It has been a long time...

So sorry about the delay between this post and the last one. It really was/is a goal of mine to update more frequently, but this just always gets put on the back burner on my to-do-list! So since June, we went up to Itasca State Park with Scott's parents and Bonnie, Randy and Ian. That was a ton of fun, except the flies...it was absolutely hilarious, to say the least. I made Scott go on a bike ride with the kids and I around ISP which is about 16 miles, I did not think it would be too bad...WOW was I wrong, flies were eating us up...at about 3 miles scott said he was turning around and I said no no no seriously, the flies will be gone soon, it just must be this area...but honestly it was terrible! It was the worst bike ride I can ever remember! It took forever because of all the hills, and i was pulling these two little rugrats and even if i stopped for twenty seconds the flies just latched on to me and started biiting, it was awful! I felt so bad for scott...just that i actually like forced him on this awful bike ride! But, other than that it was just great. we got lots of bike rides, runs and walks in as always! scott, randy and patrick went out with a guide fishing on some lake up there and that morning us girls and kids went and did some shopping at this little craft place that was just wonderful, I do wish i lived closer! then, in august we went up to duluth for a couple of days just to get away and we had not been up there all summer! and i kind of need a caramel apple from rocky mountain chocolate factory once a year at least! luckily we had a really nice first day but our second day it rained and rained! oh well, it was a nice little break! other than that we really i do not think did too much in august! then in september henry started preschool which he is loving! it is only every tuesday and thursday morning for a couple of hours, but it is at least something to do for him every couple days! i need a break from him and he needs a break from me!!! i also started school in september, for my Master's degree in nursing with a specialization in leadership and management. It is an online program which has been nice so far. I can do it at home sitting on the couch or where ever we are! Scott started at the same school for his masters in special education in May, and he will graduate in december of 2011. we cannot wait for that day! Our next few weeks are going to be busy too, we have my cousin colleens wedding this upcoming weekend, on the same day as my parents 34th wedding anniversary and the same day as our great-grandparents! Henry gets to be the little ringbearer, and so far he is really excited about dressing up and walking down the aisle at the church! Then the following weekend i am running in a marathon in ashland wi and we are having some friends come up to the cabin as well that weekend! so that should be fun! well...i better get going my little princess is quite fussy again today, so she does not want to me to leave her for more than a minute! she got a bug bite about a month ago and it got infected now and she has been on abx, but thankfully this morning it is looking a little bit better! well have a great day, and i will try to write again soon, katie

Albers Family Vacation

Well Hello everyone, Hope everyone is enjoying this very sultry weather!  I am not really sure how much I like it.  It is not to bad right now, I am sitting on the patio with a DC typing this and uploading photos while the kids play in their swimming pool!  We have been busy with our vacation up to the cabin last week, working, covered bridge fest, a triathlon and making sure scott has time to get all of homework done for school! 

Well Last week we left on Monday evening to head to the cabin until thursday.  we had a great time, the weather was nto jsut too bad for us but it was muddy everywhere from all of the rain that we have gotten in the month of June, so it was hard to let the kids out to play without them getting terribly dirty!  But henry got to go fishing which he loved!  He continues to ask when we can go to the cabin again!  Scott also got a few chances to go fishing which was good for him, as he needed a break from work and school!  And I got in a few runs/walks and bike rides with the kids!  The only bad part was that Henry came home with a cough, runny nose and a fever.  But that has since slightly improved, thankfully! 

On Saturday I took the kids to my cousin Lauras graduation party in Eau Claire and thank goodness they were good riders! We got to see some of my cousins and aunts and uncles so that was nice!  Then Saturday night we  got back home right in time for the Covered Bridge Fest Parade, which was lovely!  henry loved it. He was pretending he was a band conductor, it was too cute everytime a band marched by! 

