Flood 2010

Owatonna experience almost 9 inches of rain in a very short amount of time over this past week. Obviously the two major rivers that run through our town had a hard time handling that and we ended up with devastation for a large part of our small community.

 

This is our power plant. It sits on a river. It’s completely unusable. Unbeknownst to me, this is where we get our secondary power, so we never lost electricity.

 

This bridge is supposed to hold foot traffic.

 

 

I did not take these pictures. In fact, I hate even looking at them. Mike Connor, a high school classmate and professional photographer, posted these on his Facebook page.

 

I don’t know what is wrong with me. I can’t stomach looking at them. It exhausts me to look at them. It makes me feel guilty looking at them.

 

There was no school yesterday and staff didn’t have to report. I spent all day catching up around home, making lesson plans, updating my grade book, updating my website for school, creating smart board lessons…….and felt guilty the whole time. I felt guilty that we don’t have water, guilty that I had all my stuff intact, guilty that I can’t do more to help. I had one friend that got some water and they caught it super early so they saved most of their stuff. I am going to call her today to see if there is anything I can help her with. Otherwise, I don’t really know anyone personally that was affected.

 

We ran to grab some supper when Mike got home from work last night. I hated even driving in the town. I knew they had asked people to not drive around if it wasn’t necessary and I hated it. Mike drove right through where that first picture was taken and I was cringing and uncomfortable the whole time. I just wanted out of there. I put the visor of the car down and looked the other direction. I know there are all kinds of people out taking pictures, documenting history, why does this make me so uncomfortable?!?

 

  Today I have to run to Wal-mart. I even feel guilty going and doing mundane tasks like that when I know others are NOT having a leisurely weekend, they are not catching up on work and household chores like I can, and they are not sending their oldest off to enjoy his birthday in the cities like I will get to do.

 

  It still feels like it’s happening somewhere else. When you look around the side of town I live on, you would never even know it’s happening. Then I watch the news and see people I know or see a business I frequent and it’s completely under water and ruined.

 

Hoping for no rain today (2/10 of an inch forecasted). It’s just gotta stop.

 

Peace out,

LB

Fall Ball

Noah has had a blast playing fall baseball. He is finally on a team where all the kids know the fundamentals, they all WANT to be there, and they all try hard every single play. Even practices are fun for him. This next weekend is the last weekend and it’s going to be sad to see it come to an end.

They were the only 5th grade team playing 6th grade teams. Think the “big kids” letting the “little kids” play. Our expectations weren’t very high but we thought it would be a great way to extend the summer ball season! They played 5 Sundays and all of the out-of-town teams came here. Plus, the earliest game played was at 11:00! No early wake-up calls! I am pretty sure a woman planned this whole thing…it was just too perfect.

Overall the season went very well! I believe we only lost 3 games all season. Husband should leave a message in the comment section if that is wrong. Or Tim, maybe you could ask Mike at work if that is right and leave a message for him! :)

The position Noah would like to play is shortstop (most kids do!). He usually gets to play it for a couple of innings each game.

 

He also did some pitching this last game. It always surprises me when he gets asked to pitch and he says yes. It also makes me very nervous. There is so much pressure on the pitcher! Some days he is really ON and some days he is not.

 

He had a pretty decent game pitching this time around.

 

We entered the season with his weakest skill definitely being batting. He had been hit by a pitch and developed a fear of the ball. This caused him to pull his head or pull out of the box and he just wasn’t getting on base.

However, after a couple of weeks, he was doing much better. In fact, I would say his fear is gone and he’s confidant at the plate now. This game he had a great line-drive down third for a triple.

 

As parents, we have enjoyed every single Sunday for the past four weeks. Two games a day and no complaints from any of us!  It’s so great to see your child completely passionate about something and find success as a result of all his hard work.

He’s been very lucky and played with a great group of kids.

Sad to see baseball be over. We just aren’t a basketball family! However, both boys still want to play so it’s time to switch gears!

