Return to summer

At the start of July we visited Kansas City over three days and found a place to live next month and then we enjoyed the 4th holiday with friends in southern Wisconsin.  I'll get those photos and story up later, but for the time being today was a return a normal summer day after four days of working on a book project.  

The past few days ave been hot, humid, and windy.  We cleaned the house for a showing that fell through and then spent the afternoon in town.  After this move we will have moved three times in 48 months, and hopefully this time we will be able to quickly determine where boxes go when we unload.  We picked up colored tape to wrap around the top of each box, with a different color for each room in the apartment. Hopefully this will reduce the number of times Christine get asked "Where does this box go?" when we unpack.  How do you coordinate and increase efficiency when packing, moving, and unpacking?  

It is hard to believe 100 people were there from this photo shopped picture!

After the quick shopping trip we went swimming at Lacanne Park in Winona.  We've been to the park before to fly kites, bird, school gatherings, and bike rides but today was the first time swimming. Michaela likes to go underwater and pick things up, but is still working on swimming more than 5 feet without a life jacket.  Danielle is just brave enough to get her eyes wet. Here are a few photos from this afternoon, much like last summer with a new adventure every week.

Summer Birding - Breeding Bird Atlas Surveys

With Memorial Weekend fishing, Christine's road trip (June 11th through June 23rd), and a few rounds of golf I haven't been out birding much since migration slowed down. Luckily for my psyche, a fellow birder asked me to assist with the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Project around Winona. He showed me how to enter data after birding a couple hours together on June 2nd and I agreed to survey a couple of three mile square blocks. This project was a reason to get out birding and contribute to a useful purpose beyond my enjoyment.  

From the MN BBA website, "A breeding bird atlas is a comprehensive, systematic field survey of the occurrence and breeding status of breeding birds, conducted by citizen scientists during a limited time period. Hundreds, sometimes more than a thousand volunteers, both professional and amateur, watch and record breeding evidence for birds in selected survey areas. The data collected by these volunteer surveyors provide the information used to create maps that describe which species breed in the state and where in the state they breed."

Basically this project was very similar to when I go birding in general as I identified different species, but new to the projects is that I watch their behavior and enter codes to indicated if a species was observed, a possible breeder, a probable breeder or a confirmed breeder.  After birding yesterday and tonight I finished four different blocks by driving approximately 150 miles and spending 24 hours in the field this past month. I enjoyed how the survey asked me to be a better bird watcher and observer, seeing what the bird was doing rather than merely identifying them. 

In total I entered data on 79 species in Winona County. I focused my effort on four different blocks and had 43 species confirmed breeding (which includes the same species in multiple blocks), 79 probable, 95 possible, and 2 observed. The highlight was watching two male bobolinks sign their hearts out tonight and return to the same area repeatedly (likely their nests).  This species has a unique song (Click on the link to see an awesome YouTube video) and the male appears to have training wheels on in flight, but luckily for me they perched on the same shrub a couple of times and allowed me these pictures. 

Fishing Report: Weekend of June 22nd and 23rd

While the girls were playing at Grandpa and Grandma's cabin, I was fishing in Canada with Dan, Nick, Gary, and my dad.  Dan, Nick, and myself drove up early for half a day fishing Friday while the other two joined us late that night.  I'm quite blessed with a dad that takes me fishing and friends and family to spend the time together.  This was my second Lake of the Woods trip this year. I was at the Deck Memorial Day weekend also. 

Mike with a 28 inch Walleye from Memorial Weekend

The trip was wonderful, lots of fish, a good number of box fish, a handful of big ones, and cooperative weather. The trip was a success all around. We ate fish three meals in a row, played a few games of smear, and did not encounter any major problems along the way.  The weather was wonderful Friday afternoon and showers held off until late Sunday morning.  The rain brought out the raingear but passed quickly and allowed us to go back out around noon on Sunday.  This happened to be quite the blessing as three big fish came from the last three hours on the water.

Below are pictures of these fishermen's largest catch ever of that species, what a good trip! 

