The Fair. The End of Summer.

The SD State Fair has a special place in our family's heart, after all it is one of the reason we moved to Huron from Wessington Springs back in the mid-70's, as dad was the State Fair Manager.

Yesterday was the big kick off of the end of summer celebration, and in typical family fashion I was there from about 7am to 11pm...working our booth, emcee duties at the Freedom Stage and we hit the bullriding last night.

I don't know what it is about the fair that I love so much, but I also, in a way, always hated the fair because it marks the end of summer. The nights are cool and the days are shorter and school REALLY starts after Labor Day.

It seems like Fall is here and the clock on "lake time" is ticking...anyone want to help get the boat lift and dock out of the water...before the water gets colder?

Just like the fights at our house...

Guest Blooger Brent S. sent this video to me from the movie Never Back Down...it must have been shot from a camera phone during the taping of the movie.

Reminds me of the fights at our house. Maxim will do all these cool Jedi and Kung Fu Panda moves...then Brecken just slugs him and walks away.

Happy B-Day to my Aunts.

My aunt Gloria and Linda have birthdays only a year and couple days apart...makes me think that Grandma and Grandpa had pretty busy schedules 60-some years ago right up until about Christmas day...if you do the math.

So today Gloria is celebrating her 2nd anniversary of her 30th birthday...which used to seem old, but now that I'm 30-something 60 is the new 40....so Happy 40th Aunt Glo.

Hard to believe these 2 young looking, hip ladies are another year older...their 2 brothers on the other hand....NOW THOSE DUDES LOOK OLD, AND WRINKLED AND 1 OR 2 STEPS FROM THE NURSING HOME!

11 year reunion

The summer after college I went to Alaska to help my sister and brother-in-law at Echo Ranch...a great opportunity and time well-enjoyed in Alaska turned into a couple of lifelong friendships thanks to the Internet and e-mail, one buddy in England and the other in Canada.

One of those guys was Donovan Epp from Canada. We hit it off from the start and have been in touch on and off through the years. Trading pictures of weddings, kids, and life event type stuff.

We hadn't seen each other since I left Alaska and somethings had worked out over the last couple weeks, that Dono and family were going to be in the area. So after a couple hitches in the schedule we finally hooked up in Mitchell on Wednesday night.

The visit was cut short by some unfortunate circumstances, but we had a blast and even though our wives or kids had never met, it was like everyday friends getting together for a little pizza.

There is one picture of Dono and I from Alaska that we both have and it has sat on every desk I have ever worked at...he's in my cowboy hat, and chaps and I have this killer thrift store shirt of his on...don't ask what led up to this photo, but it is a classic.

So we took another pic in the parking lot of the hotel on Wednesday before they got back on the road to celebrate our little reunion...here are the 2 photos.

Kindergartener

The whole first day of school turned out to be a pretty big non-event for Steph and I. I walked him in, dropped off his backpack and turned him loose on the playground. He found a buddy and was GONE. Didn't even wait to give me a hug or anything.



Here is the first day of school photo, and yes that is another black eye. His right eye just healed up and is no longer black, and on Saturday night he ran into some lumber. I promise that is how it happened...I am seriously worried about people thinking we beat the kid, but both incidents happened at Grandma Penny's so I guess she has an unsafe home.


So starts the journey....oh yeah, Grandmas...you can click on the picture for a BIG version of it.

First day of school.

NEMO - First day of school! First day of school! Wake up, wake up! C'mon, first day of school!

MARLIN - I don't wanna go to school. Five more minutes.

NEMO - Not you, dad. Me!

NEMO - Get up, get up! It's time for school! It's time for school! It's time for school!It's time for school! Oh boy! Oh boy!

--Taken from the Disney/Pixar movie Finding Nemo--

______________________________

Why do I have a feeling that this will be the exchange between me and Maxim on Monday? You mean to tell me I have to have the kid at school before 8:30! I think I can do that. No more working on Montana time for me!

Yep, kindergarten starts next week. He could care less. The only long term planning he has right now is Friday's opening of the new Star Wars movie The Clone Wars. He's been talking about that since May.

I feel sorry for his teacher, she had better brush up on her Transformers, Star Wars, Dinosaurs and Army Guys. I would love to be a fly on the wall for his first week of school.

I'm not sure he knows how long this whole school thing is. I think he is expecting a week or two of activity-based fun with buddies. Reality will set in around March, when he is still going to school...then in 5th grade it hits you...that you aren't even half done with your education.

Then when you are in your 30's you start thinking about going back to get your Master's.

