk."

Smile, gone.



You probably have to click on the picture to see his expression in all its splendor. This picture is definitely worth more than a thousand words.

Sorry, Dad.

He caught the big one!

Koleman caught his first fish, a gigantic monstrosity that he fought for hours and hours. It was an epic battle between man and beast, with Koleman's determination and energy outlasting and overpowering the vicious beast from the watery depths.



Of course, I had to take it off the hook. But you can only ask so much from your hero.

Blogging from the Lake

We're up in Nevis, having a lovely vacation with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Gary. I figured that, since I have the technology, I should blog. Just a quick one to start.

First, in honor of Scooter, here is me inappropriately touching the world's largest muskie. At least I hope this is inappropriate. Since I'm not an ornithologist, I'm not an expert on fish anatomy.



And one more picture - post sunset from our cabin.

Fourth of July!

Since I never want to be timely or relevant, here are Fourth of July pictures.

The kids are trying to get candy. And succeeding. Oh, did they succeed.



The Home Town Bank won the prize for smallest contingent. (I would make a mean joke here, but I know two of those people)



This was very sad. A local high school band completely fell apart and started fighting amongst themselves. Terrible tragedy.



This was our spot. Watching the parade from a couch is what the cool people do.

Poor Tree

It's gone.

I spent a nice three hours (with help from the kids, the Deitz boys and Jon) cutting the tree into bite sized pieces. I wasn't able to get out and take a picture before my neighbor came along and chopped up and removed a bunch of branches that were in his yard. I think he was sad that he missed out on all the fun, and wanted to use his saw on something.



So sad.



Here's the tree in happier times. You will note that in this picture we had three boulevard trees. Now we're down to one.



You can tell I'm a bit emotional right now. I can only hope to get through this difficult time.

Silly Kelson

Just some pictures of a silly Kelson.

Despite being wet and having grass on him, he gives the Thumb's Up sign.



He's either a moose, or he's trying to fly.



"I'm adorable, and I just can't help it!"

Tomorrow's Stars, Today!

Batting leadoff for the 2022 Minnesota Twins, shortstop Milena Lund!



Batting second, first baseman Kelson Lund!



And hitting third, center fielder Elias Lund!