Chrishan - Chris, Shannon, Jasmine, & Kai

A fishing we will go....

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:24:00 +0000

We went up north to Rhinelander this past weekend for Kai's third birthday. We all had a good time trying not to get carried away by Wisconsin's state bird, the mosquito, while letting the kids fish for the first time. The fish were biting and since we were in very shallow water, the kids had a good time watching the fish. Enjoy the pictures...

The river has crested.

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Well the river has crested and as of this morning has dropped four inches. The river broke the previous flood record held from 1917 by just under an inch at a whopping 25.95 feet. Travel is still very complicated due to almost every major highway and interstate being shut down between the Dells and Madison. Our little Baraboo River was able to shut down two interstates and multiple highways in this whole mess. Traffic was being routed up HWY 12 up until this morning when there was a serious accident and now there is a detour of the detour. For my family that is traveling from Madison to Rhinelander this weekend, have fun snaking your way between Madison and Baraboo. I hear it is taking hours. They are watching the dam up river very closely for signs of failure it would be catastrophic for many towns if it went at this point, and unfortunately as of this morning there are more dam failures in the area so more towns are evacuating.

If we can hold off getting any more rain for a while we should be ok. Last Saturday and Sunday we got at least twelve inches total Causing the wash out of Lake Delton in the Dells. then Thursday we got at least another four to five inches in a matter of hours which caused flash flooding in Baraboo and surrounding areas.

I have included pictures of some of the most mild flooding around town and it doesn't even give a good perspective of how bad that is. We are completely avoiding where the major flooding is for obvious reasons. Given we are not as bad as Cedar Rapids is but for Wisconsin this is unbelievable.

Sand bagging in the flood of a century

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:46:00 +0000

I have never been so happy to live on a hill. With all of the torrential rains southern Wisconsin has had the past week we are very flooded. Numerous roads are out making travel very difficult. By the time Chris got out of work today we easily got another two inches of rain I would bet. Try as Chris might he couldn't find a way home. He got stranded for quite a while until the rains let up and luckily was able to get back to Sauk City to stay with family for the evening. HWY 12 has washed out from the sounds of it, and most of the other roads were already closed because of the flooding. It is a helpless feeling to be living on a hill and know that a large part of the town below you is slowly getting swallowed by the raging river. It got so bad so fast today that they actually called in the Ducks (WWII amphibious vehicles) usually used up in the Dells for tours to come and rescue people in Baraboo.

I was driven to do something. I figured my house is safe and my husband is safe so I should help where I can. I ran down to the town shop to see if they were going to be making sand bags today and I was shocked at the lack of help that there was. I ran home and sprinted up to my neighbors house asked if they would be willing to watch my kids for me so I could go volunteer. They said they could, but Mark decided that he was going to come with me to help. I ran down the hill and bugged my other neighbor and she decided to join also. We made sandbags for three hours in the pouring rain and thunder. At least 6 dump trucks full of sand were put at our feet and we as a group of 50 people got to work.

We got a rhythm down some shoveled some held bags and some tied, all the while watching rescue trucks pull boats behind them to help people who were trapped in their homes. The only time there was a break in the work was when there was too much lighting for it to be safe to be out in the cold rain. My hands are torn and blistered from tying twine around already soaking wet sandbags, there is not a dry part on me and I am sand from head to toe. I lost count of how many bags I tied twine around. As Mark and I were leaving I cringed to overhear it said that the battle is being lost, another house is gone. I get to go home and take a warm shower in my dry house while someone just lost everything. I hate feeling helpless.

Tomorrow Mark and I decided that if they were still making sandbags that we would go back down and help. It is the only thing that we can do to help at this point. I would imagine that it is going to be a few days before the river crests so more people will probably be evacuated from their homes. I would be really surprised if Chris is even able to make it home tomorrow. I can only hope the rains stops soon, but from the look of the Doppler radar I think we have a few more hours of bad weather.

For now we are all safe so don't worry. We will keep everyone updated.

Trike-athon

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:47:00 +0000

Jasmine's preschool puts on a end of the year event for the kids called the trike-athon. Basically they invite all the kids in the school to bring out their bikes and have a fun ride / race followed by a big pot luck.

