Spring Break Road Trip, Part 2.1

I thought I could load all of day two into one post.  However, I'm a nut for taking pictures, and the second half of our day involved me taking tons of pictures.  While they are probably only fun for me, you'll have to bear seeing them too.

Day two involved us waking up in Wabasha.

This hotel wanted to make sure everyone knew this was the setting for the "Grumpy Old Men" movie - even though none of it was actually filmed here.

After breakfast we packed up and headed to the National Eagle Center located right on the river banks.  I thought it would be an interesting hour or so and we'd be off.  I was very wrong.  This was  a really neat place and I think we spent about four hours here!

We had read before leaving that this time of year was actually a very good time to see many eagles along the river and we definitely saw a lot!  The center also is home to five eagles that are kept in captivity because they wouldn't survive on their own.  When visiting, while you aren't able to touch them, you can get really close to see them.  It was really neat - the kids, especially, loved it!

The bird above is a bit of a celebrity.  Harriet has been on the "Jay Leno Show", the "Today Show", a couple other shows and she is the bird who's face graces the MN license plates with an eagle on them.  That tuft of hair is due to her injury and will always grow like that.

I think she was Maddie's favorite.

They did have one Golden Eagle (I didn't even know these existed!).

I believe his name was Donald and he was Jake's favorite.  Whenever we were looking for Jake, he was just sitting watching Donald.

Speaking of bird watching, we had brought our binoculars.  The center also has some for you to use and a few telescopes to look through on their viewing deck.

There was an eagle's nest right across the river and after awhile our crew spotted a few eagles sitting in it.

We were able to watch the informational program which lasted about an hour.  I thought it would be very boring, but I can't say I ever looked at my watch wondering when it would be finished.

This particular eagle in the program was blind in his left eye.  Part of the program was to watch him eat a rat for lunch.  That's where I stopped taking pictures and pretty much started looking all around the room.  Jake thought this part was awesome.  At one point he leaned over to me and said, "Oh - mom!  He just ate the eye!"  I informed him I didn't need the details.

The only part of the eating process I captured was the end...

See that lump in his chest?  Those are the rats he ate.  Eagles will store this for later.  Mmmm.

They also had a little exhibit set up that was very informative and fun to look through.

Jake got to see what he'd look like holding an eagle...

Maddie got to see what it would feel like to hold an eagle...

We all got to see what we'd look like as an eagle...

Towards the end one of the people working there came to the main floor and the kids were able to stand next to the eagle to have their picture taken.  The woman kept telling Jake he could move over, but after hearing that those talons could exert 400 pounds of pressure each, I don't think he was too anxious to get any closer.

I think this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for all of us!

Spring Break Road Trip, Part 1

Last week was Spring Break for our kids.  This meant I had the week off from teaching, so Mike took the week off as well.  We didn't plan any large trip, but we thought it might be fun to take a few days to see some local sights.

We decided to drive down some of the "Great River Road".  This route heads along the Mississippi from MN to New Orleans.  Obviously we didn't get that far in only three days, but we hit some Minnesota highlights and a few Wisconsin ones along the way.

To begin, we headed to Hastings.

This was perhaps the coldest day we'd had in a couple weeks!  Great timing.  We walked around in the cold and the wet and still made the best of seeing some of this little town.  When Maddie saw this wall she thought it was a definite picture moment and decided that she would get a picture in front of every town's sign that we stopped in.

There really wasn't much that we saw in Hastings.  By this time of the drive we all needed a bathroom stop and Mike headed us in the direction of this little cafe.  We didn't want to just walk in to use the facilities, so we stopped and had a little bite to eat with some hot chocolate.

We walked around, but unfortunately, not many of the stores were open at 10:30am on Monday morning.  We headed to the Vermillion Falls, saw it for about 5 minutes, then headed out of Hastings.

Next up we stopped in Red Wing.

Maddie was extremely excited to find this wall!

We had planned to spend a little more time here.  We first stopped at the Red Wing Pottery store.  We waited around and were given a tour of their facilities.  It's not a very big place, which surprised me.  It was interesting but we enjoyed the end the most where we got to watch an artist throw a bowl.  I think I could watch that all day.

We were hungry and headed to Bev's cafe.  It's the oldest restaurant in downtown Red Wing according to it's website.  The kids and I each had a shake or malt...complete with a blue cherry!

Mike ordered Gritwurst because according to the woman at the pottery place it was amazing.  I don't know that amazing is the word Mike would use.  It was oatmeal and sausage (?) mixed into one patty.  He ate it, but I don't think it will be on his list of must haves for a special dinner.

After this we walked around through some little stores.  We found the Red Wing Boot museum and the "Big Boot".

