Close Encounters

I do believe that fall is upon us. Exhibit A: I was outside in a tank top all day on Friday and I didn't even get a hint of a tan. Exhibit B: I start teacher workshop week on Monday. Exhibit C: My running crew chose to meet at 9:00 this morning for a run & it was actually chilly when say, oh, a week ago, it would have been about 75 degrees.

To commemorate the last official weekday of summer, Aaron and I decided to do that iconic summer activity: go to the zoo. After missing a free zoo pass at the library by this much, we went ahead and forked over the $33 for all four of us to see the animals (the kids were free). While the Minnesota Zoo is no Henry Doorly, it has a few good exhibits. I was sad to see that there weren't any elephants as Caeden is all about elephants these days. But what they lacked in elephants, they made up for in bears.

Russia's Grizzly Coast promises to be the closest encounter that you'll ever have with a bear, and they delivered! While we were standing at the window watching the bears, one hopped into the water and swam over to say hi. This bear acted all cute and cuddly, almost like, I'll go ahead and say it, a teddy bear. He was playing with his toes, watching us, and bobbing up and down. This thing was massive! I can see why one swipe would do someone in.

Here are a few pictures to prove how close we were.

Blasted Fowl

I swear, I couldn't make this up. This morning I was driving with Caeden and Avery on Main Street. I was waiting for a stoplight and there, sidled up next to me in the turn lane, were four turkeys. I looked over and again, one of them turned toward my car and looked like he was going to peck me. These things are big enough to stare right into the window. Which they did. Caeden, being at direct eye-level with them, said, "Hug?"

Big Mouth Billy & Sweet Georgia Brown

We spent a week at Aaron's family's cabin in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. There are actually two cabins on the same plot, so Aaron and I got one while the rest of the family stayed in the other. The trip was great, even though it rained a couple of the days.

The highlight of Caeden's trip had to be the Big Mouth Billy Bass that was hanging on the wall. For those of you Big Mouth Billy virgins (although that is hard to believe since this is one fish who has really gotten around), this is a plastic fish mounted on a plank of wood made to look like it was a prize catch. When you press a button, the fish turns its head toward you and starts singing either "Don't Worry, Be Happy" or "Take Me to the River." At first Caeden was hesitant about Billy. He would ask Aaron or I to push the button, then he would run behind the couch so that there was a piece of furniture between him and the fish. He loved to hear it sing, but only from a distance. As the week went on he became more and more brave until finally he worked up to touching the button himself. This was a blessing and a curse because although it meant that we didn't have to be around constantly to push the button for him, he would incessantly push the button. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" would be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

Another Caeden highlight was fishing off the dock. Caeden had already had one other fishing experience with Papa Keller in which he caught real fish (if you thought he was afraid of Billy, you should have seen him when he hooked a scary 2 oz. sunny). He loved to cast the line, but the art of reeling in the fish was lost on him. At the cabin we took the hook off of the line so that he didn't hurt himself or other people when he tried his hardest to cast out. Aaron somehow tied on a grub, though, so fish would come nip at his line. Caeden was a bit confused as to why he wasn't catching any fish. He would try to entice them by saying, "C'mon fish. Bite. It's delicious." Alas, with no hook, there was no such luck.


Avery's highlight had to be the hours she spent in a floaty. This is a girl who was made for the water (which might explain her weird birthing as one moment she would decide to come out and join us in the world only to scurry back up to the safety of the water sac). Avery splashed around and kicked as hard as she could. Her distant cousins also loved pushing and pulling her around between them.



Aaron's highlight was probably accomplishing the 75 mile bike ride out to the cabin. He left early in the morning, packed with peanut butter bagels and water. He made the ride in about six and a half hours, but the heat got the best of him and he was in bad shape by the time he arrived. I was in the Dr's office this week and mentioned Aaron's symptoms and she thought that he probably had a mini heat stroke. Ouch!

My own highlight was girls' lunch out. Every year the girls in the family go to lunch at Adventures, where the grub du jour is a creamy bruschetta that I dream about every year. It's almost worth the trip just for the bruschetta.

The rest of the time was spent hanging out on the pontoon, riding the jet ski, or trying to get back up on skis (since I've been pregnant or recovering for the past 3 years, this was my first time back out in the water...it only took 3 times to be able to get up on the skis again).

When we returned, we promptly blue-taped the kitchen and spent the next few days introducing the white walls to Sweet Georgia Brown.





It seems strange to be thinking about starting school in a week. I suppose it'll be back to the old grindstone, as it were. After looking back on my summer which was filled with plenty of days outside by the wading pool, going to the park, visiting Iowa and Nebraska, fireworks and parades, time on the lake, running outside, and The View, I am really glad to be a teacher.

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For all of you blog fiends out there, I have some bad news. I'm going away on vacation for a week & won't be able to post anything new for a while. But, just so you can get your blog freak on, here are a few little known facts about me for you to chew on while I'm gone.

#1. I've thought about it for a while and come to the conclusion that insects are not more afraid of me than I am of them.

#2. I always feel a little weird saying hi to someone named Jean (or Gene). Say it, you'll see why.

#3. Because I transferred so many times in college, I basically got my education degree twice.

