My Family 2011

Some of the amazing, wonderful memories made this family vacation.

My parents, brother Greg, brother Garey and his family, and us.
We haven't all been together since 2005.
Hopefully it won't be another 6 years before we are all together again.

Seabrook 2010

fishermen: uncle james and ethan

ethan has been asking his uncle james to teach him to fish for months now... and this weekend it happened... we went out to anderson island for a family get together and uncle james made time for lesson #1...

ethan hooked his line on his sweatshirt( a couple of times)... our friends let us borrow their canoe for fishing in the middle of the lake...

ethan learned to cast...

ethan learned that patience is required...( i think he thought the fish would immediately hook themselves to the tasty treat)


ethan learned that baiting a hook meant putting a LIVE worm on to a sharp hook...

but... at the end of the morning; which included thunder, lightning and rain... ethan reeled in his first(of many hopefully) rainbow trouts... 12.5 inches long... we think he was proud...

: )

more pictures from the coast...

go carts... ethan was lovin this...

noah disappeared for a while... this is where we found him...

abby posing for a photo...

cole loved the pool... our little fish...

all the kids loved the arcade at the hotel...

cole... he is getting so big...

: (

we kinda feel sad about how big our little man is getting...

more pictures from the coast...

day 2:

more pictures from the coast...

day 1:

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...

post #1 from disneyland...

i cant believe we are two days into this great vacation already... and we are having so much fun...(justin, cole, abby, pluto, noah, ethan, and tyler)

my family is so excited to be sharing this time with so many family and friends...

my mom and dad, and frank and jill are keeping up with us just fine... we so love having them here...

my sister holly and her family (justin in photo) and my brother daniel...

island living...

i just wanted to post a couple of pictures from this last weekend out at our family place on anderson island... we love going out there... maybe its the ferry ride, maybe its the walks on the beach, maybe its tenting in the back yard, maybe its the swimming hole, or maybe its a combination of all of these and more...

here the kids pose by our four man tent that barely sleeps six...

and by their sand castle creations...
walks on the beach always turn into rock throwing contests...


those are so much fun...

i know that i am blessed beyond measure and i truly thank God daily for my family...

More Photos of Abby's (And Aunt Shirlee's) Special Day

One of the highlights of our vacation was, of course, my Aunt Shirlee's wedding in Minneapolis. Abby was the (most beautiful ever) flower girl. She was so sweet and had so much fun being a party of Aunt Shirlee's wedding day. Her second cousin, (my cousin Chad's son) Jack, was the ring bearer.

Bill & Shirlee with Abby and Jack


The whole wedding party - what a good-looking bunch!


Bill & Shirlee with US!


Jack and Abby making their trip down the aisle ... yes, they are pretty much running ... Abby says she was trying to keep up with Jack ... I have a feeling he may say the same thing about Abby :-)


Phew ... it's over! Walking briskly, but not quite running this time :-)

Thank you, Shirlee & Bill, for letting us share in your special day!

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 - Minnesota/Iowa/North Dakota Conversations

Abby: Ethan, how many mosquito bites do you have? I just have five left.

Ethan: I don't know ... I lost track ...

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...