Papaw's winter visit

My Dad got to come up & spend a week with us at the end of January. It was really special for me because I have not had the opportunity to spend that much time with my Dad since before I graduated high school & I was still living at home. When the kids were at preschool Tuesday & Thursday that week, my Dad & I went on photo adventures. We had a blast.

I was a brave girl & I drove my Dad out on the lake WITHOUT hyperventilating this time!

Here is what my Dad looked like 90% of the the time he was here :-)

I took my Dad to Itasca State Park to walk across the Mississippi headwaters.

And...my Uncle Mike & his family were able to come up to join us the last weekend my Dad was here. They live in southern Minnesota & they made the 6 hour trip up to see us. It was so wonderful to see them all again!

Here is my Dad hand feeding some birds at Bemidji State Park.

Since my Dad's flight home got delayed for a day, he & Dawson got to spend another day playing in the snow together. If you look real close, you can see that that is Frosty in front of my Dad...bending WAY over!

I LOVE this image. Here are the boys enjoying their last bonus day together!

Come drive with me....

Back in January, we drove across the lake for the first time. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to experience our first lake driving experience. I was a NERVOUS WRECK! I started to hyperventilate a couple of times & I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest it was racing so hard. It just does NOT feel natural to drive your car, with your children in the backseat, across a huge frozen lake that is about 50 feet deep! Too bad I don't have a video of myself freaking out for this post...but I did take some pics of course. Since this drive, I have driven across the lake several more times & even spent an entire day ice fishing. So, I got over my fear a little bit.

This is a great shot of what the plowed roads on the ice look like. DO YOU SEE THE HUGE CRACKS?????? I was not mentally prepared for the cracks & that is what had me totally freaking out. The DNR (Department of Natural Resources) swears it's safe though...would you trust them???

A shot while driving

This is the best shot I got where you can see the ice the best.

Apparently, they were having issues towing their ice house, so they just pulled over to the side of the ice road. weird.

This was my favorite ice house! How cute is that? They even put up the tree for decoration! If I ever had my own ice house...it would be super cute from the outside too!

This was where we exited the lake. These signs are just so funny to me when the lake is frozen. You can't swim or dive from this spot...but go ahead & drive your car out there! Welcome to the Minnesota life.

The Polar Plunge

Every year in January, Bemidji hosts its 'Brrrmidji Polar Days.' The festivities run all day long, and ALL of them happen on frozen Lake Bemidji. Some of the events are: a golf tournament, a 5k race, snowmobile racing, ice fishing competition, cross country skiing & broom ball. The most popular event of the celebration each year though, is The Polar Plunge. They cut out a rectangle shaped hole in the lake and people register to be jumpers, all to raise money for the Special Olympics. Before we moved up here, I had heard about crazy events like this & it was super fun to be able to watch it in person. There were all sorts of jumpers: young ones, old ones, costumed ones, non costumed ones & of course some crazy ones in bikinis & speedos!

Here is a shot of what the hole looked like before the jumpers began jumping in. After they began jumping in, the water started to displace & it actually flooded about 6 inches deep where all the crowds were standing to watch! Luckily, we got there early enough to get great seats on the bleachers. So, our feet were not frozen by the end of it like most everyone else's were.

There were two divers in the water the entire time who helped all of the jumpers out of the water. Very few of them could get out themselves...the water is just too cold & your body freezes up so fast! Here were some of my favorite jumpers from that day.

The firefighters

I thought these girls were super cute dressed up as paul & babe

Andi's 'what the heck are they doing' face. You can see the flooding pretty good at the bottom of this picture.

Here was Dawson's favorite...Spiderman of course.

The bikini girls.

And, the scarecrow.

I don't know if I would ever be brave enough to participate in this event, but I sure would donate to someone else who was brave enough to jump!

The Paul Bunyan snow fight

I absolutely LOVE these pictures! My kiddos decided on an impromptu snowfight one day while we were hanging out at the lake watching the 'Brrrmidji Polar Days' (I will blog about that next.) I just thought these pics were a perfect way to sum up our time spent here with the town icons in the background!

This pic is so fun...I love the huge snowball flying at Andi...I love her face...

