Lucky Grandpa

Koleman's eye didn't turn black and blue. The mark on his forehead isn't as bad as it was yesterday.



It won't be as dramatic a story now when he tells his friends about how his grandfather tried to kill him.

Kids

Kelson is trying to not get his picture taken. He failed.



I think this is what all kids feel as Christmas approaches.

Hello? Is this thing on?

We have two big reading fans. Apparently they have to stick together.



Awwww....

DVD Problems? Or ... Conspiracy!

We had a problem with the DVD player tonight. Only solution was to take it apart.



See? It's pretty!



Now, clearly Harry Potter couldn't be the problem. He's just too darn cute!



Wait a second! Who is under Harry? JASON BOURNE!



Oh wait, didn't I learn this lesson over four years ago? Guess not.

A Geocaching Day

Scooter has already blogged about it, but we have different target audiences, so I'll do my share as well. On Sunday Eli and I met up with Scooter, Ming, Logan and Kyle for a day of geocaching. We met for "food" at Cindy's Kitchen in Belle Plaine, and then hit some of the caches in that lovely town.

Our only failure was at the Church of the Transmogrification. Eli explores rocks, to no avail.



Scooter didn't post a picture of the church at this angle, but I will.



I was sure the cache would be in this hole, but it wasn't.



Eli was so excited to get to the next cache that he broke into a run.



Scooter has this picture.



And this one. (yes, that's a two story outhouse. no, the cache wasn't in the outhouse.)



Belle Plaine's Huey!



Eli braves snakes and scorpions to find a cache.



If Scooter doesn't like Earth Caches, why is he taking this picture? Hmmm?



Ming and Logan get ready to join Eli, Scooter and Kyle. It's a mad attempt to completely ignore the 1.5 (out of 5) terrain rating and race away from the cache as quickly as possible. We made this one much harder than it should have been, and most of us were almost killed. Good times.



The group takes a break. Seven Mile Creek park is a great place for hiking and caching, but sometimes you've got to rest after climbing the bluffs.



Eli recreates finding a cache, since I missed the moment of real discovery. Eli's geo-sense was on high Sunday - he found a bunch of the caches.



Funny moment of the day - Scooter tries to find a safe place to relieve himself, but Eli needs to ask him something. RIGHT NOW! Eli doesn't seem concerned that Scooter is having private time.



Isn't trespassing cute?



I promised Eli that when we were done, he could cross the creek on the rocks.

More old summer pics

Nygaard family reunion. Kelson playing Lazer Tag with Cousin Luke.



Milena in fancy headgear from Aunt Steph.



Cousin lineup, youngest to oldest. The one you might not recognize is cousin Lake.



Eli practicing surfing.

Holy Cow!

Apparently it was Halloween and I forgot to blog about it. Yikes.

OK, here are four kids:



And a cat that followed us:

Walter is a Good Bear

Or, as Kelson would say, "The best bear ever!" Most mornings Walter comes out to breakfast with Kelson, and guards Kelson's feet from attack. Frequently Walter stays under the counter while Kelson is at school, patiently waiting for his return. He's a good bear.

Leah's Birthday

As I was going through my pictures, I noticed a few that I had set aside to post, yet never did. Better late than never.

This summer we went to the Landscape Arboretum to celebrate Leah's birthday. She would have been nine years old.

We had a beautiful day to walk around and enjoy the arboretum.



The kids are willing to pose.



Flower.



Eli shows how scared he is of the water monster in the pond.

Pearl Harbor

My last Hawaii post, covering our last day in Hawaii. After we left our cottage and headed to Honolulu, we visited the sites on Pearl Harbor. The Missouri is a big battleship. It's cool, and you can wander around a lot more of it than I expected.



The highlight of Pearl Harbor, though, is the Arizona Memorial. As a young country, we probably don't have too many "special" sites (at least outside of the east coast), but this memorial is practically sacred ground.



The movie you watch before taking the boat to the memorial was excellent. A well done piece that set the perfect tone of reverence. So much so, in fact, that even eight year old kids showed solemn respect.



One interesting note, based solely upon my personal observation and no statistical analysis at all, is that the percentage of tourists at the USS Arizona Memorial who were Japanese was significantly less than every other place on the island.

At least there were a few who were sticking up for the motherland.



Hawaii, done.

Tarzan Vines!