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?

I wanted to go for a walk.

And so we did.  A long one.  Carrying heavy bags to make it more of a work out.  And playing golf to work out our emotions.  Frustration got a lot of work.  I'm glad it was only 9 holes - I was done by 5, I think.  I made par on hole one and that was my last good hole.  Last summer I golfed twice; this summer I've been out 3 times in the last 3 weeks.  I got some good pictures, though!

My favorite part of golf might be watching this hottie.  (Yes, this hole is uphill.  No, he didn't miss the ball - this was just a practice swing while he was waiting for our turn.)

This was an unexpected treat - it was mostly sunny with a few spits, but up on top of the valley we saw this great rainbow.  M is pretty game to come along for the walk & she keeps score for us.

A Niece!

Nieces are nice.  We are happy to welcome Brianna Kaitlyn Ward to our collection of nieces and we can't wait to meet her.

Kevin and Jen welcomed her to the world at 5 am on Wednesday, May 26; she was a tiny (comparatively!) 7 pounds 8 ounces.  She is dainty little one with lots of dark hair and her sister Raelene loves her.

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M is away at a birthday sleep over tonight & we are shortly off to a movie; date nights are nice, too.

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I just finished reading Jane Eyre.  I do find myself thinking now in the same style of language as it was written, however, I am trying to keep it just in my thoughts; I am sure of the ridicule I would command from my immediate loved ones if I should speak in such words as their ears are unaccustomed.

Anyone care to comment on the similarities / differences between Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights?  I have it on my shelf and may open that one next.

Almost too much...

A couple of weeks ago I picked up this cupcake cookbook from the library.  We've been drooling over it (lots of pictures), but I hadn't made any until yesterday, when I happened upon some spare time when our soccer game got canceled.  I picked this yummy looking one, and I think they turned out ok - I think the one in the picture in the book is a half view because they do turn out funny looking.  Chocolate and peanut butter... yum.  These are so sweet though, I nibbled on mine all night before I finished it.

Zach

We had a great weekend in Winnipeg with family.  Got to meet this little guy, finally - what a great baby.  I also got to golf with my husband, brother and brother-in-law - 3 of my most favorite men ever.  And all so patient with a rookie golfer, too.  Another highlight was hanging out with Becky, my best friend from high school and meeting her 2nd child.  We've got so much history, so it was great to spend time together again.  And it was very cool to see Jess & Dave's pictures from Israel.  Lots of good stuff crammed into one weekend.

SIS is no more.

SIStv officially shut down on May 15th, 2010, 3 years after it started, and 2 years after I joined. 

It was a great place to post my scrapbooking layouts, and have other scrapbookers comment on them; the forums usually had some interesting stuff going on, and the style there inspired me more than any other scrapbooking community I've found online.  I don't even know if I'll look around for another one.  Maybe I'll just post them here for you and leave it at that.

I'm sad to see it go. 

Farewell, SIS.  It's been good. 

Kenyan Speed

This post was published yesterday on my other blog, the "churchy" blog.  I haven't posted much on there lately, but am starting to again, along with some of the others on our church staff.  We've got a new "staff blogs" button on the top menu bar if you want to check out the others.

I remembered something this week.  Something that's going to help me.

The weather warmed up, and I started wearing sandals again.  I haven't found any sandals that I like in the last few years that have a back-strap, so most of the ones I own now are slip-ons.  They never seem to stay on as well, but wearing them again made me remember being in Kenya.  While I was there, I wore a simple pair of flip-flops that I've had for ages (I bought them for Byron & Lori's wedding, actually) and found that I had no problem keeping them on.  The reason, I figured, was that we walked slower there.  Here, it seems I rush wherever I'm going - I have too much to get done to saunter along; don't want to waste my time.

But I also get headaches because I get tense in my shoulders and neck; I'm too focused on what I need to get done.  My rushing and busy-ness cause me stress and pain.  I need to slow down.  I need to recognize that my life is more important than the items on my to-do list.  They will wait for me.  They will get done.  And they will get done better, even if not sooner, if I am feeling better.  << sigh >>  This shouldn't be a hard lesson to learn, and yet, it's the one I'm facing again this week.  This season.  Patience.  Patience with others and with myself.  My God will be served much better when I slow down.

Every time I slip on my sandals, it will remind me.  Walk slower.  Be patient.

She Shoots, She Scores!!

Ezra, Evan, Evan, Madeline, Ezra, Quinton, Madeline, Zach, Evan.

That's who scored our 9 goals yesterday.  The other team got 3.  They had only 7 players, so we matched them and played 6 on 6 (plus goalies).  We had 13 there, so had a full line for subs.  The score may not have been quite so high if they weren't running tired, but we do have some great hustlers out there.  You know the ones; the kids that make it from one end of the field to the other while the others jog leisurely along...  