Every 4 years...

Those of you who were in grade school in the '80's with me...do you remember your teacher telling you that you were going to learn the metric system of measurements, and that it would replace the English Standard Measurements in a few years.

What happened to that? I'm still filling up with gallons of gas, driving in miles at miles per hour and trying to contain my weight under 200 lbs. (I would much rather be weighed in Kilo's or stones...sounds a lot better)

With the Olympic in full swing I am doing a lot of conversions in my head trying to figure out what something or someone weighs. It's really annoying to think that I could enjoy the Olympics without doing a bunch of math in my head if my teachers would have followed through a bit.

I feel that the push to continue to turn America from English Standard to the Metric system got lost somewhere in the Clinton administration's "to do list".

I wonder if the American athletes that compete in events using different measurements bother to do the conversions. I think it would be good mentally to not do them...for instance if you were in weight lifting...67 Kilos...Ohhh I lift 67 pounds all the time.

It only worked in track and field, everyone know how far meters are, until you do the 5K.

For the record, I am in the running to win a bronze medal in Olympic event viewing.

Somewhat Old Music Day...like 4 Non-Blondes old

Since I entered the digital music world a few years ago with my first MP3 player, I have found that I rarely take any CD cases with me on road trips or day to day activity. While it is super nice to have 3 CD cases full of music on one little device, I realize that I seldom listen to some really good non-current music that I have in my collection.

Like music from my college days...I just never ripped it to my computer and downloaded it to my MP3 player out of sheer laziness. Last month I put 2 of the most definitive albums of my generation on my device, Pearl Jam's "Ten" and Nirvana's "Nevermind". It had been months if not years since I had listened to either album.

So over the last couple weeks I have been pulling some "college music" out of the case and giving it some rotation on the MP3 player. A couple of old U2 discs, They Might Be Giants, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Material Issue, Rush, Seven Mary 3, Gear Daddies, The Nixons, a 2 disc Johnny Cash gem, and House of Pain.

Now when I have the player on "shuffle" and an "old song" comes on, it's like new music to my old ears...try it this weekend. Dig way back in the cd library and pull out that old 4 Non-Blondes CD...it will take you to another time and place.

Maxim vs. a doorknob

Let this be a lesson to all children reading this blog...never run away from your parents when they tell you to put your pajamas on.

But if you do run away, make sure you are looking forward not back at your parents or you will jack your eyeball on a door knob.

Last Night...right after the incident.

This morning...Brecken keeps looking in mirrors to see if something has grown over his eye too.

YO, Adrian......

Canton, SD...North Dakota's Dirty Ashtray.

Yeah, I've been away, sorry. But I do come back funny. I love Stephen Colbert's "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central...every once in a while he makes fun of places I've been to, like the Butte, MT episode and last night he made fun of Canton, SD. I actually can't think of anything in Canton except the cop that trys to bust everyone going through town.

So here is the clip...MOM, sorry about his potty mouth, but they do bleep it out.

Win-DDDD

I spent the last half of the week working in the Aberdeen and and Webster area...on early Thursday morning they got hit with a pretty nasty storm. 112 mph straight line winds for an extended period of time.

We had power out at several different towns, but Webster was the worst hit, and some customers are still out today (Saturday). Being in town right after the storm reminded me a lot of Spencer's tornado. Everyone was just walking around looking at broken stuff. (I'd put pictures up on the site, but I'm too lazy)

I actually like the emergency communications side of my job, there is a lot of energy and the days go super fast...but I don't get to see my family.

So on Friday night when I got home the boys wanted to wrestle and play...Steph had set up the slip-and-slide, and within 5 minutes of pulling in the driveway I had a swimming suit on and was flying down a sheet of plastic filled with freezing cold water. A great way to start the weekend off. The boys loved it when I threw them down the slide like bowling balls. We ate at the lake restauraunt with Papa Penny, as Brecken would call them...they are kind of like one person to him. Today is their 40th wedding anniversary. The prime rib was stellar.

We hung out on the deck for the rest of the evening enjoying some natural air conditioning, and capped the night off with a skateboard session on our halfpipe with Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda watching the boys show off.

We have some friends coming from Sioux Falls this evening, so should be a party for the rest of the weekend.

New Job Title On My Resume'

Let's start out by saying I am still up in the air about the new South Dakota High School sport of Competitive Dance Team or Competitive Cheering. I'm not gonna argue, the girl's are athletes and it takes athleticism to compete, but I find it hard to think that someday I will get to watch highlights of "competitive cheering" on the local news at night, and I will care about the outcome of a competition, or whom the state champion is.

