Where ya been?

Hmmm, where haven't we been is probably more of the discussion here! The Ribclan has been here, there and everywhere and overall, we've been having some good fun. We've also been learning some new skills, too. Since it's been so long since I've last posted, here are some highlights in no particular order:

* We attended Ann's college graduation party and had a blast meeting her boyfriend, mom and seeing where she lives. It was great to celebrate this accomplishment with her and, as always, the kids were thrilled to see her (and Kevin, too). She thoughtfully had "kid stuff" on hand (aka juice boxes, bubbles and sidewalk chalk) so even they could whoop it up. Ann is a fantastic person and we're really, really grateful to know her!


*After the party, we picked up Kdee's friend Ally and went up to Uncle Bart/Aunt Donna's cabin for the night. What a fun time! The biggest surprise to this adventure was that Kdee learned how to get up/ski without the training bars on her skiis, and I learned how to drop a ski and slalom ski on one (and let me tell you, quality waterskiis rock!). I'm thrilled Kdee is quickly learning this fun sport, and I'm pumped I can still learn some tricks in my 30's!!!

*On 8/13, I had dinner with my childhood friends--Lisa, Jacqueline & Angie. I really love getting together with this amazing group of women! We had some good laughs and got properly caught up on our busy lives. I love having friends who've known me since way back when!

*HSM2...if that doesn't mean anything to you, then I know you're not chatting with any young kids lately. High School Musical 2 premiered on the Disney channel on 8/17 and, like much of the nation, Kdee and I were glued to the TV. Kdee proclaimed that one of the characters (Chad) is "totally hot", but she seems more smitten with Troy. I'm not sure if these feelings run real deep (I believe my crush on Rick Springfield was way more intense!) and who knows if she really knows what she's saying...but funny! Overall, it was a good movie and we've been enjoying the soundtrack ever since. Kdee has a few HSM2 items for back to school, too--underwear, shirts, notebooks...oh, the beauty of marketing!

*On 8/18, we Ribclan members were on the road. ribB left for Chicago, for our future bro-in-law's bachelor party (in a snazzy rental car I might add!) and the kids/I went to LaX for my sis-in-law's bridal shower, then to Mad-town for a couple of visits. It was a 30-hour whirlwind of car time (much of it in rain)! ribB had a great time hanging out with Matt, his friends and Dad as they golfed and played cards in a cool downtown loft, stocked with all the usual party goods. For me, Chandra's shower was a great chance to celebrate with her as well. It was also awesome to see some of our family that we haven't seen in awhile. Thankfully the kids did well (Kdee played with her second cousin, Megan; little B napped--yes!). It was a very nice time! When the party was over, the kids/I traveled to Madison to stay with my friend Linnea & her family and then on Sunday morning we headed over to my friend Michelle's home for brunch with her family. It was a quick visit with everyone, but oh-so-nice to catch up. There's even more friends/family in Madison, and someday I'm going to plan for more time to "do it all!", but we made the most of the time we had. Fortunately, ribB was able to meet up with us at Michelle's home and we could follow each other back home (with a stop in Eau Claire to have dinner with ribB's parents and our nephew/nieces).

*Kdee wrapped up her summer care program "Backpackers" on Wednesday! I can't believe school is starting so soon. She is ready and excited for second grade. We celebrated the end of summer with a trek to the cabin for a "long" weekend (Wed night-Sun) and enjoyed some family time (ribB's parents, sister Christina and her children who were there until Thurs afternoon). We invited our nephew, Dylan, to hang out with us for the rest of our stay...Kdee was especially excited to have someone fun to play with! It was also a treat for us to have so much time with Dylan...he's a neat kid! We also had some time with Bart/Donna and family on Saturday, and ribB/Bart did some hunting prep on Sunday--so nice. Yes, ribB is super excited for hunting, especially after he/Bart have retrieved some impressive buck photos on their trail cameras. On Sunday we drove to Eau Claire to meet Grandpa Bill, who was taking the kids back to La Crosse. (Kdee is staying with Grandma/pa R. for the week, since she doesn't have daycare--we are hugely grateful!!!) On a funny side note, we had dinner with Grandpa before they left and Kdee announced to me that she "liked the looks" of our waiter. Oh my!!!