The event was held at one of the local elementary school's playground area. It allowed for a safe fenced in location where we could unload our kids with their bikes and let them loose among the swarm of other children.

Both of them had a great time and got quite a bit of sun. The only sad part is that as Jasmine finishes this year of preschool it will mark the end of the school itself. Both of the teachers who have run this program for the last 10+ years have done a wonderful job and we are sad to see such a great school close. The good news is that over the year Jasmine, Shannon, and I have made a number of new friends.

The legacy continues

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:54:00 +0000

My parents introduced me to shooting archery when I was about three or four year old, therefore I have been shooting for the better part of my short life. I love the sport and have missed not shooting for the years I took off from doing it. Chris decided to go on an elk hunting trip this year so it spurred us to start shooting again. I dusted off my bow and Chris borrowed a bow from my father. We joined a range and decided it was time to start teaching the kids how to shoot.

I called my dad up on the off chance he still had the bow my brother and I learned to shoot on and sure enough he had the little, once yellow, bear bow Sean used to shoot. I nabbed it from my parents house and here we are shooting at our local range. We have to capture our kids first real shooting experience; we grabbed the camera and we were off. Kai was done with shooting after about the first five targets and being a twenty eight target course he had to keep himself entertained for the rest of it. Jasmine shot at almost every target and did a really good job. Over all it took us four hours to get around the course but it was fun "hunting" with the kids.

Below the banana moon

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:40:00 +0000

Picture this 5:00 am this morning, I was driving home from Rhinelander, kids packed into the back of the car. The moon was still brightly shining (well reflecting) in the sky.

I hear Kai from behind me say "Look mom a banana!!!" I looked over confused in my morning daze trying to figure out what he was talking about.

I said "The moon?"

"Uh huh, in the sky." Kai replied very excitedly. He had noticed the crescent shape and just had to express it the only way he knew how.

Jasmine proceeded to pipe in just after that in a matter of fact voice "There are all different types of shaped moons.... circles, squares..."

Again I chucked and replied there weren't any square moons. I love the ages the kids are at right now. People say you get to learn everything again when you have kids. I guess they are right; I get to rediscover things through their point of view and it amazes me what they understand and see.

Behold the Snow Camel

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:15:00 +0000

The other day we where outside sledding in the backyard, when the kids decided that we should make a snowman. I had no more than started on the base of the snowman when the kids decided we really should make a camel instead.

So with too much time on our hands Shannon and I went all out making our first snow camel. It took a bit and my pictures don't give the true depth of detail that we put into our camel, but I think it turned out well. Well the head was a bit hard, it took Shan a few tries and we had to shrink it down a bit to make it fit on the large neck without breaking. But behold the snow camel with a shrunken head :)

Let it Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:47:00 +0000

I was talking with Dan last week about all the snow we have seen this year. With another large storm predicted for tomorrow, I thought I would take advantage of the sunny weather to get some nice pictures of our street.

This year is the most snow I remember in many years. It almost reminds me of the lake effect snow that the U.P. gets. With our next storm we could push over the 100 inch mark for the year!!!

Congratulations Dan

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 03:38:00 +0000

Dan and Rosey just had their first child Sara Belle Christensen the other day. I say the other day because he mentioned Rosey going into surgery late Wednesday but didn't post the follow up until Thursday Morning :)

Shannon and I wanted to say congratulations to becoming new parents to both of them. Being one of our best friends we definitely wanted to send something to them in the hospital. My first thought of course was flowers. However after a half hour shopping I couldn't find a decent bouquet of flowers for under $60. Not that I mind spending that on them, but I just couldn't justify it for something that won't even last but a few days.

So with a bit of quick thinking we came up with the idea to get Sara a Vermont teddy bear. Both Jasmine and Kai have been given one as gifts and both love them. I generally am not attached to brand names and really don't feel like most brands warrant much extra attention, however Vermont stands out in one way for me. They guarantee their bears for life. So Sara I say to you, "love the heck out of that bear, and feel free to be as rough to it as your little heart desires".

