P is for Photos from this week

The geocache M and I didn't find the first time we looked (and blamed it on not having a GPS), and that Jess and I did find in the dark and in the rain.  Now officially found and logged.

Playing double solitare with the invisible cards.  She's wearing a housecoat I made for her years ago.

Last Sunday Sean's parents were over, and M and I took Grandma geocaching in between going for ice cream (yay Dessart!) and pizza for supper.  Notice all the water...  This was a soggy find!

Tuesday night's craft social.  I got four pages half done... We had 5 people scrapbooking, 2 painting, 1 quilting, 1 cross-stitching, 1 doing homework (and sorting her photos on her laptop when the homework got old), 1 crocheting, and 1 just there to visit.

M and Katherine at Friday's YOUTH KICKOFF.  Some of the youth stuff starts in grade six, so now M is officially in youth group.  Wierd!  These two have known each other since they were the little rugrats dancing in the corner of the youth events.

M spent the afternoon at Kathrine's while we played in the church golf tournament.  Sean and Jeremy play together lots and are both really good, Byron was out for the first time all year and was hitting some great shots.  I was glad most of my shots didn't count...  We didn't win, but Sean did get the prize for the longest drive.

And that's what we've been up to.  Non-stop.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get a nap.  Or maybe I'll go fabric shopping for magic bag material...

O is for my Office

Thought I'd take you on a little tour today...

This is looking in from the door.  Man, that wall looks bare.

The view from the couch - all my planning at my fingertips.  Those boxes are gone now - that was a temporary holding spot for our new photo directories.  Usually during the day my window blind is up and there's some nice greenery out there, and sometime a rabbit.

And the view from my chair out the door.  Art by Krista, afghan by Fran.

Hope you enjoyed our little tour; when you think of me in the afternoons now, you'll be able to picture where I am.  :)

N is for Nicole Flats

Can you say 'Packed'?

We went camping this weekend at Buffalo Pound - the original plan was to come home today, but with the forecast of rain last night, overnight and all day today, we packed up late afternoon and were home before the thunderstorm hit.

I didn't realize until we were halfway out there that the reason we seemed fuller than usual was that this was the first time we'd gone camping with the Escape.  We've always had the van before, with 4 more feet for all our stuff.  Glad we still fit!  Thinking next year we'll put the Thule roof box on top.  Haven't needed that since we got the van - guess we'll be needing it again!

She will always brave the water - happy we got this in on
the Saturday afternoon, the warmest part of the weekend.

I checked for geocaches in the area before we left and downloaded the seven close by into my GPS.  They were all down at the end of the lake in the Nicole Flats nature area, which has miles of hiking trails, great scenery and an old homestead.  On Saturday we drove out to one end and found 4 before the sun started going down, and then yesterday we started from the other end to try for the last 3, but only got two before we had to turn back.  Two good days of hiking!  I think that will make up for not running 3 times this week... Well, I'm hoping it will.

Saturday Sunset

With the four caches we had found before, this brings us up to 10; I told M we had to find 10 before we could make our own, so now we're in planning mode for how we'll make ours, what will go in it and where we'll put it.  We'll give you a sneak peak when we get it done.

What did you do this long weekend?

M is for Madeline Goes Back to School

The annual first day of school shot.  Things to notice in this one:

• The stripy 'purse' lunch bag - a birthday present from Granny.  Much liked (and forgotten at school today, on day 3.)

• The FLUTE.  She didn't actually need it there on the first day, but couldn't resist taking it anyway.  It used to be mine, and we got it back from my sister for grade six band.

• The faces in the window.  :)  The Friesens were here for a fun two day visit on their way to a wedding in Calgary.

M is also for Magellan... our new GPS (free from airmiles!) that arrived on Monday!  Jess and I took it out after the kids were in bed one night, in the dark and rain - one cache was behind a locked gate, but we scored with the second one which M and I couldn't find before.  She knew exactly where it was, too, when I told her later that we found it - "Was it in that little part of that one tire?"  Yeah, I think we were probably too chicken to stick our hands down there far enough last time.  I'm going to add a rubber glove to our geocaching kit...

L is for Life Lists

A little while ago I posted about Bucket Lists, and here now for your inspiration (or entertainment), and for my motivation (since it's now public), is the official "Life List."

