Day #3 - The Gathering

Pictures of the girls at the shelter in Afton State Park, Afton, MN. I chuckle at Alex's picture - can you say Deb from Napoleon Dynamite?

We were blessed with wonderful weather today - the first on our trip (aside from yesterday morning at Walnut Grove). It was in the low 80s I think and the sun shone with a nice breeze! What a wonderful day for a gathering. We set out this morning for Afton State Park and met up with all of the other boxers from the Great Lakes region. It was a great day of fellowship and boxing.

The girls making a sand "castle" and Alex looking out at the St Croix River.

The girls and I headed out on a 1 1/2 mile trek to the beach. Arriving back at the shelter, lunch was being made and we soon ate. We left the gathering around 3 and headed up the St Croix River. It is a beautiful drive with lots of cute "touristy" towns along the way. We decided to look for "Only God Can Make a Tree", "A Bit of Scandinavian Humor" & "Find the Brat". We found the second box in a beautiful setting (see pictures of the waterfall), the third box was a bust and we quickly found the first - but it was missing the stamp! Those are bummer boxes! At this point it was starting to thunder and sprinkle...yes...it was going to rain...again...We reluctantly cancelled our get together with Matt's best man from our wedding. We knew that the kids wouldn't be up for much more and we still had swimming plans. After grabbing a quick dinner, we donned our swimsuits and went to the pool. After 20 minutes, we were asked to vacate the pool area because of Tornado warnings! Yikes. The sky turned pitch black and the sirens were going. It was rather scary for 45 minutes.

Playing ring around the rosey in the pool.

Matt is hoping to head out for pizza with the other boxers late this evening (around 10). I am hoping to have 2 sleeping kids by then. We will be having a very long day of driving tomorrow with many letterboxing stops and time spent in Pepin.

Matt with Gooble Gobble & Azobox.

I forgot to mention...we have had some tick episodes. Double Yikes! That is one souvenir we don't want to bring home! Matt found one yesterday but we got it removed safely. We have seen 3 today on Matt or other people at the gathering - luckily all of those weren't embedded yet. Even typing this I find myself itching...

Little House - Day 2

We stopped at Island Park in Windom, MN and found at least 4 families of Canadian Geese...with a total of 38 gooslings! They were so cute to watch as they scurried away from us.

Day #2 of our Little House trip started too early! We finally got to bed last night around midnight (Alex fell asleep around 10, Katie around 11). It is so nice to have a laptop with us to update our blog and Matt to post the clues for his new boxes…but that made for a late night!
So, back to this morning. We got our wake up call at 6:30 – which is VERY early for us! We got ready, ate breakfast and hit the road by 8. It was raining again! We seem to attract rain on our vacations. The girls and I prayed last night for good weather for our Walnut Grove time. God is so amazing. It was raining as we left the hotel and continued to rain (and cold!) until we were about 30 minutes outside of Walnut Grove. The sun came out and it warmed up too! We went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove and quickly realized a bus load of kids was pulling up. Matt bought our tour tickets and we started our tour! They did a great job with the museum with lots of hands on type of materials for us & the girls to explore. This museum also had a lot of "Little House on the Prairie" tv show memorobilia. The girls spent the rest of their money at the gift shop. Katie had mentioned (before the trip) that she wanted to buy a slate and slate pencil...just like Laura & Mary had to buy for their first day of school...She said that she would be able to do her school work then! I never dreamed that she would find one! The gift shop had a slate & pencil set. She found it and ran up to show me. Alex quickly picked one up too. We made our purchases just as the busload of grade school kids made their way into the gift shop! One word about slates & slate pencils...fingernails on a chalkboard...in a confined car! It did keep the girls entertained though...for a while at least! The next stop was Plum Creek. The current owners of the property have done a wonderful job of maintaining the creek and dugout where it is believed the Ingalls lived. Katie was very excited to take a walk through Plum Creek and after the fact informed me that the water was NOT warm! We asked Alex if she wanted to put her feet in the creek but she was pretty quick to say no. She did, however sit on the rock for a picture. We were unfortunate in our letterboxing hunt at the museum and the creek/dugout. We can only assume that the boxes are long gone.

