Around the same time period, Jayden and Josie got pink-eye and then gave me the pleasure of experiencing it too. Needless to say Josie ended up getting it twice and Jayden three times before it was all said and done.

Kim’s Mom had surgery back on the 19th so I watched the kids (I took last week and this next week off from work) while Kim went and waited with the rest of her family. We took the kids to see Grandma Pat that afternoon and then went back again that night to help Kim’s Dad get back to our place to stay the night.

This memorial weekend was rather interesting to say the least. On Friday Kim came back from shopping with a friend and said that she had some interesting news for me. As soon as she said it was about her Dad, my heart sank as his health has been questionable as of late. The good news is no health problems that he currently has was the issue. The bad news was that he had been struck by lightning while sleeping Friday morning. Dale was sleeping when he felt the lightning bolt start up his feet and continued up through his spine and ending at his head. He especially felt it when it hit his back as he has metal rods in his spine from previous back surgeries. He told Pat that he thought his legs had blown off when it initially happened. It’s odd that he even drove himself to breakfast that morning as he was pretty incoherent later that morning. The lightning knocked the picture off the wall and left a mark on the white paint (see larger image from link above).

So we decided we’d head down to Creston on Saturday after attending a couple of graduation parties. It’s always an eery feeling going somewhere when you’re not sure what to expect. Yesterday Dale feel asleep a lot (he fell asleep with his breakfast in his lap). He also slept through Dinner. Fortunately he was doing a lot better today. He even drove himself to the restaurant for breakfast this morning.

It’s amazing that more damage hadn’t occurred and I consider it a miracle that Dale even survived. So all in all, quite an eventful month.
 

Well, we survived the blizzards 1 and 2. We didn’t even lose power over the whole deal (first blizzard), but some of our friends and family did. Our trees that were really low to the ground after the ice storm even came out of it without a trace of damage. My parents were without power for about 40 hours because of the ice buildup and breaking of the electrical poles. Luckily both my Grandparents and my Parents have generators.

The second blizzard was something to see too. We got out of work early on Thursday and then on Friday Pioneer was closed. I’m sure glad I didn’t have to go anywhere as the roads were full of snow and visibility was very poor. We did manage to make it up to Ames Saturday evening for some Hickory Park with Dave and Laura Ekhart and Tasha and Tony Vorm and all the kids (6 of them). Traffic wasn’t too bad, but you could definitely see the aftermath of the storm.

A look back…

In some ways I’m glad that we got as much snow as we did as it, to me, makes things seem like normal. Growing up I can remember huge drifts being as tall as the honey suckle trees in our grove on the farm. In fact the drifts would be so hard, the cattle could even walk on them. The gravel road next to our place would also have been packed with snow. I can remember sitting at the top of the snow and roll huge chunks of snow down the bank after the road grader opened the road. My brother and I would always watch in anticipation, as someone came down the road, to see if they’d run over the snow chunks. Doing chores was the worst part about getting huge storms as you’d have to trudge through a ton of snow carrying straw bales to bed the pigs and calves. You’d also have to scoop out all the troughs so you could feed the animals. It was hard work, but we survived and have the memories, good and bad. I think chores also took longer just because we’d play around more just to enjoy the vast landscape the wind and snow created. You can’t have all the snow without making a fort.

In other news…

Jayden and Josie have been growing quite a bit. Jayden’s I think has been trying to grow emotionally as he’s truly showing his 2 year old attitudes. He’s having at least one melt-down a day and is a “joy” to take shopping. He’s still a relatively good boy, but has his moments. We had to upgrade his play shoes to size 7 1/2 now so he’s growing despite his weird interests in food (he’d choose a salad over a hot dog any day).

Josie on the other hand, even though she hasn’t had a single tooth come in yet, will eat anything you put in front of her. She’s beginning to question baby food and would rather have “real food” (small cut-up pieces of green beans, carrots or fruit). She’s really getting a personality now and always has a big smile on her face, well, at least when she’s not mad or crying. She hasn’t crawled yet, but is really close. She does tend to migrate in reverse instead of going forward when trying to crawl.

Last weekend we walked for Amber in the JDRF in the Des Moines Sky walk system. I should say, Josie slept and Kim, Jayden and I walked. Jayden had fun in the inflatable games and I’m glad JDRF chose to get the games instead of forking over big bucks for a breakfast.

My Grandpa Minnis had knee surgery this last Tuesday. Everything went really well. But, I guess today/last night he’d been whacked out on meds or something as he pulled all his IVs out last night and then had my Grandma stop the machine that bends his knee every so often. Hopefully he straightens up so he doesn’t get into more trouble.