This is the largest boot in the world?  Maybe just the United States.  Anyway - it's 16 feet tall and was made exactly how they make their regular boots: real leather, soles, etc.  The actual assembly took five months, but the process of idea to completion was along 13 months, I believe.

The laces were so big the kids couldn't even get their hands around them!  The museum was upstairs and while fairly small, it was actually pretty interesting.

We walked around some more and ended up at the St. Jame's Hotel to walk around.

I"ll end with a little story that makes me giggle, but you'll need some recent history in our home. Maddie has spent the past six months researching and writing a paper on ghosts and other paranormal activity.  The week before spring break, she had turned in her paper.  We've all learned a great deal about ghosts, poltergeists, orbs, and spirits.

Maddie did not really want to go to the St. James because it is supposedly haunted by the first owner's wife, Clara.  Once we convinced her that we were touring and not staying, she was much more willing to walk through the front door.  We headed to one of the older parlors and she and I walked in and saw two very old pictures hanging on the far wall.

As we walked over, Maddie (who had not been willing to walk alone anywhere) asked if I thought that was Clara.  We walked closer and I said it probably was, though I had no idea.  As we both turned around I was behind her and very lightly blew across the back of her hair at her neck.  She turned around wide-eyed and gulped in a big breath, "Omigosh!  Did...I just..."

I just looked at her with a questioning look - I was obviously very interested in what she had to say.  She just stumbled over some words and said, "Um...never mind," and was out of that room in about one second.

I'm evil.

I never told her it was really me.  She'll know it when she reads it here.  Love you, Maddie!

Early Christmas Gifts!

This past Friday Jake walked into the house with a box from Augsburg Fortress Publishing.  I hadn't been expecting it and was so excited to see a box from them!

For those that don't know, about a year ago I sent in the music from my Christmas CD to see if it would be accepted for publishing.  Last summer the woman that reviewed my pieces informed me that she liked them, but that the Christmas line for 2011 was already full.  She wanted to keep the music for 2012 and have it reviewed then.

We put everything out of our minds and decided not to tell anyone - we didn't want to jinx anything.

This past December I was notified that they were interested in publishing my music for Christmas 2012.  After Mike and I reviewed (and asked for a couple modifications) on the contracts, I signed them and everything was put in motion.  I ended up at my sister's house that afternoon and told her my news with the request that she 1) not tell anyone and 2) help me write up a short biography on myself.  Luckily she agreed to both.

After that it was pretty smooth sailing, at least for my part.  I had to review a couple "rough drafts" to make sure everything was notated correctly.  Everything was done over email so it was extremely easy.  They informed me that the music would be available around March.  I initially thought it was just available to music stores to order for Christmas, but I checked Augsburg's site and it's available for immediate purchasing!

The kids were eager to help me open that box on Friday and we had a big family hug after we all looked through it!  Maddie's been working on some of the music from it already!  We celebrated with a nice dinner at Biaggi's.

This is truly a dream come true.  I was so excited to see that book with my name on and in it!  Never in a million years would I have thought I could not only arrange music, but have it be accepted to publish.  I'm pretty sure most of my music theory teachers would have taken a bet against it too!  It just goes to show that we are all capable of some incredible things if we just take a breath and try!

On the Mend

Last Wednesday we got a call from the school nurse informing us Maddie had burned her arm in Home Ec class.  The nurse told us it didn't require a doctor, but she was going to be pretty sore.  One day before the end of this class for the year...

It was a pretty bad burn.  She didn't want me taking a picture of it.  At 2am she woke us up with tears saying that her arm was in a lot of pain.  The blister had popped and Mike (who is our resident first-aid guy) bandaged her up and she was able to sleep through the night.

The bandage stayed on through the next day of school.  She wore a long sleeved shirt to keep from answering questions all day.

She also had her final volleyball tournament this past Saturday.  I think she was a little nervous about her arm when we were at the Y that morning warming up.  She dove for the ball and the skin on her arm pulled tight.  Mike made sure to bandage her arm up extra for the games and she didn't have any problems.  Now we are just dealing with the forming scab.

In related news - our ever impressive tree has been placed under Mike's care as well:

He noticed the other day that some bird was eating away the inside of the tree where the bark has split from all the trauma it's undergone the last couple years.  Mike chased the bird away a couple times and then applied this "bandage" to hopefully keep it away for good.

I teased Mike if his mom (a former nurse) had taught him all he knew about bandaging up people - and things.  He said, "No...I learned it in the military.  So, if you ever have a gaping wound in your stomach, I'll be able to bandage you right up."

Good to know.

Such a Girl

This past weekend Mike and I were invited to a birthday party where the invite said, "Dress to Impress".  Another friend had been trying to figure out exactly what that meant when she was talking to the husband throwing the party.  He started with, "Well, I've lost a bit of weight, so I have to take my tuxedo to the tailor..."

