The Noblesvillain

...no, not those kind of bubbles.  I was blowing soap bubbles (the boys are both fond of soap bubbles) when I held out the stem for Adam to blow into.  He blew very gently (but insistently) and made a very nice stream of bubbles.  He took it in stride, but I was shocked!

Adam's vocabulary expands each day. His early words are still a jumble (such as tractor and train) but new ones are pretty clear (like snake and sky).  I enjoy the words yes, thank you, and please most of all!

And a trip to Conner Prairie

Jenny worked Sunday and Monday of the Memorial Day weekend.  Sunday the boys and I went to the beach for a picnic.  Monday we went to Conner Prairie for a morning's adventure.

The boys love Discovery Station where they have trains, toys, and a fake cow you can milk.

The Conner Barn also gets high billing with its variety of juvenile animals.

We then saw the carpenter turning big logs into beams.  He was working on one of the corner posts for the new carpenter shop.  Adam and Mark help clean up the debris.  We then took the wheelbarrow to Mrs. Conner (played by Jenny) who needed some chips for the walkway in her garden.

Inside the house, Adam and Mark both took a turn at checkers.

We all had a great time, even if it meant we got a late lunch.

Whew!  What a weekend!

In August of 2004 when we moved in, our kitchen looked like this:

Don't adjust your monitor--those are the real colors.  This past week we've done a number of transformations including an update of the floor, cabinets, and counters. 

The flooring is a laminate 'tile look' in 16" x 48" boards (purchased four years ago waiting a good time to install!).  The cabinets are Maple in a Chestnut color (the house woodwork is dark--the cabinets are dark as the older ones but with a more pleasing red tone replacing the eerie green cast).  The counter is a granite-look laminate.  The appliances had been updated before we arrived.

My dad and I did this all over the course of seven days.  Here was my plan:

• 1.5 days to rip out the old counters, cabinets, and prep the floor
• 2 days to put in the floor
• 2 days to install the cabinets
• 1 day to install the counter

Well, that adds to 6.5 days, so I'll book a plane ticket for dad to come for seven days.  Seems reasonable, no?  Hindsight tells me something different.   You can see some in-progress work in Jenny's post.

Given a fixed project time and the threat of not ever having running water again (the sink can't be installed until the counter is done which relies on the cabinets which sit on the flooring...you get the point), we were able to squeeze this project into our schedule.

Here we are at about 9pm the day before Dad's flight back to South Dakota.  If you look closely, you can see a bit of the sink peeking through from behind us.  An hour later the water and drain were hooked up and we were officially 'done!'

Ambitious?  Yes!  Seven long days, dozens of 'problem solving' breaks, a week of Jenny rousting the boys, lots of take-out meals, a day's help from friends Shawn and Wade, numerous sore muscles, and we're done!

Lots of minor things remain like under cabinet lighting, backsplash tile, scribe and toe kick trim, door hardware, covering the rear peninsula cabinets, final fitting of the counter, overhead lighting, and stowing of all my tools, but whew, the kitchen can be used again!

AND IT LOOKS GREAT!  (And a cheer to Dad for being a great partner in the project so it had a chance of success.)

Thursday evening (3/20) I participated in Bethel Lutheran's Living Last Supper program.  This drama has thirteen men (plus an introductory narration) contemplating Jesus' statement, "One of you will betray me."  Each apostle takes stock of their contribution to Jesus' ministry and wonders, "Is it I? Is it I?"

Pastor E. Dean started the Living Last Supper at Bethel in 2004 when I played the part of Thomas, "Why do people remember my doubt, but forget my daring?  Why do they remember my questions and forget my belief?"  Presenting this drama on alternating years, my role changed to Phillip in 2006, "Where will we find bread that all of these may eat?  Little did I know that Andrew was already bring a boy and his lunch to our Lord."  This year I reprised the role of Thomas, which is fortunate, because only two disciples made it into the front-page photo with Jesus.

That's me behind Jesus.  Yes, the beard would work just as well as a Planet of the Apes costume, but that just makes Jesus even more the center of attention. 

