Taxes...

I'm not really into politics, and never really get into the issues or battles much, so I am surprised that I even want to post about something political. I am sure many of you have watched the democratic and republican conventions, and that you have your opinions on the various issues, etc....
Today I came across this chart about the different tax plans of McCain and Obama. It compares the income of an individual and how the tax plans of each candidate would effect that income. I thought it was interesting and maybe you will too....

Labor Day Fun

A quick report on our Labor Day weekend. We decided to take a trip up to the city of Duluth, Minnesota and explore some of the area up there. It is about 2.5 hours north of us on the coast of Lake Superior. It is a very industrial city with a lot of shipping business on large ocean going ships. It was fun to see all the boats and the size of some of them.

The real highlight of our trip was all of the State Parks we visited. We went to 3 different parks and they were all beautiful. We took our bikes and rode them everyday in the parks and got to see a lot of great scenery that way.

The girls enjoyed riding in the bike trailer and were happy most of the time (except when Addison would pull Jayda's hair)



One of the parks we went to had some nice waterfalls that you could hike around and get close to.






We even brought Jayda's bike and let her ride on the path for part of the time. She did awesome and loved it, but after about 2 miles she got tired and wanted to stop and ride in the trailer with Addison. She was hot and sweaty, but so happy that she rode her bike so far and so well.






We had to tie her bike on the back and finish our 12 mile ride with it hanging off like this.




After all of the hiking, biking, and sightseeing the girls were pooped. They were both dead asleep when we finally stopped.



Lake Superior has a beautiful shore. It seemed to be quite rocky in the area where we were, but very scenic and nice.



Our last day we stopped by the local ski resort and hiked around a little. It is nothing like the ski resorts out west of course, but this had a nice view of the lake and some good area for the girls to run around.

Happy Birthday Anna!

Just wanted to post a Happy Birthday message for Anna. The girls and I love her so much and appreciate all that she does for us. She is the greatest!
Happy Birthday Anna!

State Parks

Now that July is over and Todd has finally finished all of his night classes (yahoo!). We decided to explore some of the state parks Minnesota has to offer. About 45 minutes from our house along the St Croix river are two parks- the Interstate Park (on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin), and the Wild River park. Both are very pretty and have various things to offer.

Here are Anna and Jayda overlooking the St Croix river at the Interstate park. The state border is actually in the middle of the river. You can see a small ferry boat (paddle boat) that you can take on a ride up the river to see the large cliffs if you want.

 

Addison did pretty well hiking around in the backpack, and Jayda was a super energetic hiker that we had a hard time keeping up with. She could have run up and down the trails all day long if we let her.

 

Part of what is popular are the large rocks that you can climb in and on. Several groups of rock climbers were there, and Jayda thought it was cool to hide in this little rock outcropping.

 

The kids and dad again overlooking part of the river.

 

A little farther up the river is the other park called Wild River. Not sure why they call it that name, it is a very calm and quiet area where the water barely moves. It was a beautiful walk/hike through the trees to the river. It was a short hike, but very scenic and fun to watch the kids run half of the way. Here is Anna with the girls on the way down into the trees.



The girls loved walking together and holding hands or chasing each other.



After our hikes we had a little picnic at the visitor center. Addison was playing around and we snapped this picture. It looks to me like she is doing a little country jig. Not sure if she was really dancing or not, but it is darn cute.

The Good, The Bad and The UGLY!

It's been a while since we have updated our blog, so I'm just going to summarize it in the good, bad and ugly. Let start with the ugly and get it over with.

UGLY

1) Our house was broken into when we were away on vacation in Utah. It was very disturbing and violating for us, but we were fortunate and only ended up with a Dewalt drill (graduation gift from my dad) and our garage door opener stolen. We found our computer with all the cords removed and turned sideways, about ready to be swiped but fortunately it was not taken.
Any one else have a vision of "swiper no swiping, swiper no swiping!"

2) Todd started his pediatric program on July 1st and we haven't seen him since. Okay, so I might be exaggerating a little bit, but not much. He leaves around 7 am and returns between 10pm and 12 am every night. The 12 am has only happened one time, but it does deserve some sympathy! The worst part is he puts the girls to bed Sunday night and then doesn't see them until Friday around 6 pm. Jayda keeps asking me "Did Dad take his sleeping bag with him to school?" and "Who is daddy going to eat dinner with tonight?".

And now for the Bad:

1) watering the new grass by hand with sprinklers. It is such a pain and takes so much time out of my day.
2) We miss all our good friends from Ann Arbor. Jayda misses all of the kids she used to play with, and we miss our good friends too. We know that most of them have moved away and aren't in Ann Arbor either, but we still miss them.


And how about some Good to finish off with:

1) We got new sod in our yard and don't have a dirt yard anymore. Even though the watering is a pain, at least we have some clean soft area for the kids to play in, and it is a lot prettier then dirt too.



2) 4th of July- A fun holiday as always. We went swimming at a nearby lake in the morning, had a BBQ for dinner, then lit some of our own fireworks before the girls went to bed. We only spent a small amount of money on fireworks for the girls, but luckily our neighbors spent hundreds of dollars and entertained us all!








3) Jayda has started a dance class and loves it. It is a Ballet/Tap/Tumbling class with other girls her age. They do all 3 events during the 45 minute class each week. She loves to dance, and to make new friends each week. We even had some of the kids come over and play in our yard after dance today.

4 ) New friends- Jayda had made some new friends in the neighborhood, and so have we. We were invited to a bonfire at our neighbors house the other night where Jayda just ran for hours with the other kids. We are grateful for nice neighbors and new friends that we are making.

5) Todd started his program. We are now 2 weeks done with the 24 month long program. He really likes the other 4 residents he is with and thinks that they will have a great 2 years together. Things are a little unorganized right now, but overall it will be a good experience and enable Todd to learn what he needs and wants to learn. We even went to a Welcome dinner last weekend and got to take the girls with us.
Here is a photo with 3 of the other 4 residents with Todd.


The girls got to wear their special dresses and looked so cute.


That is all for now, we will try to update more often, sorry we are slackers....