WARNING!!! Teenager roams here!!

It's true, folks!! Michaela Ingrid is 13 years old today!! Can ya believe it? I know I can't. It's a wonderfully thunderstormy day outside. A favorite weather condition of hers. Because she's just returned home 2 days ago, we didn't really plan anything major for her day. She is content hanging out with her friend, Chan. They have been locked up in her room sketching, laughing and being generally goofy since last night. Later they want to be dropped off at the mall to hang out. How teenagery does that sound? God, help me! Happy 13th Birthday, Boog!!!

* just a sidenote: she shares her birthday with my favorite local act's lead singer - Tim Mahoney!

She's back!!!!

Michaela got home Tuesday after a nearly 6 week stay with her father and his family. It was so good to see her! She flew in from North Carolina, where her father has just relocated to.

I arrived at the airport on time, cuz the website said the flight was on time. When I got to the airport, I found out that she hadn' t been put on her scheduled flight, but a later one. Which woulda been fine, only the airline never contacted me or Ray about this. And since she is required to fly as a UM (unaccompanied minor), which costs extra fees, then I think that is the LEAST they should do.

During all this, there was some event at the airport which had a checkpoint closed down and TSA employees being taken to a hospital. They then rerouted her plane to Duluth, some hours north of the cities, and DID NOT call on that one either. Michaela, upon touching down in Duluth, borrowed another passenger's cell and called her father. Totally uncool. So needless to say, Delta has two very pissed off parents on their asses at the moment.

It was a long day.. As you can plainly see by the semi-forced and tired smiles upon our faces. She arrived 4 hours late, but she's back! And we're all glad!

St. Paul Bar Crawl

Wow! I am way behind on posting! So I will do a few today! Things have been crazy! All the kids are now home, school shopping is in full swing, have friends arriving from Spokane tonight (my house is a disaster!) and a trip to Montana in the works next week to see my Dad. Tired yet? I am! So anyway...

Some of you have heard me mention my friend, Josie (pictured above in the black top sitting under the Sierra Nevada sign). She use to be in Dental Hygiene school with me and was one of the very first friends I made here. I don't get to see her as much now, and I miss her, but always enjoy hanging with her.

Josie rents a little place in St. Paul and every so often she hosts a little thing called "The St. Paul Bar Crawl". This entails us driving to her place, parking and walking a block over and walking from bar to bar over on Selby. This was the final "St Paul Bar Crawl" as she has bought a condo in NE Minneapolis and is moving this weekend. So it'll now be referred to the "NE Bar Crawl" or something.

Found a great new joint called Sweeney's (pictured above). Great, cozy saloon style place with great food. The best part about this is that when you walk out the back!!!! You walk out and the room has the BEST atmosphere. There are cozy little tables, a quaint bar and a free standing river rock fire place, strands of lights that line the ceiling.. then you realize.. there is no ceiling.. it's the PATIO!!! Will definitely visit again!

As lucky as I can be..

I had the oddest realization this evening. I have met a lot of people here, enjoyed all these meetings. And yet, the one person whom I am most suspicisous of, is the ONE person who is most honest with me on some level. I know basically nothing of this person. Because of his past military career, a lot of things are very secret. In fact, I know near nothing besides of what I have come to know from the day I met him 4 months ago to present day. And even what has been told to me, I am not sure is totally true. And yet, as far as I can recall, he has never wronged me or my family, has always been straight up with me when I asked his advice, has always been true in his word. I have this sense of trust that I have not had in a person in a very long while. I have often discounted his assessments and observations of me and my life because in true, he cannot be totally forthright with me about himself. The other day we were having a discussion about friendship, loyalty et al, and he stated, straight to my face, "I would stand in line to be your friend".

That line came screaming at me this evening. Out of nowhere really. I thought it sweet at the time it was spoken, but it really hit me tonight. For someone with his background to say that, must be something. And I felt poorly for not taking it more seriously. Total shit, really. It's odd being in a situation where you can't be told all things, but know a person is not dishonest with you. And to be in so many situations where people have ZERO excuse to be dishonest with you...yet, they are; and it is allowed.

I know that if you are reading this now, you KNOW who you are. I am sorry. I take some other's actions/words/opinions and let them affect me in ways that I should not. I allow them trust, that they have violated (sometimes repeatedly), where I should not. And I know you have felt discounted, unimportant or untrusted. I am not, in any way, nor ever will be perfect, but I have been unjust with you. I am so very sorry.

Life is a state of constant learning. Each day, all your life, you should strive to learn, love and be excellent in your being. I thank you, M.A.G., for reminding me of this and sharing yourself with me. You helped me see that I am as lucky as I can be.

Wisconsin Dells Weekend

I have mixed feelings about this trip. But, ya know, honesty, good and bad, is important on a blog. We were invited along to the Wisconsin Dells by another family several weeks ago. My kids had been looking forward to this trip, and the fact that their friends were gonna be there, even better! Unfortunately, it didn't really go as well as that. We ended up feeling like a major imposition and hardly saw them at all. I did my best to play it off to the kids; who had lots of 'why?' questions; but Becca wasn't buying it much. She did well though and we had fun nonetheless. And then last night, when we didn't receive an expected call about dinner plans, she pretty much lost it. To do that to me is one thing, but to my kids, unacceptable. By this time, I was steamed, so we packed up, checked out at 9pm, had a few games of air hockey in the resort arcade, hit the road and got home around 1 this morning. Chalk it up to "life lessons". Weekend stay at a resort $400, trip extras $200+, finally getting a clue.. priceless!!!