Then on Sunday I did my first ever triathlon, which I was SO nervous about!  I had NO idea if I would be able to finish or not, as I had never swam before, other than taking the kids to the pool, etc!  So…I was really questioning what in the world I was doing at a triathlon on saturday morning, I wanted to turn around and go home a few times…especially when you see how fancy some peoples equipment is compared to mine!  So my swam began at about 830 I think…and it was a quarter of a mile, which really isnt THAT far, but at the same time….it was a long ways to swim!  So…my goal was to get under 20 minutes!  When my wave of people all start swimming I thought I might die, or have a panic attack because there were SO many people all around me, splashing me, making me swallow water…well…I survived!  I just kept taking it one stroke at a time, trying to do my best!  After the race a lady that swam by me for a little while at the end asked me if I saw all the sea weed in the water? I replied, “heck no, i did not even put my head in the water!” she was like what?!?! how did you not get your head in the water…I truly tried to keep my head out so I could see who was all around me and where I was going!  I ended up placing 8th in my division in the swim!?!?!? what?~?~ for a girl who had never swam before this?!?!  wow!  I was shocked!  I got out in 8:50!  Darn impressive!  Then came the biking, and it started to rain/sprinkle, and it was much hillier than i was expecting.  but I biked my 10 miles in 35:00 which was fine with me, I was hoping for 30:00, but I cant be too disappointed, was still impressive considering the fact thaty i have a pretty average bike, it is a hybrid so it does go a bit faster than a normal mountain bike, but many people had racing bikes….and it biking i dont remember my place, i want to say i was 8th again in my division, but that could be wrong!  then came the running, my strong suit!  it was a 5k and I ran quite comfortably I thought, I really booked it at the end and ended up finishing my run in 21:30 so i was quite impressed with that as well, overall in my age group i finished 4th!!!!  for a first triathlon, AWESOME!!!!!  I am still so pround of myself, it you want to see results or photos….go to onlineraceresults.com and minnefotomoments.com and it was the rochesterfest tiathlon 2010.

well that is all for now, i will post photos later! have a great night, katie

Beginning of Summer…

Hey All,

Summer is here…already!  it just does not seem possible!  Well we have been having lots of fun enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having.  We got the little kiddie pool out last week on one of our hot, steamy days and the kids have just LOVED it!  For 10 dollars it was so worth it!  Over Memorial Day Weekend we did nothing but work, because that is SO much fun!  We also did have Sean Gill’s Graduation, which for those of you that remember….I babysat those six boys when I was in HS and College, I am just totally shocked that he is already graduating and that most of the boys are taller than me!  (for those of you that care, he is going to Creighton in Omaha in the fall for pre-law.)  Then this past week we took the camper out for a trial night just to see how it all went and to see how much important things we forgot at home!  Surprisingly we really did not forget too much!  We went to Baker Park Reserve in Maple Plain, MN…neither of us had ever heard of it.  But, it is part of the Three Rivers Park District in the metro and it was wonderful! We left on Wednesday morning and go up there in time to set the camper up and make some lunch for the kids!  The campground was getting its roads paved while we were there, so henry was in heaven from the time we pulled in until we left as there were so many BIG trucks, rollers, dump trucks that he loved it!  Because of the construction they were not taking online reservations, so we were one of only three other campers in the entire campground!  AWESOME!! But while Scott and I set up the camper H and O played in the lovely Volleyball sandbox!  And it only took us twenty minutes to set up the camper so that was great!  I was thinking that it would have taken us a bit longer!  After the kids ate their lunch we headed out on our bikes to tour the campground which has about 200 campsites that are all just beautiful! There are just so many nice mature trees to provide shade that it was just wonderful!  And the bathrooms, were almost brand new and were lovely…. unlike many campgrounds that I have been to!  They even had a dish washing area, which two double sinks, and a drying area and a garbage!  I thought this was such a great idea! On our bike ride around the camground we saw that they had two nice swimming beaches, a boat and paddleboat rental, fishing pier, a great park for the kids, more volleyball courts, as well as many horseshoe pits!  After that we headed out onto the main bike trail there which makes a loop around a wildlife/nature preserve and it was beautiful!  We ended up going about 20 miles or so!  The kids napped most of the time, but on the way back we saw a few turtles and we thought Henry just had to see them, so we did wake him up to see them….he thought they were pretty cool….the turtles did not think we were pretty cool!  Then when we got back to the campground and changed into our swimming stuff and headed to one of the beaches.  The water was surprisingly warm and the kids both loved it.  They both had a little floating toy to sit on in the water and they just loved it!  We had also brought along their sand toys and they both loved that too!  I am almost certain that they both cried when we said we needed to go so we could make supper!  And after supper we of course had to roast marshmallows, because sticky marshmallows = sticks hands, faces, hair, clothes and that = lots of fun!  But the kids did go to bed surprisingly well!  And then scott and I just got to enjoy the fire all by ourselves, it was fantastic!  No neighbors …. just peace and quiet!  LOVED IT!  On Thursday we were planning to stay a bit later but Henry was just kind of crabby and Scott had homework to do so we just went to the park int the morning and then left to go home so that the kids could take a nap in their own beds!  But before we could leave, Henry needed to go fishing!  And that ended up being so much fun.  We could truly just hang our line right over the dock and see the sunnies nibble on it and take a bite!  it was just awesome!  henry even touched the fish it was great!  That was one thing that I still really do not like to do, so I would love it if he learned how to touch fish. Then someday just he and I can go fishing! But we had a fabulous time on our first camping adventure!  Now we just need to talk some of our other family members into camping and then it would really be a lot of fun! 

