March Rainbow - Where's the gold??

I was driving home from Target the other night at about 6:30 pm when the weather suddenly turned so stange. A very strong wind came up, it started to rain, and my Explorer was blowing all over the road. The rain almost looked like snow as it blew across my path. I could see the sun shining in the west, but dark clouds were overhead. I looked to the east and there was the most beautiful double rainbow! I couldn't resist pulling over to the side and snapping a quick picture.

Of course, the picture doesn't do justice to the real thing, but it's still pretty neat! The end of the rainbow should be about where downtown CF is - anybody inherit some gold lately??

Dinner at Don Pablos

We all got together last night at Don Pablos to celebrate Jenna's birthday, but somehow I only got pictures of the most important guests - the birthday girl, Andy, and Maddox, but mostly Maddox. Funny how a 1-year old steals the show!

These two look like a couple of teenagers!

Ooooh, those chips are good!

"Let's see, do I want milk or a smoothie?" Heidi came prepared with lots of extras for Maddox.

Maddox was all dressed up in his new "dude clothes."

He actually said "Happy Birthday" to Jenna - he had been practicing all day!

Good food, good company, and a good time!

No birthday cake or candles, though. Guess that will have to wait until Saturday.

A Quarter of a Century!

Jenna's favorite holiday has always been her birthday, and this year she celebrates #25 on March 15th. Wow, how time flies. As usual, she has multiple celebrations planned. The first one will be a family celebration on Tuesday at Don Pablos, her favorite restaurant. Stay tuned for more photos next week!

March, 1983 - 1 day old - 8# 14 oz. and 21" long

Look at all that hair!
Fall, 2007, almost 25

I guess I'll leave out the height and weight.

Happy Birthday, Jenna!

60 Years Young!

Ted and Pat (my brother and sister-in-law) both turned 60 in the last few months, so we had a celebration dinner at Joyce and Paul's in Waconia on Saturday night. We were going to go to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, but it was sold out for the few dates we all had available. We decided it would be more fun to just get together for some good food and conversation, and we were right. Dinner was great, and so was the company.

Here they are - not bad for 60, huh?

Here's the whole crew - Teddy, Janie, and Joycie and spouses. I spent some time with the direction booklet for my camera on Saturday afternoon so I could figure out how to use the timer and take a picture of all 6 of us - yeah, it worked!

Buggies

We are still blessed with box elder bugs and Asian beetles at our house, and Maddox is fascinated with the little critters. Every time he comes over, he starts looking for "buggies." Unfortunately, he doesn't have to look very hard.

Chuck loves taking him on "buggy hunts."

Look! There's one! See the little black spot on the ceiling?
Another successful visit to Grandma and Grandpa's!

Maddox is Growing Up!

Maddox is getting ready to give up those big bulky diapers! He definitely knows what to do on the toilet, and was excited to try out ours on Friday night.

He'll probably kill me for this picture some day!

He flushes, too, but wants to do it over and over again!

He also seems to know what to do to play "Guitar Hero" on Andy's Wii.

He was not particularly impressed with watching Daddy play basketball at the annual CF Alumni Tournament. Corey's team won 1st place for the 4th year in a row - yeah, '97!

Maddox was much more interested in running in the halls and climbing the bleachers. He just keeps going and going and going!

Moving Weekend - Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Finally.......moving weekend for Corey and Heidi!

This was their house in November - it still had a ways to go!

Here's the finished product, all ready for moving in on the coldest weekend of the year! I took Friday off to be on Maddox-duty during the closing process, and then we waited at the new house for furniture delivery, DSL hook-up, and DISH installation (all the necessary "stuff"), while Corey, Kyle, Rob, and Heidi loaded the trailer at the apartment, and then unloaded everything into the garage at the new house. I definitely had the warmest job!
Kyle was really bundled up for the 20 below wind chill!
We headed back to the house on Saturday to start the settling in. We all took turns corraling Maddox. He was so excited to have room to roam after being cooped up in the tiny apartment.
Chuck had no where to sit to watch TV, so standing was the only option.
CF Bakery rolls taste good sitting or standing!

Andy's job was installing light fixtures.
Chuck tried to give advice, whether it was needed or not!
Andy also put in ceiling fans in the living room and bedroom - what a guy!
Then the painting began. After we did one whole section under the counter, Heidi and Corey decided it was the wrong color, so back to the paint store they went to have a different tint added. The end result was much better!

We only had one ladder to share among lots of workers, so a long-handled roller worked great. The kitchen/eating area is a soft sage green (the picture doesn't show the true color) and the living area will be a light mocha color, with a dark mocha under the counters.
The counter tops came in handy, too, for getting above the cupboards. We couldn't even reach this high - good thing Corey has long arms.
Yes, I worked too, and we'll probably be back at it tomorrow. Heidi and Corey are so excited to get everything settled and in place - it's looking great!



We got home at about 7:30 pm to discover that our furnace had gone out sometime during the day. The thermostat was set at 70 degrees, but it was only 55 degrees in here and dropping fast (the outdoor temp was about -10 degrees). Fortunately, we have a service contract with the gas company, so I called them, they immediately sent out a tech, and we had heat by about 10:30 - yeah! However, I've been working on this post dressed in a turtle neck, a sweater, and a polar fleece jacket, plus thick socks and slippers on my feet, and a blanket around my legs. I also made cookies so I would have an excuse to get up every 10 minutes or so and stand in front of the hot oven. Guess that's what I get for avoiding the cold during the move!

North Shore in December

2008 has started out pretty slowly for the Bracken Bunch, and my camera has only been snapping pictures at school for the last few weeks (see my first grade blog). Work keeps us both very busy, but we did have a chance to get up to Two Harbors and the North Shore after Christmas to help Chuck's mom celebrate her 82nd birthday. We also took in a day of skiing at Lutsen, which was great! The old legs were still able to get us down Moose Mountain.

I wanted to take some good action pictures on the slopes, but I didn't want to ski with the camera. Guess the parking lot will have to do for this time!
We spent one night at Bluefin Bay, and these were the views of Lake Superior from our studio unit.
It seemed like we were the only ones at the resort until a jogger on her morning run came right past our window while I was getting dressed. Oops! It was a very gray day, but also quite mild for December.
We did a little hiking at Cascade River, too. The falls are gorgeous in the winter!
It's amazing how the water keeps running under all the ice and snow.

We hope to get back up north again before the end of the winter season, and we may get in a trip to Red Lodge, Montana, in March for some mountain skiing. Time will tell!