One Hundred Things To Do Before I'm One Hundred

Sports / Fitness

Run in a 5k race.
Do a Triathlon.
Go snowshoeing.
Go cross country skiing again.
Take M kayaking.

Travel

Go on a cruise.

Go to Europe with Sean.

Go to the Maritimes - east coast.

Go to Vancouver Island - west coast.

Take Madeline to Ghana to meet Salomey.
Take a photo of 'the tree' in all four seasons. 

Accomplishments

Have at least ONE year where I send everybody cards for their birthdays and anniversaries.

Make bagels.

Write a book.
Landscape my yard so I love it.
Write a letter a week for a year.
  

Adventure

Go see U2 in concert again. (Preferably somewhere cool.)
Attend a World Cup soccer game.
Ride an elephant.
Ride a camel.
Hike behind a waterfall.
Find 100 Geocaches.
Ride in a helicopter.
Ride in a hot air balloon.

**********

Ok, so that's not 100... that wasn't literal.
Have you ever added to a list something you've accomplished just so you could check it off?
Here's that half of the list:

Cool Stuff I've Already Done
(these may or may not have been my ideas to start with...)

Sports / Fitness

Windsurfed across the lake without falling.
Snowboarded in 5 provinces.
At one point was a certified snowboard instructor.
Rock climbed in the mountains.
Ice climbed a frozen waterfall.
Played rugby & won provincials.
Set a provincial record for the 800 m in grade 8.
Played & coached soccer.
Played & coached basketball.

Travel

In Canada:  BC - Vancouver;  AB - Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, Jasper, Kananaskis;  SK & MB - these are home, so I've been to lots of cool places... Churchill MB is worth mentioning, though;  ON - Toronto, Niagra Falls;  PQ - Montreal, Quebec City

Mexico, Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland, Venezuela, England, Portugal, Barbados, Switzerland, Kenya, USA (North & South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Florida)

Accomplishments

Have been published in a scrapbooking magazine.
Have some handmade goods for sale in retail shops.
Done weddings.
Done baptisms.
Played with the Winnipeg Pops Orchestra.
Played in a jazz trio.  (Like I said, some of these were NOT my ideas...)

**********

Your Turn!  Leave me a comment with the top 3 things on your list.

 

K is for Kadence and the Trip to 'China'

M spent the last week and a bit in Winnipeg with family; when Mom called to make plans to bring her back, she asked if she could bring Levi and Kadence along.  This is Levi's third trip here without his brothers -  he and M are the same age, so he gets the perks, but Kadence, at 3 1/2, hasn't done much without her parents, so this was a pretty big deal.  Of course Mom ran it by Jen first, and Jen checked it out with Kadence, then K went to tell Granny that yes, she would like to go with her to China.  China, Regina.  Same difference.

The travellers with poor Adventure Barbie...

We took in the Royal Red Horse Show.

J is for Just Curious...

What I'm curious about is who YOU are!  To help me celebrate this 300th post, please please please leave a comment and tell me where you're visiting from.  A very simple "Hi from Susie in Timbuktu!" works. 

I'll love you forever.  I promise.

I is for Investing in People

If I cocoon myself - enjoy life from the comfort of my 4 walls, doing things that I enjoy or that entertain me - and neglect making time for going out with friends, I will become less.

The interaction with others helps define who I am.

If I look at only people's faults and reason's why they are different than me and reasons why we wouldn't be the best of friends, I will miss out.

Loving people in spite of their challenges, issues or quirks makes me a deeper person.

If I tell myself that I don't need friends, I am lying to myself.

Friends are worth the effort. 

If I never help in spite of it being an inconvenience, never grieve over someone else's sorrows, never offer myself as a possible solution, I am living only a fraction of the life I was given.

Helping makes my life fuller.

If I fail to see people as valuable, made lovingly by God and in his image, then I am disrespecting him.

I love God best by loving people.

H is for Heat...

Perfect Heat, that is.  Perfect Heat is the name I gave to the 'magic' bags I make when I decided to take them to retailers this spring.  I have them for sale now in 4 gift shops and the bookstore in a local massage school.