Then today, I went on the Tour de Pepin Bike ride with scotts mom and the skies were looking a bit ominous this morning, so i was a bit worried that it was going to be raining for the ride, as it has the last two years for her!  But, it was just beautiful! We did have a few sprinkles here and there but nothing too much and the rain really felt lovely!  We rode from Lake City to wabasha to pepin and then to stockholm.  We left LC at about 7 or 730ish and we got to Stockholm too early for the ferry to take us back across so then we decided to go on a bit more of a bike ride instead of just sitting there waiting so we headed toward Maiden Rock.  It was just great, there was really no breeze to speak of!  So we ended up logging 40 miles!  And I am really not sore at all, i was not sure if I would be or not as I do not really ride bike that far because of the kids!  So maybe next year if Pauline asks me again….I would do the 72 miler that goes from LC to stockholm and then to Hager City over the Red Wing and back to Lake City!  I think we could have done it today, but I think we were both glad we stopped when we did because the sky was go grey and getting darker just by the minute! and it ended up raining pretty much the rest of the day today!  so maybe next year! 

Well, this upcoming week looks kind of rainy again, which is okay with me. I actually just work Monday day and then have a class on tuesday for 4 hours but then I work the weekend, so I am hoping it rains all weekend long….for me….not for everyone else!  I work sunday night, get home on monday morning and pack up everything for the cabin, because then we will leave when scott gets home on Monday night i think and head on up until Thursday!  Then it is covered bridge fest in Zumbrota , my Cousin Lauras Grad party, and a triathlon…..should be interesting! I think we have a busy few weeks….so….

Hope you all have a great Start to the Summer of 2010

~Katie 

where does the time go…..