Gary with a 27 inch Walleye

Dan with a 25 inch Walleye

Mike with a 43 inch Northern

Weekend of June 22nd and 23rd

This past weekend Michaela and Danielle went and stayed at Grandpa Dan and Linda's cabin in as I went fishing with Grandpa Mike in Canada.  Dan and Lilly joined us on the trip, and we broke the long drive into two days as we spent the first night at Grandpa Mike's before dropping all three girls off at the cabin on our way north.

The girls get along great. They enjoyed their time swimming at the lake, snuggling together eating popcorn, and golf cart rides.  

A painted turtle caught their attention at the cabin and received a ride on the trampoline with them one day.  An extra bonus was that Michaela and Danielle were able to spend time with their extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Two weeks ago Christine joined my mother and aunts on a 2500 mile road trip to Connetictut and surprised family. 

My sister flew in and joined them for half the days.  From the brief trip reports I have got from mom and Christine, it sounds like they immensely enjoyed their trip and time visiting.  Along the way they stopped at Niagra, Boston, looked at flowers, visited historical sites and in Conneticut they went to the coast, watched softball, and Tessa's graduation!

Monday the three girls, Dan and I left the cabin and returned home to find mom waiting for us. Michaela, Danielle, and Christine have spent the past 20 hours together telling stories and slowly getting back into our daily routine.  It has been tough to figure out whether the girls missed mom less or more than how much mom missed the girls.  Now we are planning the rest of the summer, trying to get as much in as we can with the available time.  We'll try to keep everyone posted as we go.

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 19th 2013

The wonderful weather continued one more day, but we spent the day getting the house caught up and errands done before our weekend plans start.  The yard is mowed, sprayed for broad leafs once again, watered new seeding and indoor plants, and the grocery shopping is purchased.  

The girls were excellent and played inside most of the morning.  They pretended to be a dog and cat, pretended to be mom and daughter, and even talked about pretend chores.  

We had a handful of stops throughout town but we all enjoyed the Library the best. I told them we could stay until closing, but they were not allowed on the computer stations.  As a result we read a book together, played with Legos, and colored a couple of pictures. I think I even nodded off as they played for a couple of minutes.

Danielle colored a fire engine and Michaela colored a submarine.   It was a very enjoyable hour relaxing away from home. 

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 18th 2013

I've blogged about daily activities, or lack of activities, for a week and am now on the eighth consecutive day. As I sit at the computer, transfer pictures from the camera, edit the day's pictures, strain my mind to remember the day's activities, and type draft retype compose a posting I have experienced good and bad of blogging. Knowing that I will blog has given me pause to enjoy the moments, pay more attention to Michaela and Danielle, take more pictures, recall and process my emotions to the daily activities, and (at least in my head) work at telling a story. I will likely revisit these posts in the future and refresh my memory of days gone past. Perhaps the best outcome of these blogs has been Christine's ability to feel close to our daily activities as others have with past posts. At the onset of this project I didn't know the time I would devote to this activity (you'll note I only was able to get the post done by midnight the first three nights), how I would be forced to realize the routine of our days, or how my back would become sore from the computer chair. This is enough with my ramblings, lets get to the 8th of 9 daily blogs. 

Last night Michaela and Danielle spent the night as close as possible to me in bed.  Danielle is, and quite possibly will always be, a contact sleeper.  She occasionally snuggles close and pulls your arm over her. More often she tosses and turns throughout the night and wakes just enough to ensure our presence by having her toe, knee, finger, or head is touching us.  Last night she started as a smuggler, woke me up with her bum in my face, woke me later her left arm across my forehead, and then finished the morning off in a tight snuggle.  Michaela on the other hand prefers to sleep in the same room but not touching. This is a change from her first couple of years when she could not sleep alone and often slept right next to us.  Last night Michaela reverted to earlier days and was in full snuggle mode the entire night.  I woke with both arms numb, a girl on each shoulder, and their legs sprawled on top of me.

