Mudathalon

Jim and I competed with my Uncle Jay and his friend, Pete, in our first Mudathalon.  It is a race that you have to run 3 miles and there are 40 obsticles to go through.  And it's muddy. We had to go over hay bales, walls, muddy streams, net ladders, rope bridges, trenches filled with mud and our favorite, a slip n slide that ended in a mud pit.  As you can see, we started out very clean.  Our team kept together by watching for our red bandanas.

We finished about an hour latter and really dirty.  The bandanas bled when they got wet and we all looked like we were bleeding.  My hair was well on its way to dreadlocks.  No major injuries.  I jammed my thumb and Jim had a big bruise on his leg.  We had a great time and are looking forward to it again next year.  I wish I could show all of you the pictures that the official photographers took because they are funny to see us tromping through the mud.  Before anything else happened, we all hosed off in the middle of the field and threw away our shoes.  Then we had a nice beer and brat and headed home.

Jim got a new camera this past winter and is collecting lenses.  Our hydragena finally bloomed for the first time in 5 years.  It was mostly pink, with a hint of blue.  Now that is hasn't rained in 6 weeks, it's mostly brown.

Few more Days in Minnesota

We just had such a fantastic time in Minnesota.  One morning we woke up to a very gray day. We decided to meet up at the railway museum.  While we were there, it hailed. 

Of course, we had to run outside to collect a few pieces and take a picture to show the dads.

Then we spent the afternoon at the Science Museum. Always a fun place. The kids are really getting old enough to occupy themselves and Michele and I had a nice visit.  They constructed this carbon nanotube--in macro scale.

Jim met us for dinner at one of our most favorite Japanese noodle places.  The girls liked it.

Annalise even figured out how to use the chopsticks.

On our last day, we went back to the Nature Center.  We took a short hike down to the pond.  While we were there, a butterfly made friends with us.

It really liked Evie and kept landing on her leg.

Annalise and Nate were closely inspecting it.    We had to leave that Friday but took a trip past the cup and cone on the way out.  Delicious as always.

We stopped overnight in Madison to break up the trip.  Aunt Becky and Uncle Bran's old Condo is still standing.

We hung out long enough to visit the farmer's market and eat some cheese fresh off the fryer from the Brunko Cheese tent.  it was heavenly.