Dawson trying to look innocent right before he pegs me with a snowball!

Nothing better than pegging your sister with one.

Andi just skips the innocent face & gives me the devious face before she throws her snowball at me!

What a fun & beautiful day!

The Princess & the Knight

My kiddos love dressing up in costumes. In fact, it is very rare for an entire day to go by where they haven't put on any costumes. I have already blogged about this particular dress up time, but here are the pictures to go with that story.

Here is Knight Dawson asking Princess Andelynn to dance with him at the ball.

Dancing the night away.

more dancing...

And, how sweet is this? He asked if he could kiss her hand! After this was the funny part. Dawson decided that Princess Andelynn desperately needed rescuing. He kept saying things to her like "QUICK Princess...follow me the bad guys are coming!" OR "Princess, let me take you downstairs to get you out of danger." However, the Princess's response to all of his suggestions was "NO. I don't want to." Dawson finally gave up & walked away muttering "I hate this job."

A few minutes later, this was how I found her chilling on the couch. She totally looks like a troublesome Princess doesn't she????

Princess Tea Party

Andi LOVES the princess tea party set she got for Christmas. This particular tea party, with all her Disney Princess babies, happened to be the very first tea party she orchestrated all by herself. She was so adorable tending to all her party guests! She even propped all of them up on boxes & such so that they would be tall enough at the table. I love that she happened to be wearing her absolute favorite dress on this day...makes the pics even more special.

This image cracks me up...she totally looks like a waitress tending to her table.

Pouring herself some tea too.

She of course, matched up all the appropriate dishes with the matching doll.

Then, she held all her babies hands & told them it was time to pray. So sweet!

LOST in The Lost Forty

Well, I am finally getting around to blogging about our most interesting Minnesota experience. Over the Christmas holidays, Derek had 10 days off work. On his last day of vacation, I asked him what he wanted to do. His answer: sit in the recliner & watch football all day. But, since Derek's mom & sister were still in town and could watch the kids, I really wanted to get out & do something just the two of us. I threw out two ideas: 1. Go see the movie 'The Blind Side' because he had not seen it yet, or 2. Go to The Lost Forty. The Lost Forty is something we both wanted to experience while we were here. Because of a survey error a long time ago, the area was originally said to be a lake, so the pine trees there were never logged. The trees that are there today are almost 400 years old & their trunks are supposedly the width of 3 people holding hands around the tree. You guessed it, I convinced him to go there with me.

It was a further drive out there than I realized, taking us over an hour. Because the sun was setting around 4:30 at that time, we only had an hour of daylight once we actually got there. We drove through the entrance & maybe a minute in, we realized we were in trouble. All of a sudden, we were in VERY slushy snow & our tires would not move anywhere! I immediately panicked...like severely panicked. I didn't tell Derek this at the time, but I was terrified we were going to be eaten by wild animals! We were stuck in the middle of the Chippewa National Forrest for crying out loud! Seriously, what would we have done if a bear or a mountain lion had come sniffing around the truck? It wasn't like we had the luxury of just driving away...anyway, I digress because we were obviously not eaten by anything.

This is a shot of where we originally got stuck in the snow.

Derek's 'uh oh, we're stuck in the snow face'

My 'uh oh, we're stuck in the snow face' I decided since it was so close to getting dark, I wasn't going to mess around with our rescue. So, I dialed 911. My 911 operator was in Canada & transferred me to the closest sheriff station. I told the lady sheriff that answered the phone, our entire predicament & that we needed her to send out a tow truck or snow plow or something. Her response: she began laughing hysterically. Like, for a really long time she laughed hysterically. Then I heard her say "Hey Marv, you'll never believe this...we've got some Texans...(more hysterical laughing)...that are LOST...in the LOST FORTY!!!...(more laughing)" Finally, she regained composure & said she would send out a two truck to pull us out. So, the waiting game began. While waiting, we had some funny moments. We chatted for a bit, then we just sat quietly listening to the radio. Then, while we were trying to stay warm in the truck because it was -15 degrees outside, we heard this song come one the radio "Aruba, Jamaica...ooh I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahama...come on pretty mama..." Derek & I cut our eyes over at each other & totally busted out laughing at the irony. Then, the next song that came on was none other than the main theme song from the movie 'The Blind Side',which of course was option 1 that we didn't do.

