Bikers' BBQ

Last Saturday we had many of our bicycling friends and their family members join us for the day. Nine of us went on a 26-mile bike ride through Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove and Dayton. When we got back to the house, we showered and enjoyed a barbeque with hamburgers, bratwurst and lots of great dishes our guests brought to share. A special thanks to Bob Lincoln for manning the grill, and thanks to everyone who was able to attend! Such good company!



Sarah didn't much care to wear her sun hat and baby sunglasses, so daddy put them on for a spell!



Of course, Uncle John had to get in on the fun!

Snuggy and Captain Nerdo meet Princess Sarah

Caleb (Snuggy) and Noah (Captain Nerdo) were feeling frisky after their showers a couple of nights ago, and decided to hike their boxers up as high as they would go. We're going to have to monitor their sugar intake a little more closely! On the other hand, this will make a great blackmail photo for when they're old enough to bring home their girlfriends!



Sarah's new thing is putting her shoes on her hands and clapping them together. She's worn them on her hands for half an hour at a time!

Sleeping sweetie

This was a photo op that was too cute to pass up! It's amazing how fast Sarah falls asleep sometimes. One minute she was playing her game where she passes me her plastic balls and then takes them back, and the next minute she's out!

New bed for the twins

Erin and I spent this past weekend doing some furniture shopping to replace some of the items that were damaged in "the flood." In addition, we bought the twins a new bed at IKEA to replace their aging, decrepit bunk bed. Noah helped Rich assemble the bed, and Caleb and Lucas actually MADE THEIR OWN BEDS (!!!) with the new linens we bought them. They might actually want to go to sleep early this next week, until the thrill wears off!

Sarah takes her first steps!

Sarah took her first steps on her own on Wednesday, May 9th! She took advantage of our new floor and some help from mommy and Grandma Gordon to shuffle the three or four steps between them. Yay, Sarah!



Our cutie takes a break from walking to chow down some grub!



Grandpa Gordon was on hand to witness the big event, too!

Spring, and things are growing

Brains and bodies are getting bigger around here lately! Here, it's homework time.



Sarah still isn't walking on her own, but she loves to climb! Last night she got up onto the dining room table, which contained only Max's water bowl and a half-eaten container of applesauce, and made her own "applesauce stew." Before that, she had just taken a bath, so we got to dry her off again and change her clothes.



Big girl standing tall!

Geocaching, North Dakota style!

Rich went out looking for geocaches in and around Jamestown while we visited the Wynnes in Jamestown last weekend. Here's Noah holding one of the two caches he helped Rich find near the Pipestem Dam northwest of Jamestown.



A view overlooking Jamestown.



On the way to a cache near Ypsilanti, N.D. ...



Rich found a cache at the end of this point created by a sharp bend in the James River, which flows south from Jamestown through Ypsilanti. At 710 miles long, the James River is the longest unnavigable river in the world!


A couple of Ypsilanti residents graze near the James River.

A wonderful birthday gift

Rich turned 41 a couple of weeks ago, and for his birthday, Erin went out and bought him a new Trek Madone 5.0 carbon-fiber bicycle to replace his 15-year-old Trek 2100, which was getting a little long in the sprockets! Thanks, honey!



Daddy shows Sarah how to get into the aero position.

Easter in Jamestown, N.D.

The Gordons spent this past Easter weekend with Erin's family in Jamestown, N.D.! Here, the sleeping beauties grab a few winks on our way to Moorhead to pick up the boys, who spent the week with their father.



We stayed with Erin's parents, Lloyd and Kathy, at their house in Jamestown. Here we're having a pizza supper! Going clockwise around the table and starting at the front left are Caleb, Lucas, Noah, Peyton (Libby's daugher), Libby (Erin's sister), Sarah, Erin, and Zane (Libby's son).



Sarah with her great-grandma Myrtle, who lives in Minot, N.D., and was able to visit for Easter thanks to a lift from Lloyd and Kathy. Sarah loves her Nanny!


Myrtle (in center) with her two grand-daughters and her six great-grandkids.

