I liked living in Townhouses better

I literally dug into my landscaping project I have going on at my house. See, the people that had our house before us were old. You can definitely tell they were old by the plants and landscaping they chose. It looks kinda like they went to Walmart and bought everything that was on sale on threw it together like some kind of landscaping stir fry. Anyway, a couple weeks ago I had had enough. While the girls were sleeping and Stacey was in the shower, I took a saw to an overgrown bush in the backyard. This would be the beginning of what is now known as my landscaping project.

So far I've hauled two truck loads of crappy cheap rock out to a dumping spot. I've uprooted two ugly overgrown bushes and torn out enough Hastas to choke a herd of sheep. Okay, now what? Design the layout, pick out plants mulch and pavers.
Stacey: "What do want for plants?"
Me: "I don't care. Mulch and pavers are enough. I don't particularly care for plants."
Stacey: "You're so plain and boring!"
Me: "You asked. If you want plants, get plants. But I'm not taking care of them, so make them simple and low maintenence."

So far we've agreed on the pavers. And by agreeing I mean Stacey went to Lowe's and picked out what she wanted. I'm now digging out where I've staked out for a new grill patio spot. I took Friday off and am sending Stacey and the girls away for the weekend so I can get at least the back yard done.

That's where we are now. I'll keep you posted.

Grandpa and Grandma's House

The 4th of July was a couple weeks ago, but I'm just now posting about our weekend. We had a great visit up to Clear Lake to Mom and Dad's new house at the lake.

The 4th was a little crazy in the morning, but all worked out well. We left here and met Gramma Ritter (Stacey's Grandma) in Charles City for lunch with the girls. We ate at the Chicken Ranch. It's really called Pizza Ranch, but their pizza sucks and their chicken is awesome, so I call it the Chicken Ranch. We ended up in Clear Lake early afternoon just in time for naps. We hung out in the sun all afternoon and waited patiently for the fireworks to start. I had illusions of grandeur of keeping Mara up late enough to watch them, but nothing doing. Both girls were zonked by 8pm, which is a stark contrast to our last visit, but nice nonetheless. We watched the fireworks from the deck with a beautiful view of the lake. They were great. I'm not even big into fireworks, but these kicked ass. Things calmed down soon after, and Dad and I capped off the night with a few more beers and a stogey under the stars, which seems to have become a tradition for us.

The next day was a pretty normal day, except Mom had to work. The rest of us hung out at the house. I played golf that night with Reed and Jason and had a few beers with them. Mom and Dad watched the kids while Stacey met Jenny for dinner and a few drinks. All in all, still a pretty tame night for both of us.

Friday was Stacey's B-Day. I blew off buying her a gift from the girls. Dad and I made a quick run to Mason City, and that was all taken care of. We were instructed by Mom to buy a baby pool. I thought the run-of-the-mill blow up side pool would work fine, but Dad had something more grandoise in mind. So we came home with a new toaster for Stacey and a Frog's Mouth Fountain laden baby pool. Stacey's folks and Grandma Ritter came up later in the day too, so it turned out to be quite a bash. We broke in the baby pool later that afternoon. Stacey's mom was a little nervous about Ellen in the baby pool. We're getting Pam a lawn chair with a seatbelt on it for Christmas. Dad and Gary and I took the boat out later. I skied for a while, and Dad and Gary got on the tube (not together, on seperate occassions). Mom and Dad had to go to a reunion that night, so we were abondoned by them around 5pm. Dad was less than thrilled about the prospect of this reunion. I tried to get him back in from the lake by 4:30 as requested by Mom, but dad had a stogey and a cooler with beer in it, so he was not in that big of a hurry. I think they made it on time though. It was an absolutely beautiful night that night, so I took Stacey for a sunset boat ride. The lake was like glass, the sun was setting beautifully across the lake, and the temp was perfect.

Saturday was fun filled. Dad and I took a bike ride around the lake. I was stoked that he rode with me. Y'all might know that I love to ride bikes, and to have Dad ride with me was a treat. Bikes Blues and BBQ was an event going on in Clear Lake. We poached the ride and went back for refreshments after lunch. We tried to get everyone to go on a Lake tour on Lady of The Lake, but it was too windy, so it got cancelled. We decided to take the girls to the park after that. Mara and Ellen both like to swing, and Mara LOVES to slide. There was big twisty slide Mara and I had her eye on, but the fun haters (both Grandmas and Stacey) didn't want Mara to go down it alone. I explained that she had been down slides that big before on bike ride stops at parks near our house. This turned out to work against me as I was met with piercing glares. I decided at that moment to teach Mara the word "wussy", which she picked up immediately.

We grilled out that night and hung out on the deck most of the night. Dad and I capped off the night with a final beer and stogey for the weekend. The girls were fabulous all weekend, and the weather cooperated too. We're going back there in a couple weeks to spend the weekend and are looking forward to it.

Posting seems to have become a monthly thing for me. Work is starting to slow down a little and riding is picking up a little, so maybe I'll get to this more.

Mara is talking a lot now. I taught her a couple things like "I'm pretty" and "Daddy's Cool." I've worked the last two weekends so I haven't seen as much of the girls as I'd like. Sunday was a family day though. We took the girls to a little zoo here in CR. We went to the park and played on the swing and all that stuff. It was a good day. Mara loved the ducks, and she got to see a cow and a pig up close. Pretty cool stuff for a (almost) 2 year old.

Ellen is just the same except she's eating solids now. Doesn't even want Gerber any more. She'll just have little chunks of what we're having. She's a chunk though. She's almost as big as Mara.

We're headed up to the lake this week starting on Wednesday. I'm going to take Mara out on the boat for the first time. It'll be great. I'm going to do a little riding in the mornings. I'm even playing some golf on Thursday, which should be interesting. I might have a beer or two sometime as well.