Boys on vacation........

Kirby and Tyler are both on vacation this week. Kirby's annual (I'm not sure how it became an annual fishing trip since it was suppose to just be his birthday present from me one year) fishing trip to Canada with Brent and Butch is this week and Tyler decided that he would like to spend a few days up in Warroad by himself so he tagged along for the ride. Uncle Hayden and Grandpa Tom met Kirby and Tyler at Aaron's bar in Bemidji in the Mustang and after dinner and a quick game of pool, he was on his way north. Kirby stayed in Bemidji with the Rud's and according to Brent's minute by minute schedule, they left for Canada Sunday morning at 4:30am.

Kirby called today for a few minutes just to check in. (He learned a valuable lesson a few years ago when he went on his trip and didn't call his then, pregnant wife to let her know that he was okay and when she could expect him coming home, etc) He said they have caught some fish and said that he lost one by the boat last night. They were on their way out when he called and I could hear Brent in the background telling him to wrap it up. It sounds like they are having a good time and the weather is cooperating.

I talked to Tyler on Saturday night and that's about all I have heard from him. I'm hoping he'll call tonight but he's in Warroad Heaven and had big plans for his vacation so he may be very busy being independent and all grown up.

So, it's just me and the little ones. We have big plans to go to the pool after work and daycare and then have some oh-so-good-for you Burger King for supper.

Prepare yourselves for lots of fish pictures when Kirby gets back........

Date night!

About a month or so ago, my brother emailed me that he and Vanessa were going to go to the Willie Nelson concert up at the Hinckley casino and wanted to know if we could find them a motel to stay at. I emailed him back that they should just stay with us and that maybe we would go to the concert too. Now, I'm not a HUGE Willie Nelson fan but I did grow up listening to his music back when I was under the age of 5 (thanks to Jeff.) So, we decided to go with and buy some tickets for a hot date night.

It also just so happened that my co-worker and her husband were also thinking about going with a couple of their friends so she bought tickets for all of us and we were set for a hot date night!

The concert was held at the casino and if you've never been to a concert there, (neither Kirby or I had), it's an outdoor venue with bench seating. But, I was pleasantly surprised at how clean it was and I really don't think there was a bad seat in the house. The average age of the people in attendance was around 65 I would say but it was a good time for all and Willie was in good spirits that night.

It was a fun night and a good chance to hang out with my brother and Vanessa and my co-worker and her husband. Kirby and I don't have 'date nights' very often as it's hard to find babysitters these days (have you ever tried to find a HS girl who has a free night recently?) and our families are too far away to help us out unfortunately. So, any chance to be alone and free from worrying about where Emma is and what Logan is doing is appreciated greatly.

My brother and Vanessa stayed with us that night and for all day on Saturday. Kirby worked at the pool until 3 that day but came home in time to cook some beer can chicken and pork chops for supper. Jeff and Vanessa somehow managed to find things to do around town and survived being in the same house with the kids for the day. It was nice to have them around and I know that Tyler enjoyed laughing at Uncle Jeff while they played Wii sports.

Willie for President!

Tyler's summer

Tyler has been busy this summer but that's no different from summers past.  He spends his days working at the pool with Kirby and counting up to $8000 for the bank deposits, riding his bike to baseball, riding his bike around town with his friends, at the library playing on the computer and finding books to check out, or hanging out at home with his little brother and sister.    Some days I really love the fact that he can be in a small town and have the freedom to be independent.  I remember when I was his age I would leave my house on my bike at 8am and come back home usually right after dark.   These days though, we are forced to be more careful about where our kids are and what they are doing of course. But, I know Tyler enjoys the chance to be off exploring  with his summer friends and not having to be tied to Kirby's hip all day. :) 

Tyler just got back from attending the St. John's basketball overnight camp for a week.  He came home with an envelope full of awards he achieved which included:  Best Off Guard, 4 on 4 Fast Break Champs, 3 on 3 League Champs and Outstanding Camper Awards.  I think he had a good time and did well according to all his awards. 

Tyler just finished his last baseball game of the summer Thursday night.  The team he was on this year was, in the nicest way possible, lacking talent.  But,  on Thursday night you could see how much they  have improved since the first early games of the season.  They battled back from being down, made some nice plays and catches and ended up losing with the tying run on 2nd base in the 7th inning.  Tyler had the opportunity this year to try his hand at pitching along with playing the other fielding positions and spent a good chunk of time at catcher.   

Last fall Tyler was on a football team that didn't win a game all season and I'm afraid the same thing happened this year with baseball.  But, much to Tyler's credit, he went to practice each day and never said a negative thing about the lack of  'wins' on that side of the scorecard.    As a competitive parent, it's sometimes hard to watch your child not be successful all the time and win every game they play.    But, I guess there are lessons to be learned no matter the situation and sometimes, you just can't teach your child everything, they have to learn it on their own in their own time.   

