Happy Father's Day - Better Late Than Never

This weekend flew by even with an extra day. I took Friday off (my last furlough day, Woohoo!!!) and Jeff and I headed out of town to hang out with some friends and play dodgeball. Every year (here is my write-up from last year) our friends Lon and Lisa host a dodgeball weekend over Father's Day. The boys get together and play while the girls sit around, talk, and laugh at the boys. Then we all eat tons of food and play video games. Yeah so it pretty much rocks!!! Thanks guys! We had a fantastic weekend filled with video games, anime, and friends. We actually stumbled into an anime convention at the hotel we happened to be staying at which just made the weekend that much more awesome. People in costumes everywhere. It made me want to do a convention again. Maybe Dragon Con with my brother and father this year. Hmmm.

I'll talk more about trench (and possibly post incriminating pictures) tomorrow. Today I have to do something overdue. I have to talk about my Dad. One of the hard parts about having this party every year is that I always miss Father's Day since we are out of town. My dad is always really cool about it. We went out to dinner with him last Wednesday but I wanted to do something else to honor him. I am blessed with having two amazing parents (and two great parent-in-laws as well). My parents taught us kids to be honest and hard-working and considerate. Both were the first in their families to go to college, and they passed on the value of education to me. My dad brought himself up from his steel worker roots, to go to college, then medical school. He's worked for the same hospital for the last 30 something years and has never missed a day due to weather. He's worked hard to get where he is, even though I tease him now about his semi-retired schedule.

My father on vacation in Turks and Caicos

But my dad's work ethic isn't my favorite thing about him. When I was growing up my dad was always reading or playing guitar or gardening or fishing.... He has more hobbies than I can count and in many ways I've grown up a lot like him. I owe him my love of learning new things. My mother is the one who instilled reading in me but it was my dad's constant interest in things that pushed me to pick up new hobbies. He and I are very similar in that way. We become fascinated with something, learn as much as we can about it, and then move on to something else.

My father was never shy about asking questions. He can instantly set people at ease with his easy-going nature. He's the kind of person who can talk with anyone and constantly has a joke for every situation (something I wish I'd inherited). I've developed my love of food and trying new foods from him. He's blessed me with a love of the outdoors and science. His fearlessness when trying things is something I'm still trying to learn myself. But I've been blessed with a great role model. Always smiling, always happy, always learning, always interested, his outlook on life is incredibly positive and I'm constantly striving to be more like him. So this is just to say I love you Dad and you inspire me.

My father, my little sister, and I after a wonderful day of scuba diving in Bull Shoals, Arkansas

Catching Up

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted. The internet is finally back up at home and I'm crossing my fingers that it will stay up. Work has been insane lately. I'm still working long hours and not catching up. No chance to post there. But it's also been good. For the first time in a long time I'm really enjoying what I'm doing. Perhaps I just need to be crazy busy all the time for my job to be enjoyable. 

Jeff finished his first class and did really well. He seems to have a knack for the subject. And to really enjoy it. 

We were gone all weekend in Minneapolis which is why I didn't post then. Every year for Father's Day our friends host a Trench party. Trench is a variation of dodgeball but with the added excitement of having people both in front of you and behind you. The game starts out just like standard dodgeball. But if you are hit you go to the outside area around the opposite team. Your teammates can pass you the ball to try to get the other team out. So you have to watch on all sides.The guys play and the girls sit around and talk mostly. Here are some pictures from the trip. 

The beginning of the day. It was warm and breezy and absolutely perfect weather to sit outside. 

And the end of the day. All the guys are exhausted. 

We stayed with friends (thanks Lon and Lisa) and had an amazing time hanging out with them and their two children. I got to play Hide and Seek with the kids, did crafts, and played video games. It was a fantastic weekend. On Sunday they took us out to see our first Twins game. Jeff has always protested "baseball in a can" but the game was a lot of fun. Here's the stadium.

