Thursday, May 26, 2011
Let's get this summer started!
Well, it's time to head into summer. This weekend is camping with the family and it will be the first camping trip with Olivia. I'll leave Tennessee tomorrow morning and meet Heather and Olivia in Sioux Falls to head straight camping. We should get a slightly early start on Memorial day, but not a huge head start. I'm not like Heather, I don't get all the time I want all summer long, I still have to work (or in this case travel home). We'll enjoy the long weekend in mom and dad's camper. Dad has been supposed to modify a couch bed for us. Olivia will be nearby in the Pack and Play, so we'll have close tabs on her the entire time. The camper bed we are modifying did have a width of 40 inches, and we've uped that to 54 inches with an air matteress and a support system. We'll give that a test. Just in case, we did pack our tent as well, although I doubt that I'll be needing that, especially if there is rain predicted. When we have the camper, I'm doubting we'll be using the tent. I'm thinking at this point the tent is going to be used when Olivia gets a bit older. Somehow, the whole air conditioner seems like a good feature. Or, if you'd like, I have a tent for sale.....All proceeds go to the buy a camper fund!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Another reason to sell....
The past two days have been quite busy for me. I've been doing a long list of things that need to get accomplished sooner rather than later. So, my Saturday after Olivia and Heather went out for Graduation day were mow the lawn, rip down a cabinet that was in the way, ride the motorcycle to try to make sure the bad gasoline in it gets burned out (we are almost there after an hour) so that it will sell at consignment soon, get the Trailblazer and Seadoo ready for camping next weekend, get ready to head to Tennessee this week. So, because of the last issue, all the other issues had to get accompished the final goal, plus possibly getting ready to get the motorcycle sold. I believe I've mentioned that on here already, but if not, I'm selling my motorcycle on my own accord, not at the demands of my wife.
Today, one more reason why to get rid of the bike. This afternoon, as I was running around town, I was looking for a handful of items and ended up with one thing on my list. I had to run out to three businesses out by Walmart to try and find the light I was looking for, so I figured that I'd just go and take the motorcycle and get some more riding on it. So, the first two were a bust, then there was Walmart, where I found exactly what I was looking for! Perfection, I purchased my items, and headed back to the motorcycle, just in time for the rain to begin. There were hardly clouds when I left, now a random storm rolling through was going to soak me. I thought about going in and waiting it out, but it looked like it was going to rain a while, and I figured knowing my luck, I'd wait 45 minutes, then it would still be raining so I'd get wet anyhow. So, I decided to try and get home. Bad move. I was totally drenched to the point of water collecting in my shoes. It was bad news. I arrived home to a sympathetic wife who dried me off and took good care of me. I thought to myself it was just another great reason to send this bike down the road. Don't be fooled, there will more than likely be another one coming. My mom said wait until the kids are all gone, then we can get one. I'm thinking of waiting until Olivia is old enough to watch her siblings while Heather and I go ride, that's when another bike will come to us again!
Today, one more reason why to get rid of the bike. This afternoon, as I was running around town, I was looking for a handful of items and ended up with one thing on my list. I had to run out to three businesses out by Walmart to try and find the light I was looking for, so I figured that I'd just go and take the motorcycle and get some more riding on it. So, the first two were a bust, then there was Walmart, where I found exactly what I was looking for! Perfection, I purchased my items, and headed back to the motorcycle, just in time for the rain to begin. There were hardly clouds when I left, now a random storm rolling through was going to soak me. I thought about going in and waiting it out, but it looked like it was going to rain a while, and I figured knowing my luck, I'd wait 45 minutes, then it would still be raining so I'd get wet anyhow. So, I decided to try and get home. Bad move. I was totally drenched to the point of water collecting in my shoes. It was bad news. I arrived home to a sympathetic wife who dried me off and took good care of me. I thought to myself it was just another great reason to send this bike down the road. Don't be fooled, there will more than likely be another one coming. My mom said wait until the kids are all gone, then we can get one. I'm thinking of waiting until Olivia is old enough to watch her siblings while Heather and I go ride, that's when another bike will come to us again!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The razzing begins
Well, today there were no more kids at school in Heather's class. They are now gone for the summer and now she gets to just take the summer off. Some days I'm thinking that I missed out on something by not getting a full summer off like she does. A week from now Olivia will also be home for the summer. Heather is just wrapping up things for school and then will prep for the opening of summer, Memorial Day weekend!
