Swimming with Cousins up North

The week of the fourth has been a tradition that the girls and I spend the week at Grandma Nichols. The Nichols Cousins usually come too. Tara found a new water park at the hotel in Baxter. It was perfect with a lot of variety for the older kids and younger ones. I of course brought my carera and captured some fun moments.

Gardening in the backyard

We've been spending a lot of time landscaping and gardening around the yard. Darin's been concentrating on the new pond and hardscapes while I've had fun collecting perennials and tending to exisitng landscaping. I thought it would be fun to take pictures of the yard how it is right now. So in years to come it will be neat to see how much things have grown and changed. I also thought it would be fun to admire the greeness and flowers in the middle of January when I'm hating the cold.

Busy month of May

On Sunday we went to the MN Landscape Arboretum. Darin was tired of projects and I suggested we get away for the day and go to one of our favorite places. The girls were reluctant at first but once there they didn't want to leave. They enjoyed climbing on the waterfalls, playing with the ducklings, running in the tulips... It was a fun time outdoors and it made Darin and my minds going for even more ideas! We have not been to the arboretum in the spring time and were concerned what we would find but oh it was so beautiful with the apple blossums, cranberry trees blooming and lilacs out. What a great time. Check out the pics.

We came across the same water fountain that I had taken a picture of Emma in front of when she was 2 years old. So I had her pose again. I thought the comparisons are neat.



We've been busy around the Hawley house. Its finally warming up but spring seems a long time oming. Not sure if its here to stay now but we are loving the warm weather. Darin has been 'burning' vacation and taking every Friday in May off to get some projects done around the house and its always nice having the three day weekends. His main project is the pond he started last year. He ordered a liner and found the pond holds water but also figured out that the process is more complex then he thought. Its been a lot of waiting for the liner to arrive and now we are waiting for the pump and plumbing parts to arrive. While waiting he has been attacking other misc projects in the yard like taking out the rock in the front yard and replacing with mulch and splitting the hostas that have gotten too big. Here are some pics I took last weekend which alas are out of date as he has dug up some of the remaining rock in the front yard.



The girls had their last dance performance of the year at a Spring show earlier in May. Both grandparents came for that which was a treat for everyone. Both girls did great dancing and are anxious to have their days with out activities back. Altho only for a month until summer activities start.



Finally, last week Emma's class went on a field trip to Ney Learning Center which is a short distance from Rockford in Maple Lake. I joined her on the trip. It was a beautiful day and the kids all walked in the woods to different stations. The stations included butterflies, mosquitos and ticks, pheasants, dnr fishing, dnr fur trading, bees, 4-H dog obiedence.. Emma says her favorite was the bee station. We also had lunch at the park what a great way to spend the day.

Spring 'Lake'

Every year we have flooding down our hill that the house sits on from the Crow River. This year was no different. Altho we've seen it higher it was higher then last year. In fact Katelyn came in this afternoon all excited that the lake was back and there was more of it! How cute. I remember last year there being more creek flowing thru. So here is a picture of the 'Lake' at sunset. It so neat to see it out the windows throughout the house. Especially during the daytime when it shimmers. What I found funny about the picture I took is the canoe must have been lit by the sun just right because its the brightest part of the picture.

Thursday Skiing at Sunshine Village, Banff

Here are some pics from Sunshine Village Ski Resort. Sunshine was a very unique ski resort unlike any we've been to in the past. We parked at the bottom chalet and then rode a 5km (3 miles) gondola ride up to the main village. Kate decided she did not want to ski today so she went to childcare where she had a blast playing with the other kids. The rest of ski'd until the mountain closed. Check out the pics there are some great action shots of Darin and Emma skiing. Kate was also being a goofball on the gondola ride back down at the end of the day.

Wednesday in Banff

We hung up our ski's for the day and made reservations to go dogsledding. How exciting a new adventure for us all. They picked us up a the lodge at 10am which was nice to be able to sleep in and have a relaxing morning. Darin cooked us all bacon and eggs. Its been so convenient having a full size kitchen in our room. In fact we went out to eat for dinner and it took 2 hours! We kept thinking how much quicker and more relaxing it would be in the room.

