Duluth, MN

We went up to Duluth, MN on July 8th. Our first stop was Park Point, which is basically a thin peninsula near Duluth. There is a beach and picnic area and of course Lake Superior. We had picnic lunch there and then walked to the beach.

X walking to the beach:


At the beach, it was really windy there:


Our next stop was Aerial Lift bridge where you can watch ships come and go. We were lucky enough to see a ship leaving right as we got there.






The ship's name is the Algosoo and it was carrying coal.

A Hard Day's Night

On Sunday we went to see a Beatles Tribute Band by the name of A Hard Day's Night. Dan works with one of the band members. The concert was outdoors and it was free. It was at 2:30PM and we took the kids with. The got a little bored but luckily there was a park nearby. The band was good. They started out in black suits playing the early years stuff, then came out with tan jackets and later years stuff and finally came out in Sgt. Pepper's outfits playing the even later years stuff. The concert was over around 5pm. It was a lot of fun and I would see them again. Afterwards we just went to McDonald's for dinner. And we got home around 7pm, just in time to see Merlin. That's a British show that is now playing on NBC. It's not a great show but I like it plus for some reason my kids get excited when I say we're watching Merlin. O kept saying "Merlin's on! Merlin's on!" It was cute.

I also finally finished watching all three seasons of Supernatural. Too bad Season 4 is not on DVD because I did miss the first few episodes of the season. But I think I know where I can watch it online. I also got caught up on True Blood, but haven't watched Sunday's episode yet. Dan says I watch too much TV. But what better time to get caught up on some shows than in summer when there really is nothing on TV. My friend is going to let me borrow Seasons 1 & 2 of Psych, I've never seen the show but she says it's great.

I'm currently reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. It's really good, it started out kind of slow and now I just want to read it. Although I have two books at the library giving me a big nudge. I have the latest Southern Vampire Series book waiting. I put my name on request for it back in December before it came out, it came out in May so it has taken this long for me to get it. I know I won't be able to renew it either. Also waiting for me is Q & A which is what Slumdog Millionaire was based on. I haven't seen the movie but thought I'd read the book first. Books are always so much better than the movies. I've had my name on request for that book for a couple of months too so I know I won't be able to renew it.

Speaking of movies, I saw two clips from New Moon and pictures of the Volturi. The one clip was Bella when she crashes her motorcycle and she sees Edward (he's ghost like) and Jacob comes to her aid. The second one is of her in Italy running to save Edward. It looks good! Also coming out next month is The Time Traveler's Wife, which I want to go see.

Jay Cooke State Park

We went to Jay Cooke State Park while on vacation a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures from that trip.

We hiked a little ways to get to this bridge, it is a suspension bridge and it does move a little bit when you're on it. I tried to get across it as fast as I could since I did not really like it.






Hiking around, the kids enjoyed it but they were tired on the hike back to the car
















It was a beautiful day, sunny and not too hot or cold.

What I did

X was sick last week, he still is. On Wednesday we took him to the Dr and he had an ear infection in one ear and so much earwax in the other the Dr couldn't see in it. So he's taking Amoxicillin and drops to clear out the earwax. He hates those drops! Also his asthma is flaring up so it's a combination of nebulizer and inhaler. But he was so much better this past weekend that he didn't need a nebulizer or inhaler as much. Although he still tires easily and gets short of breath when he's playing too much. We'll see how he does in t-ball tonight. We bought him a t-ball set on Wednesday but he's been too sick to really practice. The little he did practice he got tired easily. O is also sick, but it's just a cold and she seems to be recovering. Unfortunately it seems like every time a kid has a cold I always catch it and so I was sick all weekend too. I'm feeling much better today except that I'm loosing my voice a little bit.

Saturday my in-laws were kind enough to watch two sick kids so we could go out to see a movie. We saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I liked it and thought it was good, although they did leave a few things out. Especially a battle at the end and a funeral. But overall a good movie. You can't have everything from a book in a movie. Then Saturday night we watched Gran Torino, which surprised me by being a good movie.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with O, while Dan stayed him with X. X has been playing Mario Kart on my DS like crazy. He can hardly put it down. I finally convinced him to stop playing and do something else. Although he wanted me to start playing Zelda on it, which I did. I had to start a new game since I had already beat it.

I'm currently reading the book Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. It's a good book and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie when I'm done with it. I have to read fast (I'm over half way) because a) it's due in two weeks and can't be renewed and b) I have a book waiting for me that can't be renewed and c) there's another book in transit now. I have two days to pick up my book so I'll probably wait until Wednesday to pick it up so I have 3 weeks to read it. I'm hoping to get Inkheart read in a few days. I can do it if I read at home, which I haven't really done because I'm working on a crochet project and have been watching season 3 of Supernatural.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

We went and saw the movie last Tuesday. It's a fairly long movie (about 2hours 40minutes) but I liked it. I'm a big fan of the first movie and I did watch the cartoon in the 80s. I thought it was good but a little too long. I loved all the action sequences and seeing all the Autobots and Decepticons in action. I am definitely going to be buying it when it comes out on DVD.

The Airport Open House

On Father's Day we went to the airport by our house Open House. We got there around 10am and stayed until lunch time. The airport is just a small airport near our house. Thought it would be something different to do for Father's Day. My in-laws and my dad also went with us.

Here are the kids next to the Kare11 News helicopter:


They were giving helicopter rides, but we were just happy watching them take off and land.


They had a fire truck too that we were able to get close to. I got a picture of each of the kids sitting in it. Then as we were walking away, X tripped and scraped up his knees. The firemen couldn't find any bandages (it was hardly bleeding but X was acting like it was a major scrape), but luckily my father-in-law had some.




They had the cockpit of a C-130 Hercules, which both kids sat in and pretended to fly.



Also some old military equipment and trucks. Including some medical equipment. Here's Olivia taking a little rest.


In the Medical truck:



We were lucky that it was a fairly nice day. It was humid but not too hot and it was cloudy so we didn't have the hot sun beating down on us.