Tuesday this week we were sitting around the living room at my Mom & Dad's, and somehow ended up googling ourselves to see what images were online, and for my name, this is what came up:

When you follow the link, it takes you to the 'Featured Artists' page of the Government House Historical Society.  Ha!  That was an ego boost, finding out I was a featured artist!  I was pretty happy this spring when those places said yes, they'd be interested in selling them.  Besides Government House, you can find them at the gift shops at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the Legislative Buildings, and Pasqua Hospital.

Then on Thursday, I got home from work to find a message on my phone - the Pasqua Hospital Gift Shop was calling to say they only had one left, and could I bring by 5 more!!  Yay for repeat customers!  Yay for making money!

**********

H is also for a Handheld GPS unit.  If you read my last post, you'll know about our my latest obsession with Geocaching.  I've been looking and pricing and wondering how I could get this expensive toy for nothing and trusting God for it.  Today, I ordered one - made specially for Geocaching and more expensive than any I had been looking for - for FREE from Air Miles.  Thank you, Father, for caring about little things and giving good gifts to your children.

**********

What made YOU say Yay! this week?

G is for Geocaching!

I had heard about geocaching a few times before I got around to looking it up...  watch this:



I saw this Friday night while M was at camp and couldn`t wait to tell her about it.  We had a full weekend, but first thing Monday morning, we were armed with printouts leading us to two caches in our neighborhood, a camera, a pen and pencil for signing the logs, and a handful of our handmade flower petal fairys to trade.  We went to the first one, hunted around and ended up finding it - a great first cache and very exciting way to start.  The second cache eluded us - probably with a GPS unit we might have had a better idea of which part of the park to look in.

Then yesterday, M and I drove to Winnipeg, and our friend Catherine hitched a ride with us - she had done a bit of geocaching with another friend, and I had printed out some possibilities along the #1 highway, so between the rains we made two stops.  The first one was a disappointment, because even with the hint, the area was too big.  Again, a GPS would have helped.  I've priced some out, but wanted to find some caches and be sure we were in this for the long haul before we made that purchase.  The second cache was much easier and a great place to stop, so our disappointment did not last long.

Madeline found this one!

And then again after supper we went out to hunt for two by mom & dad's place.  Mom came, and Jess and the 3 boys, and we found them both!  They had all heard of it, but never done any actual hunting.  I don't know if they're hooked yet, but we are!

So TeamLinz (CaroLYN and MadeLINE) is at 4 caches found - in two days! I've told her that when we get to 10, we'll make and hide our own.

F is for Friends Who Blog

 Here today, for your reading enjoyment, are links to the blogs of people I actually know.

Aaron and Erica Kenny - The Kenny's hosted us for a lot of our time in Kenya, and this blog follows their family, and the work they do there.

Alexis Arbuthnott - A friend from Regina who has moved to Guelph.  She and Shane are expecting their first baby in a few weeks, and it's great to be able to follow along this journey even though she's moved away. 

Erin Graas - A friend from way back - KBK first, I think.  She's just moved to Costa Rica to take a teaching position, and I have to fight twinges of jealousy over her adventure. 

Heather Vanderstelt - Heather and I went to Kenya together and because we keep up with each other's blogs, we keep up the friendship we started - wow - two years ago. 

Holly Johnson - A great friend who flew the coop all the way down under and has been there for two years!  

Jackie Ludke - We played basketball together at Briercrest, and love the visits we get every couple of years.

Jamie Bertram - Another friend from Briercrest days.  Her blog is from her daughter's point of view, and is always entertaining. 

Tera Howitt - Tera goes to my church and just started a blog.  She's only got two posts, but she's a friend who blogs, so here she is! 

Tyson Lyske - Tyson works at another church in the city, and always has something thought provoking on his blog.

Did I miss anyone?  If you have a blog (whether you know me or not!) leave a comment and I'll come and visit yours!

E is for Experimenting with Supper

I had no supper plans on Friday, I was working late, and it was a hot day, so I didn't want anything that would heat up the house.  When someone at work mentioned subs, I thought that was great, but wanted to make it more substantial than a normal sandwich.  (My normal sandwiches are really good, but not supper-quantity for my hard working man, you know?)  So I looked on line and found some ideas, and this is what I came up with:

A little TOO substantial. Sean only needed half of what I made him. I guess two thirds of a loaf of french bread was an overestimation.

