Geocaching PIctures

Just some random leftover geocaching pictures.

Milena is looking for a Troll Bridge cache. It was a pretty steep incline under a trail bridge in Rochester. Kelson was too scared to go down it, so it was up to Eli and Milena to find the cache. They found it, but had no way to reach it.



Douglas Trail in Rochester.



Now we're in St. Peter. Posing on rocks while other people look for a cache.



I'm king of the rock!

Eli's New Scooter

For Eli's birthday he got a new scooter. It's a Fuzion Asphalt. It's a cool little scooter that has independent front and rear wheel turning, so you can make seriously tight turns on it.



The gathered crowd "Oohs" and "Aahs" in appreciation.



Here it is in action (it was his first day on it, so he wasn't going crazy. I should probably get a new video...):



Unfortunately, not everybody abides by the rule of always wearing a helmet.

Milena Loves Adam!

Milena was prepared for tonight's American Idol episode.



She made a sign to support her favorite.



Can you tell who it is?

Math Master

Koleman had a Math Masters competition in Mankato last Friday. He and his team did a great job. He's the Michael Phelps of math! (without the drug use, we hope)



This is how he looks while trying to solve a difficult math problem.

Milena has her own room, too!

Since Kelson moved into Eli's old room, that means that Milena has a room of her own. Now she can make Milena's Grocery Store.



There's a different department for every need.



Two very helpful clerks make shopping a breeze.

Kelson has his own room

With Eli taking over the guest bedroom downstairs, Kelson has taken up residence in Eli's old room. For the first time in his short life he isn't sharing a room.

He really likes it. He gets to take out the toys he wants, and can set them up how he wants, and put them away when he wants, and nobody can come in and mess up his stuff.



See, he's excited!

Packing Comparison

The kids now have their own suitcases, and they are responsible for packing when we're going on a trip. I needed to add some items to the kids' suitcases before our Rochester trip, and couldn't help but take some picture to show differences in packing styles.

First, here's Kelson suitcase. Everything is ordered nicely, and even his blanket is folded.



Every pocket contained something. Here's the pocket for Star Wars Lego guys.



As a comparison, here's Eli's suitcase. Everything is pretty much tossed in.



He did nicely pack one of his toys:



Yes, he brought along a bag of rocks to Rochester. Only Eli knows why.

Mario Kart Buddies

See, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Martinis: His and Hers

But which is which?



Perhaps that's not a difficult question. Oh well.

More from the Rochester Pool

Dolphin slide! Swimming kid! Oh yeah!

More Appropriate Geocaching Pictures

Michelle wasn't a fan of my previous post, so I'll remove it from the top of my page by posting something more family-friendly. Here we are failing to find a geocache. How could a team like this not find it?



Eli was really getting into the looking process.



Koleman was wandering all about, but to no avail!



Eli resorted to attempting to destroy a fallen log with a branch. Nothing worked!



We may have failed, but we failed as a team.

Geocaching is fun!

How fun? So fun that some people multi-task while geocaching. Yippee!



Michelle shows Ellie the proper way to find a cache. They are pointedly ignoring the discarded condom wrappers near their feet.

All By Ourselves

Michelle had a conference in Rochester this weekend, and we all came along for moral support. We stayed at the TownePlace Suites, which turned out to be pretty nice for the kids. For one, we were in the pool area for many hours, and were almost always by ourselves.



The kids got in some good swimming.



They had a basketball court right outside the pool area.



Look - the trip even fostered brotherly relations!

Concert Night

Tonight Michelle and I went out for dinner and a show. Overall it was a great night. To start, we went to dinner at Olives in Mankato, which has probably risen to the top of my list for favorite restaurants in the area. Great food, great service, great drinks, great company, perfect location for the concert.

While waiting to be seated, a man walked up and stood next to Michelle. Now, I'm just a kid from Fargo, ND, so I don't claim to have the best gaydar in the world, but mine immediately went off. Normally these things are frustrating, because you never get a chance to know for sure if you were right about the person or not. Thankfully another man came into the restaurant, and they kissed and held hands, thus ending any confusion on my part.

Since it seemed obvious that this couple was also going to the concert, I started to wonder if it was going to be that kind of audience. We were going to see Brandi Carlile. Now, according to my iTunes, I have one Carlile album - "The Story", and two songs of hers on Cities 97 Samplers. All I knew of her was that she had some songs I liked. I didn't even know what she looked like.

The concert was at the Alltel Center in Mankato. Here's a picture of the stage:



See, I didn't bring my camera, but I can't blog about something without a picture, so I had to use my cell phone, which is terrible. Just like when I went to the Ben Folds concert! (Dammit! I need to start learning from history!)

Brandi said that this was the biggest place she'd ever played, which means that if her life is Rock Band 2, then she needs to pick it up a notch. She also said that we were an amazing crowd. I think she meant it. I think she was speaking specifically to me.

It was a very good concert. She played some songs I knew, some that I didn't, and a few covers. The highlight of the night was when she finished her show with "Folsom Prison Blues". It was cool.

The other highlight of the night was people watching. Because it was that kind of audience. I was trying to discreetly get a picture which would capture the mood of the evening, and this is the best I could come up with:

It seems that Brandi has a huge following with ... people who celebrate an alternative lifestyle. There are a number of things I could mention here which would get me in trouble, so I'll just post this now.

Hair Cut!

Look at that fluffy poodle. A nice, warm winter coat is a good way to stay comfortable in the long cold months.



"Look at us! We're cute and fluffy!" But the fact is that warmer weather is coming, and it's time for a hair cut.



"Ack! We're naked!"