Going to the Twins game Sunday! GO TWINS!!

Love.

LB

 

Catch-Up

Wowza……lots has happened since my last blog.

First, my lovely niece got married! Devon is the only niece/grandchild in the family so this was a big deal!

We traveled to Eau Claire Wisconsin for the wedding and spent the entire weekend there. We stayed downtown at the Ramada Inn Civic Center. I am going to recommend you DON’T stay there ever. It was an old, nasty hotel. Devon’s reception was held there though and the people and the food were great. So, it was easy to put up with a dirty room if it meant having a blast at the wedding reception!

~ Amazing ~

Our whole family was there, including some aunts and uncles I haven’t seen in a long time that drove a long way to be there. It was wonderful to catch-up with them and spend two days together.

Me, Dad, Mom, Rick (brother), Lisa (sister), Carrie (sister).

We had such a blast. We danced and danced and just enjoyed being together.  We don’t get together like that very often so it was nice to spend family time like that.

Devon asked her mom to be her maid-of-honor. They are best of friends and only had each other for all of Devon’s life. It was time for Devon to throw the bouquet and many single ladies crowded the dance floor to catch the flowers. I caught the whole thing……

 

 

 

 

 

How great was that? In that fourth shot when Devon has her arms out she is saying, “I didn’t even know where you were!”

I love how Carrie looked right at me when she caught it. I love how no one messed up my shot by running in the front of me. I love how it wasn’t wrecked by her turning away from me or something. And the fact that those shots turned out in the dim light with having to use a horrible flash……..miracle.

I live for shots like these! Made me very happy!

 

 

 

I feel so bad, but this is one of the few shots I got of the two of them! I don’t know what I was thinking!! Apparently I was having a little too much fun at the reception NOT taking pictures! Bud still looks good, but obviously his eyes are closed. Sorry Bud!

 

 

 

 

They made us tell stories about the groom and bride in order for them to kiss. Lisa and I got up and told a story about Devon and her love for the musical Annie. She knows every word to every song and we used to have to listen to it while eating supper (she was at my house a lot growing up). My mom bought a tape cassette player and placed it on the counter and would play it while we ate. REAL FUN for a cool teenager like me to have to listen to every night (I was 14). Ha!

 

 

Mitchell (nephew), Michael (nephew), Lisa (sister), and Matthew (nephew)

Michael and Devon are the same age. They grew up together and for the longest time were the only two little ones we had! Devon asked Michael to be an usher in the wedding and he came all the way from San Francisco. It was SO GREAT to see him.

Tracy (sister-in-law), Rick (brother), Lisa (sister)

Somehow I didn’t get a picture of my brother’s family. How that happened I don’t know! I searched and searched my camera and then remembered I took a picture of them, but it was with their camera and not my own too. Duh.

As usual, no good family photo of the four of us. Poor Connor had been poked in the eye during family pics so he is winking in all of them. Maybe it’s time for me to learn how to use photoshop to paste a good head from Connor onto the winking head. We will see……

SUCH A GOOD TIME!! The newlyweds took off for Mexico Monday. I can’t wait to hear all about their trip. My mom said she was sad the wedding was over! I agree, it was such an amazing day and a great way to end the summer of 2010!

After a day to recover (did I mention we high-tailed it back to Owatonna for a 10:00 baseball game for Noah?) we started to gear up for school! Hard to believe Noah is already in his last year of elementary school! Next year he will be in my building and I CAN’T WAIT for that! I think it will be so much fun to have him there everyday. Connor is in 2nd grade this year and I am just hoping to still be upright by the time he gets to my school.

 

Noah has two more weekends of fall baseball left (which makes us sad because we love watching him) and we will miss the final weekend because we are taking my parents to a Twins game. Connor starts football tomorrow. SUNDAY SCHOOL starts this weekend. Mercy Me. Wish us luck with that one.

 

Hope you enjoy the weekend. I am exhausted and looking forward to some down time.