But it did taste good!

D is for Date Week

Date week is an annual event that *surprise surprise* coincides with M's week at camp.  We got a head start by making a short list of movies we'd like to see on our TV, and watched Couples Retreat on Saturday and Clash of the Titans on Sunday.  Monday was the day we took the girls to camp, and Tuesday I had something on in the evening already (Craft Social!), so we picked back up on Wednesday with a trip to the driving range and then Chapters / Starbucks.  Thursday we went to the Ex and took in the Collective Soul concert, and last night we went to Wascana Lake down by the Legislative Buildings and rented kayaks.  Sean had never done that before, but we will most definitely do it again.

Since the kid is gone again soon for a week in Winnipeg, there will be more dates to come!  Hmm - maybe it could be Double Date Week?!

Photo: www.brickset.com

C is for Camp

...and that's where M is this week.  For your viewing entertainment, here are some photos of M at KBK (Katepwa Baptist Kamp) from 2004 to the present.  

2004 - Just out for a visit.  Cute hair - it's just growing out from when she cut it all off.

2005 - This was at family camp.  Still not old enough to be a camper on her own.

2006 - There is more to camp than the lake!  Judging from the time of day, though, we were just visiting again.  And when you're visiting, you hang out on the beach.

2007 -  This is what camp is all about!

2008 - Ok, it is lots about the water, too.

2009 - It's not usually about horses...  We love horses, but KBK doesn't have them.  This is from family camp at Valley View in Manitoba; we lost our pictures from most of this year, including the KBK ones, but the fam sent me their copies since they were all there, too.

2010 - This was taken Monday when we dropped them off.  They will look much more bedraggled (and dirty) tomorrow when we pick them up.

What are your best camp memories?
Do you have a camp that you call 'yours'?

B is for Birthday Party

M turned 11 two weeks ago, and I haven`t taken photos off the camera until now...  We had a party for her on the actual birthday (handy when it falls on a Saturday!) and had 5 girls come over for pizza and a movie.  They played for an hour in the back yard - M had bubbles and quizzes and fun glasses for them.  Pizza and ice cream cake (Winnie the Pooh was the requested theme) filled their bellies, and then they watched The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which was a birthday present to her from us.  Note for next time - M and one other girl watched the movie - the others had no interest in it and goofed around the whole time instead.  Oh, well.  It was a party, and next year we`ll do something different.

A is for Alphabet August!

I had a fun idea for a series of posts!  This and the next 25 posts are going to follow the ABC`s... There might be a few tough posts to find ideas for, but thankfully the tricky letters won`t come up for a few weeks!

So this is today - your introduction to Alphabet August!

Do you have a Bucket List?

Years ago, Neil and I had lists - "100 things I want to do during my life" or something like that.  I don't think we actually had a title for them; I wonder if they are still around somewhere.  If I ever come across one, I'll post it for you.  I wonder how many of his he got to in his 30 years. 

Have you seen the Bucket List movie with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson?  I'd recommend it if you haven't. It's about two guys who take off from the hospital to do all sorts of crazy adventures - one of them has a list of things he wants to do before he kicks the bucket.

Sean and I started new ones (since I have no idea where my old one ended up...) on the drive home from the races the other weekend.  Well, I started a new one for me, and started one for Sean with things he was talking about.

And today I was browsing blogs and found one called My Bucket List Journey - it's fabulous!  She's got a list and is actively working through it, spending her life doing the things she wants to do most in life and writing about it.  Here is her post on how to create your own bucket list.  It's got a lot of great ideas, too, and my list may just get a lot longer!  When I get it filled out a little more, I will add it here for your amusement and inspiration.

Do you have a list?  If you do and have it online somewhere, send the link!  I'd love to read some other ones.

Book Club Summer Reading

I love reading books.  Fiction is the best, when you get lost in the story and forget about all the other things you could (or should) be doing.

I read this the other day and LAUGHED.  So funny - I'm guessing it was Suzanne (the grade 5 teacher) who recommended this one for book club, but it was a great summer read.  Read the summary here on Lois Lowry's site.

The other read for the summer was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  I have read it before and wasn't sure I would again, since its spine is 1 3/4" thick.  Seriously - I just measured and lost my bookmark doing it.  But, I picked it up and read the first few pages and was hooked in.  I'm now on page 644 of 804...