Onward to New Ulm to a series of Letterboxes placed by Dragon. There were 5 boxes located in New Ulm and we were able to find 4 of them. We explored Martin Luther College and hunted through the library for the three boxes: My Favorite Teacher, My Favorite Book and L is for Letterboxing. We were unsuccessful with the Hermann the German box...but the kids enjoyed the play ground while Matt looked for the box. We headed downtown to look for Glockenspiel Letterbox and got poured on! We can't get away from this rain!!! As mentioned earlier though...God DID answer our prayer for the morning!

Due to the time and weather, we decided to forego the Mankato boxes and head to Hudson, WI where our next hotel stay would be. We made a stop in St Peter to look for the Lion on the Loose box. After reading and rereading the clues (and driving around aimlessly), we came across the park and Matt hiked to find the box. I am glad we kept the girls inside as the mosquitos were horrible at this point.

Tomorrow is the Letterbox gathering in Afton and will be filled with boxing and meeting other boxers. We are looking forward to nice weather too!

Mom - the girls wore their dresses today and they received lots of compliments. They loved the attention!

Wagon Ho!

Katie & Alex in front of Burr Oak Museum
Amish Byway in Minnesota

Katie & Alex in front of Hotel in Burr Oak

Katie & Alex in swimming pool

The much anticipated Little House on the Prairie trip started today. Our plan was to head out around 9 with a few stops throughout the day and end our day in Jackson, Minnesota. The girls woke up excited but it went downhill about the time we got to Maquoketa, Iowa (40 minutes north). At that point, Matt made a U-turn and said we were heading home (I am sure our parents are laughing and remembering moments like that when we were little!). The girls IMMEDIATELY started screaming and promised to be good. For the most part, they have held up their promise. We stopped in Postville & Froelich, Iowa to plant two letterboxes and then headed to Burr Oak, Iowa - stop #1 on our Little House agenda. The museum was a nice place to stop and learn about Laura's life with her family and to our amazement, the girls were interested and knew some of the answers to the tour guide's questions! They picked up their first keepsake - a covered wagon pencil sharpener. They really thought that $10 could buy everything in the gift shop! Onward to Minnesota. While heading there, the girls received instruction on how to talk Minnesotan. I think they do a pretty good job! Alex also announced at one point this morning that "I am ready to go home now"! Luckily that changed! Continuing on towards Jackson, we made 4 more stops to plant more boxes. We were lucky to find the letterbox at the Museum, but couldn't find SPAM TOWN - the downpour didn't help! We ended our day around 8 with swimming. The girls loved it and looked forward to that all day!

Poor Puppy

I was informed by Katie today that she has decided she won't be marrying Puppy. She has decided that she will be marrying Judah instead. "Who?" I asked her. "Judah...you know...my cousin that is coming to live in Illinois".

I told her that it would be wonderful to be best friends with Judah...but the state of Illinois would frown on any marriages...maybe if we lived in Kentucky??...

Revisiting Decorah

On May 3, Bug-a-Boo & I went up to the Northeastern Iowa Gathering in Decorah.

The day started off with some rain and cool weather, but the sun came out and it turned out to be a wonderful day.

This was a wonderfully sized gathering, not to small nor to big. I met many new faces along with some "old" friends as well.

Many exchanges were had before we headed outside. It didn't take long for Alex and I to join up with Packer Backers, Wisconsin Hiker & Martini Man. We found several boxes just outside our cabin before heading off to other prospects in the same park.

[[Martini Man helping Bug-a-Boo find a box & Bug-a-Boo coming out with the prize]]

We joined 2/3's of Three of a Kind and crossed paths with Shorty and Weeble and other boxers.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when we headed down a path along side a cliff with a wonderful view of the upper Iowa River and a stone bridge.

Alex made me so proud, she ran on ahead and never complained. She was a great listener and at one point while we were stamping in Bug-a-Boo ran off. I saw her behind a stone wall ruffling through some loose rocks. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm looking for a letterbox!"

[[Wisconsin Hiker, Martini Man, Three of a Kind & Bug-a-Boo stamping in]]

After returning back to the cabin we were treated to dinner and bagpipes!!

[[Alex 1/2 of The Doctors B]]

We split ranks not to long after that. Wisconsin Hiker, Martini Man & Packer Backers went off their ways and Alex and I went to the park . . . to play!!

I had planned on one more letterbox, an indoors one at the Magpie Coffee House before heading home for the night. After getting the box, I checked my map of Decorah and off we went . . . promptly getting lost!

We ended up at a dead end with a fish hatchery, while inspecting my map again Maude & Reluctant Traveler walked up to the car . . . there were 2 boxes right there!!

