Great Plain Balloon Race

Got the kids up early this morning and hit the balloon race at Kenny Anderson Park.  It was a first for me and turned out to be a lot of fun.  Early, but fun.

 

Brittney's Pick

This one Brittney thought was the funniest of them all. I wonder why that is.  If I remember correctly the conversation started with Brittney says something like, “Such a little girly man”, then it was a “Shut up you getto booty newb” from Sean followed by a “All right you guys get along” from dad. 

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Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a straight face and get onto your children about being nice to each other when your 10 year son is calling your daughter a getto booty newb.  I’m sorry but that’s funny.  And I've found that trying to discipline with a big smile and laughing doesn’t really work that well.  You try and tell them it’s not right to call each other names and then they come back with “Ya, but you thought it was funny”.  They just miss the whole point all together.

This Was Fun..Sorry Kids.

This was one of the nice ones…..

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This was how I spent my lunch hour today…

Vacation Video Montage

Some video clips from vacation. To large, had to break them up into two files. And you might want to stop the audio at the bottom of the page before you play them.

Vacation 2009

(Mountains across the valley from Jim’s yard)

Where to start, long vacation.  It’s was nice to get away from the job and just relax but after you’ve been gone for 2 weeks your really glad to get back home.  Not back to work, just home.

We began our adventure on April 9th around 2pm.  I skipped out of week a couple hours early so we could hit the road.  Michelle had been backed for over a week and was really ready to get out of town.  The drive from Sioux Falls to Utah was a long 18 hours and the weather didn’t help much.  For most of the night I had to drive in fog first, then snow followed by icy roads.  Not much fun but not much different than we had been driving on all winter.

 

We stayed in Utah until Tuesday morning with Jim and his family.  The best part of stopping in Utah was getting to spend some time with Michelle’s cousin.  We haven’t been back to AL for awhile and I know she really enjoyed spending the day with her.  We also spent a day with Teri and Preston, man oh man Kellen  is a bundle of energy and so much fun.

Tuesday morning we headed for SoCal with mom.   She was going to stay in Utah until the following week but we talked her into driving back to CA with us so she would have more time to spend with the kids.  A nice short 12 hour drive to mom and dad’s.  Doesn't that sound sick, 12 hours short.   We had thought about staying in Vegas with the kids but ended up just stopping for buffet dinner at the Luxor.  And of course Brittney and Sean had to stop in and check out Chris Angels store.

The stay in Cali was fantastic.  Took the kids to the beach a couple time, hit the Hansen Planetarium and just basically took it easy and did a lot of relaxing.  And we can’t forget the shopping.  Michelle and Brittney wanted to hit the outlet malls there in Camarillo so while we shopped Sean and Dad went fishing.  You know, he asked to go fishing with Dad so many time while in Cali.  I guess i’m just going to have to get a license this year and take him more.  It’s something he loves doing and something I can do with him.   Which was the point of the whole trip, right.  I didn’t really take many still pictures in Cali, more video than stills.  But being the photographer that I am Brittney and I

still managed to get some really kewl pictures while there.   Besides, I need to add some landscape images to my photography website.

We ended our vacation by spending two fantastic, HOT days playing in Disneyland and California Adventures.  I think we picked a perfect time of year to go.  I don’t think we waited longer than 30 minutes in line and that was for splash mountain.   Most of the rides we just about walked on.  The kids had an amazing time and will remember it for a long time.

We headed for home Wednesday morning after getting up with Dad at 4am to say goodbye.  With a couple 2 hour stops on the way home we finally arrived at around 2pm on Thursday.  Yes, do the math… 30+ hours of travelling.  Not much fun.

It was an amazing trip that I wish we could do more often but I keep telling myself when it comes to driving that far.  “It’s nice to make that trip every now and again to remind yourself why you don’t make that trip.”

Thanks to everyone that took time out of there schedules to spend time with us.  We love you all.

 

Band Competition

Well Sean has been after me for a few days now to get “His” video posted to the blog. So here it is. I got the chance this last weekend to attend the annual Sioux Falls Elementary Band Competition at Washington High School. Band classes from all across the district put together groups or solos and perform them for professional conductors or instructors. After each performs the judge gives them a few pointers and grades them. Sean should find out today what the judge thought of them and what grade he gave them. I would have to say the best part of the whole day was to watch how excited my son was to perform. It was only a 10 minute drive to the school but he must have asked 20 times, “Are we there yet?”, and “Dad, are you sure this is the fastest way there.” I had to keep reminding him that I knew where I was going and I prmoised that it was the fastest way possible.

The Potter’s Great Adventure

We are planning a visit to the West coast in just over a month so I figured I would get some cool things in place for those of you that would like to track what we are going.  On the top left, under Internet Hotspots you’ll find a link for cell phone uploads.  The site will scroll our last 25 images uploaded and video’s.  I thought about adding it to Brittney’s phone as well but who knows what she would upload.