I'm headed back to Tennessee next week. Going to come home Friday in time to head out camping! Should be interesting as it will be Olivia's first camping trip ever. I'm thinking take the tent and let those in the camper take care of Olivia, but I was overruled by my wife.
Olivia has been busy with some new tricks. She's just starting to try to talk back to us, and she is very smiley now when Heather and I play with her. She also is a little bit more attitude than before. It's all part of the little growing personality. Most of the time, she is a perfect little angel. She is also learning sitting up tricks and is working on rolling over. She sits fairly well with some help, but the rolling over usually doesn't end well. Here is a look at her recently as she's also learning to grab things near her.
I'm headed back to Tennessee next week. Going to come home Friday in time to head out camping! Should be interesting as it will be Olivia's first camping trip ever. I'm thinking take the tent and let those in the camper take care of Olivia, but I was overruled by my wife.
Olivia has been busy with some new tricks. She's just starting to try to talk back to us, and she is very smiley now when Heather and I play with her. She also is a little bit more attitude than before. It's all part of the little growing personality. Most of the time, she is a perfect little angel. She is also learning sitting up tricks and is working on rolling over. She sits fairly well with some help, but the rolling over usually doesn't end well. Here is a look at her recently as she's also learning to grab things near her.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Olivia the smiler!
This video was taken recently of Olivia being extremely happy after waking up from a short nap. I apparently just bring her so much joy, she can hardly contain herself. Of course, I was sitting there talking with her with the camera pointed at her for a good three or four minutes, when I looked to see how long the video was to find that the camera didn't turn on when I pushed the button. I was not a happy camper. I pleaded with Olivia to please smile again for me, and this was the result.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Stay at home dad
The past two days, I've gotten to be the stay at home dad! With school about out, Heather is finishing it out without taking off, and because of a little "mishap" at our daycare, I've had Olivia at home for two days this week already, and possibly more will be pending. We will see what the verdict is later on today.
This evening, Olivia will attend her first concert at school. Heather is going to take her along so that I can get some work done here at the house. I'm going to be outside playing with chemicals, so coming back in to take care of Olivia is probably not a great idea. I've got a beautiful bloom of dandilions all over the front and the back is going to get some addressing tonight, hopefully. The big issue is that rain is predicted tomorrow, so I have to figure out if it will do any good to do this before more storms roll through tomorrow. All things to figure out this evening.
This evening, Olivia will attend her first concert at school. Heather is going to take her along so that I can get some work done here at the house. I'm going to be outside playing with chemicals, so coming back in to take care of Olivia is probably not a great idea. I've got a beautiful bloom of dandilions all over the front and the back is going to get some addressing tonight, hopefully. The big issue is that rain is predicted tomorrow, so I have to figure out if it will do any good to do this before more storms roll through tomorrow. All things to figure out this evening.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Top 10 Recent Events
I kept the blog open after getting married for the sake of writing once in a while the odd things that happen in life, and when we found out Olivia was coming, I figured what a great way to share events that happen to her and photos and keep a running tally of what's going on in her life. It's been a pretty decent failure so far at doing that, so I'm going to try to get into a better routine. Ok, here is the top 10 recent events that happened to us.
10. I've demolished and rebuilt the inside of the garage to make sure that there is room for everything
9. Heather is starting to rub in her summer off
8. We have the Seadoo here (in the more spacious inside of the garage meaning summer is rapidly approaching)
7. We got our new couch that compliments our decor very well
6. I went back on the road last week and was in Chattanooga, TN for a week. I got there just in time for the worst out break of tornadoes in 40 years. While I was just fine, it was a wild week of weather down there.
5. Olivia has started smiling, laughing, and occasionally making sounds
4. Soccer has resumed and that is going to start pulling in tons of my time
3. Olivia has started sleeping in longer stretches, and while we cannot go one full night yet, we are only getting up once in the middle of the night to eat. Sleep is slowly coming back to us in larger quantities.
2. Olivia's first road trip to Nana and Papa's house in Minnesota two weekends ago was a success. She sleeps extremely well in the car.
1. Olivia was dedicated in church this morning marking one of the biggest events of her little young life!
That's the nickel and dime tour of the past several weeks. Some of these things are a great adventure, and making honorable mention is the preparations outdoor for the summer which includes some re-landscaping, and some moving of current landscaping and alot of spruce up's outside. We're really focusing on the front yard, and redoing the back of the house in many different ways. I always hated landscaping growing up, but somehow, when it's your own house and your dad isn't forcing you to do it, it's not nearly as bad, but it will still be a lot of work for sure!