After stamping into the first box Packer Backers drove up and informed me of another box under a bridge just down the road. We did attempt that one with no luck.

We did find 17 boxes that day -- a record!!

The carvings by The Doctors B, Lnd-Crzr, The Red Cat & Mn8x were all stunning!!

The Doctors B, in addition to carving a few dozen stamps of absolute amazing detail, did the most fantastic job in organizing, choosing a location, providing lunch (and dinner) not to mention coordinating the wonderful warm sunny day!

Thanks Drs B!!!

Facilitating Stones

Months ago I learned two of my carving idols where making "The Biggest Field Trip Ever!"
Triple T & South Hill Hendersons from Washington state where driving through many a state. I was thrilled to see Illinois was on the agenda, thrilled more when I learned they would be passing right through the Quad Cities.

After getting all excited my heart dropped, we were leaving for our trip to Minnesota on the 29th -- double checked with Triple T & found they would be through on the 27th. Ahh, everything was falling into place.


Then, I ended up in the ER. After getting released from the Hospital I had a kidney stone that gave me some trouble - ok, a lot of trouble. Back to the ER I went, the next day I went in to have this stone removed (yes, the "go up after it" kinda extraction). I found out afterwards the doctor went all the way up into my kidney and removed another 4 stones - 5 total.


After the surgery a stint was put in between my kidney and my bladder with an appointment to have the stint removed at 4 pm today, the 27th.


Back to Triple T & SHH, the last Email I got from TTT said they were expecting to get to the QCA between 4 & 5 . . . I was bummed, but optimistic that everything would work out.

Just before I was to drop my drawers to have the stint removed my phone rang . . . well, vibrated. They were leaving Peoria and wouldn't get here until 6!

Skeeter, Bug-a-Boo & myself were able to meet these two wonderful letterboxers, along with their children!! We exchanged stamps and chatted over dinner.

I'm so grateful that my kidney stones cooperated and that Triple T & SHH were willing to take the time out of their "Biggest Field Trip Ever" to meet up with me . . . a highlight to say the least.





Cowgirl, SHH, TTT, Hx6, Bug-a-Boo & Skeeter

Beautiful Flowers

I love spring - especially the green and the flowers. I wanted to show these flowers to Connie & Ken. These flowers were uprooted and brought here from the Hart house in Libertyville, IL 7 years ago. We think of you guys often and want you to know that we love you!

Katie finally gets her party

Here are some pictures from Katie's much anticipated 6th birthday party:

Katie peeking in to see "Katherine" doll's new bathtubKatie reading the card from Teri, Steve & Judah to Dad, Alex & Willy

Katie & Alex checking out the keyboard from John & Fran. It has a microphone with it and Matt & I have to laugh...reminds of us Ross from Friends...

On a Somber Note...

Illness and death seem to be in my face the past week. A friend from church had her 29 year old brother die unexpectedly. Another friend from a previous church lost both of her twin daughters due to an early delivery caused by an infection. Tonight as I was running a quick errand, I heard that Steven Curtis Chapman's 5 year old daughter, Maria died as a result of a car accident (her older brother is learning to drive and ran into her in the driveway). This little girl is the reason for the Cinderella song. I will never listen to this song with the same heart. Matt's illness has brought me to tears many times this past week and many times to my knees. I don't even know how to pray - what to ask for. BUT HE KNOWS! These are all grim reminders that life is TODAY. We don't know about the next minute, let alone the next year. Give your children, husband/wife, mom/dad, family & friends a huge hug and kiss and tell them that you love them. Make this moment count.

For those interested (and ready for a good cry, following the devastating news) here is a link to watch Steven Curtis Chapman's Cinderella video. This video shows why he wrote this song.

Daddy is home!

We picked up Matt from the hospital this morning. It has been a slow going day for him. He ate a sandwich for lunch and saltines, etc with his medicine throughout the day. It seems his pain is coming from stomach / intestines due to the food. He went without any food for 3 days so his system was in some shock when he ate today. He did eat a bit at the hospital, but it wasn't much. All symptoms still point to another kidney stone also.

Here are pictures of the girls with their flowers for Matt.

Katie's birthday #6

Happy 6th Birthday to Katie! We had a strange weekend with Matt ending up in the hospital (he is still there) so Katie's birthday took a back seat to the chaos. She was able to open her presents from us yesterday. She & Alex went with Mom & Fran to see the girl's Great Great Aunt Florence. Everyone at the nursing home loved them. Katie's party was planned for tonight, but we have postponed it until later this week. Hopefully Matt will be home by then and we can enjoy the party as a family!