Once we were picked up for dog sledding we drove to Canamore which is about 20 minutes away and then we drove further into the mountains. A lot further. We had just gotten 6 inches snow and the roads we were traveling were barely plowed. The temp was nice around 30 so it was very enjoyable outside. Once we arrived we played with the beautiful dogs and got instructions. To our suprise they needed a lot of people to drive the sleds. They had six sleds and they would have a professional at the front in sled one and another at the back in sled 6. Darin, Kate and I would be in sled 3 and Emma was assigned to sled 1 the lead. She and another girl her age took turns tandom driving. Darin drove our sled the whole time while kate and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I had brought both cameras with a telephoto on one and the wide angle on the other. Needless to say I was having the time of my life. It was amzing how excited the dogs were to get to work. When they saw us get into the sleds they knew it was time and all 60 of them started barking and howling. Everything was voice controled. 'Heal up' was the command for lets go. You also were encouraged to tell them good job by saying 'Good puppies'. and Whoa was for stopping. There were no reins just the sled attached to the dogs. when you went up hill the driver needed to get off and run with the dogs to help them and when you went down a hill you needed to ride the break which was at your feet so it didn't run into the dogs. turns you would lean. You also needed to watch for when the dogs needed to go to the bathroom and stop to let them do that. The whole process was amazing and that we could participate in it so quickly and fully. We sledded for about 45 minutes to a lake in the mountains and stopped for driver switching and picture taking. Then we were off again into the snow mountains. When we returned we had a bonfire next to the lake with cookies and apple sider. I was sad to see it end.. what an awesome time.

Once back to the lodge we headed into town for a nice restaurant called The Maple Leaf. It was probably one of the nicest restaurants the girls have been to so it was fun teaching them about proper manners. Thankgoodness for the ipods to settle the wiggles. We were proud of the girls for trying things. There was no kids menu! Emma had maple syrup salmon, kate had King Crab, Darin had elk and i had a mushroom pasta. Kate ended up switching with me as she didn't like the crab.

Our last activity of the day was to go the Upper Hot Springs Pool. It was an outdoor pool thats water was supplied by the underground hot springs. The water in the pool was natural minerals so no chlorine! The temp was about 30 degrees F outside and in the pool it was 101 degrees F. It was so relaxing and we are considering going back tomorrow.

Well that was our non skiing day.. jammed packed but lots of fun. As we were heading back to the lodge we saw some elk and I got a few pictures. Its funny we see deer everywhere in town they are usually on peoples front lawns.

Next on our agenda was to go to the

Skiing

We've spent the last two days skiing here in Banff. I'm just going to post some pictures. Emma has been really into journaling and blogging so I'll let her tell the story. See the older posts as we just updated them with her journaling. These pics are from today. I hope to get Monday's up there soon.

Sunday in Banff

We arrived in Banff around 10am today. Much earlier then we predicted because we left Friday night instead of Saturday morning. We weren't sure what to do with ourselves. So we found the resort, drove around banff, found one of the ski resorts and ended up at the famous Fairmont hotel on Lake Louise for lunch. Course then looking across the lake we saw a frozen waterfall. Doesn't look that far! uhhhoh.. seems like we've made this mistake before. The walk was s bit long and slippery across the lake but it was beautiful and the 30 degrees outside made it very enjoyable. Course once we arrived we figured out the horse drawn sleigh ride that mom wanted to go on would drive us right there... uggg. We got some great pictures. I ventured off to a smaller frozen waterfall while Darin played with the kids on the bigger one. On my walk back I hear these yahoo shouts for joy. Which was Darin and the girls sliding down the waterfall on their butts.. can't do that in MN. I did capture some pics of that. Exhausted from the walk we drove to the resort to check in. I took the girls to the indoor playground maze and the water park while Darin went the grociery store to pickup some things for easier breakfasts and dinners. It was great first day. Tomorrow we will ski.. not sure which mountain we will be going to tho but we'll figure that out in the morning. I have posted some pics so check them out.