With that said, one of Steph's friends coaches the "Competitive Dance Team" at Iroquois High School, and she asked if I would put together their dance routine music. I have watched the movie "Bring It On" and have caught some of this "competitive cheering" on ESPN 2 at 1:30 in the morning, and I kind of understood what she wanted. I like a challenge, and I have never edited a music mix of this sort, so it would be a new job title I could bestow on to myself.

So on some recent road trips I packed my MP3 player with all the Hip Hop/Dance-type music that I own, and wrote down a set list to compile the songs together...DJ style.

It is harder than it sounds, but I think I got the right amount of flow, speed, breaks, and cool samples included in the 1 minute and 15 seconds of funk that Iroquois will be the best dance team in a 5 mile radius of the town. I actually think it turned out really good.

I'm also pretty sure that my obscure taste in underground and indie music will have the girls dancing to the only mix in the state that includes music from Timbaland & L.L. Cool J., Jurassic 5, Public Enemy, Family Force 5 and sampled school bells and bomb explosions.

I guess I will be cheering for IHS' competitive dance team this year, unless someone else wants music from Lake Byron's biggest name in underground dance mixes...DJ Tommy G.

My boy Mark-O

Watch this clip...about 2:15 in you get to see Mark-O in a younger state...pretty cool to have this old video...and he's still going strong.

I fell asleep in a crib tonight.

Let's just say we have been having some trouble getting Brecken to sleep lately. I think he knows that the party dosen't stop at 9:30 p.m. when he is sleeping and it kills him not to be involved in whatever is going on.

Friday night was a late night getting home so we struggled with him. We did the right thing as parents and gave up, letting him fall asleep in our bed...then moving him to the crib.

After a day spent outside, on Saturday, I though he would collapse from exhaustion into his own bed. Nope. After his bath, he didn't want anything to do with his bed. So we faught him on it.

Steph finally got him settled enough that he would lay his head down and scream at only 50% of his volume capacity, so I took over the job of patting his back to settle him the rest of the way. Now, that is tough to do for a long period of time, because you are bent over the railing of the crib, so I decided to jump in with him.

His bed is pretty comfortable, and I must have been pretty tired, because Steph woke me up 15 minutes later...I was all curled up in a ball, and would have spent the night there if she would have left me alone. Now I am awake writing on this stupid blog at 2:30 a.m.

BobbleHeads.

Outside of the history of baseball teams giving away bobble heads, I don't really get the whole bobble head thingy, but if you want a General Lee, Oprah, Jedd Clampett, Pope BenXVI, or Tom Brokaw and Mt. Rushmore, more power to ya.

I prefer my bobble heads a little more classic in nature, even a football bobble is pushing the limits. With that said, I made these before bed tonight...for no reason at all.

Brecken had no choice, he had to be in his dad's favorite team's uniform...Maxim on the other hand has chosen the Boston Red Sox as his team, because he likes Coco Crisp...the player. He also likes Cocoa Crisp the cereal...I think there is a connection there!

Phones and Popcorn

Watch this first...then scroll down to read about it.





Click here to read more about this amazing feat.

The readers like it when I am in pain.

Saturday's post about the beatdown I received via my 2 boys caused many readers to walk up to me and say how funny it was that the boys beat me like that...glad I could give you a laugh.

Isn't it funny how we get joy out of other people's physical pain. Like when someone gets hit by a door, or falls off a bike, or someone slips on ice and breaks a hip, we laugh...and then make fun of them to their face.

I think God built us with a healthy fear of pain so that we wouldn't do things that cause us to get hurt...that being said, I have a sore back and a sunburn today. Not from wakeboarding like you would expect...I am pretty sure I got it from scooping and hauling wheelbarrows of dirt to some holes in our yard left by some tree stumps we had removed. Now why wouldn't my internal "ohhh this is gonna hurt" monitor go off before I started doing the yard work?

No more Kung Fu movies.

On behalf of fathers everywhere I am making a plea to Hollywood...no more kid movies about karate, kung fu, or any martial arts.

It seems every generation has it's karate movie that gets kids to pretend that they can control their "Fists of Fury" like some little Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. Enter the Dragon, Karate Kid, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and this year's hit cartoon...Kung Fu Panda.

For the record, Kung Fu Panda was super funny and I loved the movie (I love anything with Jack Black in it), as did Maxim and his little brother. Naturally after the movie it was time to act out the fight scenes with dad as the bad guy...which is fine...when I am ready for it.