Sunday, we decided it was time to clean the carpets so we rented a Rug Doctor from Wal-mart. Man, what a difference it made. Looking at the dirty water wasn’t a pleasant feeling as it was much less than clean! I’m almost ashamed we let the kids lay/play on it. haha

It was nice to be able to be just a couple again for a short time. Kim and I went to Jordan Creek Mall to do some walking around and I ended up getting a ton of shirts for cheap at Dillard’s on Saturday. First time I’ve actually even gone in the store. Unfortunately, Kim didn’t find anything that she liked. Then we went to Merle Hay Mall on Sunday.

Josie’s growing everyday and eats non-stop. I don’t remember Jayden ever eating that much, but I’m sure he did. Depending on the light you can see more blondish tint to Josie’s hair. She seems to be more active than Jayden was as she likes to lift her head when you rest her on your shoulder and she also enjoys tummy time more. Who knows maybe we’ll have a crawler at 9 months instead of the 18 with Jayden.

Jayden’s loving life and we’re enjoying watching him. Yes, he does on the occasion have a “terrible two” moment, but for the most part he’s (we’re) handling it pretty well. He’s starting to get clearer on saying certain words. His favorite is probably peeezzzz (please). Hopefully he’ll continue to be well mannered. hehe

In other news, Jayden’s been rocking the house. He’s warmed up to the singing/dancing “snowpeople” (snowmen). He’s crawling up the stairs now with a little help at the top. He hasn’t quite figured out how to get to the top and crawl farther from the steps to sit up. Most of the times he’s got his collection of pots and pans strewn across the floor.

Let’s see what else…oh. Thanksgiving was good. We traveled both up North and South to visit both sides. It was good to see my Mom and Dad. Especially after Mom being in the hospital for 4 days. She was/is having problems with her gall bladder. Next week she’s having surgery to get it removed. Hopefully that will help her feel better.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning my Sister and her family were in town to visit since we aren’t traveling very far from Ankeny. We all had a great time showing them around the Metro area, as well as, the Iowa State campus. We even managed to get up to Ledges State Park.

Last Friday we had .8″ of rain and then had 1″ of rain on Saturday so we had a little bit of urban flooding. The grass is really lush and green so I had to mow yesterday. I’d much rather mow then have it dry and brown.

The weather along the lake was quite different than here in warm muggy Iowa. It was around the 50’s and 60’s on the way out to the island and got warmer inland, but not like it would have been here. Kim and I stayed at Bailey’s Harbor Yacht Club Resort which was a very nice place and I would highly recommend staying there if you ever went out that way. The thing that was the hardest on the trip was returning home going across Wisconsin on Highway 21. The roads were OK, but the slowing down for all these little towns left much to be desired. Luckily we didn’t find any closed roads going out or returning. While traveling, areas of Wisconsin received heavy amounts of rain and caused a few road closures.

More pictures can be seen in the Wolbrink Wedding Gallery

Wood floors can be expensive to refinish. I’m in the process of getting everything around to refinish our Great Room” and dining area. Let’s just say that by the time it’s done we could have gone to some exotic island. Okay, so maybe not that expensive, but it’s still takes a few Benjamins to get the job done.

Kim had another baby-2-be checkup on Monday. Everything’s looking and sounding “A-OK”. She gained an additional 6 ponds in a month and a week so she’s right on schedule.

We woke up Saturday morning to find our day was forecasted to be cloudiness and rain. So, instead of going to the zoo we opted to see what else Kansas City had to offer. We ventured upon the Union Station, but hadn’t had anything for breakfast so we went back up the road to a McDonalds (I think it’s the first time eating at a McDonalds for about 2 years). Well, we survived our breakfast without getting shot…Kim pointed out a sign on the wall that said, “Kansas City Police Work Station”. On our way back to the Union Station we saw a huge tower and decided to figure out what it was. It was the Liberty Memorial Tower. So, we took a ride up to the top of it. Pretty neat place to visit. We next made our way to the Union Station. We looked around a bit there and went to the Science City which is part of the Union Station. Next we went to Oak Park Mall near Kansas City and then ate at the Rain Forest Cafe. And finally retreated back to our hotel to relax and soak in the hot tub.

Sunday the weather was much improved and we were able to enjoy the Kansas City Zoo. We saw a lot of cool animals and got to watch the Coral Reef Adventure in the Sprint Imax Theatre The zoo concluded our stay in Kansas City and we launched for the home front.

The end.