Dad's work

                                                  The boys love to visit Dad at his work.

                                                       Fork lift rides are the best!

Axel and Abel sure do miss their dad during the day. They all got to be home together for the last 2 years and it's a big change to have dad back at full time work. Luckily they get a little Mom time for now but once day care and preschool start next month it's going to be a huge transition for us all. For the time being the boys and I are going to continue our walks and keep visiting dad as much as we can.

The movers are here!

Abel leaning how to brush his teeth. He loves his toothbrush. He is starting to get 4 molar teeth. I thought he wasn't sleeping well the last few weeks because he was in a pack in play but then I saw the pesky little molars popping through. Tricky little things.

                                          Bath time is one of my favorite times of the day.

 The boys and I have been trying to enjoy my time off. We have been bored with the empty house so we haev been walking around Cannon finding parks close to our house and Axel loves that we can walk to the bakery-not so good for Mom. We are going to have to limit the bakery walk to once a week! Finally our stuff showed up this week! Yeah. Now the fun of unpacking. The duck pond is a good place to take a break from all the choas in the house.

                                               Hey, I thought the bread was for the ducks.

 

Who needs a real double stroller? Luckly Abel doesn't mind sharing his space with his brother. It'll be so nice once we get all of our gear unpacked.

 The moving truck is here!!! Tuesday night was the best night of sleep I've had in a long time. Tonight we are sitting ont he couch watching a movie. Things are starting to feel settled. Now back to the boxes.....

Under Water World

 No furniture in the house yet and it's starting to get chilly out-what do you do? Go to Under water world! I was overly excited to drive to the mall of america. I don't think I have driven in to the cities yet. It was fun to walk around the mall, check out lego world and dive into the adventures of the water world. I can't wait to make my next trip to Ikea! I might have to do that trip with out the kids just to really soak it in. It's been nice to be around things. Anchorage was a good city but it just doesn't have any thing on the twin cities! :)

 Axel getting to touch some of the sea life. Sticky but not slimey he said. Just like the sea star we saw in Homer, AK but smaller.

 Abel watching the sea worms hide from him in the sand. He is such an animal kid. He loves seeing all types of animals-dogs, cats and now sea life. He loves waving to the neighbors cats and also is playing with our dog Jazz. Our bulldog is great with him and doesn't mind it when he tugs on her ears or tail. She is the best dog ever.

Look at that Mom!

Brian and I were lucky enough to have a date night this weekend. The boys went to grandma Ann's over night! It has been 2.5 years since our last over night date. I was a silly mom and called grandma a few times-worried for what ever reason. Grandma reassured me all was okay and reminded me to have a nice time. We went to my good friend Kiersten's house-cooked up some halibut and drank a little wine. It was a great night. I have to say one more time that it's really nice being around family and having the chance to have some one to watch the kids. Axel is already planning his next sleep over at grandma's. He loves going there!
Furniture is supposed to be here on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed that it shows up. I can't wait to sit on my couch. A friend of mine introduced me to Megashare-a site where you can watch shows and movies online for free-so I have ben able to keep up on my few shows that I love to watch. It's been really great. All for now....

Welcome Home!

Stop by any time!

 Our new little house. We just closed last Thursday. We bought the house from Brian's grandma. We still don't have any furniture but have high hopes things will show up this week. We have lot's of little projects to do, but it's got great character. Things are started to settle down and we have been enjoying the nice weather that MN has this time of year.

                                                           Abel playing on the deck.

The boys have been loving playing in the backyard. I don't think they even notice that the inside of the house is empty! :) WE gotten to see a lot of our family so far, not every one yet-but soon. Brian and I have also been enjoying having a grandma around to help with the kids. We got to walk down to the winery last weekend and enjoy a quiet dinner together-it was great. Thanks Ann! Axel loves going over to her house. Every time I pick him up he say "shoot, Mom's here already". It could be 1 hour or 8 and I think he would still want to hang out a grandma's. He loves being around family. He has been so excited about cousin's and every one else.

Day 6

Day 6- Helena, MT to Cannon Falls, MN (drove some where around 19 hours)

Okay so this day was a very long and straining day. Nothing happend or any thing it was just a really long day. We got into South Dakota and thought it can't be that far from MN we don't want to stop. But some thing we that was only 4 hours turned in to some thing more like 8 hours. Gross..it was way to long to be in the car. The boys did really good and feel asleep. I'm sure Brian wishes I did to by the end of the day. We drove straight to Grandma Ann's house. Once we got there Brian and I were hazy and wiped out but the boys woke up and were ready to play. Grandma's! New toys! I couldn't beleive them-it was only like 2 am! Crazy kids. :) Luckily they did go back to sleep-for a little while.

                                     You know your up to early if the moon is still out!

                                                                      Lunch break

This was a very long day-let me say that one more time! Axel thought it was great that we got to see a dino on the way. Once we got into South Dakota it was hot! I thought we drove to far and ended up in florida or some thing :) The weather was great through Candana but wow-90 degrees! I haven't' felt heat like that in 2 years. It's was so nice to pull in to MN. The fog was crazy because of the humidity, shich didn't help the end of the drive but I was very happy to see little Cannon Falls, MN. So we are here!

Day 5

Day 5- Whitecourt, AB to Helena, MT

Today was the first day that it rained on our trip. So far we had beautiful weather. I remember when we drove to Alaska it rained the whole time. It has been nice to be able to enjoy the drive and the stops with out the rain and mud.