The best part about a Vermont teddy bear is that whenever it has a problem either wear and tear or complete neglect you can simply send it to the bear hospital to be patched up and sent home fully recovered.

It's Mii Mario

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:01:00 +0000

I figured in light of Dan and Rosey's recent posts about the weather I should add my own. Yesterday was an all out snowfest here, I think the report is the Madison area got hit with 13.3 inches while south of Madison was closer to 20.

I decided to head into work yesterday but thought better of it after a few miles and turned around. It ended up being a good idea, by the afternoon they had already shut down the hwy 12 and interstate 90/94.

The day off left me around home to play with the kids. They of course wanted to play the wii with mii :) So we decided to put in wii sports game and play through a few of the games. Eventually we came to baseball and I was playing against Jasmine. Before I get to far into the story let me give you some background.

For those who are not familiar with the Nintendo Wii, they allow you to create little personalized characters called Miis. Most people of course try to make one that looks like them. The other neat thing is that you can share your Miis with other friends who have a Nintendo as well. In my case my friend Owen has a number of personal Miis who have made there way to my machine.

Alright back to the story... So I pitched a ball to Jasmine who connected to drive it deep to right field. Who happens to be in right field but my friend Dan (Mii). He was directly under the ball and goes to catch it, only to drop it allowing a two base hit. Doh. I have a neat little tradition which apparently my kids have noticed :( I like to yell at my game and say something to the effect of "You are so Fired!" Before I could even say anything Jasmine pipes in with a lot of worry in her voice saying "You are not going to fire Dan are you?"

No worries Dan I told her I would keep you around ;) I thought this was funny for two reasons, one I never realized how much she paid attention to what I was saying to the game, oops better watch it elsewhere I guess. Second I was quite surprised that she recognized Dan's Mii, especially since at her age having only seen Dan a few times here and there through the last few years.

I guess the moral of the story here is beware of Jasmine's memory, she seems to keep both a great visual and audio catalog in her head. Only to be used against you later!

Navy Pier in Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:38:00 +0000

New Years eve we decided to take the kids down to the Navy Pier in Chicago to check out Winter Wonderfest. Our cousins in Chicago recommended it after going last year. It sounded like a fun time so Marcia, Leslie, Shannon, the kids, and I took the train into downtown Chicago. From there we caught the trolley over to the Navy Pier.

The Pier itself was quite the place, the size of it was quite surprising. Over all the place was great and we would love to check it out again in the future. Winter Wonderfest was setup near the end of the pier in a large exhibition hall. The place itself was incredible with its decorations and lighting. It had a very magical feel to it.

All around the hall they had rides and toys for the kids. There where large number of inflatable toys along with an ice rink, ferris wheel, train ride, etc etc. The kids had a ball playing and before we knew it a few hours had passed and we found ourselves rushing to catch our train back to our cousin's house.

It was a great time had by all and I definitely look forward to checking it out next year. Here is the slide show...

The Chicago Black Hawks

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Chris surprised me this year with NHL tickets for my Xmas present. With a little help from our cousins down in Chicago, watching the kids, we were able to spend the evening watching some great hockey. It was an outstanding game, the Kings and the Hawks were pretty evenly matched. The sold out stadium was predominately rooting for the Hawks, and Chris and I were secretly rooting for a tied game ultimately causing over time and maybe even a shootout. Unfortunately we didn't see a shootout, but the game did go into over time with the Kings finally winning in the four on four sudden death 5 minute overtime.

Chris and I have watched many college games since we moved down to the Madison area, and they play good hockey. So I thought the pro's game would be about the same level, but I was pleasantly surprised. During the first five minutes of their warm ups I was already amazed talent of the players. The fluidity of their movement was wonderful, it was like the old saying "they make it look easy." The shots were fast, and the goalies made amazing saves. It was a great evening and a wonderful experience to be able to watch this level of hockey live. TV just doesn't do pro hockey justice.

Jasmine's Christmas Production

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:44:00 +0000

Here is a video from Jasmine's Christmas Production. Here class did a bunch of songs for all the parents on Thursday evening. It was quite cute to watch them all sing and dance.