That said.. the weekend wasn't a total wash. Wisconsin Dells is basically the Las Vegas of family vacationing. I have never seen so many water parks, theme parks and touristy attractions. There is so much to do I know you could go many, many years in a row and do something different every time. We stayed at the RainTree Resort and a couple pics above show some of the indoor structure of the water park. There was also an outdoor portion. On Saturday morning, we went to this exploratorium thing which is basically a science museum. It was pretty fun! Becca really liked the gyrotron.

The kids wanna go back again. So now that we know what to expect there, we'll be able to better plan for next time. Sadly, Michaela wasn't with us this year, but we'll plan the next trip to include her.


"Lord knows I'm weak
for trusting you
Lord knows I'm weak
for believing in you"

Lord Knows - Alien Ant Farm

You and 50,000 of your closest friends..

I know, you're sick of my excursion already!! I meant to do this along with the other posting a couple of days ago, but Blogger has been a little less than friendly and operational lately.

For having 50,000 people crammed in one area, it was actually pretty peaceful. Everyone was easy-going and friendly (the alcohol maybe?). Even on the concert field. It did get a bit annoying at times, but all in all, not really so bad considering. I can't even tell you how many people I acquainted with, danced with, or played Flippy Cup and/or Beer Pong with. I saw 'interesting' events (as some of you have heard) and for a people-person like myself, it was a good time.

I just wanted to post a few more pics that I like of people I met. I am not sure about the people running around in costume. Like, who wants to run around in a Christmas Elf outfit in 90 degree weather??


"We got hippies, gypsies, freaks and geeks
high class women in daisy duke denim
bangin' on gongs and singing our songs
Dude named Elrock jammin' on an ipod
Beer and bonfires, wide open throttle
Coors in a bottle
It's all for one and one for all, Y'all"

Me and My Gang - Rascal Flatts

WE Fest was a wee crazy!!!

WHOA! Whatta weekend! Went to WE Fest up in Detroit Lakes, MN, about 4 hrs North of the Twin Cities. WE Fest is an annual, 3-day, country music festival. Lyndsey invited me along and I thought I'd give it a go. We met up with her boyfriend and other friends for the weekend. The above pics are of the said camp-mates and a few shots of the camp ground we stayed in. There are several camp grounds around the central concert field. Agreeing to go with a bunch of early 20-somethings, I was in one of the hard partying sections. There are 3 camps for crazy partying, one for the more mature bunch and a family campground. I will say, that I would NEVER take my little kids to this thing!! Think Woodstock with bathrooms, showers and water

Concert grounds were open noon to midnight with bands playing all day. Over the three days, we stuck to the headliners, 2 a day playing from 8-midnight. 6 full length concerts in 3 days was crazy! Plus the mile hike to and from our campsite to the concert grounds. We saw Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney. They were all good, but I was particularly fond of the Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunn and Keith Urban sets. They were very lively and interacted with the crowd beyond the others.

When we weren't at the concert grounds; we socialized with the neighboring campers, drank, slept, drank, ate, played games, drank.. well you get the picture! It was drunken craziness really. Was a good time though. Planning to go next year, but will stay in the less rowdy area. My camp area was constant activity all the time. They didn't even sleep until around 4am. After the concerts there were several party bus sites where they ran loud music (strobe lights and all) with drinking games and then about 9:30 the next day they'd start all over again. YIKES!!! Was an experience for sure!!!!

Car charger for my digi-cam??

Seriously!! If they make car chargers for digital cameras, I NEED TO KNOW! You have NO idea how upset I was last night when I realized I had left my camera at home on the charger. I always carry it with me or in my car so it's available.

Last night was one of my most anticipated events of the summer. Blue October played at First Ave. And honestly, it was better than I imagined it would be. First off, I had never been to First Ave. Great little club downtown, with a cozy atmosphere and the stage is very easy to see. Again, the crowd was great and easy going.

Agent Sparks, a band out of LA, opened up. I am not all that familiar with them aside that my local alternative rock station (Drive 105.1) has just started playing their first single "Pollyann". I have only heard it maybe twice. They were fun and their music is interesting.

Blue October is a band out of Houston, who has just had their first major lable debut with their album, 'Foiled'. The first single off the album was "Hate Me" - a song written about the lead singer's bouts with addiction and the affects it had on he and his mother's relationship. Their set was nothing short of amazing. One of those bands that actually sounds GOOD live. The energy in the place was moving. The lead singer played well to the crowd and has a somewhat theatrical muse about him. The great thing about seeing 'upcoming' bands is that they are usually so charismatic. But these guys are absolutely passionate about their music and it was one of those events ya walk out of with a smile; thinking "WOW!!!"

If you haven't heard their music yet, I highly recommend them. If you find out they are coming to a venue near you ... GO!!! You will not be disappointed.