The Final Banff Post (Finally!)

I just love that picture. I call it "Jack in Tent".

Wow, what a happy looking family.

They spent the next 2 days hauling bootay back to Minneapolis.

And, this is what I did on my summer vacation.

My Little Track Star

I heard it started with a Miller Lite ad

But, our little Ginger Pye is a natural! Yes, she came in 2nd place, lost only by a nose, against 40 other wieners. Full size ones, too!

Ok, that's not our wiener, but they sort of all look the same, so pretend one of those red one's is Ginger Pye.

Giving the girl her kudos after winning the first race, she made it to the finals!

Ginger and Jack with her new trophy. Proud Mom and Oscar look from the sidelines.

I just really love their shirts, "A Clean Wiener Is A Happy Wiener" how true that is.

We're hoping she makes it to the Wayzata Annual wiener dog races.

We'll keep you posted!

Day 4.5, I think, and Part of 3

I had to back up a bit to day 3, since I forgot to post some important pictures, such as this one.

That's my boy.

And, finally figured out what to do with my hair.

Are YOU in a group of 6 or more? Because, if you aren't, a bear will eat you.

The water, I just couldn't get over the color of the water...this is also what I looked at for 70 hours, thought I should share.


So, yeah, we road up the side of a mountain in that thing.

This is what it looks like when you are on the top of the world (lookin, down on creation and the only explanation I can find, is the love that I found ever since you've been around....oops, sorry)

Ross spent a lot of time texting with a girl he met at camp. Apparently, reception was really great at 10,000 feet.


This is Todd explaining geology to Jack. Shale, layers, rocks, blah, blah, blah... Not my thing, but Jack was way into it.

Isn't he cute?

Don't we look happy? It's because we hadn't seen any bears. This concludes day 4.5 of Banff Family Trip 2006.
Stay tuned for day 5 "We're heading home."

I know, I know, you can't wait.

Day Four, I'm in a Reality Show...

Quote from Amy, hiding in a tent, kinda like the photo/camcorder thing in the You Are In 1800's America series, which is the only reality series I've ever watched (I think that was about 5 years ago, too):

"Ok, day four…

I'm still alive, Todd and I haven'’t killed anyone (most likely it would have been each other, and I am sitting in a tent at 3:00 in the afternoon in Jasper, Alberta, Canada. Mountain Time)

I am sick of being in the car.

I am sick of living out of coolers.

On top of it all, I got my period.

Thankfully, the last 2 nights we were staying in these really cute cabins just South of Banff. The town reminds me a lot of Breckenridge. Very cute, though the hot guys walking around were more of the hippy tree hugger pony tail type, rather than the svelt shaggy haired bad-boy snow boarder type found in Breck. Not that there'’s anything wrong with either one, though, I think I am the old, "what the hell is SHE doing here", type.

Today, we awoke at the butt crack of dawn and high tailed it up the Ice Fields road thing to Jasper. Tomorrow, we high tail it home. I'm getting rather tense, because Todd keeps forgetting what day it is and how fast we need to get out of here.

We need to be home Wednesday night. Right now we are in the middle of BFE Canada and there'’s no quick way to jump south and go home.

Canadians suck at road signs.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.

There are of effing lot of foreigners up here. Ok, yes, I know, I happen to be one of them, but there are some hard core bicyclers, hikers, and other people that dress entirely in Gore-tex and bungee cords. Then, there are the happy family foreigners” that don't seem to know what the hell they are doing and are your typical American tourist floral t-shirt wearing dorks, except they are wearing suits and clothes nicer than I wear to work. They can'’t drive their rented RV's, and they hike in a three piece suit. I think they are from Eastern Europe. But, maybe it'’s hell, since they are just here to stand in line, ask lots of stupid questions, and block the freeway.

It's been 4 days since I'’ve used a hairbrush. I think I could grow dread locks in few more. One of those little items I forgot and haven't found one I can commit to buying.

I think I need a vacation from my vacation.

I miss the wieners."

Ok, so I promised you more pictures:

I TOLD you the water really looks like that. I spent HOURS trying to get this picture from a moving vehicle, so you better appreciate it.


See?? Really Perty.

So, for about 150 miles or whatever that reverts to in kilometers, we saw the above. It was so awesome.


Here is the picture of Todd taking a picture of the perty water and mountains. I could have gotten the one with bubba the belly in it, but he would have had a cow. Mooooo.


And the WILDLIFE! We saw several really fat chipmunks, a gopher, some elk in a pen, a ton of deer, and a dead birdie on the truck grill. Since we saw no grizzly bear, I'm good with that. Except, now I have the Carpenter's song "I'm On The Top Of The World" stuck in my head, and since that is WORSE than the Grizzly Adams theme song, I think I'm going to go bang my head on the wall to stop the pain.

Banff Day Three...Why Am I Here Again?

This is Lake Louise. See that canoe out there? The one kinda in the middle and then the one right next to it?

Yeah, that's not us.

This is us:

Nice, dry land. I like dry land.

The water loses a lot in the translation. Actually, we discovered on day 4 (soon to come...I know, it's like waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to come out, but be patient) that you can only see the brilliant aqua blue when you are more above the water...

Ok, ok, I'll give you a little peek, don't tell:


I said a LITTLE peek, so that's all you get.

So, in addition to BAD HAIR 2006, we now have Amy Has The Grizzly Adams Theme Song stuck in her head 2006.

But, really, that's what came into my head every time I turned around and saw this:


You know you hear it, too.