Okay, back to Tyler.  He is growing up so fast and I look forward to watching him play sports or whatever he decided to do in the upcoming  years.    Many of you have mentioned what a great kid he is and how mature he is for his age.  I think playing on the 'good teams' and 'bad teams' has taught him how to be a great kid all the way around.  Next up:  Football! 

Logan's haircut

As you may have noticed from previous posts that Logan has been sporting a longer length hair style. Now, I don't usually favor boys with long hair but for some reason, I just let his grow and grow. Maybe because it was cute hockey hair this past winter and then spring came and the curls just looked cute with the melting of the snow. Maybe it was because his cute, little, chubby cheeks were framed so nicely with the curls in the background. Or maybe I was waiting for summer to arrive and for him to look like one of those California surfer dudes.

For whatever reason, the only haircut he has had was a quick bang trim last March while he ate some M&M's after a bath. (works like a charm) So, one day at work, I get a phone call from Kirby who had just come back from taking the kids to the park to play. He said that Logan got called a 'girl' again by an older gentleman and Kirby stated that Logan needed to have a haircut ASAP. Apparently this isn't the first time Logan has been called a girl in Kirby's presence (it's never happened to me) and he is feeling that as a father, he needs to protect his boy from emotional damage and confusion and get him a haircut. So, I gave in and told Kirby to call Val and schedule an appointment for that week.

I took him and he did awesome of course. She snipped and snipped and sn

ipped as I held back the tears I watched my little boy turn into a little man with his new hair doo. It took Logan a few minutes to realize that it was him looking back at him in the mirror when we were finished, but he seemed happy with himself.

I won't agree that I won't let his hair g

row long again, hockey season is just around the corner you know.....

My husbands 'other' wife.......

This is what my husband ditched me for on Sunday night. It all started with a 7:45pm phone call from his bald, mailman friend who wanted to know if Kirby wanted to go out fishing. In my mind, I had already mapped out that after the kids went to bed, we could leave Tyler in charge and head up to the gym and spend some time exercise together and time alone. Apparently, my husband felt that spending time pursuing another 'lady' was the better option for him on this night.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am very happy that he FINALLY caught a muskie. It has been almost 2 summers of him spending time out on a lake (which also includes lakes in other countries) trying to catch one of these monsters. All year round there is talk of muskie opener and muskies lures and poles and rods and occasional emails about who knows the most and who doesn't know anything(right Becky?). From a woman's point of view, it gets a little old after awhile. I don't talk about the great pair of shoes I found on clearance from last October all year round or constantly call my girlfriends to see what kind of shoes they found last weekend when they went shopping. I guess I'll never fully understand.

But, I do have to admit, it's nice to see patience rewarded and to see your husband smiling from ear to ear and calling everyone he knows to share his tale.

So, call and congratulate Kirby on his new child, I mean his latest lifetime fish and wish him luck as he drives 9 hours to cast for more muskies in Canada next week. (this one was caught 5 minutes from his back door but who am I to say anything? :)

In case you aren't getting my humor or my sacrastic tone, I do love my husband and can understand that he loves fishing/hunting and realize that it is his passion. I just wish he was that passionate about doing the laundry sometimes...... whoops! there I go again..... :)

Next time I score a killer deal on a pair of shoes, I'm calling everyone I know and sending out mass emails....... Let me know if you want to be included.

Typical Sunday night...

I just caught the biggest fish of my life on Sunday evening and nothing can get me down. However, having previously seen my wife's comical reaction to me posting photos and fish stories, I will refrain and with any luck, Michele will divulge a woman's point of view. It must be hard being married to someone obsessed with fishing I know but she must not truly know how much I am obsessed with her because I dream about her way more than I ever do Muskies. Honest.

out

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Kids likes, dislikes and sizes.....check it out.

It was suggested by someone (thanks Vanessa) that I put on the site what the kids sizes are for clothing and what their likes are. This might be a good idea being that in a month or so, we will start the birthday parade of 3 birthdays in 1 months time. So, off to the right, I will jot down a few idea's and what they need and/or what they like in case you are already in birthday present mode. Or maybe you just want to know what is hip and cool with 11, 3, and almost 2 year olds....

Happy 33rd Birthday Luther!

Monday was Kirby's birthday... I keep telling him that I need to trade him in for a newer model but he never gets my humor for some reason. For his present this year, I was secretly working with his good pal Brent on what kind of 8 foot 6 inch fishing pole to buy him. Apparently my husband has been thinking for the past year that he needs to have a gigantic pole to catch a muskie this year and has been drooling and talking about buying one for some time now. But, for those who know Kirby well, he doesn't buy himself things on a whim and will hum and haw over something he wants for many, many, many months. Myself on the other hand, I'm the spender and think that money is made to be spent. :) So, with help from Brent and his easy access to Reeds, we were able to purchase a nice MONSTER rod for his birthday.