*Last night I had a blast--I made it to the great MN state get-together with my friend/co-worker, Heather! We enjoyed lots of treats (the deep friend pickles were a surprise favorite; the pronto pup remains the item I get first!), people watching and checking out all the fun stuff (world's largest pig, blue ribbon baked goods/can goods and educational items to name a few). I was seriously on cloud 9 the whole time--what a great time!

Fun photos...

Enjoy some pics full of happiness:
1) my Aunt Marlys, Uncle Wayne and cousins Karla, Karen
2) playdate photos including the exciting volcano
3) the birthday girl, Heather, who won't be put in a corner!

Bridge photos...

Here are the photos I took from our journey to Mpls...

Wow, part 2

The Ribclan had another weekend at home, full of fun activities, mellow times and even some historic moments. We have found that while it feels odd to be home so much lately, it really is nice! More time at home means more balance in accomplishing household chores and enjoying time with folks around us. It's been a welcome change of pace.

Some of the bigger highlights from our weekend included an awesome playdate at our house with our friend's children, Kirsten & Nathan. Kirsten & Kdee have known each other since they were babies, so the fact that they had a blast goes without saying. They are easily entertained together and get along so well. Their fun included everything from playing school, doing "kids yoga" and making a volcano. The boys did great on their first official playdate and surprised me by how well they actually played together or near each other. At 2.5 & 3.5 years of age, that's not always a given! We had a lot of fun having them over!

Later that night, we went to my Aunt Marly's surprise 70th birthday party. I adore my Aunt & her family, so I was thrilled to spend a special evening with all of them. It always seems like there is lots of laughter and fun at these events--I never want to leave them! ribB was a good sport and chased the kids around so I could just sit back and enjoy my time with everyone. I really enjoyed getting to see my Aunt's daughters Karla & Karen, too. I was the baby in the family, so I missed out on some of the funny events that my brother & cousins talk about now...but, no matter! I've enjoyed some pretty cool times with these guys as I age, and I'm just so grateful for family like them. They're the best!

Sunday was part recovery day, but also a day to witness history. Kdee & I went into Mpls and walked out on the Stone Arch Bridge to see what was left of the I-35 bridge. When we started out on this adventure, I just assumed we'd drive near and try to see what we could, but it turned out we could do a bit more. The City had re-opened the Stone Arch Bridge (a pedestrian bridge) an hour before we got there, and the park surrounding it. We walked around and had some very good talks about what happened and what was going on. Now, some folks may wonder why I'd bring her down there. It certainly was a decision for us to make, but the reality is that she knew about the accident and her sharp mind was full of ideas, questions, etc. As it turned out, there were a lot of families of all ages there and there honestly wasn't much to see (the trees along the river really covered much of the damaged areas). I was dumbfounded at how "natural" it looked to not see the bridge in its usual place because the other bridge that's next to it looked so regal and fine. Kdee was very interested in everything and really asked some good questions. We talked a lot about how the world isn't perfect, things break, accidents happen. Since the accident, many folks wonder how God could let this happen. The reality is, this isn't God's plan...he created a perfect world where humans disobeyed, sin entered into our existence and life became imperfect. In my eyes, this event held many more miracles than tragedies, and that's where God was. He was, and is, always with us...caring for us in every need. It was important to me to share that hope with Kdee.

Since the weekend, we've had a busy start to our week. ribB has 2 golf tournaments this week for work (social workers golfing for charity!), so he is loving work this week. My co-worker and good friend, Heather, celebrated her birthday yesterday and we tried to goof off as much as possible to make it an extra fun day for her. Kdee is back to skiing and the smile on her face last night was priceless--she was beaming. It was the happiest I've seen her in awhile! Her leg is doing better each day (although it's not healed over yet).

(as you'll notice, photos will be posted separately due to a finicky glitch!)

Wow...

