From the "Where do you think that you will be in 5 years dept?"

Today I got up with the two kids, changed and clothed them, fed them, loaded them in the white mini-van, drove them to Wal*Mart, bought milk and diapers, checked out the live lobsters and drove home.

We took the plunge: We now own a mini-van

We bought a mini-van two days ago. It is a used 2000 white Grand Caravan. We're fairly excited about it and Olivia loves it. I had to trade in my car which was an OK deal in that the dealership gave us almost the best blue book price but it is tough getting rid of your first car. Anyway, this thing runs great and fits three car seats easily. So now I get Elena's old car and she gets the van. So I'm upgrading to a 2001 Taurus. I'm glad that we've done this and have it over with before it gets too hairy around here.

An Exciting Morning

So the kids and I are having a fairly typical morning. We get out of bed, watch some cartoons, eat some breakfast, then the kids start to get antsy. It's a beautiful day here today, so I'm thinking it's a great morning to go outside before it gets too hot and humid. So after a quick shower and getting dressed, Zach's had a full morning and needs to go down for a nap.

That brings us to 10:00am. Olivia is so proud of herself because she got dressed all by herself - no help from Mommy. And we head outside onto the deck. She runs to the driveway chasing Speckles, and I decide I'll open up the garage door so we can get into the house that way if we want to. So I open it up. And then I remember that I left my sandals in the garage right by my car and an old couch that just sits in there because we don't actually want it, but haven't quite gotten rid of it yet. On top of the couch is a plant, some of my old magazines, and on top of those two things is balanced a kite Scott thought would be fun. So I go over to get my sandals, and I look over at the couch/plant/kite mess, and stop short because there's a snake on top of the kite. I kind of laugh at myself because Olivia must have brought out one of her toy snakes. But within a split second of that thought, I think: but Olivia doesn't have any snakes that look like this one, and hers aren't as big, either, and then I panic. I say, "oh my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD," and scream at Olivia and the dog that we have to go into the house NOW. And that's when the snake, looking lifeless to this point, decided to take cover. Needless to say, we were in the house in seconds, and my sandals stayed in the garage to keep the snake company...

So I get into the house and in a panic I call Scott at work - like why? and what is he gonna do about it? But the brain is kind of not thinking very clearly at this point. So I tell him about it and as I'm describing it decide this snake doesn't sound too friendly: about 3-4 feet long, tan/brown color with dark brown/black spots on it. But I did notice it did not have a rattle, so one venomous snake to cross off the list. But...

So I get online to figure out what kind of snake is now holding me and the kids hostage in our house, and after going through several pages of pictures, I find it: a northern water snake. Actually very common here, but I'd never even heard of or seen one before. And non-poisonous (thank you, God). I'm guessing that it was after one of the mice that hide out in the garage. But I was reading that they are often mistaken for cottonmouth snakes or water moccasins because they do look a lot alike - what a comforting thought. So then I went out to the garage and took some pictures of our "guest," just so I could show Scott that I was not making it all up or exaggerating.

When Scott got home at 1:30-ish, the snake was still sitting on the couch and Scott asked if we should kill it, but decided we probably shouldn't. So he got a box and took it out to the woods, where I'm told it was much happier and more comfortable.

What an exciting morning...






posted by Elena 

Weekend events

We went to Decorah for Brendan's birthday party. That was on Saturday night and we had lots of fun there. There wasn't anything special going on. We just sat around and caught up, looked at the cows, fed the goats and had a nice meal.

On Friday night we went over to AJ and Linda's for some Mabe's pizza. Again, we just hung out there and then went up to Phelps Park and had a great time climbing and sliding.

Been watching the World Cup a bit. It is in Germany this time and the US is 0-1-1 right now. We lost to Croatia and tied Italy. Brazil has been fun to watch. They have a bunch of talent and have a lot of fun playing. If the US beats Ghana then there is a chance of them making it to the next round. I still don't know any of the US team players but I've read that they are supposed to be fit and ready to play at this level.

5 Deer

Woke up this morning to see 5 deer playing around in the grass. Two of them were chasing each other around jumping and playing. The rest were gnawing away at the trees.

Been seeing lots of bunnies hopping around and Elena and the kids have had some good views of turkeys.

Zach is unbelievably proud of his walking. He gets up and just grins as he struts his stuff. He walks around in the house or on the deck just to walk around and show off. He'll get going really fast and get off balance and drop to all fours but then quickly bound back up and go for more.

Eating Salt

Today in a work meeting there was a barrel of pretzels. It was almost all gone except for the salt left on the bottom. I suppose there was a couple of tablespoons. So naturally one guy dared another to tip back the barrel and finish off the salt. Terms came about and a dollar was put on the table. The dared one chug-a-lugged the salt better than I could have and said that it wasn't that bad. The hardware manager then told him jokingly that it was not actually salt but it was End-Ice. Everybody shrugged it off and we went back to business. About ten minutes later the guy stood up and had to go to the bathroom. Apparently all was not well in his tummy. He was going to puke. He came back and made it through the rest of the meeting. As we were walking out of the conference room he had to make another run to the restroom. More puke. What a goofball.

Couple of Pictures

Swinging away. A favorite pasttime.

Olivia off to The Trail.


This is where Olivia was almost crushed by a couple of deer. Speckles leads the way this time. 

stuff

Got an email from Tim today. Guess that he is in Thailand now just traveling around. Must be nice.

Olivia has more crazy quirks. She is obsessed with her jammies being snapped at the top. Sometimes with them on or off. Unfortunately she can't quite do it. The other day she crawled over her baby gate (which she wants up to show off her climbing ability), walked up and around the dark stairs and hall then into our room. She had dragged a pair of her jammies up and wanted me to snap them. I did so and gave them back. She turned around and walked back down to her room, re-climbed the gate and went to bed.

A guy walked into the store yesterday and ordered $6,400 worth of mechanic gloves. They were neat gloves. They had little light bulbs on the index finger so you could really see what you were working with. I tried getting him to tell me what he was using them for or what he did but he wouldn't say and I didn't press.

Zach is still so proud of his walking. He'll strut around the deck like he is just the king of England. He'll circle and meander and laugh and chase the dog or chase Olivia. He is getting fairly big. His face has definitely changed from baby to little boy.