#4. I have a criminal record in Buffalo County (Nebraska). After 30 hours of community service and a decision-making class, I now know that egging a car because they took your parking spot is not the smartest thing to do (at least in a Wal-Mart parking lot where there will definitely be witnesses).

#5. I've never seen the movie Fargo.

#6. I once made up a batch of pretend puke so that I didn't have to go to school.

#7. I was addicted to General Hospital for a few years (post Luke & Laura, more during the Sonny & Brenda years).

#8. I used to love long car rides when I was a kid. Now that I'm the parent, I enjoy them considerably less.

#9. I used to drink pickle juice straight from the jar. I think I stopped this habit in college.

#10. I was told never to marry someone with a first name for a last name. Now I hope that advice isn't still going around since my son falls into that category.

Tone Matters

Caeden and Avery usually get along pretty well. The one thing that Caeden can't stand, though, is when Avery starts to cry. He gets agitated and starts shushing her, only his shush sounds more like a scream. This scream scares Avery and so she cries even more. It's a vicious cycle. I've been trying to teach him to say, "It's okay, Avery, you're okay." I can tell he's listening, because the other day she was crying and he was getting more and more agitated with it. Finally, he said, "YOU'RE OKAY!" as loud as he could. Not quite what I was getting at....

Hangin' Tough

I remember the exact moment that I crossed over. I walked up to the check-out aisle of the store, money stuffed tightly in my fist. I was wearing blue jeans tightly rolled above the two different colored socks I wore (one stacked on top of the other) and bright white Keds on my feet. My hair was permed in an ungodly curly-all-over-your-head way (bad layers) so that I knew when people were looking at me they were trying to decide if that was really me or if I had a poodle on my head. But I didn't care at that moment, because at that moment I was joining the ranks of people who worshipped at the house of The New Kids on the Block. My welcome gift? The black, plastic wristwatch that had a picture of the New Kids on a flip-up top under which was a digital clock.

My friends had been New Kids fans for quite a while, but I maintained that they (the New Kids, not my friends) were stupid. I turned my nose up anytime someone would mention them. I think most of my disdain was that I just wasn't the kind of kid that was allowed to do things, like listen to the radio. I didn't know anything about the New Kids--their music, their memorabilia, their posters. My room was decorated with anti-abortion posters. Posters of music groups were frowned upon--only girls who lusted after boys would put up a poster of a music group in their room.

Secretly, though, I think I envied the life. I wished that I could have a New Kids t-shirt. Finally, just as the New Kids were on the cusp of turning from popular boy band into late night joke fodder, I crossed over. I saved up my own money and bought myself a New Kids wristwatch. I believe that the wristwatch was a gateway drug; it opened me up to all kinds of pop culture. Sure, at times I had to go underground because all of that silliness was "of the world," but I felt like I was really being a teen.

Now the New Kids are making a comeback. They're performing in the twin cities this weekend and people have been lined up since 3:30 in the morning to see them. People are reminiscing about their own New Kids experiences. Me, I always remember the New Kids as my gateway. Their wristwatch is long gone, but the experience of having joined the rest of the population, although late, is still with me.

Natural Enemies

I don't know what it is about wild fowl, but somehow the gods have decided that we are natural born enemies. Birds, for whatever reason, feel the need to attack me. I don't provoke them; I try to give them wide berth, but they find me anyway. Find me, and attack me.

Lest you think I am joking, let me give you a few examples of what I am talking about. Example #1: Rewind about six years to the campus of Northwestern College. A friend and I decided to play hooky and take a walk down around the lake. We crossed a bridge and wound our way down to the shoreline when we started hearing this far off honking noise. The noise got louder and louder and I turned just in time to see a Canadian goose flying directly at me. All I saw was a tiny little head, two huge wings, and two beady little eyes that were zeroed in on me. I turned just in time and ran off, backpack flapping up and down on my back.

Example #2: Fast forward a few years and picture the Allen farm in Ogallala. Doug (patriarch of the Allen farm) decided that it would be a good idea to buy some geese. Although I questioned his purchase, he said that geese are good because they eat the thistles that get stuck in everyone's shoes, animal's paws, and people's feet. Knowing the dreaded creatures were always lurking around, I was on guard every time I was outside. One time, though, they caught me off-guard. A crop duster was flying overhead and I turned up to view the low-flying plane. Seeing that my attention was otherwise occupied, the geese (all three) spread their wings and ran me. I saw them out of the corner of my eye and took off running. These geese couldn't fly yet, but that didn't stop them. Wings raised, heads down, beaks open, these geese were hissing and chasing me. I ran to the house and had one of those moments you see in the movies when someone is fumbling with the doorknob trying to get in before the murderer grabs them. Finally I got in the house and was safe. They stood at the window and honked at me.

Example #3: The other day I was driving on the highway. I saw the traffic ahead slowing and so I adjusted my speed as well. As my car crept forward, wouldn't you know it but four wild turkeys decided to cross the highway directly in front of me. I thought, "You suckers aren't going to get me this time. I'm in a car; car trumps turkey," and started honking my horn to hurry them along. Three of them passed without incident, but the last one turned his head. We made eye contact. I honked my horn some more and this bird turned toward me and pecked my hood!

Needless to say, I have a healthy fear of wild fowl.