I wrote about the first book we read, A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Towes, but don't think I mentioned Freakonomics.  I really enjoyed the mental ah-has from that one.  I think that was all we covered since I joined - they had read Jane Eyre before, and I picked up that one and thoroughly enjoyed it, too.  Great story and great storytelling.

Before Summer Ends

In no particular order, here are 10 things I'd like to do before September rolls around:

Get to Winnipeg for a visit.
Go camping.
Go check out our visitor's center & get some new ideas of places to check out and things to do - be tourists in our own city.
Go kayaking somewhere.
Go biking at White Butte Trails.
Lay on a beach somewhere.
Finish our summer book club reads.  (Anna Karenina is almost done (again!) and the other one is short, I hear.)
Make plans to get a new fence. (And then comes re-landscaping!)
Get a watch for running.
Go golfing with Sean again.


What is on your list?

A week in the life...

Monday - Went to my first Running Room Clinic.  Apparently that makes me a runner, now.  Thanks, Jess, Silas, Levi & Solomon for the inspiration.

Tuesday - Took Madeline for a run.  Let's just say that running will be my thing, not our thing.

Wednesday - Got a call from my doctor's office that my blood test results are back and the doctor wants to see me. (He said if they were fine, he wouldn't call.)  Last time I went to give blood, they said my iron was low enough to warrant a doctor's visit... 

Thursday - Napped in the middle of the afternoon.  Was it just laziness or the tiredness of anemia brought on by the doctor's office call?

Friday - Went for an hour long walk this morning; felt good on the muscles, bur I sure feel more like sleeping than working now.  Hoping when I get to the doctors in an hour he's got a miracle drug for me. (Eat more liver, maybe?)

Along with all of that, I had a couple of good work meetings, a dessert date with Sean, birthday party shopping & planning with M, and tonight we're taking her out for a birthday supper.  Tomorrow is her party - just a bunch of girls, pizza and a movie.  Pretty simple, but they're at the age where just hanging out is enough.

Oh, I should tell you a funny birthday party story.  Last week M went to a party for a friend; they spent some time playing in the park across the street, and the birthday girl (11 years old!) thought it would be funny to swing in the baby swing...  She got stuck.  So stuck that they had to call 911 - they sent a fire truck and ambulance, and they had to cut down the swing, then saw it off of her.  How's that for a memorable party??

Update:  The doc said my iron level is good, but my reserves are depleted, so he has me on iron twice a day for 3 months - he said I should have more energy than I know what to do with.  Yay - can't wait for that!

Off to the Races!

This seems familiar, somehow - sitting in a hotel room, on our computers while M sleeps in the next bed...  We`re in Yorkton this weekend for Sean`s racing.  Tonight was a test and tune; he got in 3 passes, and I took about a hundred pictures.  Here`s a few, or you can see about a dozen here on facebook.

Layouts

I finally did some scrapbooking... it's been a while.  The photos aren't great because it's a rainy day and I didn't have much natural light to work with, and the flash kills them.  I even got the tripod out and put the layouts on the floor to try to make it look ok.  They're always better in person, and you are always welcome to drop by for tea and check out our books!

Being Grateful

**This is a re-post of what I just put on my Churchy Blog.**

We stopped at the library before our holidays last week, and one of the books I picked up was on living a thankful life.  It's written from a very open spiritual perspective, so I'm reading 'lightly' but there are some true principles and some good ideas in it to build practices of gratitude into your life.  I can't separate that in my mind from the one we must be thankful to, so these become spiritual practices more than simply being thankful.

• When you're feeling down, you will feel better if you decide to dwell on what is good in your life and give thanks for those things. 
• Develop 'triggers' in your life - decide that your first thought when your feet hit the floor will be "I am thankful for this day and all that it will bring," or decide that every time you close the house door behind you, you will think, "I am thankful for this home and for my family, and am glad I get to return here to them every day."
• When someone helps us, like the server or cashier, say a genuine thank you - they will have a better day, and you can let that remind you that God made and cares for that person.  You can in that small way be a part of God's caring for them.
• Start a gratitude journal and write in it every day what you are thankful for.  I started one and today will be day four that I write in it.  You can ask me how that's going in a couple of weeks!