Well, I have no idea where to begin, other that I am sorry for the delay in posting!  I am finally uploading photos from the past few months so i can show you all just how much the kids have grown!  Henry turned 3 on May 5th so that has been the biggest highlight from the past month or so!  Otherwise, we have just been trying to get outside and enjoy as much of this nice weather as possible! But for Henry’s Birthday Scott brought home a delicious ice cream cake for us that evening and he got a bike from us, which he likes, but still is trying to figure out how to push the pedals!  And although it is like the worlds smallest two wheeler he is still a little short for it! He also got a set of 8 puzzles from us and a twins sweatshirt! oh and also a kids globe….which is truly the most annoying toy ever because it is ultra loud, and has no volume control?!?!? thank goodness he does not play with it very much!  Then on the saturday after his birthday we had a party here for him and all his cousins came (Gavin, Ethan, Madison, Ben, and Ian) as well as two of his little friends from school (William and Tanner!). He had SO much fun!  I was planning to do a little game with them all but they are all under 5 and with so many little kids I just ended up letting them play down in the basement with his toys, which they all loved!  Then we had our meal with cake….which I will add pictures of because it turned out darn cute!  One was green/grass with mud on it and an excavator and then I made a little pan of brownies with some mud on it and a dump truck with mud in the back.  Lastly, Henry and I made sugar cookies (which are very hard to make if you cannot even take one bite of them to know whether or not they are any good!  but everyone did say they tasted good!) but we cute them into fire trucks, sports cars, trains, and airplanes….they were pretty cute!  Then for gifts, he got way too many! He got a tractor blanket that my mom , then a wagon to go behind his Farmall pedal tractor, a twins hat, a ball and glove, trains, sand box toys, chalk, money for his dino bank, a few cute outfits, a gift certificate to toy zone and DQ!  he was SPOILED to say the least!  He and Olivia were such good kids at the party and they slept so good that night!  Then for mothers day scott got me a nice little patio set so we can enjoy the evenings outdoors!  I just love it and we have already gotten SO muzxch use out of it!  Our little neighbor girls want to join us for supper almost every night we eat out there!  The little girls also come over almost every day  vv  v vthat they are home and Henry is outside, and almost everyday they tell me that they have not eaten lunch and that they are hungry and would like a snack!  i think the other day i figured out why though…..they told me “you have better snacks than we have at our house!” and they ended up coming back with some parsley that their mom had given them from her garden for a snack?!?!?!  YUCK!  they are 6! 

Well, Have a great weekend everyone, I work all weekend long but I hope you all enjoy the beautiful weather! 

~Katie

View Full Album

b

Spring

Happy Thursday everyone,

Hope you are all doing well! We sure are!  Everyone has been healthy and loving that the weather is getting nicer all the time.  We had a great Easter but we did miss my family as they were all up at Scott and Stephanie's house for Easter but I ended up needing to trade to have this upcoming Saturday and worked an evening on Easter! But for lunch we had Scotts parents over for lunch and that worked out well!  Last Saturday Henry went to one of his friends birthday party’s and then we went to Mazeppa for an Easter egg hunt….kind of a waste of time, but he loved it! (the reason i say it was a waste of time is that he truly got like 5 eggs:) ) then on Easter morning Henry was all excited to see what the Easter bunny brought for him, and he ended up getting  some books, a kite, a MN twins baseball hat, and a couple puzzles!  He was in heaven.  Olivia got a few books too as well as a swing for out in our tree.  Other than that our week has been pretty boring. 

The house that we liked and were planning/hoping to buy if our house sold ended up getting sold or it is in the process of being sold right now.  :( darn it anyhow!  So now we are looking to see if there are any other houses that we would be interested in purchasing if someone would happen to want our house.  We have a few that we kind of like online, but have not even went to go look at and at this point in time I do not think that it is really even worth going to look at them!  We really cannot find any others out in the country that are at a price we could realistically afford. But we would be game to move i no town possibly somewhere else where there are a few kids for Henry and Olivia to play with. That is the definite downside to where we are living now.  but we will see……

Our camper is great, we have enjoyed just looking at it lately.  I am hoping to clean the inside real good next week when I am off and it sounds like the weather is going to be perfect for working outdoors!  I have been trying to look for good places to take the kids camping this summer.  The only for sure trip we have planned is to go to Itasca State Park the week after the 4th of July with Pat and Pauline as well as Bonnie and Randy.  It will be SO awesome for that!  We will have enough room for us all and some storage!  Cannot wait! 

Henry will be turning 3 soon and we have his party planned for Saturday, May 8th for supper.  So now i am trying to get all that stuff organized! 

well, i better go….Olivia thought she missed me too much the last couple of days while I was working and has taken about a thirty minute nap all day long!  

have a great weekend~Katie