I enjoyed the morning stretch when Danielle hopped out of bed, but was surprised when Michaela rolled over and pulled the covers up.  Danielle immediately grabbed the recorder that was left on the counter last night.  I asked her to be quiet and come downstairs with me so Michaela could sleep. I was surprised when Danielle started singing Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary.  She knew the chorus and let me fill in the verses the best I could. Michaela came downstairs and told us she went back to bed because she was having a good dream. I didn't ask what it was about, but I should have. Michaela asked what we had done already that morning so we watched Puff the Magic Dragon and followed it up with a related cartoon.

The topic was too enticing and the girls watched an episode of Dragon Tales while I got my morning online fix. The girls were enthusiastic to cut my hair, something I've been contemplating the past couple of weeks. Michaela decided not to help cut my hair and I am concerned that she is too worried about failure.

Christine will be pleased to know the girls agree with her on a short-hair preference, as heard in the first minute of the video.  Forty-five minutes later I took a shower (this might have taken longer if I had not helped Danielle with the clippers), the girls got dressed, and we headed into town for lunch at the Chinese buffet.  Michaela and Danielle have been asking for this location the past three weeks and is one of their favorites.

I surprised a former student (perhaps he remembered the facial and shaggy hair) who happened to be our waiter. I asked him to sit for a moment and we had a short but nice conversation.  I was VERY impressed that he introduced himself to the girls, asked their names, and told them how he knew me. I think Michaela was impressed as well, as she asked later in the day  if we could go back and have him (by name) as a waiter. He was in microeconomics this past semester and told me he wanted to take macroeconomics with me as well, but was mad that I was leaving and that he could not take any additional classes from me. I suspect all teachers love these types of interactions with former students. The restaurant unfortunately experienced the negative externality: smaller bill with free kids meals and a large tip.

The babysitter from last night came over again today and watched all three girls this afternoon. Danielle and Michaela love when she visits and were sad when she informed them that she would be unavailable tomorrow night. I played a round of golf and enjoyed the wonderful weather. My golf game is a bit like a roller coaster right now and I shot 6 over with 6 penalty strokes, 3 three putts, a 9 on a par 4, but 5 birdies (three in a row).  

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 17th 2013

The girls woke up this morning rested and happy.  They seemed to be quite content around the house, even turning down the opportunity to go catch dragonflies at the Farmer's Park.  I believe they were looking for a slower day after their busy Father's Day.

As such we snuggled on the couch and watched the last two hours of Heidi, which we had started a couple of days before.  Michaela asked allot of questions during the movie, but two stuck out in my mind, "Why is Heidi an Orphan?" and "Why does the the grandfather's feeling of guilty?" 

Frozen corn dogs and pizza were not much of a meal, but at least Michaela the red sauce pizza.  Around noon I asked the girls if they wanted to go to Whitewater, but they still wanted to stay home. Instead we ended up calling Christine and the girls took turns passing the phone back and forth, talking to everyone possible on the other end.

With library items due back tomorrow we watched The Owls of Ga'Hoole. The feisty little screech is a great character! Once the second movie of the day was finished I convinced the girls we had to go outside. We loaded a foul smelling garbage container of yard waste from the past winter to drop off at the Lewiston compost site. Danielle didn't want to come and wouldn't smile for the camera, even though she liked the camouflaged Army Van we let pass us on the way there.

We stopped at KwikTrip on our way home, and I forgot the second half of the promised snack & drink. The girls quickly found $0.99 bug juice at their eye level and I gave them $5 to go pay.  I was finishing up at the ATM when Michaela came running up asking for more money, what?! (I was confused and even asked the attendants why it was so much.) The girls had switched their selection to chocolate milk with a monkey straw ($3.19 each!), and luckily I did not give them enough money to buy two. In the above picture Michaela is caught red handed in a Bigfoot pose drinking her sister's Fruit Punch having already finished her Lemon Lime drink.

Michaela and Danielle were anxiously waiting the babysitters arrival. As we waited, the neighbor kids came over to play and Michaela took pictures of newly blooming flowers.  I went birding a couple of hours, and when I came home the girls asked for the babysitter to stay longer.  It is great having someone to watch the girls that they enjoy so much.