What practices do you have that remind you to be thankful?

Home again...

I've got all our trip pictures on the computer & uploaded an album for you to check out if you wish.

We did of course play the license plate game, and found 46 of them.  Hawaii was missing, naturally, as well as Delaware, New Hampshire and Vermont.  We saw all the rest (even Alaska) and one or two from Mexico, too.  Canada was represented by all the provinces except the maritimes and the territories.

Now that we're back I feel like I need to get out running or biking or something; 5 days of sitting & driving & eating in restaurants needs to be reversed!  One thing I will miss is the Christian radio station - we had it on lots and it was so nice.  I think they have three of them.

Bottom line, if you're wanting to take a family vacation, I would recommend heading down to SD.  Lots to do & see.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Oh, and one last story from the drive down:  We passed a sign for Somebody or Other's Elk Ranch, and I started watching for elk, but Sean said, "I haven't seen the elk fence yet."  M sat up and almost gave herself whiplash looking out the window - "ELEPHANTS?"

Anyone else planning to watch the World Cup Final tomorrow??  Who are you hoping for?  I'll be rooting for Spain, I think - I have a chance for one more point in our pool if Netherlands comes in 2nd...

Day Four

Today:

• Thunderhead Falls - a waterfall inside an old mine shaft.  The drive out there was very pretty and we drove around extra on the way back.
• Walked around a park and a pond, enjoying the sun.
• Tried to find golf stores - one was just a pro shop at a course and the other had moved (just like the other scrapbooking store.  Seriously.)
• Sonic Drive In for an early lunch.  Pretty good - my first burger of the trip, and Mello Yellow.
• Shopping - shoes for Sean, clothes for M, a top for me...
• The Reptile Gardens - two great shows, the snake show and the crocodile show, and lots of other great stuff to see.  You`ll see pictures soon - it`s too frustrating to do it here.
• Ruby Tuesdays for supper - not the favorite one, but we had fun juicy drinks, and the parmesan chicken pasta M and I split was really good.
• Pirates Cove Mini Golf - So much fun!  This is a great spot & another highlight of our day.

Another great day.  Tomorrow will be a nice lazy day, still vacation, but just driving, so it`s not over yet. 

Day Three

As we were driving down here, I told M and Sean to humor me when it comes to taking their pictures at places.  Tonight, we were getting back in the car after one stop and I was being silly and M was laughing, and she says, `Thanks for humoring me, Mom!`

This morning started with a stop at the ranger station / visitor center to make sure we had all the tourist info and weren`t missing out on anything, then made our way to a cave tour just outside of Keystone. We sat on a balcony in town for a bite of lunch (with yummy berry lemonade), then walked the main street; the highlight was stopping in at a little shop that made and sold salt water taffy.  Seeing it get transformed from a long sweet rope into what we know and love was very cool.  Plus, the air was heavenly in there!

Next we headed a short way down the road and did a gold mine tour.  Both tours were good - must do`s for being in the area, I think.

Man, it`s a good thing I`m writing this down each day - I`m already having a hard time remembering all we did!  Oh, yeah - once we got back to Rapid City, we parked and walked some streets downtown, taking our time getting to our ultimate destination - the scrapbooking store.  Yes, as soon as we made our plans to come down here, of course I googled `scrapbook stores rapid city sd`.  We found it, I shopped... I`d better start scrapbooking again.

From there we hit the mall.  We didn`t last long, but came away with a pair of capris for me, and a skirt and some dress shoes for M.  We thought we`d grab a coffee and get off our feet a bit when we realized it was already 5:15, so we went for supper instead.  The Olive Garden was a little less busy than last night when we left at the sight of so many people waiting outside the doors, but still a popular place.  (Our plan here, of course, is to not eat at any places we have at home.)

Having revived our energy, we made our way to Scheels.  Oh, my.  Scheels is a sports store with everything.  They have frisbee golf discs (did you know there are different discs for driving, mid range drives, and putting?  I thought that was only on Wii Resort!) and roller derby roller skates.  Plus ammo out on the shelves and virtual ranges for trying out different sports.  Sean ended up with a shirt while I made out like a bandit with a swanky North Face jacket and some dress sandals.