I think it goes without saying that those of us in the TC Metro area are still in a state of disbelief. The I-35 bridge was a bridge that all of us used repeatedly--it's such a main thoro-fare, a landmark of sorts. It's how most folks make their way into Mpls, and it was so huge that you almost did forget it was a bridge over the Mississippi. To think it's gone is something all of us here can't imagine, and won't be able to until we look upon it. When everything happened, all I could do was try not to dwell on who I know that either could be using that bridge or would have a loved one on that bridge. Everyone uses it, how could there not be someone you know on it? So far, so good...although I've heard plenty of folks that I know who were on it an hour before it collapsed, had family choose a different route home that night, etc. Despite the obvious tragedies of the collapse, it goes without saying that there were many more divine miracles that day.

If you're familiar with where our family lives, then you know that bridges are a way of life here. I have to cross a bridge each morning and night on my way to/from work, cross a bridge into our community, etc. Let me tell you, I would have bet that one of the bridges that I take on my way to/from work would have collapsed long before the I-35 bridge. This beautiful bridge in Stillwater (pictured here) is one that's been under the microscope for some time. The Sierra Club is currently blocking progress to rebuild it (the river is a national scenic riverway, so the environmental factor here is a big one). It's well known that this bridge handles more traffic than it was originally designed for and there is valid concern about how it will hold up to continued use. We'll see what happens now.

As for the Ribclan, it's been a little this-n-that. Kdee's incision has had some set backs. As it turns out, she got kicked in the incision area and her nice-healing incision is now a gash. The school did not describe the situation well to me at all (see last post)--very frustrating! We took her to the doctor that night and it turns out there's not much to do about it now. We have a game plan in place to try to help the healing go as well as possible, to achieve minimal scarring. All of this also means that Kdee has to take it easy longer than expected, which is hard for an active little girl. For the most part she's been so good at dealing with pokes, prodes, after care, etc. I am proud of her for that!

But...that said, Kdee has also been a bit more sassy/disrespectful! In some ways, it's not unusual that we have some behaviors flare up during the summer, but geez! One of her common come-backs to most requests lately is either "How do you know?" or a big huf sound. Yikes. I thought we had a few years to go on those reactions. ribB and I are hopeful that our growing lack of patience for all of this means we're almost through the hard part of this cycle of behavior, but one never knows. What I do know is that I do enjoy parenting with ribB--our shared values, dedication to consistency and humor get us through each of these rough patches and I am grateful for that!

This week Kdee received her teacher assignment...it's official, the new school year is almost here! Wow. Time to buy the school supplies and have fun. Kdee is reminding me that I'm more excited than her, and I believe she's right. What an awesome time of year.

Little B is doing well. He's been a singing machine lately--he loves to sing the "ABC" song, Twinkle Twinkle, Row-Row-Your-Boat, and just about any other song he hears. He seems to pick up on lyrics quickly lately...maybe a boy band is in his future--HA! He's showing a bit more of the typical 2-3 year old behaviors, but so far he responds pretty well to redirection and discipline so it's been pretty manageable. Keep your fingers crossed!

Last night we brought dinner to Grandma Honey. She's doing so well...really making nice progress and keeping a good attitude. We had a nice visit, but I'm guessing that my hyper children probably wiped her out!! On a side note, before we left for the fun we got a chance to see our new neighbors--a mother deer and her fawns are calling our backyard their vacation spot. They've been hanging out most mornings & afternoons, much to our delight.

Pics: Stillwater bridge, Grandma & Kdee, the deer neighbors and a pic from our playdate with Carly & Cole last Friday

Everyone Needs A Giggle...

So, the last couple of days my work computer was on the brink of death....and you know how that feels. Like total crap, that's how! I envisioned losing important information (like my ever necessary email paper trail) and wondering how I could get work done without a computer (if it needed to be sent in for repair). Then, in the midst of Operation Computer, I received a call from Kdee's summer care program saying her incision was bleeding...what should they do? After a quick call to the phone nurse (there's not much to do other than a new bandage), I was ready to get out of the office for some pink grapefruit sorbet (YUMMM!) with my friend and coworker, Heather. When I returned, life was ALL GOOD...the computer is back, there were no more calls from school and I am once again sane! YESSSSS!

So, on that note, I thought I'd pass along a funny photo of Linnea's son...everyone, have a good giggle on Mr. G! The weekend is just around the corner...