MNPLS TRIP PART I

The girls and I are in Minneapolis visiting my sister. We got here on Wednesday evening and plan on leaving for home on Sunday after church.


Thursday, we went to the Mall of America where the girls got to meet Dora the Explorer, Diego, and Jimmy Neutron. Of course, Cassidy rode a bunch of rides and even asked to go on a roller coaster. She was tall enough to go on one, so my sister bought a pass and rode the coaster with her. My sister said Cass was a bit scared at first, but then really started to like the ride. Cassidy wanted to ride a lot of the bigger rides, but couldn't because she was too short. Jessie was able to ride a few of the rides too, but she was still too short for most of them.


Today, my sister and mom left early to do some clothes shopping for my mom. After they came back, we went to The Chair where Lynnette, mom, Cassidy, and Jessie got their hair cut. This was the first ever hair cut for Jessie and she did VERY well. Afterwards, Jessie fell asleep in the car and we did some quick clothes shopping for me. Hopefully, we can get out tomorrow and do a little more.


This evening, we had to take Jessie to an emergency care clinic. This morning, we noticed that Jessie was having problems breathing and she was coughing. She wasn't sick when we left ND, and I was hoping that she would get better as the day went on. She seemed to get a bit worse. I called the ND social service office to see if my ND Medicaid could be used out of state, but didn't get any definite answers. The doctor said that she wasn't sick and that she probably has asthma and it was an asthma attack. They gave me a prescription for nebulizer albuterol. Unfortunately, I left my nebulizer machine at home. I was going to buy one, but it was $190, so I didn't get it. My sister knows a person who we can probably borrow one from. Hopefully she will feel better soon.


I will post pictures as we get them loaded. Otherwise the rest will be posted after we get home.

Couldn't help but pimp the Patrick hat.

Auntie sporting the Spongebob hat.

Cassidy, Dora the Explorer, Jessie, and Auntie Lynnette.

Cassidy and Jimmy Neutron

Cassidy and Diego.

Cassidy and Auntie Lynnette getting ready to take off on the coaster.

Cassidy and Auntie Lynnette riding the roller coaster. If you look hard, you can see them!

Cassidy in the Rugrats Bumper cars.

The girls and I riding the Swiper Sweeper ride.

Bucca di Beppo's. It was a nice place to eat. They served family sized meals which can feed a small army of 12.

Inside Bucca's. I had to take the picture because that is actually a bust of the pope in the middle of the table!

SURPRISE

Last week, city elections were held. Everyone knows how it goes. People get out and vote for people to serve on the park board, city council, Mayor, etc.

Yesterday, the girls and I went over to the mayors home because the girls like to use their trampoline. When we got there, I had a surprising conversation with the mayor's wife. It went somewhat like this:

Brenda: "So, did you hear how the elections went?"

Me: "No."

Brenda: "You made it onto the city council."

Me: "What?"

Brenda: "Yep. There were 4 votes for Art, 4 votes for Jim, 4 votes for Janet, and you had 5 write-in votes."

Me: "Holy crap!"

So everyone, you are looking at one of the newest members of the York city council. The other three people tied, so they will have to re-vote or do something to figure out which one of them is also serving on the board. I was told that they normally flip a coin. However, in this case there are 3 people, not two, and there isn't such a thing as a 3 sided coin.

I am a bit excited. There are some things I would like to see passed through the council and things that could be done for the benefit of the town. Depending on who the other council members are, I know my votes or suggestions may, or may not, be heard. However, we all know that I can be loud.

Oh, and get this...my brother is the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce in Cando! It looks like our whole family is meant to be on some kind of city board.

CHILLIN'

It has been raining like crazy the last few days. It is making me depressed because the girls and I are really looking forward to getting into our pool sometime this summer. I didn't do anything today, except go to my parents so I could work on a little homework.

I am jealous. Doug, Karissa, and Isabella took a trip to South Dakota. One of their stops was at Storybook Land. There are pictures posted of the trip on Doug's blog. It looks like they really enjoyed their time. I have wanted to take the girls their since last year. However, I am probably going to have to wait another year or so when Jessie is a bit older and can handle all that excitement.