One more full day here.  We`re looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

Day Two

This post may be more for me than you, so I can remember all that we did on this trip, but if you`re reading, I hope you enjoy anyway!

We started the day with free brekky in our hotel, then hit Bear Country first off.  It`s a wildlife drive just out of town that is about 45 minutes of driving a winding road in and out of different enclosures, each with its own animal.  We saw Rocky Mountain elk, reindeer, Arctic wolves, Big Horn sheep, Rocky Mountain goats, mountain lions, tonnes of black bears, timber wolves, donkeys and buffalo.  The drive ended with Babyland, where they had baby versions of all of those and more.  The baby bears were so funny, wrestling and climbing trees and eating their lunch.  We ate some lunch there and then headed back out for more miles on the road.

We headed down past the funny town of Keystone to Mount Rushmore.  It was suitably impressive - I enjoyed the hike around the best, I think.  From there we drove out to the Jewel Cave only to find out that they were booked up for the day.  Quite disappointing - we won`t head all the way back out there, but will try another closer cave tomorrow.

We kept driving and went into Custer State Park and after an ice cream stop, drove the Needles Highway, which was very scenic and had some fantastic little tunnels through the rock to drive through.  We followed that to a wildlife drive and spend a huge chunk of time in a line up backed up because the buffalo were wandering in front of the cars slowing everyone down; plus everyone wanted their turn right beside the herd with their cameras...

From there we headed `home`to Rapid City - there was a brief heavy rain shower, and then a huge double rainbow filled the sky.  Amazing.  Once we got back, we had another 7:30 dinner; this time at the Outback, an Australian restaurant.  M and I split a meal of crab`s legs... sooo good.  A stop at Borders, which is a clone of Chapters, and our night was done.  Straight to bed for M, and we`re winding down pretty quickly.  I`ve got a billion photos from today, and we`re all agreed that it was a pretty wonderful day. 

Vacation Day One

What a great day.  For our holiday this year we decided to go on a vacation rather than camping.  The difference?  A vacation is focused more on the sight-seeing and less on the roughing it, visiting the beach and cooking over the fire.  Oh, and we`re staying in a hotel.  :)

We left Regina at 6:30 am and headed south, crossing the boarder (first time needing passports to do that!) into North Dakota.  We stopped for lunch at a little diner in Williston where I had a $2.99 grilled cheese sandwich that came with home made potato chips.  Pretty cool.  We enjoyed seeing the scenery change, and when I get home I`ll post some pictures - I forgot the cord I need for my little Nikon that I used today until the battery ran out...

Into South Dakota, we stopped for ice cream at a little shop in the middle of nowhere (pics of that later, too!), and had to stop a couple of times for construction:

I switched to the Canon DSLR at this point and wondered why I didn`t have it out first thing.  Forgot how much I like shooting with that thing!  We arrived at Rapid City about 6:30 and checked in, then went to TGIFridays for supper - mmm ribs...  After that we drove around town finding the shops we scoped out online before we came, and now we`re back at the hotel listening to M sleeping.

I hope your day was peaceful and that you have much to be thankful for.  Good night!

Experiments in Pasta

We Sean made brunch on Saturday, but because I didn`t portion the bacon before I put it in the freezer, we had to cook up a whole package.  The plan for the rest of the bacon was to make & bbq burgers yesterday, and we did, and even had friends over to eat... and forgot to put out the bacon. (insert rolling eyes here).

Plan B for bacon leftovers - look online for recipe ideas.  I found one that ended up turning out pretty good, and suited us, so I thought I`d share it.  Sean`s not a big red sauce guy, so this one will be a keeper.

Pasta -  called for penne, but I had bowties and used that instead (yay for cleaning out the pantry!)
Bacon - called for one pound, but I just used up all I had.
Onion - I used half of one, and fried it up soft in becel.
Parmesan Cheese - I don`t remember what it called for, but I probably used about a ¼ cup - all I had left.
Oil - called for olive, I was out & used canola instead.

Once the onion was soft, I added the chopped bacon, then the drained pasta.  I added a little oil and tossed, then the parmesan.  Nice and tasty - with a side salad it was a perfect little meal with no shopping required!

We`re leaving on holidays tomorrow; I don`t know yet if that will mean more posting or less... Black Hills here we come!

