Hiking

The boys at Garvin Heights

 The view from Garvin Heights

 On the trail

It has been forever since I posted.  It used to be super easy to upload photos from Picasa, but they made a change that made it harder to post, so I just didn't take the time.  Last Saturday, we had my Grandma and my brother come up.  We took them to Garvin Heights, which is just one of the coolest places in Winona.  You can see for miles up there.  There is also a trail that you can hike to the bottom or to the top.  It's only a .5 mile, but very steep.  Nobody wanted to do it with us so once everyone left, we took the boys and hiked it.  I'll try to do better about posting.  :)

Blue Bell Creameries

We took the boys to Blue Bell Creameries while in Texas.  You can experience Blue Bell at any Outback, but you can't buy it in stores up here.  It's the ice cream Joel and I grew up with and it is delicous.  It takes 60,000 cows a day to make their ice cream.  Pretty fascinating and of course, the best part was getting free ice cream at the end of the tour.  Poor Joel couldn't have any and got stuck eating an icee pop that the kids wanted as well.  Deacon got his favorite chocolate and Ty got cookies n cream. I think Ty picked the best one.  I tried the b-day cake one and surprisingly it wasn't as good as the ones I've had up here so I was disappointed. I should have went with my stand-by Vanilla. Boring, I know, but it's my favorite. 

Ty is getting around much better now.  He doesn't limp at all and we are having a much harder time keeping him from still.  I am so grateful as it seems to point more and more to the viral infection.  We had church service last night which was really good.  Both boys were surprisingly quiet and good.  Ty actually paid attention and had quite a few questions for us on the way home.  I love being able to share what Christ has done for him and know that he's understanding it.

NASA Trip

Ty as an astronaut

The Kid's Play Space. Really cool and the kids did not want to leave this area.

Super cool screen.  Everytime you touched it sparks would fly.  You could touch one of the spaceships and you'd get information on a space flight.

It was super cool to be able to take the kids to NASA.  They had so much fun. They really enjoyed the play space.  It looked so cool, I really wanted to go play too.  I probably would have met the height requirements. 

We've had some health issues in our house.  Ty woke up Sunday not able to walk on one leg.  He sent Deacon in to get us so he could get out of bed.  I took him to Urgent Care where they did x-rays, took blood and told us that it's not broken, but they don't know what's going on with it.  We made an appt to see a Pedatric Orthopedic Suregon at Gunderson on Tuesday.  Went through the same thing, x-rays, blood (a lot more this time and a lot more traumatic for my little guy).  His doctor thinks it is a viral infection  of his left hip called transit synovis (sp) which is somewhat common for boys his age and the symptoms seem to follow what we experienced.  He is now limping around on it and at least today we've seen a lot more dramatic improvement.  It's been harder to keep him in quiet play and I am so grateful for that.  We go back next Tuesday for a follow up appt.  We are praying that this is all it is.  If it is a viral infection then it will go away in a week or two. 

Grandparents

At the rehersal dinner I managed to get some good photos of the boys with their grandparents and with Uncle George. 

Yesterday I explained to Tyler what April Fool's Day is and it's a day to play funny pranks on people.  Emphasis on the word funny.  I don't want him to be mean. Anyway, when we went to get Deacon, he ran ahead of me and into the room which is something he does all the time. He comes back out and super straight faced tells me that: "Deacon's not here." I thought well maybe he's another room, but Ty was insisting that all of Deacon's friends were in there, but not Deacon.  I told him "Well, we will ask his teacher, I'm sure they know where he is".  That's when he gave me this big grin and said, "I'm just fooling".  LOL!  I'm so gullible it doesn't take much to get me.  

Family

Grammy and Deacon

Grammy, Nana and Deacon

Grammy, Nana, Deacon and Tyler

Aunt Meghan, Uncle George and Tyler

The Kelner Family

Meghan and me

Joel and me

We made it back home last night.  I took so many pictures while we were in Texas.  I think it might take me a month to go through them all.  These are some of thte family photos from the wedding.  I'll have more up later.  We did all kinds of really cool things on this trip.  Not only did we get to see family, we took the boys to Blue Bell Creamery.  For those of you that live up here in Minnesota, you really don't know how good Blue Bell is.  I really do miss that ice cream. On the plus side, I can get it at Outback Steakhouse if I ever eat there.  We also took them to NASA and the boys really enjoyed that. I'll post more on that when I put the pictures up.  It was a great time, but we are all glad to be back home. 

Beautiful Day

This past weekend has been amazing here.  The temperture was in the 60's and we spent almost all weekend outside.  I actually got a sunburned nose and forehead yesterday.  My own fault, I didn't put any sunscreen on and sat and soaked up the sun.  Yesterday, was a busy day.  I went to Wal-mart and then to Hyvee.  Joel had a haircut and the van had to get an oil change.  The boys and I went to Lacrosse to take care of the car and enjoyed walking along the river there while we waited for it.  "Walking"...yeah, right.  With these two, we pretty much ran everywhere. 

Today, I went for a run and actually made it 5.7 miles.  I was pretty whipped afterwards, but I slowly edging my mileage up there.  When I got home, we decided to take the boys and go for a hike.  We hiked up the bluff to Chimney Point and then back down and by the time we made it down, my legs were singing.  They are pretty sore, but it was so worth it.  When we got home, I started to pack our bags for Texas.  The boys are so excited to go that they really wanted to help pack.   They went and got everything I told them too and Ty would fold the clothes.  They really weren't much help, but I didn't want to dampen that enthusiam.  Two more days and we'll be on our way!

Super Heros

Ty & Deke watching TV in the morning.

Ty as Bat Spider-Man.  (We bought this costume for him in Mexico.  The back and the very front are all Batman, but the very top of the head is from a black spiderman costume.)

These two can be as thick as thieves sometimes.

Batman.  ARRGGGH!

These two are just so much fun sometimes.  I love it when they play dress up and start running around the house with nothing on but a cape.   

In two weeks, we head to Texas.  The boys are very excited to see their grandparent, aunt, and uncles. I'm excited to see family too, but I really can't wait for some good ol' Tex Mex.  I'm so hoping that we manage to find some time to go to Austin and visit Aunt Melly and go to Trudy's.  I really want their Mexitini and their deep fried avacodo stuffed with cheese.  It is SO good! 

The Dekester has been in a lot of trouble this week. This kid never stops testing us.  He does the "stealth" hits.  At least that's what I like to call them.  When he gets really upset, he'll walk by you and casually "touch" you.  It lets you know he's not happy with you.  He did it to me one night and so I put him in a timeout.  All he had to do was say "sorry" and 40 minutes later, he finally did.  There are so many wonderful things about him though and they just warm my heart.  After that 40 minute timeout, he cuddled up in my arms and gave me the biggest hug and whispered that he loved me.  The other day as I was heading out to work, he gave me a big hug and I told him that he "makes my day."  He responded with: "No I don't, God makes your day."  So very true.  I just love that little boy so much!