Looking above at #6 on the list, I spent this past week in Chattanooga, TN. As I'm sure you saw on the news, Chattanooga was right in the middle of the nasty weather outbreak in the south. When I left from Sioux Falls Monday in the afternoon, my flight was delayed by 3 1/2 hours. Mechanical issues got me to Atlanta quite late, so I rented a car and drove to Tennessee as I would not be able to make it until morning if I flew, and I already had the hotel in Chattanooga paid for. So, I drove up the interstate and went through the town of Ringgold, GA just before crossing the border into to Tennessee. Nothing looked odd or out of place at all, just another small community on the interstate. Now, I wish I would have paid more attention to what things looked like because as of Wednesday night, there was hardly anything of the town left. I talked to a person in the office of the company I work with in Chattanooga who said that they had about 30 seconds to prepare for the tornado hitting. The only reason they heard it coming was because the power went out, and the sound of a tornado being loud like a freight train is what tipped her off. Her property received very minor damage, and her family came out just fine, however, she said that just one block over, there was absolutely nothing left. The schools are literally destroyed, and most of the town is in ruins. There was no siren (as most towns in the south do not have warning system apparently). There is no basement to go to (as most houses in the south also do not have basements). It's a miracle that more people don't die in these tornadoes every time they hit a populated area.
Here is a photo in Ringgold, GA from a resident just before the tornado tore the town apart.
10. I've demolished and rebuilt the inside of the garage to make sure that there is room for everything
9. Heather is starting to rub in her summer off
8. We have the Seadoo here (in the more spacious inside of the garage meaning summer is rapidly approaching)
7. We got our new couch that compliments our decor very well
6. I went back on the road last week and was in Chattanooga, TN for a week. I got there just in time for the worst out break of tornadoes in 40 years. While I was just fine, it was a wild week of weather down there.
5. Olivia has started smiling, laughing, and occasionally making sounds
4. Soccer has resumed and that is going to start pulling in tons of my time
3. Olivia has started sleeping in longer stretches, and while we cannot go one full night yet, we are only getting up once in the middle of the night to eat. Sleep is slowly coming back to us in larger quantities.
2. Olivia's first road trip to Nana and Papa's house in Minnesota two weekends ago was a success. She sleeps extremely well in the car.
1. Olivia was dedicated in church this morning marking one of the biggest events of her little young life!
That's the nickel and dime tour of the past several weeks. Some of these things are a great adventure, and making honorable mention is the preparations outdoor for the summer which includes some re-landscaping, and some moving of current landscaping and alot of spruce up's outside. We're really focusing on the front yard, and redoing the back of the house in many different ways. I always hated landscaping growing up, but somehow, when it's your own house and your dad isn't forcing you to do it, it's not nearly as bad, but it will still be a lot of work for sure!
Looking above at #6 on the list, I spent this past week in Chattanooga, TN. As I'm sure you saw on the news, Chattanooga was right in the middle of the nasty weather outbreak in the south. When I left from Sioux Falls Monday in the afternoon, my flight was delayed by 3 1/2 hours. Mechanical issues got me to Atlanta quite late, so I rented a car and drove to Tennessee as I would not be able to make it until morning if I flew, and I already had the hotel in Chattanooga paid for. So, I drove up the interstate and went through the town of Ringgold, GA just before crossing the border into to Tennessee. Nothing looked odd or out of place at all, just another small community on the interstate. Now, I wish I would have paid more attention to what things looked like because as of Wednesday night, there was hardly anything of the town left. I talked to a person in the office of the company I work with in Chattanooga who said that they had about 30 seconds to prepare for the tornado hitting. The only reason they heard it coming was because the power went out, and the sound of a tornado being loud like a freight train is what tipped her off. Her property received very minor damage, and her family came out just fine, however, she said that just one block over, there was absolutely nothing left. The schools are literally destroyed, and most of the town is in ruins. There was no siren (as most towns in the south do not have warning system apparently). There is no basement to go to (as most houses in the south also do not have basements). It's a miracle that more people don't die in these tornadoes every time they hit a populated area.
Here is a photo in Ringgold, GA from a resident just before the tornado tore the town apart.
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