After work we took the kids out to dinner at the local Pizza Pub and then came home to have cake and sing Happy Birthday. (I think Emma by this time had sang "Happy Birthday" to Kirby about 3-4 times but who's counting?) I had designed a small scavenger hunt for Kirby and the kids to do outside to find his various presents. The theme was "Kirby's favorite things" and it included the gifts: A Warroad hockey t-shirt, a Cubs poster, and then a new tackle box and some sunscreen and bugspray for his upcoming fishing trip. The last clue lead him back inside to the bathroom where inside the tub were pictures of his new rod and Brent holding it with an Elmo birthday sign. (thanks Brent) Needless to say he was very happy and excited and can't wait to use his new rod in Canada at the end of the month.

I think the 2 cutest things from his birthday were: #1. The kids eating the cake (I just love watching kids eat cake, there is just no possible way for them to stay clean, especially with blue frosting) and #2. Kirby asked Emma when I brought out the cake if it was made with 'love and care' and she said, "No Daddy, we made it with eggs." Too cute.

So, if you're up in Canada at the end of the month and you see some guy with an 8 and a half foot rod grinning from ear to ear.......chances are that it's my husband. Happy Birthday to you!

Silent Bet.....

Did anyone else have a silent bet going on of 'how long will it take before Kirby has a picture of himself with a fish on our site?' I sure did, my silent bet was that it would only take him 3 blogs before he would have a picture of himself with a recent fish he caught. He did it in 2, I win! :)

Big Storm Last night

We're trying  to get Emma to realize that she shouldn't say "Holy Cr@p!", but it's hard when she hears big bro' Tyler use it regularly. Lord knows, anything and everything Tyler does is a "masterpiece" to his younger kinfolk. I suppose it didn't help much last week when Emma brought Mom down to Poppa Joe's dock to show off our big catch and upon seeing Kirby's Mammoth PERCH, Michele exclaims, "Holy Cr@p!" (I'll try to post a picture)

Well, let me say...... "Holy Cr@p! - Last night's storm was a bad one!" (Good thing Logan can't formulate more that one word grunts otherwise that would make us 5 for 5 on the use of poor language.)

With Michele off on a ladies weekend "roughing it" in Lake Elmo, the kids and I snuggled in for a Friday night of uninterrupted cartoons. Apparently Belinda and Sven didn't get the message and broke in frequently with their weather warnings. The storm stretched from Duluth to Mankato and was moving pretty swiftly across the radar. Sven kept focusing his attention on the Buffalo/Monti area and then all of the sudden Kanabec and Pine County demanded some attention of their own. About that time, Logan and I stepped onto the porch to take down the hanging flower baskets and we were blown back into the house - literally.... the wind slammed the screen door so hard that it pushed it into the door frame. I ended up needing a crowbar to later open it. Anyway, seeing that and what was happening to the neighborhood, I decided to take Gunner and the kids on a little field trip to the basement. Even Gunner knew things were pretty serious and they all behaved wonderfully. I did learn though that among emergency supplies kept in the basement, we should stow some wet wipes and diapers - while we were downstairs Logan took a "Holy Cr@p" ( I know - bad joke - sorry.)

This morning the kids and I took a drive around town, plenty of trees tipped over. Not major damage but certainly a serious storm that messed the yards up enough to drag out the wheel -barrels today.

I guess Michele and the girls made sure Champs sports bar wasn't going to be blown away, the 4 of them must've held their bar stools down in all of those high winds because I haven't seen any news reports of damage in the Lake Elmo Area Wild Wilderness..... roughing it?.... - right........

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the 4th of July at home this year. After being gone for a few days, Tyler decided that he would like to stay at home and hang out and we all went along with that decision as it sounded good to Kirby and I also. So, we all slept in and relaxed at home for awhile. Emma has been practicing her "kung poo panda" lately so I took her and Tyler up to Hinckley to see Kung Fu Panada. We shared a big tub of popcorn, drinks, and lots of laughs!

While we were gone, Daddy and Logan took a trip to the park and Logan got to feel what it's like to be only child for a few hours. Lucky him :)

For supper we grilled out and afterwards spent some time doing some fireworks (Tyler was in charge of lighting them all of course, this kid LOVES fireworks.) Logan wasn't too impressed and Emma wanted to be in charge like her big brother. After fireworks in the driveway we started a fire in our pit and ate smores.

It was a nice day and it felt good to just spend time at home. Kirby, Tyler and Emma went up to the river on Saturday night to watch some 'big' fireworks and that was that.

Dad Chimes in....

