Barack Obama is running on leadership and change. Sound Familiar

Diet Coke & Mint Mentos

So the other night a few of our nephews got to come over and spend the night. We thought it would be fun to set off some diet coke and mentos after dinner. Here are some of the pictures from it. Ryan and a couple of the boys needed baths after six containers of soda and a whole package of mentos :o)

We also attended two Ranger games this weekend. I'm starting to get sad about the end of the season approaching. Something about the smell of garlic fries, hot dogs, and nachos. Kids with blue cotton candy covered fingers and mouths. Adults acting a fool and someone getting hit, wait, I mean catching, a foul ball. Seems like the team has lost their spark a bit. That isn't stopping rps and I though. We have started scouting out where we want to get seats next year.

We are praying for all the students, teachers and school staffers who returned to school (or at least started the fall semester) today. Love to all!

Jewelry Making

This is my new hobby, my wife gets matching, custom bracelets and earings while we watch the Olympics.

Let me know if anyone needs earing and bracelet sets or a bead necklace.

Men eh sew duh

One of the coolest parts of going somewhere else in the country is getting to meet new people. Accents change, common terms change (in TX a coke, in MN a soda pop), but best of all...the weather changes! Yesterday morning it was a gorgeous 57 degrees! The streets downtown were clean, and people were all over, but it never was crowded. And, since their winters get so cold, you don't have to go outside when getting about downtown either. Everything is connected via skyway. Mall worthy stores around every corner. Also cool was the light rail there. It runs from the Mall of America, to the airport, to the Metrodome (where the Vikings and Twins play), down to the Target Center (where the Timberwolves play). There was never a need for a cab. And there was hardly any pollution! I could actually breathe instead of gasp for breath as we do here in Downtown Dallas during the blistering summer heat.
Monday night we got in, barely had time to put down our bags at our hotel (the Marquette) then wisked off to dinner at the Loon Cafe. I partook in the veggie burger, but was not overly impressed. We had training all day on Tuesday, and Tuesday night a couple of co-workers and I went to a neat place called the Local for happy hour. Such a neat building. After a drink we headed for dinner at a great little Italian place called Zelo. I had the grilled pork tenderloin and it was fantastic! The bread was perfectly cooked, and the sweet pepper bruschetta is almost worth the plane ticket back up to Minneapolis! Wednesday we trained, then headed for the airport. We ate a restaurant there at the airport called Ike's which one of our trainers had recommended. I had the sage roasted turkey pot pie. Wow. First of all it was the size of a small pizza and second of all it was wonderful. I could only make it through about a third of it (I didn't want to be too full on the plane).
And by the way, I had never even heard of a Walleye, but it is on every menu up there. Ryan was waiting for me at the baggage claim when we got back into DFW. Got home about 10:00 and got to sleep about 11:00.
On a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the best on the scale, I would give Minneapolis an 8. And it only gets an 8 in my book because apparently the winters are just awful. Neat town. I'd return for sure!

Truck for Sale

Granddad Bill's old Dodge truck has finally started to cost more than owning a new car.

So...



I guess the benefit of high gas prices and carpooling to work in a Civic is that you can take advantage of Nissan dealerships not being able to sell Pathfinders. It takes about 5 and 1/2 hours to buy a car these days, luckily there are people with more animated negotiation styles than Dayna to entertain you while you wait for the "wizard" behind the curtain. We saw the "get fed up and walk out" move, didn't work and he had to come back in about ten minutes later. The sales person made sure everyone knew he came back.

Dayna's sharp eyes make for pretty good negotiations without having to go out to the parking lot.

Come by and get a ride when you get a chance.

A mighty wind is blowin...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom Debbie and sister Becky! I hope you both had a fantastic day!

Last night we went with my sister Trisha, her boys, my mom, and another family to the Fort Worth Cats game. We were all a little worried about the heat, but really, it wasn't bad at all! Trisha got us great seats right behind home plate. The field is sandwiched between beautiful downtown and the stockyards. Those boys are precious. It was batting helmet night for kids 12 and under. They all got their little helmets signed by the FW Cats, Harold got his glove signed, and they got these little bean bag baseball things signed by the GP Air Hogs (yes, it was an in the metroplex rivalry last night!). Anyways, we found it quite amusing when the row of 14 teenagers sitting behind us figured out they were giving out free caffeinated energy drinks on the main concourse...of course, this was at like 9:15 or so too. Those poor parents...

Today we got to celebrate my mom's birthday with her. Becky had to settle for a singing phone call from me. Now we are back home watching the end of the Ranger game. When the wind picked up trash was all over the field. Looked crazy! Goodbye 107, hello 84...at least that is what our thermometer says.

And for anyone who hasn't seen "A Mighty Wind," you should...