Almost There

Written by Emma...

I was so tired and did not want to get up, but I did eventually. Dad got some jelly filled biscuits for breakfast. After showering and brushing our hair and teeth we only had about an hour left of driving. Just as we were heading out of the town we noticed that we were empty on gas. It was a good thing that we didn’t have too much more road to cover. About a half hour later we arrived in a town that we hoped would have a gas station but ended up not having a single gas station. The next town we thought wouldn’t have one either but it did. After that it was 15 minutes to the Banff National Park.

Lunch in Alberta

Written by Emma...

After so long we arrived in Alberta, a province in Canada. Provinces are like states in the USA. We stopped at Burger King to eat lunch. I have to admit it, I loved the playground there. It was my favorite part of Burger King. Anyways after lunch we drove for a while and then went to a motel called Thriftlodge. We were not as tired as the last day, well at least I wasn’t. The total number of hours driven today was 16 hours. And still the trip has just begun.

The Sights, Canada

Written by Emma...

The rest of the way was a long drive. Then it came, I could not believe that we had just reached Canada. I wondered... do they have a long red line that separates the two countries? did you go threw a large building that scanned you and inspected you? or was it just a big sign that said WELCOME TO CANADA? Well, we drove up to a small building that looked like a bank drive through. An officer came up to the window and asked us a couple questions and checked our passports then said we were free to go into Canada. Would Canada be any different from the USA? Well I hoped to find that out on our journey. The levels of ground were bumpy and hilly and beautiful. There was the world's largest tepee and I got to see it all from the front seat because mom let me sit up front for the first time. Yeah!

Snickers, Target, and Bagel Shop

Written by Emma...

About an hour after we left Valley City we all decided to eat a snack out of our huge snack bin, so we had some snickers. About a half hour after that Kate gave us a surprise and threw up her snickers.

The next big event was the bagel shop. Around noon we stopped at a bagel shop in Minot to see if we could find anything that wouldn’t make us throw it up in less than an hour. So we went in to find wonderful pastries behind the thick glass. I didn’t know which one to chose. I finally chose the caramel roll, Kate got a frosted roll, and the parents got coffee and a bagel that my mom said was amazing.

After the bagel shop mom needed to get some things and we needed to change into new clothes which we had realized that we were still waring our cloths from yesterday. So we went to Target to change and buy what we needed, when we had just remembered that we hadn’t gotten a chance to brush our teeth yet. So me and dad went back out to the parking lot and dug out the tooth brushes. And guess where we decided to brush our teeth? Right there in the parking lot of Target between the cars. We used water bottles for rinsing our mouth and spit out on the tar.

On the Road Again

Written by Emma...

I woke up to the sound of the TV. Then out of the blue my dad jumps on me and yells “rise and shine sleepy heads!” I got mad and then he jumps on my little sister Kate, and finally mom... that was a big mistake. He finally gave up and went to get himself some breakfast at McDonalds. When he got back he got us up and back on the road again.

Banff - Day One

Written by Emma...

Our family has taken few trips driving and this was one of them. We would be driving for two and a half days. On the first day we set out on our trip to Banff it was on March the twenty-seventh. I wondered what driving for more than just a quick trip to Buffalo for cat liter would be like. I found out that a four and a half hour drive was pretty boring. We just listen to our iPods until dinner at subway. After dinner it was pretty much back to iPods so for three and a half more hours; it was silent in the van. The goal of that day was to cross the the Red River. The Red River had been flooding houses and causing many bridges to close. But lucky us we found a route that led us to a bridge that was moving us closer to our destination and getting us across the Red River. We drove for 1 and a half more hours after crossing the river and it was getting late so we called in to a hotel and got us a place to sleep for the night. When we arrived at the hotel we realized it was no ordinary hotel it looked like a camp site to me. There were 5 long houses the size of an ordinary cabin in a camp. We quickly checked in and fell asleep right away around 10:30.