Am I really "blogging" - I hope not too many of my friends find out. It might ruin my reputation as a tough guy. I guess I don't want to seem too "Metrosexual" but am certainly willing to throw in my 2 cents on our Family blog - especially if it keeps Mrs. Kirby happy! :)

I love my wife. Aint she great? This Blog thing is actually pretty cool. Lots of cute stuff could develop here over time and it'll be nice for family and friends. I always feel a little weird with the yearly synopsis - trying to squeeze it ALL in on one page. This will help some folks keep closer tabs on us - folks we wish we saw more often.

Busy at the elementary school and a rainy July day that I had to close the Pool early....trying to work out some computer "issues" to keep my lovely bride happy....so a bid fairwell for now... don't tell anyone you saw me "blog".

Warroad!

We had a really good time in Warroad this year. Actually, we always have a good time when we go up there for a visit, who am I kidding? We left early on Friday morning (5:20am to be exact) with hopes that Emma and Logan would fall back asleep for a few hours. Of course that didn't happen and they were wide awake until at least 8:30 or so when they finally did take a nap. Thankfully the trip went smoothly and we got to Warroad about 10:30 and drove straight to Grandma Judy and Grandpa Joe's motel to check in.

Friday was spent unpacking the car and moving all our stuff in. I don't remember what it's like to take a trip and actually have extra space. With myself, Kirby, Tyler, Emma, Logan and Gunner (we were lucky enough to be able to bring him with and have him stay at Tom and Rose's house and save ourselves the $80 of taking him to the kennel) we stuff our TB to the gills! We even bought a topper to add some additional space and it was loaded too. Someday we will be able to downsize I suppose but I can't imagine how.......

Sorry, back to Warroad. Tyler was anxious to hang out with Uncle Hayden (aka. Uncle Tatorhead according to Emma) and stayed with Judy and Joe while Kirby and I took Emma and Logan up to the Jedi for a little play time. Emma and Logan had fun throwing rocks and waving at the boats.

We walked down the docks and even made a trip out to the spot where Kirby asked me to marry him in March of 2002. Logan and Emma both love the water and like looking for fish and frogs as the waves came to shore from all the passing boats. We walked around the new park and checked out the new store and then went back to Judy and Joe's to visit.

I won't go into everyday details of what we did but we here's the long and short of it: spent time on Uncle Tim's boat (bought from the passing of Uncle Ray) (thanks Tim)(fishing was slow), going for walks, playing outside with the kids and trying to teach them how to play kickball, visiting with family, trips to the library and shops in town, reading and just relaxing. Tyler was in teenager heaven as he spent the whole time hanging out with Uncle Hayden and all his friends. Emma and Logan got to spend some time with Papa Tom and Grandma Rose while Kirby and I got to spend some time alone out on the boat trying to catch a fish. (it's so nice to have free babysitters)(thanks again!) One night Kirby and I even went out on the town and had a few adult beverages in places that kids under the age of 21 aren't allowed. (thanks Gma Judy and Gpa Joe for just being at home so we could go out while the kids slept.) We took a trip out to Zipple Bay for the afternoon and I think this picture of Logan best shows how well our vacation was.......

Nothing like a having a juice box while sitting on a beach in your swimming suit and shades in a lawn chair as you enjoy the summer sunshine.

Thanks to Gma Judy for all the good food and for she and Joe putting up with the Kirby tornado in their house for a few days. Thanks to Papa Tom and Gma Rose for dinner, letting Tyler live with you for those 5 days and for watching Emma and Logan for us. Thanks to Tim and Janelle for letting us use the boat and for making the effort to come over and visit while we were in town.

Good Ol' Warroad........ Kirby's home away from home.

Thoughts on vacation........

Before I begin on our trip to Warroad, I need to state that everyone that works, needs to have more vacation time or PTO! I work pretty steadily throughout the year and usually only take off a day here or leave a few hours early from work. For our trip, I used up a good chunk of my earned vacation hours so I could be off for 10 days, which included the weekends. After being off and having to come back to work, it reminded me that there's more to life than just going to work 8+ hours a day and letting our work schedule's dictate our lives. I can't even begin to tell you what a nice feeling it was to not be on a schedule and to be running out the door every morning, trying to get the day started.

So, what is my point? I'm not sure only that I enjoy spending time away from work but I know that work pays for bills so we can experience the things we experience and have the house over our head that we have. Maybe I just need to win the lottery or something? :) I think that I'm trying to say that I enjoyed spending time away from my daily rut and realized that I need to do it more often. Maybe a move to Europe? I hear they get lots of vacation time :)

Family Vacation to good ol' Warroad.........

We just got back from Warroad last Wednesday after staying at the Biskup Hotel for a few days. Pictures and stories to be posted soon!