A quiet week at home

The boys have spring break from school this week, and they're spending it with their father in Moorhead. So Sarah has been getting some quality time with mom and dad! This Friday we're driving up to Jamestown for Easter Weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Wynne, Aunt Libby and Uncle Brian, cousins Peyton and Zane, and Sarah's great-grandma Myrtle! We'll pick up the boys on the way through Fargo-Moorhead. Happy Easter, everyone!

Sarah is 1 year old!

It's hard to believe a year has gone by already, but Sarah turned 1 year old today at 3:58 p.m.! Grandma and Grandpa Gordon came through on their way to Texas and stopped by for 90 minutes for some breakfast and cake. Here's Sarah with mommy and daddy!



Here are the birthday twins! Sarah is 1, and Grandpa is 65 ... er, I mean, 28!



Sarah gets ready to dig into her cake ... we turned her loose and she eventually got frosting all over her face.



Even Grandma Gordon got slimed!


Feeling a little queasy from all the frosting!

Party prep!

Sarah is going to be 1 year old tomorrow! Today she went out with mommy and daddy to pick out the wagon that Grandma and Grandpa Wynne bought for her! Daddy put the wagon together in 10 minutes, and Sarah LOVES it! It has seating for her and her future boyfriend, 4 cupholders, and it even has a canopy for sunny days!



Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Wynne! XOXOXO!


Daddy was doing laundry, and Sarah kept grabbing folded clothes and messing them up, so Daddy took a break and decided to put underwear on his head and Sarah's! What a couple of wackos!

We are the champions!

The Brooklyn Park Pirates Squirt "C" hockey team went 3-0 at the District 3 Tournament last week in Blaine, winning first place! Noah is standing in the next-to-last row on the left side. Each boy and girl received an individual trophy, and at the year-end bowling party, Noah was voted "Mr. Determination." Way to go, Noah and the Pirates!

A busy household

Noah's good friend Connor really likes talking to Sarah and hanging out with her. We call him "her boyfriend," and he seems to like it! Sarah seems to like Connor quite a bit, too!


Connor's new cell phone drew a lot of interest from the gaggle of kids we had around one day last week. In back are Lucas and Caleb. In front are Lucas' friend Camron, then Connor, Sarah and Noah.

Big snowstorm!

Well, after nearly three years in our house, we were due for a big snowstorm, and we got it! This was our second snowstorm in a week ... the first one dropped nine inches, and this one left perhaps 14 inches in its wake!



Rich is tired of shoveling our driveway! Last night he came home from work and had to shovel away a foot of snow to get the Grand Prix up into the garage before the snowplow came by. Any more snow, and he's threatening to buy a snow-blower!


Snow piles.


Max, of course, acts like a great big puppy in this kind of weather! The snow in some places is up to his chin!

11 months old!

Here's a photo gallery of Sarah, who turned 11 months old on Feb. 18. To celebrate, she decided to do some modeling for her daddy and Grandma Gordon, who's in town to help out while Erin is in Mexico!






"Whatchoo lookin' at, Willis?"



Morning bed-head!


"Mommy, hurry home from Mexico so you can make my hair look pretty again! I love Daddy, but he has no hair, and, well ..."

Newest Boy Scouts

Last Wednesday at Cub Scout Pack 685's Blue and Gold awards dinner and ceremony, Noah and his Webelos den received their Arrow of Light and crossed the bridge from Cub Scouting into Boy Scouting. Noah's now a member of a new Boy Scout troop. Here he is with his pals and some of the members of the Boy Scout troop who inducted them. Thanks, Grandma Gordon, for the photo!

And now, "Deep Thoughts," by Jack Handey

Today, a special treat. I'm feeling wacky, so I thought I would switch gears and combine some favorite landscape photos I've taken in recent years with random "Deep Thoughts" by SNL's Jack Handey ...


"If you ever lose your car keys in a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because man, they're gone!"


(Cascade River State Park, North Shore, MN)


"If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid looking in a mirror, because I bet that will really throw you into a panic."


(Grand Marais, MN)


"Children need encourage-ment. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling."


(View from Shovel Point, North Shore, MN)


"Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head out when you're coming home, his face might burn up."


(Newport, OR)


"To me, it's a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, 'Hey, can you give me a hand?' you can say, 'Sorry, got these sacks.'"


(St. Anthony Falls, Minneapolis ... Rich often walks across the bridge here on his breaks from work!)