Banff Vacation

Written by Emma...

Our family has taken many trips but this year the family trained for a vacation. You may think, what trip do you have to train for? Well the answer is Banff. This March our family is going to the mountains in Canada to the town of Banff to go skiing. During the winter we had been practicing our skiing techniques and taught Kate the youngest how to ski. After so many ski trips to Powder Ridge my parents decided we were ready to take on bigger hills.

which way to go?

We are on the eve of leaving for a week long vacation in Banff, Alberta Canada. We have decided to drive, altho we may be regretting that decision. Our plan has been to go thru North Dakota to Canada. Unfortunately the Fargo area is experienceing the flood of 2009 which has of this writing has exceeded the 1997 record. Yikes, Darin and I lived in Fargo at that time and know what a mess that can be. So if we go the alternate route up 35 thru duluth and to Winnepeg we add 3-4 hours more to our drive. Uggg. The raods in Fargo say no travel advise. They got hit with a storm this week too. So thats our delima today. Besides the normal headaches of trying to wrap up work things, the house, pack, pets, kids... We may just decide the minute we walk out the door depending on which way the wind blows .. ha

Basketball Season comes to an end

We ended the season with a State Basketball Tournament in Zimmerman, MN this weekend. The team was guaranteed 3 games and if they did well would be able to go onto the championships. Which they did! They ended up winning 2nd place! The games were so fun to watch (and photograph). There were seveal nailbitter games that were determined down to the wire. The girls were introduced to more full court defence moves and tougher teams. It was a great experience for them. Below are their game scores for the weekend: Emma is dissappointed the season is over, she said "just as I'm getting better and better its over.." We welcome our Saturdays back tho!


Feb 28th, 2009 Game 1: Rockford 24 Elk River 7
Feb 28th, 2009 Game 2: Rockford 10 Prior Lake 15
Feb 28th, 2009 Game 3: Rockford 15 Waconia 13
March 1st, 2009 Game 4: Rockford 24 White Bear Lake 18
March 1st, 2009 Game 5: Rockford 12 Chanhassen 23

Dance Show

Both girls had dance performances at the winter show this weekend. Emma's kick team only had 5 people out of 12 show up and her jazz only had 4 dancers. But the girls still managed to have a good time.

Spotlight on the Arts

Throughout the year at the girls school each grade has a performance called Spotlight on the Arts. Part of being an Art Magnet school the kids get to participate in several 6 week courses where they get the opportunity to experiment many facets of the arts. Of course we are so proud of Emma. She performed a trumpet ensemble, sang a solo in the choir and had her art piece title "Indigo Sand Burst" printed on the program and displayed in the hall. Its amazing to see all the kids getting more and more comfortable with the stage and discovering their talents. The theme of the program was Martin Luther King and at the end of the program the audience listened to a portion of his "I have a dream" speech which was very moving.

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

We celebrated Kate's birthday at the end of January. She was super excited to have a party this year with her friends. We didn't have one for her last year as we were on vacation over her birthday so going two years with out a party made this year very exciting! I just love this age with birthday parties.. its all she's talked about for the three months. She invited eight of her friends to come to a gymnastics Gym in Buffalo call Gym-Nation. We went here three years ago and it was a lot of fun. They keep the kids busy with games and activities and then we do cake and presents in the dance gym. She loved jumping, swinging, tumbling, yelling, skipping and running with her friends. Its hard to believe she's 7 years old. Time just flies... She's a light in our life and this past year she has grown so much. She still keeps us busy with her activeness but she has surprised us about how smart she is and her love for learning. She also has this knack for remembering things too... if you tell her something three months later she'll remember it. For her birthday she remembered every day who had called to RSVP and who hadn't and would remind them when she saw them at school! Above are some pics Darin took at her birthday party (thats right I let him have the camera!)

Basketball

Emma has been working hard at basketball. She ends her regular games this weekend and then has 2 tournements that go into March. Every game she appears more confident. This weekends game I was so proud of her she had the ball passed to her and did not even hestate and went right to the basket. She even got fouled and shot the free throw. Way to go Emma! I haven't posted pics of the last four weekends but here they are below.