You can watch the video here, I save it in two different formats...
Video [wmv]
Video [divx]

All You RSS Junkies

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:57:00 +0000

The first step is admitting you have a problem...

Okay I admit it, I myself am an RSS Feed Junkie. In fact I barely visit anyone's site anymore. Instead I find myself load it through my own RSS Reader.

Anyways I wanted to let everyone know who is viewing this from an RSS Reader, that a number of them will not show the images we are attaching to our posts. I would estimate that 90% of our posts have pictures and if you don't see them, make sure to visit our page directly.

Have a happy holidays everyone!

If life gives you snow go sledding....

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:42:00 +0000

We actually have snow! Over the past two weeks Baraboo has accumulated about a foot and a half or so of snow. The kids have been dying to get outside, and play in the newly fallen white stuff, but the temperatures have been too bitter as of late to let them out and play. Luckily for them, both yesterday and today hosted warmer temperatures, allowing the kids to get out. Chris just happened to have been sent home from work early because of the weather so he got to join in the fun.

Fall Pictures from the Backyard

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:43:00 +0000

Shannon for the last week or two has been making large piles of leaves and the kids have been loving playing in them. She has taken a number of miscellaneous pictures, so I decided to finally get off my duff and post them. Enjoy!

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:33:00 +0000

This year for Halloween Jasmine went as a fairy princess while Kai wore the Hodag outfit. Of course once Jasmine dawned a pair of wings, Kai had to have his own as well, so I guess he was a fairy Hodag this year ;)

We took the kids downtown to what they call Boo Fest. All the shops on the downtown square invite the kids to come trick or treating from 3 - 5 in the afternoon. From there we meet up with Mark, Carol, and Monty and took the kids around the neighborhood to get their fill of candy. The kids really started to get into it and every time they saw a house with the lights on would shout with excitement and run to the front door.

If the house was lucky I would make it to the front door before the tenth ring of their doorbell. Both kids surprised me and actually did pretty good with their manors and not needing but a few reminders to say thank you for the candy.

From there we went back to Mark and Carol's for dinner and cards. It ended up being a great evening and a lot of fun to watch the kids on a sugar high :)

Yay Hockey started again...

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 04:23:00 +0000

After a whopping five weeks off of hockey, I strapped back on the skates, shin pads, and the rest of the mostly stink free gear to enjoy the first game of the winter season with my co-ed league. I just wish I could get that wonderful (gag) smell out of my hockey gloves, but it wouldn't be hockey if the gear didn't stink right? Anyway, I was reminded quickly being off of skates for more then a week tends to make one very sore after a hour long game. The pain was exacerbated by the short bench. You would think that all the walking and hiking the family did over the past five weeks between our two trips to Utah and all the dog walking with my neighbor would have made up for not being on the ice, but alas no I was sucking wind by the end of the first period. The major redeeming factor of the night was my stellar assist :) I don't get many of those so I will take it when I get it and I am going to make everyone hear about it so there.

I really have missed playing over the past weeks, and look forward to a great season with the co-ed league and I am really hoping I can get on a new women's team this year but we will see what happens. The two teams that I was looking at are full so far, but injuries do happen frequently in hockey, so it is completely possible something may open up for me. Not that I would wish injury on anyone ever. So I will go to bed now doing my yay hockey has started happy dance.

Bad Programming Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 03:43:00 +0000

We are currently looking to hire another php programmer at work and today we where going though and finalizing interview questions. My boss was saying it would be fun to have a silly question at the end to hint at the fact that we are a fun group to work with. His idea was a question like "Are you more a spoon or a fork".

Both Dan (coworker) and I agreed his question wasn't in our taste. I mentioned that it would be fun to do some kind of code joke. For example have them evaluate something with a hidden joke in it. Dan mentioned the fibonacci sequence.

Not sure if that really comes out funny or not, but it stuck and this evening I couldn't help myself. I had to create an example. My first thought being that the fibonacci sequence is the perfect example for using recursion. Of course I wanted to make it in the least amount of lines as possible and came up with this

function fib($n){return ($n < 3)?1:(fib($n-1) + fib($n-2));}
for($i=1;$i <= 20;$i++){echo " ".fib($i);}

It worked out great but two things bothered me, first was the fact that it was two lines (well i cheated a bit) and second that recursion is not the most efficient solution when we want to go out a ways "n" wise. For example n = 50, would start taking a second or two to process.

