Jay Cooke State Park

If you look closely you can see the spider coming out of his hole. I had to be brave to get this picture because he had 2 neighbors that i was nervous would attack me.


if you look closely you can see me lying on the rocks in the picture below. i am working on taking a picture












Mari and i went to Jay Cooke State Park last Saturday and had a great time. The leaves were just starting to change and we (well, at least I am), hoping to get back up there this fall to see the leaves. This is a beautiful state park. I think it is my favorite, and it is great because it is so close. Hiking has become my outlet this summer. It is so peaceful and relaxing. I love taking pictures, and then veiwing Mari's pictures. Looking at her pictures is like doing the hike again through another eye. She has a great artistic eye.

where to start

i'm not even sure where to start as i haven't written in so long. we successfully finished the school year and jumped right into summer. the girls and i walked in parades with dad and spend quite a bit of time at coffee shops. we are all reading a lot this summer and doing the best we can to enjoy every minute!


i have been up to the north shore 3 times this summer hiking. i have loved it. i mainly go with my friend mari. i also completed one triathlon so far this summer with 2 more to go (the next one is this weekend in duluth). i'm playing ball twice a week, one woman's league and one co-rec league. i play with mike in the co-rec league.

anika partcipated in dance lessons this summer. she likes to play outside and catch any live animal she can get her hands on. she has become quite the swimmer, and is very helpful around the house. her favorite chore is cleaning the bathroom.

jewel played baseball this summer and really loved it. i accidentally missed a game one day because i looked at the wrong time, and she was actually upset that she missed it! she has also started taking piano lessons, and appears to enjoy it. we do struggle with the practice issue already, but i think it is something she will like for many years to come.

way way behind

ok, i am writing to acknowledge the fact that it has been 3.5 months since i have blogged. my excuse is the end of the school year, and softball, but since i am not working this summer i have no excuse. updates to soon follow... i promise...

spring break

we are just finishing up our week of spring break. we each took a turn at being sick for a day, but we were able to fit some fun stuff in too. on wednesday we went to the cities and stayed in dad's condo. we went and saw dad at his office, then headed over to the condo to hang out with mom. that night we went to dinner with linda, john, laura, lucy, mom and dad.

they actually liked all the steps up to the capitol.

on thursday we went to the capitol so jewel and anika could open session by pounding the gavel and saying the pledge. they did a marvolous job!at the beginning of session with Madame Speaker Margaret Kelliher Anderson. she was so wonderful with them. she has to be terribly stressed, but she took time to talk to the girls, and walk them through the process. it was very special and i think grandpa ward was super proud!

after they opened the session we went to the children's museum for the real fun (in their eyes).

we headed home after the children's museum. today (3/21/09) we had a shower for jackie and wyatt. it was nice to see everyone. i think jackie looks very cute, and we are SO excited to see wyatt. anytime now....

cookies, tubing and fun

Last weekend the girls and i took advantage of "no plans". it was great. saturday we lounged around, cleaned the house, and made cookies. the evening we had a movie night. it was a nice day.

They lovingly spent some time playing on the computer also.

sunday we went tubing at prime time charlies in pequot lakes. joe met us there and we all had a blast. the weather was wonderful (about 40 degrees) and the hills were not busy at all. anika even eventually went by herself. we got in a full 2 hours of tubing, ate dinner, went home so joe could clean a large amount of fish that he and his friends caught and retired for the evening. it really was a fun weekend.

this week is spring break. we don't really have much planned, but i'm going to try and bring the girls to st. paul and stay at dad's.

triathlon

this weekend i completed my 1st indoor triathlon at the YMCA in brainerd. it was a timed event, the times and my distances are as follows:

10 min swim - 20.5 lengths (about a 500)
30 min bike - 9.3 miles
20 min run - 2.3 miles

http://www.brainerdlakesymca.org/winter%2008-09%20pdf%27s/tri%20results.pdf

the exciting news is that i finished 1st in the women's category and 3rd overall. i was so excited when i found out. shannon andres-haglin was there watching me and cheering me on. i would not have finished so strongly if she wasn't there supporting me. she is the person that i do the tris with in the summer, and she pushed me the whole way. it was great to have her there yelling for me. she is one of my many friends that i am so fortunate to have in my life. the girls and i celebrated by going to north country cafe in crosby for lunch and then having coffee at letty's and playing cards for about an hour. alyssa (another one of my wonderful friends :) ) had us over for dinner saturday night. the girls helped me clean the house sunday and then mom and dad came over for dinner. it was a really nice weekend.

ice skating

it was absolutely beautiful out today. i think it got up to 45 degrees or so. it was wonderful. the girls received ice skates from santa claus, and today was the first time they used them. they had a blast. we were out on the rink for 2 hours! anika went right at it, and was pretty good (she has double blades). jewel was more skeptical and worried about falling and dislocating her thumb! she eventually went out and after an hour or so she was doing well.