back from the beach...

we just got back from 3 days at ocean shores... the kids loved the special time with grandpa and grandma from north dakota...
ill post more pictures tomorrow...

an excursion to seabrook... #1

neil and karla pose with gwen and the kids for this photo...

me and the family...

abby writing a note to send out in a bottle...

karla helped seal the bottles with wax...

abby and cole looking cute...

abby and ethan looking into the frog pond...

ethan and cole in a little tree trunk we found...

we had a great day adventure and cant wait to do it again soon.... thanks neil and karla...

an excursion to seabrook... #2

although it was cloudy... it didnt rain...(much)

ethan and his sand covered branch...

cole and his sand volcano...

abby wanted to write in the sand so everybody knew... she loves Jesus...

karla and abby making sand avalanches...




me and gwen...

noah and ethan having so much fun... who woulda thought they were brothers...




running away from the surf...

noah and cole chucking bottles with messages into the ocean...

abby has her message to the world ready to go...

so does cole...

lets run away from dad and his camera...

an excursion to seabrook... #3

after our walk to the beach... we came back to the cottage to warm up with some of Neil's special cocoa and Karla's nummy brownies....

cole was so excited about a brownie in the shape of a pie... and it was chalked full of m&ms... doesnt get any better than that...

so nummy....

rocks between the toes...

as we drove home from seaside today gwen looked back into the van to see what the little ones were doing and to her surprise she found cole holding rocks with his toes... she chuckled...

hope you do too...

its good to be home...

i think it will work...

as gwen and i continue to try to find ways to conserve not only gas but also minimize and save on our monthly expenses... this was a must...


youre looking at my new mode of transportation to and from costco... its about an 18 mile commute and if i leave at 2:15 a.m. i should be able to be there by 3:45 a.m. when i need to be there to start my shift...

so not only will we cut down our gas bill significantly but also those pesky green house gasses...

go green...

music builds tour... san diego california...

the main reason we went down to california, believe it or not, was a concert in irvine... the music build tour... consisting of jars of clay, robert randolf and the family band, switchfoot and third day...

gwen heard this advertised on our local radio station and wanted to go... when we checked into the tour and cities they were going to be in, we found that they were not coming to the northwest at all... so we started looking for other destination cities... we considered chicago, phoenix, minneapolis, and decided on irvine....

we knew at that point we could go to disneyland, head to san diego, and see the show...

jars of clay opened and did awesome... i remember seeing them many times over the years and it was cool seeing them again... gwen and i matched in our white hoodies...

we also saw one of my all time favorite bands... switchfoot... local boys from san diego... they were as good as always... we have seen them quite a few times and they just keep getting better... i think they were the best show of the night...

and to close the night out was third day... gwen and i have seen them before and they again were solid... they sounded great and played alot from a new album... very cool...

the show was long and worth the trip alone...

we did also have a great time in san diego and disneyland though...

15 years for gwen and i... we started planning our 20 year anniversary trip already...

shrimp burger plain...

when we go to mott, gwens hometown in north dakota... there is one place we have to go without fail... thats the poolside drive-in... we love going there for so many reasons...

*they make great mister-misty freezes*

* the portions are huge*

* they do a crunch cone* (a soft serve cone rolled in crunched up captn crunch and sprinkles)

*garlic fries*

*the old time drive in feeling*

and...

* shrimp burgers... plain*

the last item spoken of there... the famous shrimp burger is gwens favorite item... and she has to get it PLAIN... it is by far the happiest i ever see her get about food... its like i see the simple joy of a burger (shrimp) done right... the menu has stayed the same for years... every once in a while adding something new... but rarely taking anything off... we have enjoyed it every trip since i first went out to mott in the summertime...

we love the drive in and we love the town... if anyone wants a great shrimp burger... give us a call and we can arrange the trip... its right next to the pool so bring your suit...

p.s.... if there are any entrepreneurs out there looking... the drive in is for sale... i can get you their number...

post #5 from the road...

as i sit here at the laptop for another post... i am amazed at what we have done over the last 13 days... our tripometer is at 3066.7 miles with about 1400 0r so left to go... we leave in the morning for bozeman, montana... our trip home...
greg, gwens brother takes abby for yet another motorcycle ride... this is something all the kids love doing when we come out to mott... to visit grandma and grandpa... abby is wearing a vintage helmet that belonged to her mom when she was a kid...
noah and i rode along...
grandpa on his goldwing ready for another trip around the town...
cole poses by "doc"... he loves the movie cars so this was a real treat...(medora, nd)

mini-golf in medora... i think grandpa won... at least thats what noah says...
grandma and grandpa, greg, and us... at the madora musical, pitchfork fondue... this was a great time....
we had a wonderful time with the grandparents, it always goes to quickly... and visits to north dakota are always a treat... thanks for the great times... they wont be forgotten...

post from the road #4...

today was day 9 of 16...

i almost feel bad trying to post on the many wonderful things that have happened... for every 1 i recall in the post there are 10 that i dont have time to tell you about... here is the last couple of days in a nut shell...

we spent a couple of days in iowa at our friends the vanderschaafs... this was a great time for us and for the kids... as the last time we visited our friends in maurice ia, 4 years ago(cole was only 6 months old last time) so the kids have grown a ton since then and so has our love for these friends... i worked for loren back in the early 90's as an carpenter's apprentice... ok maybe thats a stretch... he really felt sorry for me and hooked me up with a summer job... i learned alot from him... and some of it was carpentry... shellie is a long time family friend who also was a babysitter of mine at one time...(scary) sons...(eric pictured, michael,not pictured)
you might be looking at this years christmas card here... so enjoy....
we ran down to the "ice cream capital of the world" le mars, iowa.... this has become a staple of our trips to the great hawkeye state... noah got a huge sundae... and we all had more ice cream than we could handle... shellie thought she needed to help abby with hers...
iowa's finest... ok washingtonians in iowa are the finest...
thanks loren and shellie (michael and eric) for the great time...