She said she was waiting for the punchline but it never came.  While I knew Mike wasn't going to wear a tux, I did figure I could at least get a new dress.  After an afternoon of shopping where Mike was second opinion, I found one that was so fun!

It also meant that I had to buy new shoes!  My mom and sister suggested getting a silver/pewter pair and Tracy said they should have a little peep toe.  I know next to nothing about fashion so I took their advice and went shopping.

At the fourth and final store (DSW...why don't I ever go there first??) I found several pair that would fit the bill.  After 3-4 texts with Tracy, an email to my mom, and some serious deliberation, I walked out with a pair of shoes unlike anything I've ever purchased...

When Maddie got home I pulled them out of the box and she was SO excited and immediately asked to try them on.

This girl LOVES shoes.  She loves high heels.  The higher the better in her opinion.  I was pretty sure she'd think they were awesome.

Then I put them on and she said, "Whoa!  You are TALL."  This was what I had been nervous about - I didn't want to be an amazon woman.

But the shoes sparkled and matched perfectly with the dress.  After getting ready and showing everyone the black shoes I had (which are really fun too...) and these it was hands down that these stayed.  Even my dad and Mike threw in their opinions so these must have been the ones!

I love getting dressed up.  I don't want to wear this stuff everyday, but once in awhile is so fun!  I know many will be shocked to hear that I got new jewelry to go with it which I LOVED.

Sadly, no one was left at home to get a picture for us. When I got downstairs I pointed to my outfit and told Mike, "THIS needs to happen again."  He promised to take me out somewhere to make that happen at some point.  Hopefully someone will be around to capture us on film!

Babysitting Photo Shoot

On Monday the Runchey girls came over to stay with me while Tracy went to Jake's class to be the "Scientist for the Day".  (Incidentally, Jake got home and said, "Tracy was the bomb!" - so THANKS, TRACY!)

The girls and I packed a lot into our time together.  We had a scavenger hunt outside in my neighborhood and we made chocolate chip cookies (though they have requested that we make shape cookies next time...).

In the last little bit I think they were getting bored.  Ellie said, "I think you should take some pictures of us."

Okay!

They were the directors.

"First let's take a silly picture."

"Next, we'll take a pretty picture, okay, Riley?"

"Um...Ellie, that was cute, but you moved.  Don't move."

"Okay - let's do another pretty picture.  Smile, Riley."

"That was a nice smile!  But now, Ellie, don't close your eyes."
"Yeah, Ewwie...don't close your eyes."
[Snap]

"Okay, now just take a picture of me, Aunt Kerry."

"Now take a picture of me too, Aunt Kerry!"

"Okay - but now you should take a picture of me.  But NO RILEY in it!"

"That's nice, Ellie.  But you aren't really smiling."
"Let me see...I am too!"
"Hardly.  Let's try again..."

"See, Aunt Kerry...I am smiling..."

"Lovely."

"Okay...Riley, come back here.  I think we should do a sad picture."
"Yeah!  We should do a sad picture!"

"Now we are going to do our spoooooky picture!"

Then the doorbell rang and their mom had returned and all picture taking directorials were forgotten.

I think next time we'll work on defining "spooky".

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I found a new blog I'm liking the looks of: The Girl Who Ate Everything.  As you can probably guess, it's about food.  She posts great pictures; especially in the dessert section.

On Friday Maddie and her friend, Elizabeth, came here after school and I assigned them homework: bake something for our guests that night.  They looked over the blog and after several vetoes from at least one of us, there was unanimous agreement that the Cinnamon Roll Cake would be the test run.

This cake was completely made from scratch so I was a little dubious as to whether they would be able to easily follow it.  

No problem there!  I think there are four steps listed for the cake.  They didn't even use a hand mixer (I really did offer one!).  One of these girls is a swimmer, the other plays volleyball; apparently their arm muscles can handle the work.

They really made it look super easy to make. Then they put it in the oven...

Oh.  My.  Good.  Gracious.

The smell in our kitchen was amazing.  Cinnamon rolls are one of Maddie's top two favorite foods (the other being whipped cream).  It was heaven to her.

The results?  Despite it being close to 5pm when they finished, I let them actually taste their results with about a 2-inch-square piece.  I'm generous like that.

Just like a cinnamon roll, it's topped with a bit of glaze.  Fresh out of the oven and with warm glaze?  Well, I think I've found my new favorite cake.

They were even kind enough to share with their siblings.  

We finished most of the cake that night with our guests and I think everyone agreed it was tasty.  I didn't think to warm it up before serving it, but I believe I will next time.  

This is definitely going into our books with a note that Maddie is in charge of baking it!