If anyone wants to send a note to Matt at the hospital, he would love to hear from you (I haven't told him about these e-cards, so it will be a nice surprise for him). Click on this link Trinity Hospital. He is in room 436, WEST campus.

Katie's first words yesterday "Mommy...do I look like I am 6 years old now??"

Here Comes the Bride

Mom brought over my wedding veil last week. I had mentioned that I wanted to get it so the girls could play with it. She did a much better job than me with remembering! The girls loved playing with it and I was able to get some pictures...

Freeport

Last Saturday we made our annual trek to Freeport, IL. This tradition started while Matt was still working at Bonnett's Wholesale Floral. He would drive to Freeport for one of his routes. It is a neat little city - situated halfway between Galena and Rockford. We have considered moving there...but there is not a Target there...so we considered no more!

Our traditional trip had us heading into Freeport and stopping at Union Dairy - a local favorite - for ice cream. After ice cream we would head outside to the Lincoln/Douglas Debate Square and let the kids run around. It is amazing to see how the kids have grown over the years in comparision to the statues there! We would then head to Krape Park for lots of fun. Check out the website to see the many things this park has to offer. Unfortunately, it doesn't include a picture of the manmade waterfall! We end our day by stopping at Culvers on the way out of town. We have always enjoyed our day in Freeport, but the past two years have been a bit different.

Last year, we had a beautiful/warm day in April and decided to head up to Freeport. We also planned to check out the area for Letterboxing (this would be the first time going there since we started Letterboxing). We had our ice cream and got to the park to find out that most of the park was closed due to construction! We were devastated! The waterfall hadn't been turned on yet and the carousel wasn't open for the season either! Luckily, the playground was accessible and we had our kiddy potty chair for emergencies! The Letterboxing was pretty much out of the question due to the construction. We knew that we would be back and made a mental note to not come up again so early in Spring.Fast forward to last Saturday. Matt is on call so much the next few months that we looked at our calendar and decided that last weekend was a good time to go. We also decided to forego the "traditions" for this year and focus on getting as many boxes as we could. In future years, we want to head to Freeport and focus on family time at the park (carousel, putt putt golf, hiking, paddle boats, etc). We did find lots of boxes in the area - a big thank you to River Rat, Nature Nerd & Hiker Babe for making your boxes family friendly. We ended our day at the park. Driving in, we were happy to see that there was no more construction...however, the waterfall was not on yet! We also noticed that the huge playground was taped off!!! Sorry kids, no playing today! It looked like they were in the process of painting everything. Major bummer. We were able to ride the carousel - which Katie & Alex loved. Can't say the same for Will & Maddie. We placed them on the horses and they were in awe...until the ride started up. They were both clawing at me to get down. Notice the picture below...it was taken during the ride! At the end of the day we had enjoyed a fun day of Letterboxing (9 boxes), visiting our favorite park, eating yummy food at the Lena Drive-In and making more memories of our family times in Freeport, IL.

Pictures included: 4 kids in front of waterfall "Artisian Well" Letterbox in Winslow, IL.

Becki with kids at "Artisian Well" Letterbox in Winslow, IL

Grandview Cemetary, Freeport, IL "It's a Grand View" Letterbox

Krape Park "Dragon" Letterbox, Freeport, IL

Becki with Maddie & Will on carousel, Alex in back.

Alex & Katie enjoying the carousel

Playing in the Park

I have decided that we are going to try to get out more this spring/summer. Even if it is for an hour (of course it takes me an hour to get everyone ready...and then an hour to put everything away when we get home!) The twins are old enough now to run around and play at the park too. We headed out to Veterans Park in Bettendorf today. It has a walkway that goes along the creek. We played for a while at the playground, took a walk (with a snack break), played at another playground (cut short by a potty alert...which meant we had to run back to the first playground!) and ended our time with singing and dancing at the bandshell. (I took a video of Alex doing some ballet...I thought!...but I must have pushed the record button twice and turned it off)

Big Girl Bed

We placed Maddie in a toddler bed last Thursday. We were SHOCKED (to say the least) when Maddie didn't move from her bed but lay there until falling asleep! The next 3 nights were the same...however, nap time has been different. Today I realized that it was very quiet in their room and went to check on them. Here is what I found...