We sat in our original stuck position for about 30 minutes, but by then Derek was getting a little restless. He wanted to try to get us out again by himself. So, we started backing up little by little & it actually looked like we might get out for a second...when all of a sudden, the truck started sliding off the road! When we started sliding sideways, I really thought the truck was going to start rolling down the hill. I started screaming "AHHHH! STOP! STOP!!!!!" at Derek, and he started screaming "DONT SCREAM AT ME...SCREAMING DOESN'T HELP! AHHH!" Can you just picture this beautiful marital moment in your minds eye? But, the truck stopped sliding, we didn't roll over, and the tow truck driver finally arrived right before it got dark.

Here is a shot of where the truck got stuck the second time & the tow truck driver trying to figure out how to get us out of there. The tow truck drivers name was Art & he had 4 dogs inside his cab with him! Little did we know, we were about to become good friends with all 5 of them because we were about to spend the next 6 hours with all of them trying to get out of the Chippewa Forrest.

Because of the way the truck was stuck, he couldn't pull us out backward without Derek's truck slamming into the trees. So Art decided to pull us forward because he thought the road ahead made a short little loop & we could just follow his tracks in the snow to get out. WRONG! The road was not a short road...it winded up & down hills for miles & led us deeper into the Forrest. Several times, we got stuck & Art would have to hook up to us & pull us up the hill. Also, several times we BOTH got stuck and Art had to wench up to a tree at the top of the hill & slowly pull us both up the hill. We did this for hours. This was the lovely view we had the entire time.

Then, while trying to wench us both us a steep hill, the tow truck's transmission overheated & blew all of the transmission fluid out of the tail pipe. So now we were both sitting ducks. And, we were so deep into the Forrest, we had no more cell phone service! Derek & Art tried walking up to the top of the hill to see if they got any service but they didn't. We both had Verizon service & I kept picturing 'the people' from their Verizon commercials standing at the entrance of The Lost Forty going 'I ain't about to walk in there." While we were trying to decide whether to start hiking then or to wait until morning, we finally remembered that Derek's truck has onstar, but it wasn't hooked up. All three of us anxiously climb into Derek's truck and we push the button...someone answered! Hallelujah! Of course, before someone could come rescue us, they needed Derek's credit card number & a verbal agreement to be charged $20 a month for the onstar service. About 15 minutes later the onstar was working & we had formulated a plan.

For signing up, we received 30 minutes of complimentary phone calls. However, since we just signed up, the operator had to do all the phone dialing for us & she had to remain on the line during our calls as well. So, Art who was in the backseat of the truck, called a 70 year old buddy of his named Arnie. He needed Arnie to go to his house, tell his wife what was going on, go into his garage & get more transmission fluid, and then bring it out to us so that his truck would start. When Arnie hung up, the sweet onstar lady said "Wow...you guys sure are in a pickle aren't you?" Art explained that the reason he had called Arnie to help us, is because Arnie is a trapper and he knows all the forestry roads better than anyone he knows. How cool is that? I had never met a trapper before, only read about them in history books. While we were waiting for Arnie, we all took a bathroom break...all 7 of us. Art & the dogs walked in front of the trucks, and Derek & I went to the back of the trucks. Now, that was an experience I will never forget. I really doubt I will ever use the restroom again outside at night, in -20 weather, while standing in 2 feet of snow without any toilet paper.

About an hour & a half later, Arnie shows up with the fluid. He looked like he had as much energy as a rambunctious 5 year old, and you could tell that he thought being 'our rescuer' was probably the coolest thing he had ever done. Men. (I said that last word while shaking my head & rolling my eyes) I really wish I would have taken a picture of him too because was such a character. But, the fluid got the truck back up & running and all three of us finally made it to a paved road. I have never been more excited to see pavement in my life. Final time stuck in the Forrest: 6.5 hours.

This is a shot of Derek & Art in front on Art's tow truck. We stopped at a local bar called 'The hoot & hollar' to settle up. Art bought us all a round of drinks & then we hit the road for our hour trip back home. We never even got to see the cool trees.