My aunt and uncle from Kentucky should be arriving at my parents house sometime Monday or Tuesday. It will be nice to see them. They stopped in Minneapolis for a few days to see my sister and one of my aunts nieces. They have their grandson Evan, who is 8, with them on this trip. It will be nice to finally meet him.

My mother, I, and the girls will be leaving in about a week and a half to visit my sister. I am getting excited. My sister wants to take the girls to the Children's Museum, and Cassidy is anxious to meet Dora the Explorer. I will remember to have a lot of batteries with me to take plenty of pictures with.

POSTING AGAIN

I haven't posted in a while. The other day, my mother informed me of just how much I have been neglecting my blog.

I took the liberty of blogging a bit today, and posting pics, catch everyone up on things. I am going to try a lot harder not to negelect my blog this badly anymore.

I got a "Dear John" letter in the mail from Altru Clinic. They decided to give the transcription position to another applicant. So, I am scowering the internet and applying for jobs that will let me work from home. I think this is a better deal anyway, because the gas and childcare I was going to end up spending was going to kill me.

Happy Father's Day!

POOL

I am at a calm relief right now. My lawyer got the tax checks from Darren's lawyer. So, I got my half of the refund last Friday. I spent the last couple of days making calls and catching up all of my bills. Nothing makes you feel more better than getting all of your finances back in order!

After paying all of the bills, I checked to see how much money was left over. I needed to have money for our trip to Minneapolis to see my sister in two weeks, and to have a cushion in cause things got bad again. Everything was good, and I had more money left over than I thought I was going to, so I bought a pool.

Last year, we tried to use a hand-me-down pool that Darren's aunt and uncle gave to us roughly 8 years ago. Unfortunately, the water weight was much more than the old pool bladder could handle, and it literally blew apart.

Gas has gotten high and I was thinking about how Cassidy and Jessie went to the swimming pool darn near every day last year. I will not be able to afford that many trips to Leeds this year. However, I am still going to enroll Cassidy in the two-week swimming lesson session.

With the help of Vanessa Moller, we got the pool up in 3 hours, it took 8 hours to fill the pool with water, and now we are just waiting for a few warm days so we can actually get in the pool.

A NEW FRIEND

I have another new best friend. I have been hanging out a lot lately with Vanessa Moller, and I love her to death!

I met her through her cousin, Nichole Moller, who was a classmate of mine in high school.

Vanessa lives in Rugby. She is the secretary at Moller's Inc. here in York. Her father and uncle own and operate the implement. She comes over a lot after work, we hang out on the weekends, and just recently Nessa came with my mom, the girls, and I on a trip to Minot. The girls absolutely LOVE her. I think it is because she plays with them. She is great with children.

A few weeks ago, Nessa was at my house and she colored and cut my hair. I have to admit that I was super freaked out about it. But I love the way it turned out. My mother doesn't like the color, my brother thinks it looks good, and my dad likes the color but doesn't know what to think about the cut. I really like the new look. However, I cannot style my hair and I make Nessa do it all the time, because I think it looks better when she does it.

Nessa and I during a girls-night-out. She is so BEAUTIFUL...and I love my hair!

Nessa is going to kill me for posting this picture of her!

Cassie eating her hotdog.

Jessie enjoying a chip.

This is Shay. Shay came from a litter of pups that neighbor Bob's dog, FiFi, had. Shay looks identical to her mother. I want Shay!

This is Nessa's kitty, Lance. He is NOT Siamese.

CASSIDY AND THE PIGS

I know I blogged about it before, but I forgot to post the pics from out last visit out to see the pigs. Jessie joined us on this trip, which kept me extra busy. I didn't didn't get many pictures this time out either, because my batteries were running low and it was very dark in the barn, even with my flash. Here are a few of those pics.

Cassidy with Bernard Meyers.

Cassidy and Whitey.

The mommy pig and her 9 cute piglets