The Twins lost but our friends and their kids got to run the bases after the game. 

The drive home was terrible, absolutely miserable. We even ended up with a ticket. (completely justified sadly) I made it up to myself by taking Monday off. And now I'm finally back on track. And you are all caught up. A great weekend with just a minor bump. 

Here is a brief video of the guys playing. 

Flooding and Fun

We escaped Des Moines this weekend to head up to Minneapolis for a trench party. What's trench you ask? Don't worry I'll get there. First though I have to add some of the pictures we took on the way there and the way back of flooding in the state. Now we took I-35 which hasn't seen as much flooding as the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area. So there are no pictures of building underwater. But there are a ton of pictures of what look like lakes until you see the fence tops or trees sticking out of them. Here are just a couple pictures to give you an idea. 

These were taken from the car, so sorry about the medians. I didn't really want to stop and gawk. This last picture is an image of my office building. This river is normally at least half this size. My building is just shortly after the Chinese pagoda. While leaving the office (in an voluntary evacuation) on Friday, I passed more police and state troopers than I have ever seen in one area, the national guard, and the Red Cross. It is a never a good sign if you have the Red Cross, CNN, and the National Guard in your city at the same time. And again we are still far better off than other places in the state. 

Even with all the flooding we had a fantastic weekend. Some good friends in Minneapolis invite us up every year for a trench party. Trench is a modified Dodgeball where after getting hit once the person goes to the "trench" (an area surrounding the other teams players). They can then hit the opposite teams players from behind or the side. If one of the players catches a ball thrown by the person in the trench they are out for the rest of the game and one of their players who was in the other trench gets to come back in. I know a little confusing but it makes sense once you see it. It also makes for a much more exciting game. We always end the evening with great food and video games and normally don't leave until late. Sorry guys. Here are a couple trench shots I took. 

We also started Saturday with breakfast with a friend and then the zoo. Jeff took some great videos and pictures of the animals that I might post later. My favorite is a video of a wolverine moving a huge tree branch. Some of the animals were active and it gave me a chance to see the outside portion of the zoo. I got burnt, again. But the trip was great, filled with plenty of friends. 

Forecasters don't know anything

Since we have started flooding I have kept a very close eye on the news. You do that when you are waiting to see if the waters will take out your car and office. So I have been reading the predictions about when and how the river will crest. I wish I could say that the forecasters have been accurate. But if that was the case I would have been home both yesterday and today. No flooding today. Worked a full day, with only minor street flooding outside the building. It was rising so fast that I was a little worried but no need. A half an hour later and the street was almost totally dry. 

Now they are saying that it will be Saturday for the crest and it will be almost a foot lower than expected. That is today. Give it a couple hours and they'll be predicting the end of the world. You have to love weathermen. The only people who can be wrong over 50% of the time and still keep their jobs. 

I went out today in bare feet with my jeans rolled up Tom Sawyer style and wandered in the wet grass by the house. Nothing makes you feel more like a kid than playing barefoot in the grass. I even got the cat to come play with me. 

We were out of town last weekend in St. Louis, enjoying 90 degree sunny days and visiting Jeff's family. We had a fantastic visit and got to see his brother off before they head to China for six months. I also got to see my little brother who took us to a fantastic bar/grill called Pat's for breakfast. Shockingly I didn't take advantage of the $2 Mimosas. It's amazing the effect that in-laws can have. 

This weekend we are heading into what appears to be the opposite. We head north, to Minneapolis. The weather there has been cool (70s) and rainy. We are supposed to go up to play trench, a modified dodgeball. Okay Jeff plays trench with the boys while the girls sit and talk and eat and watch the boys make fools of themselves. It's a wonderful time. Let's hope the weather holds. Okay lets be honest, lets hope the roads hold. They closed I-80 today east of us. I'm hoping that I-35 stays intact. And lets hope that Minneapolis is even a little drier. I'm tired of flooding.