 

Peace,

LB

End of Summer

 

We made it to a Twins game! We got lucky and attended on a day where the humidity had dropped so we were happy about that. We did learn a few things about finding a good seat at Target Field.

#1. Spending a lot of money does not guarantee a good seat. We were two rows from the field. Sounds cool, right? Not so much. We were on the third base side so that meant turning your head sharply to the right every time someone was up to bat. After about two innings of that, my neck hurt.

#2. Spending lots of money does not guarantee good seats. Being two rows from the field means you have a hard time following the ball. It’s just too close! Who knew that being TOO close was even possible.

#3. Spending a lot of money does not guarantee good seats. If it’s a day game and you are on the third base line two rows from the field…..you will be in the sun. The whole time. It’s gonna be hot. You will sweat. You will leave with a headache. You will spent lots of money on liquids.

So, basically the moral of the story is you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get good seats. In case you missed it.

We did have fun though. I knew an outdoor stadium was not going to be my favorite thing in the world (I liked being spoiled with perfect 70 degree temps, no sun, no sunscreen, no headaches) but the stadium is nice and the seats are way nicer with more leg room and comfort.

We saw Oakland play. Unfortunately the two games we have tickets for the summer…..you guessed it, both Oakland.

The Twins won and are continuing to do well this month. Next game isn’t until September and Mike and I were sure to scope out the seats we have for that game and they are in the shade and higher up! Woo Hoo! We are bringing my mom and dad so that will be a lot of fun.

We have still been going to twice-weekly speech therapy sessions for Noah. Last week all of the same issues came back after being gone for most of the summer. This was pretty heart breaking and frustrating. Not sure why they are back, we never know why, but we will keep plugging away and hope for the best. I think I will meet with his 5th grade teacher about it before school. This is the first time I have had to do that. Makes me sad for my boy.

In other news, Noah got asked to play fall baseball! We are all pretty excited. 12 kids got asked and they will play against teams a year older than them. The games are only played on Sundays and are always played in town (how they got all these towns to come here every weekend is beyond me, but it’s great!). Noah has LOVED being on this team. He loves practices even, which shocked me. He said he likes that everyone wants to be there, tries hard, plays well, and works at getting better. First double-header is today so I am curious to see how this goes! I am kind-of nervous about “bigger” kids playing against them but we will see!

The local fair has taken up most of our week this week.  We only go in the evenings, and only go for a couple of hours. We are obviously not big fair people! At least we are all on the same page and no one is disappointed when we leave. 2 hours is about all we can take. The food was great, the weather was incredibly hot, and there were only about four rides the kids liked. We are wondering if those wristbands are worth it anymore. We spent $40 for a wristband for rides for the week and they probably rode only $25 worth of rides all week. Next year we may try just getting tickets.

My classroom is ready to go. I always try to have everything in my room done so I can focus on curriculum and lesson plans the week of work shop. I am starting to get so sad about losing my lazy days of summer. We will also be starting Sunday school for the first time this fall. That’s stressing me too. I am hoping it all goes well and I don’t regret my decision to sign them up. Connor will do a football skills class on Saturdays so the poor boy will not get any sleep-in days for awhile…..I should have thought that out better. That kid lives for sleep-in days and asks every night if it’s a sleep-in day the next day. Poor guy…….

My only summer chore left to do is organizing the kids’ clothes. I need to go through and get rid of some stuff and find a new way to organize it all. Maybe this week I can work on that. I am making the kids help….should be interesting.

Next on the agenda is my niece’s wedding! Labor Day weekend is going to be crazy busy and so much fun. I can’t wait! It’s going to be in Eau Claire and some relatives I haven’t seen for awhile will be there. I found a cute dress so we are ready to go!

Tonight is the BIG night and Favre is back! Gonna enjoy watching him take the field for a couple of plays in the preseason game tonight. We got a new TV for downstairs so I think we will enjoy the coolness down there after two ball games today! GO VIKES!

Peace,
LB