 

Axel's animals were fighting eachother and "falling off" their bikes. (pretend of course) They would break different parts of their bodies and mom would fix them. A little bit of toilet paper can do wonders with play time. I think every one of his animals had a cast by the end of today.

 Abel still doing amazing in the car for a little guy. Today he throw up every where when he was pooping. Luckily he got the poop out and had a great afternoon. Axel got a bloody nose, which was fun in the car. Kids-why do they have to be so gross! Always so kinda mess in the back seat. My car is going to need a good cleaning after this trip. (we ended up throwing out Abels car seat-just to gross and the cover doesn't come off to clean. Why they would make one like that I don't know?! At least we've had the carseat since Axel so it has had some use)

US boarders!!!

 We crossed into Montana around 3:30 pm. Yeah..we are finally in the lower 48! Montana was really beautiful. The mountains are different here. No so jagged and pointed but more of a red/maroon color. Very cool. I would love to come back some time and explore not just drive through.

Once we got in to Montana Axel looked out his window and said "hey Mom look! What is that? Take a picture." It was cows! Funny. I told him we would be seeing alot of cows now. He was very excited.

This much time in the car we got to have Axel ask lot's of funny and interesting questions. Here are a few.
*How do you get to heaven? Can you visit there?
*Where does milk come from? How does it get there and how do you get it out?
*What's a heart attack? Do you guys have good hearts?
*Funny saying- Mom this is going to blow your mind! I'm not lying, not joking and not kidding, I'm telling the truth.
Some time's I don't even know how to explain some of the thing he asks. I just get all nurse techincal on him hoping that he will loose intrest bu then he just asks more questions. He is totally in the Why phase. Axel also throw out a cup from his window today. When asked why he did that he said he just wanted to see what would happen. He was then very nervous that a police officer was going to pull dad over and he would come home with us. Axel...so curious about what will happen. After the litering situation we talked about not throwing out any thing that is man made. Then he proceded to ask about every thing in the car to see if it was man made. I know he really wanted to throw some thing else out of he car.
Abel is also starting to get more vocal. During the trip he has said- "Hi, ow (ouch), this, ma-ma, da-da and he even said cheese today! Or more eese. When I was taking his picture. So cool. He doesn't regularly using them but he does say them.

Day 4

Day 4- Muncho Lake, BC to Whitecourt, AB  (drove about 14 hours)

Today we left our cozy little cabin for another day of hitting the pavement. We tried to get up early to get more time behind us. Man we have been on the road a long time already and if you look at the map we are still very far from home. When we stopped at the hotel at the end of the day I read that we had travel 1890 mile already. Wow, that is a lot!

 We saw a lot of wild life today. We saw Elk, moose, sheep, and a few types of deer. I'm not sure of all the names of them.

 I already miss seeing all the moose around. I use to them alomst once a week driving to work.

Sheep

Abel entertaining himself by digging for gold

Axel keeping himself busy with his V-Tech



Pizza any one?

Nothing beats getting pizza delivered to your hotel room. Another day closes with a stay at a hotel. Axel had fun picking out a Canadian candy bars, which all have different names and French on them. We stopped at A&W for lunch thinking nice and easy but forgot the love of mayo that Canada has. Why do they put mayo on a burger? Yuck! Axel threw up in the car today because the roads were very curvy. Thankfully it wasn't a lot and we had a change of clothes handy. I just threw away his clothes. I did not want those clothes in the car for a few more days.  Man, I'm tired again just by going through all this. Almost home guys!

By the end of the day we were pretty much out of the moutains. I sure will miss that view but I was excited to see fields. A good sign that we are back in the mid-west. Corn fields here we come!

Day 3

Day 3- Whitehorse, YT to Muncho Lake, BC ( drove about 9 hours)

Today was one of my favorite days of the trip. We saw a lot of really neat stuff. First we stop in Watson Lake and walked around the sign forest. There were so many signs from travelers from all over the globe. I wish we would have thought ahead and made a sign to post. Next time I guess! We then crossed into British Columbia. The mountains are so intense and beautiful. Crazy green lakes sorrounded by the mountains are the best. I took so many pictures today-I couldn't share them all but here is a small taste.

Wild buffalo

I found out later that there is only about 250 wild buffalo still in British Columbia. We got lucky and saw about 50 of them grazy along the side of the road. Axel liked the baby ones and I liked watching the roll in the dirt.

Another great view

Munch Lake, BC

 We stopped at this place last time we drove to Alaska. It's a lodge on the most amazing green lake. They have float planes that will take you sight seeing or flying fishing. The boys gotmuch needed play time along the rocky beaches. The weather was great-so far on the trip it's been in the 70's. That's prefect summer weather! Last time we stopped here it was rainy so we didn't get the real feel of the place. In the BC they have a 18% tax on every thing. Ouch! Glad we were only here for one day. We had a great steak dinner and the boys enjoyed chicken nuggets with fires. What else-right?!

Abel smiling with Mom

Taking in the view

My boys :)

Hanging out in the cabin

This was the little cabin we rented. So cute



The sign forest

 The pictures don't do it justice. There were SO many sings. We could have walked around for hours to read them all. Sorry my pictures are in the wrong order. 10 minutes out of the car....back in for more traveling!