New Uses for Floaties

I had the opportunity to spend the day at the Fish Lake beach with Kelly, Kayla, and my God-daughter, Clarissa last week and we had a blast. Yes, you know those long tube floaty thingys? Well the girls taught me that you can fill them with water and blow it out the backside (hmmmm? How does that sound? HA!) Anyway, we had so much fun and it was a wonderful afternoon with the girls.

Matt and I are on our way to Frederic, Wisconsin to spend a few days with my Uncle Larry (AKA Uncle Buck) who owns a beautiful piece of land out in the woods. It will be wonderful to spend time with him and we're excited to see him.

More pictures later on this week and as we'll be leaving to head towards Alaska through Canada on Sunday, we should have lots of cool pictures to come.

Thanks to EVERYONE who fed us, let us use their laundry facilities, gave us plenty of drinks (and I mean PLENTY), took us out for excursions, let us stay in their campers/houses, and for letting us feel right-at-home. It was the best just spending time with our loving family and friends and we love you. :)

Computer Update - New Hard Drive

OK, so we got a new hard drive, however the old one is toast. Matt was unable to retrieve the pictures, but we're going to hang on to it and take it in to a computer-fixin' store once we return to Oregon and see if they can save them for us. At least we're able to get to the Internet now. Thanks to Matt for his hard work on it.

We'll be in Minnesota through the weekend and then heading over to Wisconsin to spend time with my uncle Larry in Frederic for a few days. Then we're off through Canada and into Alaska. We are excited to see many of our good friends in Alaska in a few weeks.

Thanks to all who made our Minnesota/Wisconsin trips fun and entertaining. It was great to spend time with so many of our family and friends and we appreciate the hospitality. THANKS!!!

Fishing in Birchwood: This past weekend, July 18-20, Matt and Ben were in Birchwood, WI fishing again. Matt also was after that hybrid fish that he caught 2 weeks prior as he thought it was actually a World Record Rock Bass, but after a few people looked at it and said it was probably either a Large or Smallmouth Bass, all bets were off. They did do well and caught some dandies, so they ended up having a lucky fishing weekend.

Weekend with the Girls: While Matt was fishing, I spent last Friday day with Melissa Johansen, a friend from my SuperValu days. We took the dinghy all the way to Prescott only for it to run out of gas on the way back. Luckily, some nice folks with a big boat passing by stopped and towed us into the gas station. It literally would've taken us HOURS to get back if it weren't for helpful tow. Then our friend Kelly Williams met us out on the boat and we went to the Catfish Saloon and ended up drinking and chatting until the wee hours of the night.

On Saturday, Liz picked me up and we headed to Redwing for a night. We stayed in the posh St. James Hotel, got hour-long massages (Happy Belated Birthday Liz!), shopped, ate and drank. This drinking is becoming a habit of ours in Minnesota... yikes! Beautiful little town and wonderful hotel located right on the Mississippi River.

Boating with the Siegrist's

All of Bryan's family, the Siegrist gang, were out on Grateful (Dad & Carol's boat) on Monday, July 14th and we had a fun time in the perfect weather. Thanks to Tim, Jackie, Dana, Jessica, Riley, Max, John, and Katie for coming out and helping make it an exciting day of sunbathing, boating, and swimming. And of course for Monica and Bryan for being in Minnesota for the week.

That's Monica in the first 4 pictures jumping out of the water with the help of Bryan and John. Cool that we got the entire thing on camera. She's our circus clown.

Fish Fry-Day & Surprise Par-Day

I know it's been a while. I've had one heck of a week with my computer. Still busted...making horrible noises and my pictures are not accessible. But I did have some of these pictures on my camera so will update a few tonight and then the rest tomorrow as this is taking me too long to do and I'm getting crabby (ut oh!)

FISH FRY FRY-DAY: These pictures above are from a fish fry my dad and Carol had at the boat on Fry-day, July 11th with all of the Richards' clan & families. It was a GREAT turn out and we were all stuffed with deep fried mushrooms, potatoes, walleye, and northern before the *S.L.C.'s rolled through and we all took shelter in the laundry room at the docks. You do know know that the safest room in the house is the laundry room, right? Especially if filled with Tide and towels. Well, we had fun in there and got a group picture with some stranger (far left), and that was the highlight of the evening! Good stuff.

*What is an S.L.C.? (NO, not Salt Lake City) Well, Matt and I were watching a weather station in Missouri and the weather guy kept saying it on the TV. Finally he told us the "secret" letters stood for Scary Looking Clouds and since it is so technical, we use the term all the time. Go ahead, you can too if you'd like.

SURPRISE PAR-DAY (FOR THE OLD DUDE): On July 12th my dad turned 60 and therefore got one heck of a party at the boat dock. Great friends and great food were present and it was a very good time. There were margaritas (and plenty of them) and lots of laughter the entire night with friends and family that came from everywhere to see dad on his special day. Hope you had a fantastic birthday dad!!! We love you.

Thanks to all of you for coming to the parties. As always, it is wonderful to be surrounded by good people. It meant a lot that you all came and we appreciate all of you!!! The real "Thank you's" go to Carol, Dea, Sarah, Joe & their families for all of the help putting the party together and making it a success. Awesome job all!!!