So I spent a while researching before I came across Binet's formula

a_n = [ Phiⁿ - (phi)ⁿ ]/Sqrt[5])

This uses the golden mean (Phi) to calculate the Nth place in the sequence.

With this new formula in hand I was able to create one line of code (still cheating), to create a fib. sequence. This example was a lot more efficient than the previous recursive one.

for($i=1;$i <= 20;$i++){echo " ".(( pow(((1+sqrt(5)) / 2),$i) - pow(((1-sqrt(5)) / 2),$i) ) / sqrt(5));}

Okay, I know this post is really only geared towards two readers on my blog. Feel free to surprise me with a comment, how many of you got the code or understand the math?

Lotoja

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:40:00 +0000

How did the ride go? How far did you make it? How do you feel? All great questions, however I am very disappointed to say that I did not make it. This might not come as a big surprise to many out there, however it wasn't for reasons you are guessing.

Dan, Rosey, and the four of us arrived in Logan the night before the ride allowing us to check into our hotel, get signed in with the ride, and attend the informational meeting before the ride. This part of the trip felt the most rushed. Between getting into Logan and then running around to get stuff done it felt like the evening flew by and left me feeling worried I had forgot to do or grab something.

That night I don't think I slept much constantly tossing and turning and looking at the clock worrying that I overslept my start time. However, the alarm finally went off around 5am leaving me feeling pretty tired. All I could think was how good a nice warm cup of coffee would taste.

Just before 6am Dan and I jumped on our bikes and headed over to the start line. With the forecast for the day in the 70s with lots of sun (which was about the best weather you could hope for) I decided to only wear my shorts and short sleeve jersey. I did learn one thing, even if the weather calls for 70s, when the sun is down and you are in a valley, it is incredibly cold. I was freezing!

The big difference with this ride was that it wasn't a ride, it was a race. This meant that we where released in small packs around 40 in size. Signing up under cat 5 left Dan and I starting after all the faster packs. This wasn't a big issue for me other than I wanted to get moving on the bike to warm up.

Eventually our start time arrived and we took off. It was fun having a police escort out of town. Riding in the middle of a large pack it was incredibly easy to keep a good pace. We where averaging somewhere between 22 and 25 through our first stop.

Just before that first stop everything became hectic when the pack released behind us caught up and merged into ours. It was at this point that I lost site of Dan. With nearly a hundred of us all together the pack began to split into groups. I found myself constantly rushing forward to catch the front pack. This must have happened at least 5 or 6 times. I never was able to find Dan again. A few miles down the road we our first stop it got quite chaotic with a number of riders splitting up, some stopping and some riding. I quickly pulled off to refill one of my bottles after realizing that I was most likely not going to find Dan anytime soon.

After the refill I quickly got back on the road and started riding out toward my first mountain. I was feeling great and had a good pack I was sticking with. Until I heard that dreaded Psstttttt sound. Crap I thought, as I pulled off to deal with a flat rear tire. I quickly tore off my old tube and threw on a new one. I was rushing myself to put the new tube in feeling the pack slipping away.As I was putting the wheel back I heard that great Psstttttt sound again. This time I swore and I swore very loud! That is what you get for rushing. In my hurry to get the new tire on I never checked to make sure the tube was all the way in, and I had left a small part sticking out and caused myself a pinch flat!!! So I pulled off my "new tube" and put on another one this time taking a little more time to make sure I did the job right.

Finally I was back on the road after what felt like a 20 plus minute stop. I was still feeling great, however I lost the pack that I was riding with. It didn't take long before another pack caught up with me, however this one was heading a bit faster than I could keep with and I dropped off from them after a few miles. I wasn't too worried since we had just started climbing. I figured this was going to be my own pace so I didn't worry too much about having to stay with a group and kill myself.