Tonight after baths the boys wanted to do a little Kung Fu action and since mom is in Minneapolis I entertained them by turning the living room into our own dojo.

The problem with my kids and their Kung Fu is that they don't pull their punches, or know when dad is expecting to be punched. We Kung Fu'ed for 15 minutes and I was kind of done...as I was getting off my knees, I got caught with a little "Fist of Fury" from Maxim. Let's just say if I was still on my knees he would have hit me in the chest, unfortunately for me I was standing up...and he hit me hard!

I went down in a pile, clinging to life, or what was left of it. As I was reeling with the pain that every man has felt, and trys with all that is in him to never feel again, Brecken came in for the kill. Did you know that 2 year olds have a fist that is the same size as your eye socket?

I actually didn't get my eye closed in time, and I saw his fist smack my eyeball...up close! I turtled up like I was getting beat down by muggers and tried to protect my vital internal organs and at that moment Brecken followed up with a kick to my earhole. I think he broke my hammer, anvil and stirrup. (the three little bones in your inner ear)

Needless to say I cried, "No Mas, No Mas!" and ended the beatdown.

Maxim walks away and says to Brecken, "Come on brother, the battle is over." I was crying and laughing at the same time.

What happened to "gentle rains"?

For the record, I like the rain...it waters my lawn, fills up my lake, makes the landscape of Earth look prettier, washes my Subaru...etc.

My only complaint is...this spring and summer it seems like every time there is rain forecasted it includes 70 mph winds, golf ball size hail, and an insane amount of lightning. Last night was one of those nights, I could actually see the lake's waves because of the constant lightning.

Then when the thunder hits, we get a new visitor to our bed. Brecken has figured out how to escape the crib, and then wanders into our bedroom during storms, or points where he is done sleeping and wants to hang out with other humans.

He has been doing this for a week or so. One night he couldn't find the door and he ended up sleeping under his bed for the rest of the night. Steph was surprised to find him all curled up under the crib when she went in to get him in the morning.

We did get the gentle rain this morning which was very nice, but just once this summer I would like to go to bed with the windows open and the rain falling...instead of the windows closed and the hail pinging into the glass.

SIDE NOTE:
By the way there was some excitement at my Uncle and Aunt's lake in the Huron city limits today (Ravine Lake)...you might want to check out ksfy.com or keloland.com tonight to get the full "actual" story...right now the rumor mill in Huron is in full swing.

I heard 3 or 5 aliens from the planet "ROutekliNg68U" found the old snowman that used to sit on the roof of Newberry's on the corner of 3rd and Dakota submerged in the lake and they notified local news icon Mike Carroll with the Daily Plainsmen that he should do a story on it. Mike and Roger Kasa went out this morning and found something underwater, but couldn't figure out if it was the snowman, so they called over to Ida Mae's to get the cops to come out and check it out...the rest will be on the news tonight. (seriously, the stories surrounding things like this are like movie plots from the '60's, I actually heard that an airplane with "dead body surveying technology" flew over the lake and found a car and a body. If that's true that's pretty cool technology, since the body has been in the lake since '95.)

Yeah, I took a little vacation from the blog...

I don't plan the breaks from the website...they just happen. We have been pretty busy around home and I have been traveling the mountains of Montana and Idaho over the last 2 weeks, so don't feel sorry for me. I hit the Craters if the Moon National Monument yesterday, very interesting landscape. Check it out if you are in the Eastern Idaho foothills.

You will also have to go through Arco, Idaho...drop in for lunch at the Pickle Place...super good "road food". Also a place with some character and characters!

The areas I have been to are simply beautiful, the Bozeman area and Sun Valley/Hailey, Idaho area are places everyone should visit once. Imagine the Black Hills on steroids.

Brecken and Steph are enjoying some time alone this week as Maxim is staying at his best friend's house in Sioux Falls...his first real stay over away from home. I'm going to pick him up when I get back from Idaho, it will be fun to see him.

Brecken has added a couple of new talents to his 2 year-old resume...he is a huge skateboarder, and also rode the skim-ski last week. The skim-ski is a one piece ski that most really young kids learn to ride before they double ski. I'm not sure 2 years old is the right age for a kid to be skiing on his own, but he wanted to and he loved it. Thanks to Erkel and Ray-Ray for helping him get started. He might be the first wakeboarding-skateboarding-cowboy, but that would make him very well-rounded.

Can't wait to get home, get on the lake and slow down enough to enjoy what's left of summer.