That night before going to bed, Derek said "The next time I want to sit around all day and watch football....please, just let me sit around all day and watch football."

New Years

For New Years, Hettie & Granna were still here from Christmas...but Gramps got to fly in to celebrate the weekend with us. We had the COLDEST weather of the winter over New Years weekend. New Years Day was brutally cold, but we played outside anyway. We hiked across the lake & even went tubing at the ski resort in -24 degree weather. The day they flew back home to Houston it was -39!!!! But, it hasn't been that cold again since.

New Years Eve, playing in the snow with Granna

Andi & Hettie

The kiddos had fun with sparklers for a couple of minutes...but since it was so cold, they were ALL DONE pretty quick.

Here is a shot of Gramps, Derek & Hettie crossing the lake. The snow was so hard to walk through. A walk that looked like it should take about 5 minutes, took 30 because of how deep the snow was. Also, the -40 wind chills whipping across the lake were insane. All of our eyelashes were frozen solid!

I am on the island here, looking back toward Gramps & Derek making the final treck over.

Gramps in his retro snow boots making snow angels. (He has had these boots since his honeymoon!)

And, here is Derek & Frank on the island.

This was definitely a memorable New Years Day!

X-Rated Embarrassment

I have decided that every once in awhile I am going to blog about funny embarrassing moments that have happened to me over the years. I really have quite a few to tell, and since I love making people laugh & I love telling stories, this seems like a good plan.

My first embarrassing moment installment that I am going to tell about, is actually my most recent one. I have titled it 'X-Rated' because....it kind of is. Some of you may find yourself offended for two reasons: 1. You may be offended by what I actually did in this post. OR 2. You may be offended that I even blogged about it at all. I really hope you don't find yourself in either of those two categories, and that you are able to just laugh AT me...WITH me.

All that being said, here ya go:

When I flew home to Houston over Thanksgiving break, I accidentally showed my Dad a picture of my bare breasts. Yes, you read that correctly. NOW, let me try my hardest to explain how we got to this point. (For the rest of this blog, I am going to refer to 'breasts' as 'the girls' because it rolls off the tongue a little easier)

The kids & I stayed in Houston for two weeks, while Derek had to stay in Minnesota working. Now, this was the absolute longest we had ever been apart. Before this two week visit, the longest we had been apart since we got married was 5 days.

Right before I left Minnesota, I bought a new cell phone, one of the new Verizon Droid smart phones, with 7 customizable screens. I of course, had all 7 screens set up really cool after fiddling with it for a good week straight. Not too long after I got to Houston, I realized my new phone was possessed. It would randomly call people by itself, or send random text messages to people by itself. They tried to fix it, but ultimately just had to replace it. My replacement phone had all the standard 7 homescreens you get when you first buy the phone & I did not have the energy to customize them again right away.

Meanwhile, Derek had been pestering me for several days to send him a picture, you know, a picture of his girls. So, one evening, I finally gave in. I snapped a quick picture with my cell & sent it to him. (In retrospect, this was where I should have deleted the evidence.)

Well, the next day, my Dad invited me to lunch. While we were eating at Gringo's, my Dad asked about my new phone because he was contemplating getting one as well. I eagerly pulled my phone out to show off my new shiny cell phone that I loved. I was not even concerned about the picture because I was just going to show him to cool 7 homescreens. We were sitting in the middle of Gringo's, facing each other at the table, so I was holding my phone up where he could see it real well (and probably half of Gringo's too). Here comes the horrible part, because I forgot that one of the standard homescreens, that I had NOT customized yet, was a picture slideshow...a slideshow that puts your last photo taken at the start of the slideshow. So, right there in Gringo's, with who knows how many other people looking, I show my Dad the picture of the girls. This made for a very awkward finish to our lunch, but since we had not even received our food yet, I had to sit there in total embarrassment for about 30 more minutes! My poor Dad seemed just as embarrassed as I was. Don't worry though, I did ask his permission to blog about this prior to doing it.

So, the moral of my story is this: If you are going to take a X-Rated picture of yourself, delete it right away, and make sure it is a REALLY good one, because you never know when you might accidentally flash it to half a restaurant.