Here is the team!  A side finalists...  I guess last I wrote we weren't even sure the rain would allow us to play the last games - boy, did we ever.  We got to play our last season game and won that, and then won the first playoff game on Friday night, taking us to the A side.  That meant a 9:30 game Saturday, which we also won, taking us to the championship final.  We scored first, then they matched it, and we finished the regular time with a tie.  Then we went into two five minute halves, and no more scoring.  Then into the shootout.  We each had five players picked to shoot, and still tied - all misses.  Then we started going through the rest of the players, and they scored, and we failed to match it.  So sad, but what an exciting weekend.  Those kids were TIRED!  They played so hard and did so well. 

Here's our star.

  Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk around the park in the sun, then got soaked not two hours later just running from the door to my car.  This is the hail that fell after I got home.  It cleared up for a while, then another thunderstorm at night.  This spring's weather has been pretty crazy - I don't remember a spring this wet in a long time. 

This one is of a sight I saw all year long (except some mornings it had snow in the picture, too).  Madeline, at 8:30 am, off to the bus, giving me a wave and blowing me a kiss from across the street.  This was the last time for grade 5 - she's officially passed into grade six.  In happy band news, she was assigned the flute to play, not the tuba.  We thought that might be the case for a while, but I think the fact that we own a flute swung it in favor of the lighter instrument.  Jess, you can expect a call letting you know we'll need that back... 

Season Almost Over

It's supposed to rain later this week and there's a good chance that our last regular game and possibly our tournament will be a washout.  I hope not - I'm having fun with our team this year.  They're a fun bunch of kids and play great to boot.  (We won tonight's game 8-1.)

Sean and M missed the game tonight because M had her piano recital.  She got an award for her memorization ("lots of people got those") and said it went well.  I'm just enjoying the Rice Krispie cake I made for it (with M&M's in it... yum!)  We didn't even have to draw straws to see who would coach and who would go to the recital - apparently I'm the indispensable one since I do the subs!

And in other sports news...  Sean did awesome at the track on Sunday.  I was planning to go with him on Saturday, but because of the wet it got bumped back a day.  M was at Girl Guide camp and got back Sunday, plus I had to work, so no pit crew for me.  But apparently the car as he re-built it is F A S T.

M had her track meet today & did well, coming home with a handful of ribbons.  I think I probably wrote about this after last year's meet, but do you know how they win ribbons now?  If you make a certain time, you get a first ribbon, if you're in the next category, you get a 2nd ribbon and so on.  It does make sense, but something seems to be lacking still.  Not fully sure how I feel about that.

Sunny Sunday

A nice warm weekend - so nice to have the sun out.  I've got my lawn mowed and flowers potted and put out & had a good outdoor BBQ tonight at a friend's place with lots of families and lots of good visiting.  M was at Girl Guides camp and Sean was racing - a good weekend all around.

Here are some cool links for you:

The Best World Cup Calendar

Some Fantastic Art

A Clip from Martin Luther King Jr. on Serving

It's not all golf.

I haven't posted in a week (except for that one a few minutes ago...)

Either a) my life is so boring there's nothing to share or b) so exciting I haven't had time to write.  Or neither...  Leave a comment with an option c.  I dare you.

In the last week, we have:

• played soccer once (5-5 tie that would have been a 5-4 win if the ref knew that it should have been an indirect kick, not a direct kick), and got rained out once.
• watched 2 movies - Sean and I saw Date Night and Carla and I saw Letters to Juliet.  I'd recommend both.
• bought flowers for the yard - fun marigolds and wave petunias.  I'm hoping to grow them at least half as well as the ones Jess had at the Stewart St house.
• Sean golfed 4 times (on the Sundays with me, on Thursday with the church guys, and on Saturday with a friend).  He also worked on the car, because he needs to get it together in time for Yorkton next Saturday.
• cleaned out my studio.  partly.  enough to feel good about it.
• M went to 3 birthday parties - one Saturday afternoon and two Saturday sleepovers.
• attended Comedy Night.  The youth from our church who are going on the summer ministry trip put this on as a fundraiser and it is F U N N Y.  We even have our own Napoleon Dynamite.
• drooled over the iPad.  How fun.  Who else wants one?