January 17th January 25th January 31 February 7th

Sledding with Friends

The kids had Monday off school because of Martin Luther King day. I am so thankful that I have the flexibility of owning my own buisness so when these no school days come up I'm not scrambling where they will go. We relaxed most of the morning, well I slept in so that is the ultimate relaxation for me! Then our friends the Peichels called to see if we wanted to go sledding at a hill close to them. Sure! Given the past week's fridged temps tho I had to ask what the weather was like outside and to my suprise it was a beautiful day 20 degrees, no wind and sunny. Perfect!

So we threw the sleds in the back of the van and took one look at Bronson's sad eyes and told him he could come too. He loves to play with Hershey's plus maybe he'll get wore out. Once we got to the our friends Joe started up the 4 wheeler and proceeded to haul the kids to the hill. The picture above is where Joe (and I'm sure the kids assisted) creatively strung 3 sleds together for the ride. The hill we go to is just across the dirt road from Kim's farm and once you get on top the view is spectactular panoramic.

Kate went down once and decided that speed is just not for her and she commenced to playing in the snow. Kate is our loud and adventurous child but suprisingly she's does not like speed or fast motion. Emma went down the hill a few times but then complained her hands were cold..well those knit gloves don't do much. Overall we had a great time and glad we got to enjoy the winter activity with friends. Bronson did get wore out.. he and Hershey's were trying to find rodants in the snow.. Hershey's actually found and snacked on two!

Basketball Tournament

Saturday Emma had a basketball tourney. Her team won 4th place out of 8 teams. They won their first game and lost the next two. I can definately see improvements in all the players with increased confidence and better understanding of the game. Her first game was at 8:30am and we were back home around 4:30pm.. so a long day of basketball. Emma did well, she stole the ball several times while playing defence and had a couple of attempts at making a basket.

I had fun playing with the settings on my new camera to find the right settings. I'm also so happy with how new camera is performing as I can really push the settings to get the fast action shots. Darin and I did some research on best settings and I think we've figured it out. They say basketball photography is one of the hardest because of the low light and fast action. One of my favorite pictures is of Emma at the end of the last game and they knew they were going to loose.. She looks dissappointed and very tired. If a picture says a 1000 words!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!

We welcomed the New Year in our with our annual get together with our dear friends the Peichel Family. This year we also invited Grandma and Grandpa Nichols to come join in on the festivities. I think Grandma was reluctant in coming but once they saw how fun we are they were glad they joined us. We opted out of the fireworks this year because it had been blow zero degrees outside and we couldn't find the fireworks in the stores (odd). The kids immediately melded into entertaining themselves. And the adults prepared dinner, chatted and just had a good time. After opening gifts the kids settled down for a the movie Kung Fu Panda which was entirely enjoyed by all. The adults played the annual poker game. This year there was an upset on Kim's championship tho.. Grandpa Nichols was the big winner even tho he had a few tricks up his sleeve and liked to tease poor Grandma (shocking I know). After officially welcoming in the new Year we headed off to bed with our critters. Morning came early tho, I think I heard Chip up and talking in Katelyn's room at 4:30 in the morning! But I rolled over dismissing it entirely. ha For breakfast Kim made this fabulous oven bake pancake and bacon. I need to get the recipe from her!


Then it was off to Powder Ridge in Kimball, MN for some downhill skiing. This time Grandma Nichols and myself actually went skiing instead of talking it up about how fun it would be and then residing to the comforts of the chalet. We had a great time! Grandma hurt her knee and quit a tad early. But she kept saying what a fun day and she was glad she was convinced to come to our festivities. Katelyn wanted to stay on the bunny hill all day but Darin convinced her to try the bigger hills and take the chair lift to the top. She was glad she did.. and that she held out for the donut bribe from Darin! Darin got a harness for her and was able to let her ski much more independently without breaking his back.

What a perfect way to bring in the New Year with Family and Friends. I hope the year is a great one!