Sail the Ship, Chop the Tree

A long overdue video montage of Greta chugging around the house on two feet. Also with her two favorites: Noah and Wilson.

Greta Truckin'
by houseofhanson

She took her first steps almost two months ago, but it's only been in the last couple of days that she's been able to trek from one side of the house to the other with fewer than three wipe outs. The cautious and contemplative Hanson. Not so cautious when it comes to smothering the cat. Thank goodness he tolerates her.

Violated

There were a handful of panicked moments last week when we thought our computer had been lifted from our home. It was here all along, hidden better than Kevin could remember he'd hidden it.

In the 150-second window of feeling invaded and vulnerable, three were spent worried about all the passwords and bank information. The rest were spent sobbing about all the photos stored here and the complete lack of any backup. This is not the first time this has happened.

When will I learn?

A Bed Fit for a King?

To all those who stay over at our house, the guest queen size bed is back for you. That is the good news. As you can see below, even though we upgraded to a king, I still don't see any room for me in this bed when Mr. 'my sleep number is 360' enters the room.

Stockholm

View Larger Map

After lunch today I drove down to Lake Pepin on the Wisconsin side. It gave the kids a chance to nap and I got to enjoy the first signs of fall colors. The kids woke up an hour and half later in Pepin, WI while I was filling up so I decided that Pepin was as good a place as any to stop. Pepin is the home of Sarah's relative, Laura Ingalls Wilder. There was an outdated park there with a tall slide and many 'long' and 'loud' freight trains to watch go by. Noah asked me once if Thomas was going to come down the tracks? I replied, of course not, Thomas can only be found on the Island of Sodor which is really far away from Lake Pepin. I can't imagine what was going through his mind while gazing at those train tracks awaiting an animated blue engine with a smiley face. Maybe he was thinking Harold the Helicoptor was somewhere close as well.



After Pepin we went on to my favorite small town, Stockholm, Wi, which is just 6 miles north of Pepin. It is a lovely little town that has a very mayberry feel with a progressive touch since the majority of residents are artists. Noah enjoyed a couple scoops of ice cream on the step and I had a cup of coffee at an outdoor table. For a moment there I felt at total peace as a parent.



Tourists strolled by and everyone said hi and made conversation. We spotted some more trains and strolled down the stockholm pier, which is pretty much a break wall, to end our afternoon.



I am going to try and make a point to never stay indoors with these kids when Sarah is working or away. It proved to me once again that these kids do much better outside than inside. No tantrums or whining for 6 hours. That time was quickly forgotten when Noah decided to unlock our front door and go outside while I was putting Greta down tonight. I hope he doesn't do that again. I made him well aware that it is not going to happen 'again'. Too bad the word 'again' is only understood when wanting to play a favorite song or video multiple times, rather than when doing something wrong.

Here's Mud in Your Eye

Happy 31 years to my amazing, lovely, intelligent, and wildly hilarious wife!

Cheers (American), Prost (Wisconsonian), Pure Vida (Costa Rican), Salud (Worldly), Down the Hatch (English), Cin Cin (Italian), & of course Skal (Scandihuvian)



By the way, I am taking you out to dinner tonight. We leave at 530 pm. Dress is upwardly casual. Below is a hint to where we are going:

She Loves Iams

Swinging Bridge

Kinnickinnick

Kevin has been doing all the blogging lately, and he's just not as into the commentary as I am. I'm at a loss for new observations on parenting these days. It's all just the same old, Dude, this is exhausting. Aren't you exhausted? Although, truly, much less so than we were only a few months ago. Parents of older kids tell you it never really gets easier, it just gets different. Which, of course, you never believe, until you hear yourself telling someone with kids younger than yours the same thing. Who knew that keeping Greta out of the cat food could be a full time job? I expected potty training to be painful, but honestly... this is painful. When it's finally all over, there will be a ceremonious burning of The Potty Movie in the backyard.

The O'Gara's Cabin 2008

Photos from this weekend in Garrison, MN on Round Lake.