It was probably a few miles into my ride that I heard a new sound. This one was a snap like sound. I recognized it, the last few rides I had done before had this sound. I knew I had just broke a spoke and I could feel the difference starting with a slight wobble in the rear and slight resistance every time the wheel swayed into the break. I didn't care damn it, I told myself that I was going to summit a mountain. I continued to climb for many miles until my bladder got the best of me. I decided to pull off and take care of nature. I double checked my suspicion and found that I did indeed have a broken spoke. I used this opportunity to opened my breaks up so I wouldn't have to worry about the rubbing anymore and just as I started to get moving a support vehicle stopped by to ask if I was alright. I told them I had broken a spoke and politely refused to catch a ride with them. I figured one way or another I was going over this hill! As they drove off I got back on and continued to ride up the endless hill. It felt a bit longer to me as I struggled for speed against a tire that wasn't working, but I was okay with the fact that people where passing me. It wasn't that I was out of shape it was my bike that was out of shape.

At this point the batteries in my gps died and I could no longer tell how much further it was, I knew it had to be within the next five miles that I would reach stop two at the summit of my first mountain. I had it in the back of my mind that there would be someway to repair the damage and I could then continue to ride through to the end or until my body couldn't endure anymore. Apparently my bike had reached that point before I did, it could endure no more. This time the snapping sound was a much more noisy and my reflector went flying out into the road. I quickly pulled over and realized that if I kept going I was going to destroy my rear wheel. I was bummed, I knew I was just a mile or two from the top.

That might seem a long way when climbing a mountain but I was around mile 28 of a 30 mile climb. Not wanting to cripple my bike further, I pulled off and waved down the next support vehicle. One car took my bike while another hauled me. I still had it in my mind that I would find someone who could repair my bike at the next stop. However a few moments later the guy over the radio informed me that there where no bike shops to be found anywhere near my location and that he marked me out of the ride since my bike was unrepairable. I couldn't believe it :( I had it in my mind that I might not survive the total distance but at least I would find out how far my body could go. This wasn't the ending I was expecting, I still felt like I had another 100 miles in me. I was going to beat the mountain stage of this ride! But I wasn't. Fate had another plan for me.

I had mentioned that the last few rides I had done ended with broken spokes. Well when I took my bike in last time to have it fixed the guy told me that I was hitting the point in my spokes lives where they where going to start breaking from old age. He mentioned that I should look at having him rebuild my wheel. I thought about it for a few minutes and decided to turn that offer down after all the money I had already put into the bike so far, plus the fact that in less than a week I was going to be going on a two week vacation. So I saved a hundred bucks on repairs but it cost me in the long run.

It was still an enjoyable day, and we where able to catch up with Rosey and help her support Dan as he continued to ride on. Oh well it just means I have to do the ride again! Maybe this time I will get myself a newer prettier bike ;)

Here is an elevation chart, the green is what part I rode until my bike broke down.

Grand Teton National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Shan) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:14:00 +0000

After struggling to find a hotel on Saturday evening, Dan, Rosey, and the four of us all headed up to Grand Teton National park. It was a beautiful drive, and a fairly warm day when the sun was shining, so it seemed to be a perfect day for hiking. We all put on light jackets and started off on our hike to the hidden falls on the back side of Jenny lake. Over all it was a nice walk, consisting of good conversation with good friends. My paranoia of meeting bear always on the forefront of my mind because we were in bear country, the little flier that they handed out at the part entrance told me so.

The kids were having a great time taking turns holding Rosey's hand and walking with their new favorite person. Only a couple of fights broke out about who was going to hold Rosey's hand and Rosey, was a good sport about the whole thing, took it in stride. About half way through the hike I was regretting not putting on shorts, it was getting down right hot out. We saw lots of birds and rodents but nothing of large size. We stepped over some droppings in the path and I couldn't help but chuckle about how we should have had the "Who Pooped in the Park" book to identify what specific animal made the pile of skat.

Jasmine was happy talking about everything and anything that came to her mind and Kai took a nap in his daddy's arms. After about an hour and a half we got to the falls. The weather was still pretty nice although it had cooled off a little. We took some pictures and enjoyed the beauty of the falls. Unfortunately, as we stood at the falls, the temperature started to drop quickly, and we decided it was time to go before we got rained on. We chose to take the boat back across the lake and it was only a short walk down to the docks. During that time the rain started, and was slowly turning to a more snow like consistency. We got on the boat and started back across the lake.