The drama has been very enjoyable each time.  Having that many men in the cast has been a good way to develop some new friendships as well.  Thank's to Pastor E. Dean and assistant director Shannon for their efforts.

My meme band (tagged from this post):

Knight Orders presents their first album

How Seldom They Do

Create your own band.

1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2. Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3. Go to flickr's "explore the last seven days” http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Put it all together, that's your first album

The chairs in our kitchen take a lot of abuse.  In addition to regular duty supporting our weight during meals, they also serve as a

• table (when a boy kneels and plays with toys on the chair)
• stand (such as when a bigger boy wants to play with playdough but doesn't want his booster)
• bridge (the dump trucks being pushed by both boys have to go somewhere!)

They also get moved around and perhaps stood upon by an adult needing a convenient step ladder.

It is no wonder that the legs of the chairs started to wobble a bit. For a simple Sunday project, Mark, Adam, and I decided to tighen things up.  The base of the chair has two nuts (not to be confused with the nuts working the project) per leg and these had loosened themselves a turn or two.  After I found the right size socket, Mark was able to get them snug (and then dad helps to get them tight), but I was very proud of the proper use of a ratchet.

It may not be clear, but Adam has a socket extender (a metal bar) that he is using to test the soundness of the seat through striking it.

By the way, you'll have to check out Jenny's post about Mark reading a book to Adam (video).

The Pathfinders group from our church went hiking today at Cool Creek Park.  Literally minutes from Wal-Mart (it's across the street), the park has miles of easy trails that crisscross its eponymous creek through wooded areas.  A nature center, performance stage, and playground round out the attractions.  The temperature was in the 35-40 degree range (which is up from single digits for the last week) which made us appreciate the fresh air.

Here are a couple of pictures of our boys.

It is probably no coincidence that my first blog post in some time comes when there are no NFL games on TV...

The boys have been reconstructing the highways and byways in our house.  Just like the new roads in the neighborhood, we've had construction equipment making noise and wandering all over the place.  When you're done, then you'll need to clean up the worksite.

A job well done is its own reward.

The boys like to chase each other around the loop, each of them using a dump truck as an aid.  The picture of Adam was intented to get a look simiar to Mark at the same time (I couldn't find the same hat before the 'timer' expired and someone insisted we go outside).

After the previous two entries (The Half-Way Point, Iowa and Arrived In South Dakota) I figured I should complete the story.  It is now two weeks since Mark and I returned to Indiana, and yes, we did make it safely.

Days 4, 5, and 6 (the rest of the story)

The story left off on Friday with the Weekend and Monday still remaining.  Saturday morning we (including my folks) hiked one block to have breakfast with two of my former teachers, bz and cz (who gifted Jenny & I with a wedding cake composed of terry cloth and bath soap, plus a personal cook book 11 years ago).  Both of them taught computers, albeit in very different manners.  bz likes to cook and he had a great pile of fruit and a delicious breakfast bread.  When I say breakfast bread, don't think steaming French bread with butter, think monkey bread in a bunt pan.  MMMmmmmm carmel...  Mark enjoyed playing with the three dogs and the adults had excellent conversation.

After lunch Mark and I said our goodbyes to leave to visit Ihlen, MN.  A relative of mine, Brian, was getting his Eagle Scout award on Sunday.  Staying at the Westerburs were Michelle; Brenda, John, and Abigail; Laurie and John; and Mark and myself (oh, and Brian, too).  Mark and I took over Brian's room since Brian was going to be at a band competition in Sioux Falls until very late (Pipestone, for whom Brian is a drum major won 8th place and color guard honors out of 44 bands, most of them much larger).

The Eagle Scout Court of Honor had the right mix of formal regalia and personal touches.  Both Brian's band director and his former scoutmaster took time to demonstrate the impact Brian has had in his leadership roles (writeup in Pipestone Star).  I was so proud to hear about Brian's accomplishments--the Eagle Scout award is just an insignia--it is the impact on people's lives that makes the difference.

[Brian] went on, “My secret to balance is prayer. I pray about things a lot, and I know that God helps me, because I know I couldn’t physically do everything that I do without his help, and that’s a big part of it. I have really been blessed because I have made every Court of Honor, only missed one track meet, and I have made it to every band competition. Things have just worked out where I could be where I needed to be at the time without conflicts.”

