The Lieslands

We started off this morning spending a few more hours at camp gray. Jeff was up early with us and we at breakfast, walked around camp a little, and then we were off.

We had about three or four more hours to Minneapolis, and the drive went well. Elliot has been taking his naps in the car. Mari has not. We arrived in Minneapolis in the middle of the afternoon. We are staying with Maribeth, Susan’s friend from high school, and her husband Eric. We stayed with them last summer as well, and had a great time.

After we got settled in we decided to go for a walk to a pizza place. Just as we were leaving a storm blew in, which made our walk interesting. There was not a lot of thunder and lightning, but there was a lot of wind. It was a nice contrast to the many hours that we had been spending in the car. We enjoyed a lovely barbecue chicken pizza, and then headed home for bed.

We left Cincinnati at 9 this morning, cutting across IN, IL, and stopping in Reedsburg, WI. Our friends Jeff and Rebecca Hoeben are co-directors at Camp Gray and we are staying the night here on our way to Minneapolis. We arrived at camp just before dinner, joined the campers for dinner, and then got settled in to their house. Day one went well, and we are off to a good start. The drive went well and it is always fun to be at a summer camp.

On a side note, Jeff also had another friend passing through, Cameron. When we were sitting around chatting this evening Cameron mention that he had spent some time at the South Pole. I thought it was pretty cool to be talking to someone who has actually been to the South Pole. You can follow his exploits at offyonder.com.

Mari turned three yesterday. We had a nice, little party, with a few family and friends. The kids enjoyed another piñata, which I fear may be becoming a tradition. Mari ended the evening by staying up until 11, which has left her in a very pleasant mood today.

Man, what’s Shakin?

Things have been hopping around here. Not much doin’, but we are keeping busy.

We never made it camping this Spring, which has been a little disappointing.

Elliot is walking, which is awesome. I enjoy his walking because it makes my life so much easier. He gets around a lot better and on more surfaces, which is nice.

That’s all I got for now.

I just added a slew of new pics to our 2008 Photo Gallery.

In other news, Elliot is probably officially walking, which is nice. He is not yet to the point where he walks more than he crawls, but he is almost there.

Things have been going well for us this Spring. The kids love to be out, and so do the parents.

Andrew – Andrew is doing well. His school year is coming to an end. He has really enjoyed school this year. We are trying to figure out what we should do for school next year.

Mari – Mari is as wild as ever. She is still on an emotional roller-coaster, which I would guess is not going to end soon. We are also trying to figure out what to do with her next year.

Elliot – Elliot has been growing up a lot lately. He is communicating a lot more and seems to be learning more words. He isn’t talking, but he knows what more words mean when we say them. He has been standing a lot lately and has just recently started moving his feet, a little. He appears to be on the same timeline as Andrew & Mari were.

Susan and I have been spending most of our time parenting. She did get to go to a belly dancing class last Saturday night, which sounded like a fun time.

Here is a good post in a blog that I follow:

Motherhood Is A Journey

We had a busy Easter weekend. Erin and kids came to town on Wednesday morning. I was supposed to work until 3 on Thursday, but Rod called Thursday morning and we had a couple of showings, so I took the afternoon off. Friday we hit the Natural History Museum, a nice alternative to the busy Children’s Museum. Saturday we had Kelli, Emory, and Oliver over for dinner. Sunday we hunted for eggs, ate candy, went to church, and went to my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Mikes House. Monday we ate some more candy and hung out at home.

Erin and her kids left this morning and I headed back to work.

Susan just called and said she is lonely.