And did you notice MADELINE'S name in there TWICE?  Yep.  The most she's scored before is once in a season, I think.  I'm curious to see what this does to her confidence and perception of what she can do.  I'll keep you posted.  This blue is the colors of our jerseys, and our team name is the Thunder. So far in the season we're 2 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie. 

Craft Socials & Some Layouts

The way we scrapbook has morphed over time to suit our changing needs.  The latest incarnation has been to move from every Tuesday afternoon to once a month on Tuesday nights.  We've had around 10 out each of the three times we've met so far & I've done about two half pages each time.  That's more than what I've been doing at home.  This weekend M was in Moose Jaw for the Great Centennial Sleepover for Girl Guides and Sean was out golfing, so I just relaxed and enjoyed playing and finished most of those half pages.

I left the first two full size so you can click on them to enlarge and read the journalling.

New Little Friend

This little guy kept me company today on the windowsill in my office.

If I see him again, I'm going to name him.  Any suggestions?

Wonderful Lazy Sunday

Here's a nod to motherhood: 

This photographer, Nick Brandt, has stunning shots of East African animals - lots more to see here.

And here's a quote from Madeline from the other day:

"This is the best lunch I've had since yesterday.  I like sandwiches.  Especially the ones you make."

Happy Mother's Day to me!

the "later friday post"

Well I sure planned to come back and fill in the details...  Here is where we're at in our mainly uneventful lives.

November's sewer issues left us a mess in the front yard.  So far, since the snow has gone, we have watered and rototilled and watered the dirt mound in the front yard to help it settle and seeded the other side of the front yard.  In the back, we have seeded parts that were bad, dumped the nasty barrel planters that I've wanted to see gone for a decade, and started to pull apart the raised garden that grows better grass than the lawn.  It was a productive day today doing lots of that and ended with blizzards at DQ!

Soccer started this week.  Tuesday we met most of the players, handed out jerseys and schedules and played in the zero degree weather (and lost 5-1).  Thursdays game was cancelled because of the cold wet week and the state of the fields, and today's player's skill's clinic was postponed till next Saturday, when M is away and can't go.  I am already loving coaching with Sean, instead of by myself.

Oh, yeah, I was going to tell you about the 5 pairs of cleats: Madeline of course grew out of last year's soccer shoes, and we were running out of time to pick some up, so on Monday, I hit 3 stores and came home with 5 pairs that I thought would fit.  We did find the right ones and got the rest returned.  The reason I could pick shoes up for her?  (Other than the obvious, that I just got the right size number...)  I could TRY THEM ON for her.  Last year's pair that she grew out of?  Size 9.  Yes, my 10 year old wears size 10 women's shoes.  Same as I do.

Last weekend our church did something called Westhill Serves.  We had 12 service projects that 115 of our people got involved in, some even going to 2 or 3 events.  Not only did they jump at the opportunities to go and serve in the city (none were projects for our benefit; all were with community groups), but we had our people making new connections between them as they served together.  It was great, and if you'd like to do something like this at your church, give me a call and I'll let you know how we did it.

Girl Guides wrapped up this week; next weekend she is off to Moose Jaw for a camp.  There are supposed to be thousands of girls there for it, so watch the news for parade footage.  They've got a weekend camp in June, too.  That badge scarf of hers is getting pretty full!

I went to a digital media conference the day.  It was the pre-conference workshop of the Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan conference, so geared to women in business, and full of information about helpful things.  Some tech stuff, some online tools, some 'how social media can work for you' info.  I'm glad I went, and I'll be processing some of that for a while, I'm sure.

And just for fun, here is the old cluster map that was on the side of the blog.  I've had it for a year, so they've rolled it over to a new one.  It is pretty cool to see where all my readers have come from.

Let the comments begin!  I will accept comments today about soccer or coaching or girl guides or yard work or digital media or where you would go if you could go anywhere in the world.

Early Friday Morning

Madeline has today off, so I'm going back to bed right away.  I only got up to send a message in to my work and to see Sean off to his work.  But now I find myself with a not pressing day, so here I am. 

I compose blog posts in my head all the time.  I wish there was some way I could mentally send them...  Watch the tweets on the side - I may update that way when I have a thought worth sharing and a minute to text twitter.

I will be back today with more, but here is a snapshot of what we're up to:

• waiting for the weather to warm so we can do yardwork
• coaching & playing soccer again - I'll tell you about our 5 pairs of cleats!
• I went to a digital media conference yesterday
• Westhill Serves
• Girl Guides windups and camps

Have a great day & check back soon for the stories behind those.

Wednesdays

 

This is what we do on Wednesday nights, usually.  We drop M off at Girl Guides and go for coffee.  The last few weeks have been Tim Hortons, Tim Hortons (no luck with rolling the rims) and then the Driving Range (to hit some golf balls, not for coffee)...

Tonight we went to Second Cup - I haven't been in there since the new owners made changes.  Looks nice.  We needed some new syrup, too.  Our vanilla is almost out; this time we got caramel.