Vacation Post 14 - V & K's Motorcycle Rides

Since it's snowing out... cold as crap and I'm feeling a little ornery, I figured I would go back in time to something a bit warmer.

Our summer vacation which I failed to finish documenting!  So on we go back to July 4th weekend of 2014.

I believe the last vacation post I did was of Mt. Rushmore.  Well here we find ourselves in Spicer MN. at my brother's cabin.  We'll start the bidding with the boys getting motorcycle rides from their Uncles.

Uncle Derek with a tentative looking Robby, just prior to lift-off.

As they are returning...

A very different looking Robby as he's tasted the joy of two wheels under him while being out in the wind!

And Mr. Caleb, who does not appear tentative!

He launched off with Uncle Vince and was a happy little Chinamen.  He was upset at the point where Vince turned to come back home.  It wasn't a hard turnaround on a road, but somehow he knew that it was as far as they were going and now heading back home.

So there we have it.  A warm look back to a warmer time...  as I glance out the window and curse the snowflakes... each beautiful stupid snowflake.

Painting the Town Red

Oh sure, it's not really a town, but rather a bedroom.  It is a bedroom that has seen many a guest/regular.  Aunt Molly has stayed in it.  Aunt Deaner and Uncle Derek lived in it while their house was under construct.  Momma and Daddy lived in there one time when Aunt Molly lived with us and stayed in the "master suite".  Grandma and Grandpa have made it their abode on visits for a good year or more now and probably another 1 or 2 folks that for whatever reason, I can't recall.

Now, it's going to be Robby's bedroom.  He's apparently ready to make the move to split from sharing a room with his brother and light out on his own.

So what does that all mean?  

It means piles of work for dear ol' dad...  painting, moving beds, dressers and the like.

And so it came to pass.  Last weekend the work began and sort of died off as I got freakin' tired and didn't want to do anymore.

Thing is, he turns 10 years old this coming Sunday and we're going to have visitors on the following weekend.  That means that I cannot use my so-called tiredness as an excuse any longer and need to get some crap finished up!

On that note, enough with the words... on to the pictures.

This was late Friday night when I got the room emptied out, curtains down and blue painters tape up.

Another angle on the same evening.

And one last angle...

The painting begins.  The lad picked a bright orange and yellow for his new colors and so it came to pass.

I used to like painting... seriously, up until recently... like this past weekend.  I liked edging even more. I wouldn't tape anything off and would just go at it with a favorite brush and a steady hand.  My steady hand is no longer with me and my edging was terrible.  I tried many other options other than may trusty favorite brush and none of them made any difference.  My hand was no longer steady-eddie.  Or steady- teddy, as the case may be.

A couple of my helpers rolling the big areas.

Caleb hamming it up for the camera as he likes to do.

Momma getting in on some of the action.

Nearly done.  The back wall  (and where the beam runs thru the ceiling) are orange, and the rest of the walls are the yellow.  We have some dark blue curtains that we put up that look quite nice with the bright paint.  Momma and I looked at curtain rods when we went out to eat last Saturday and while I could have easily spent $100 - $200 on two rods, I had the idea to use PVC and like hangers to put them up.  That option cost about $7 total.  I like that option.

All of that work and a new bedroom led the lad to take a nap with his puppy.  Oh sure, the day after this was taken, he ended up getting sick and hasn't been to school for three days now.  That may have had something to do with the nap...

And so it goes.  Much more work to be done to get everything else put back together.  Where the motivation comes to accomplish that is anybody's guess...

Nearly Toothless, But Still Eating!

The cute little critter lost yet another tooth this morning.  I'm not sure how many teeth his head is short right now, but it doesn't seem to be slowing his consumption rate.

Immediately following his photo op, he consumed that plate of eggs on  the table behind him.  Plus more...

Rough Night!!

Not sure what was so taxing overnight, but the boys woke up with some crazy hair!!  Must have been the position of the moon...

Training Boys and a Puppy

So how is the puppy training going?

Slow and messy, that's how.

I tend to forget that I was 13 years younger when we trained our last puppy.   Not only that, but it was just me and mama, no kids. So it was easier to pay attention to her.  Not only that, but we are trying to teach two young boys how to train up a puppy at the same time...  double, or is that triple, the problem?

But, she is coming along and learning more as each day goes by.  She's also getting bigger at a noticeable rate.

All in all, she's a gorgeous little dog with a fun personality.  She is crazy like Daisy was but has the snuggly abilities of Rosey.

The Joy Of Winter

Sledding! One of the great joys of growing up. Makes a fella wonder what kids do in the regions where there is no snow fall?  They're missing out!

Of course, so are the moms and dads who don't have to clean drive ways and sidewalks from the frozen flakes of gold!

I say this on a day when our family spent some time outside after worship today shoveling snow back onto our driveway after yesterday's melt!

Why?

Because we had to have it pushed off by the neighbor with a plow on the front of his truck and there are more rocks in the snow over the grass than there is left on the driveway.  Not a good thing when it gets to be time to mow.

Anyway, yesterday, we invited my sister's family over for some sledding.  The adults wisely stayed inside after lunch while the 5 kids plus the neighbor's boy slipped on the slopes.

Add caption

I love how much area they covered!  Our yard is 150 feet wide and they violated nearly every foot of that spread in about 3.5 hours.  

Nice work!

Putting the P (stains) In Puppy!

The beast has arrived!  The new beast, that is...

Robby fell hard for the name Juno and G'pa had selected a name as well, just in case we didn't have one; Annabelle.  

So Robby has christened her Juno Annabelle Schmitz (with a nickname of Juno Pepper...  Pepper being his other favorite name)  

We are in the process of trying to train the boys on how to train a puppy! Double duty.

Caleb is warming up to her.  Considering where he was 3 years ago when we welcomed him into our family, he has come a LONG ways with animals.  I think he'll end up being good friends with her, but right now gets a little nervous when she starts bounding about playing and barking.

On the other hand, Robby has fallen hard for the lil' critter.  He takes her everywhere he goes and plays football on the PS4 with her on his lap.  He eventually wants to have her sleep in his room when he moves to the basement, but isn't ready for it yet during potty training.

All in all, it's a great thing to have a dog back in our lives even with the getting up a couple of times at night to take her out.