Mark sat through both the ceremony and reception very well.  It didn't hurt that there were balloons and his toys at the reception.  I enjoyed catching up with old friends and new ones, some of whom I met in my last trip out when Brenda got married.  My plans to leave the reception after an hour were foiled by the fun time I was having.  Mark and I had an appointment with Travis (a high school running teammate) and Gina an 90 minutes away.

After picking up my camera from the Westerbur's home (it didn't take very good pictures of the reception there...) Mark & I braved a deluge on our way to Windom, MN.  Jenny & I first visited Travis & Gina for their wedding.  We've since visited each time we've passed through Minnesota.  They have a two-year-old, Eli, who I was excited to see again (and he was excited to see the balloon we brought in with us).  Once again leaving later than desired (well, I would have loved to stay even longer, so I should say later than my itinerary desired...) Mark and I got on the road. 

For this evening we didn't have hotel reservations as I wanted to judge the start time of the trip (anticipating that I'd be poor at leaving events on schedule) and how Mark was traveling.  Let me make a note, Mark travels as well as anyone I've ever traveled with!  In addition to some interesting conversation (mostly centering around farm vehicles and construction--he's a blue-collar three year old with a green thumb), he also commented on my driving, and helped to decide where we should eat.  During this long evening of travel he demonstrated true patience as I know how much time he had spent in the car (albeit with frequent stops) this week.  Now we were driving late into the night and he did his best to keep me entertained (I think the 'turbines' or 'wind mills' on Buffalo Ridge were the favorites of both of us see: Wikipedia's Buffalo Ridge Wind Farm).  Because Mark was being such a great traveler and to keep the following day's drive short, we pressed on until past midnight (and past Des Moines, too).  There's a good story here about my new toy, a Garmin Nuvi 200 (a car navigation system) and how it helped me find a place to stay, but that will need to wait for another post.  By turning the corner from I-35 to I-80 in Iowa we were close to half way home, and a good thing since we would loose an hour going back to Eastern Daylight Time.

The next morning (now Monday) we got up, ate a continental breakfast, and got back on the road.  We had brunch at a great restaurant called the Machine Shed (any restaurant that has a tractor in front of it and gives a John Deere to kids along with their crayons for pre-meal entertainment deserves our patronage).  We also stopped at an Iowa rest area with a look out tower, a covered bridge, and a great play area (it also had free wireless Internet, a fact which I tried to ignore despite the fact I didn't know how my Fantasy Football team fared the day before).  At this point Mark started to wish he was home, but in a wistful manner, not yet a 'complainy' way (he went from wistful to excited, so no worries about a turn for the worse).  We went past an implement factory that has two tractors 'stuck' in the ground nose first with a full, bigger-than-you've-ever-seen plow sticking six stories straight up in the sky.  In Peoria we saw the Caterpillar Headquarters and lots of new equipment (both static and on flatbeds on the Interstate).  Getting close to home we saw lots of combine harvesters and grain trucks.

I'll wrap this up with a comment that I enjoyed this trip thoroughly.  Prepared to endure a 'moderate ordeal' my mental state set expectations at a level where Mark was a dream traveling companion.  We logged more than two thousand miles and 26+ hours of driving, but he only complained twice (sometimes we break that record before breakfast).  While our Dodge Caravan does have a DVD player, Mark watched two half hour videos two different times usually at a point where it was after his bed time.  I have an odd satisfied feeling about this trip.  Not only was I present at Brian's Eagle Scout ceremony (the reason for the trip) but I spent time with my family and created some special memories with Mark.  Driving (as opposed to flying) was the right decision.  I feel a little guilty 'stealing' this special time with Mark. I'll just need to schedule something similar with both Adam and to make sure Jenny & I get a special trip like this for ourselves also sometime.

For the first two posts I didn't have pictures.  For this post I have pictures but they're on the wrong computer. Rather than move them for this post, I decided I'd gather images from this trip and post them together.  I owe my 'regular' correspondents a picture update in any case.