Kevin Minnis

Okay, so it’s been a while since I last wrote…which seems like the norm so far. Today Kim had her baby checkup and things are looking good. She gained the one pound that she lost two weeks ago so the Doctor was happy and didn’t give her a hard time for losing weight. The Doctor was also pleased that all her numbers look good and the baby shows all signs of being healthy and energetic like his/her mom.

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.

Man, what a busy time it has been. Last Friday (6-11-2004) Kim and I started our way towards Door County, WI to attend one of my friend’s wedding (Dan & Rose Wolbrink). The wedding took place on Rock Island State Park which required about a 45 minute ride on the Washington Island, Island Clipper. We all weren’t sure if we’d be having the wedding outdoors or if we would be indoors on the island, but the weather cooperated and the wedding was held outside. It was quite the adventure and I’m glad that Kim and I were included. There were quite a few people from the church that I attended while living in Mason City that I got to see while out there which was fun. Some of them I haven’t seen for about 8 years.

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

We got pounded with about 2 inches of rain yesterday in about a half an hour. Man, talk about crazy. We drove around to see what else we could find, but didn’t really come across any life threatening events. So that was uneventful.

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.

What a nice long weekend. Kim and I went on a vacation together to Kansas City this past weekend, starting on Friday. The last time that I’d driven in Missouri I remember the roads being more to be desired of. And the same held true for this trip. They suck. Pot holes on most of the interstate. We got to Kansas City Friday afternoon and decided to walk around The Country Club Plaza to see what all the shops had. Then went and had supper at The Melting Pot. Man is that place ever good. I’d highly recommend going there. It’s a fondue restaurant. We had the fondue for two. We were stuffed after our meal so we decided to walk around some more then headed back to the hotel.

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.

I usually find watching the weather fun. There’s a certain rush to it, but I’m not in favor of bad storms doing damage. Last night at around 11:30 Kim and I woke up to huge wind/rain sounds. After surveying the situation we found it was actually hail hitting the side of the house with a bunch of wind. Here’s a picture of the hail on the deck. We also found a small spot that was leaking on the ceiling where the kitchen/great room roof meets the rest of the house. Any normal rain it doesn’t leak but with winds at around 50-60 mph the water made its way through. At least we didn’t have as bad of storms as people in other states.