The conversation with the boats driver slowly ended up going to the subject of bears in the parks and the problems they have had. During this time I kept glaring at Chris because he is of the opinion that bears aren't anything to worry about where I am of the complete opposite opinion. The driver just confirmed my opinion: we are in bear country, we need to be careful. Chris would argue later that it was a non issue and I shouldn't be worried about it. Long story short, we finally made it back to the opposite shore a little wet but none to worse for wear.

We joined Dan and Rosey for lunch and with hugs and goodbyes we wished them the best. They headed out toward the cost for the wedding and we headed north to Yellowstone......

Visiting Dan

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:23:00 +0000

Wednesday afternoon saw us to Dan's house to visit. That evening we got in a short 20 mile ride through the valley. I was able to experience the joys of not being acclimated to the elevation. Overall I didn't feel too horrible but it was definitely noticeable.

We hung out for the rest of the day and on Thursday I got a small tour of Novell followed by a game of frisbee golf for lunch. That evening Owen and Kim stopped by for brats and beer and we played into the wee hours with the wii :)

It was nice to get the college group together again. Now as I write this on Friday after getting ready to head north to Logan, I look ahead to tomorrow where Dan and I will start out on the LOTOJA ride. Leading us about 206 miles through the mountains from Logan Utah to Jackson Hole Wyoming. The true test is to see how I fair after such an undertaking. Hopefully well enough to hike in Yellowstone on Sunday. Wish us luck!

Bryce Canyon NP

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:10:00 +0000

After a day of on and off rain we arrived at Bryce Canyon just as it was starting to show blue sky again. It was nice to have time again to setup camp and get a mile long hike in with the kids. I feel bad when we drive for long periods of time and it is nice to give them some time to run off their extra energy.

Bryce Canyon is up there as one of our favorite National Parks so far. The landscape is incredible Orange / Pink color with an almost alien feel to it. However this is another park where the steep cliffs make it a bit nerve racking with young children. We where still able to walk along the top of the ridge and the next day we did a fun walk at the bottom of the valley. The walk takes you along a small river bed and ends next to a waterfall and small cave. The kids of course absolutely love waterfalls and keep telling us how huge it is. One of these days we will have to go to an actual waterfall that is huge just to see their reactions.

The Drive to Bryce Canyon NP

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:59:00 +0000

Dan suggested a route between Natural Bridges NM and Bryce Canyon NP, that has to be the most incredible drive I have done to date. The drive itself leads you from Natural Bridges through the Canyon Lands NP, Capitol Reef NP, Dixie National Forest, Grand Staircase - Escalante NM, and into Bryce Canyon NP.

One of the things that makes Utah such an great state is the fact that you can drive 50 miles and watch the landscape change so dramatically from one park to the next. The entire drive I found myself watching the land more than the road.

One of the wildest parts of the ride is along the Grand Staircase where they take you between to valleys at the top of the ridge. There is a short section where you are driving on a two lane road with huge cliffs on either side of the road. I definitely wouldn't want to drive that stretch in the winter. Funny thing is up until this point I have been seeing signs all over about drinking and driving, but was unable to find any signs on this stretch of the road. Wonder if they figure the problem takes care of itself.

Natural Bridges National Monument

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:46:00 +0000

We arrived at Natural Bridges with a few hours of sunlight to spare. This gave us enough time to setup our campsite and head out into the park for a few overlook hikes. Natural Bridges was felt like a really cool area which is completely overlooked. The whole time there it felt like the park was pretty much our own. We maybe saw a total of ten people the entire time.

It was nice in regards to the fact that we has this great place to ourselves but also a bit sad seeing such a great area being under appreciated. The landscape here forms a number of natural bridges and the color and look of the rock is amazing. We where able to see a couple bridges before we had to call it an evening.

The next morning we started out where we left off and re-hiked some trails along with finishing off our stay with a hike down to the last bridge. The kids loved running around the area and Kai had the best time once he realized the great echoes he could make :)