Day Two, I Forgot A Hairbrush...

We made it to Banff on day two...it was early evening and we drove around getting lost looking for a place to hunker down for the night.

Here in America, road signs are easy. They put the name of the road AND where it leads. They are bright green and reflective. Canada, not so much. The signs were brown and blended into the background. Nothing made sense when we got there as far as signage and maps go, so we drove around and swore a lot.
We finally stopped and asked for directions and was told there were a lot of BEARS. LOTS OF BEARS...GRIZZLY BEARS.

Um, great.

So, the idea of camping in Banff lost some of it's excitement, that and the fact it was supposed to be 39 degrees that night.

Todd: (Driving through a campsite) What about this place? Lots of wood over there..should be fine.
Amy: Sure, but I'm sleeping in the truck.
Todd: What are you talking about? We'll sleep in the tent, it'll be fine.
Amy: It's going to be under 40 and there are bears. Let's all sleep in the truck.
Todd: I don't know why you are worried about the bears, I'll just throw you to him first and we'll all be able to get away safely.

So...

We finally found this place: Isn't it cute?


We stayed in there for 2 nights and it was fabulous. Todd took the boys exploring and they found cougar tracks. Even though Jack is the huge cat lover, he didn't want to go cougar hunting. Go figure.

Not much else to report, we made it, we got lost, several times, and I am not responsible for the state of my hair for the next 5 days.

Day One O'Montana

We arrived pretty much with incident in lovely Fort Something Montana and, though, the wild deer were trying to kill us by throwing themselves in front of our car, we made it to the campsite to watch the moon rise. Photo courtesy of Ross. The stars were AMAZING that night!

Then, the next morning, we woke to this:

Yeah, so we packed up and headed to Banff.

Day two soon to come.

I Escaped The Farm Early Today...

then, I ran around Lake Harriet with Todd! I know! And, yes, I mean the guy I'm married to. Don't die of shock. He made it almost 2 miles! I was so proud. Though, I think the reason he came with is because I mentioned the eye candy.

So, the blog update this week (ok, I really started this Monday and had to change my run around the lake in the rain to the run with Todd)...I did mostly nothing all (last) weekend. The highlight was this trip:

Yes, that would be Blockbuster. And, I made Dave WALK. He was complaining the whole way and it's about 3-4 blocks to Lunds and Blockbuster is right on the way. I think it was the 105 degree heat that made him so crabby. We needed sushi grade tuna and someother stuff and Cub seemed SOOOOOO far away.

Dave's favorite shirt "Rode Hard Put Away Wet." Ew.

What do you mean you can't find me in your system? Morons.

So, on we went to Lunds and the nice butcher helped up pick out a big ole cut of raw fish.

Mmmmmmmm, fishy.

I didn't even know Dave took this picture. I was deep in thought over what I was supposed to buy and then..DUH! Look at the list!

I'll give you a dollar if you can tell me everything that's on the list.


Then, we met up with the Master Sushi maker. And, he isn't even from Mexico! Ha, Ha, Ha. No, in all seriousness, a friend of mine has a rule:
Never buy Asian food from a Mexican nor Mexican food from an Asian.
Words of wisdom for the day.

Ok, I lied about the dollar, because all you have to do is look at the next picture and you can see what I bought.


I look a lot happier than at Blockbuster.
My exciting weekend trip. I know, you are jealous.

Next time, we might even stop at the Breadsmith! Stay tuned...

Stupid Human Tricks

We all know there are a zillion websites out there for just about anything you can think of. I am the queen of the google search, I love Wikipedia, and I am the go-to girl here at work whenever anyone needs to know anything that could possible be found on the net.

With that in mind, I bring a few of my accidental, really odd finds:

It's the Cats In Sinks Website

Why? One may ask? Because there are people who really like to look at cats in sinks, I guess. They do also accept cats in basins. I know you were wondering...so go ahead, submit your own cat picture, you know you want to.
Jack LOVES this website, by the way, and they have HUNDREDS of cats in sinks. I never realized how much cats like sinks. Jack also said if he caught his cat in the sink he'd turn on the water. Nice.

If you are feeling bad about how much your job sucks, go to this website:

Worst Jobs EVER.

This weeks winner:

Hi, My name is Hans Dowwen and I come from Sweden. My job is crap - literally! Yes, I am a toilet attendant. Now I know that there are many toilet attendants in the world but I think my job is worst of all. Why? Because I work in the Stockholm Constipation Clinic. So what's so bad about that - well people come to the clinic because they have not been able to crap. Sometimes there have people who have not had a good crap for weeks. An what happens - well they are given tablets and potions and have things stuffed up there bums. And what happens next - yes that's right weeks of pent up festering poop comes hurling out. This vile smelling disgusting stuff blocks up the WCs and I need to unblock it. It also comes out at such a force it goes all over the walls and floors. And who needs to clean up - yes me! So what do I get paid for this disgusting job - 80,000 Swedish Krona - about $11,000. Not a lot for all the crap I take.

Why one would apply for that job, I'm not sure...

Now, what do you do when your son refuses to believe that he's really NOT Peter Pan? Well, if you don't nip that in the bud while he's young, he will grow up to be like this man:

I think I'm Peter Pan

It leaves me speechless, and as a mother, very sad. Be sure to check out his Fashion Pages. I'm going to crawl under my desk now and hide.

Stay tuned for the next round of Stupid Human Tricks, brought to you whenever I get around to procrastinating at work.

Aloha, Friday!