Baby John - 8 month old!

We interrupt the replay of family vacation photos to bring you the following announcement:  Baby John is 8 months old!

 

 

 

Free-Pie-Wednesday at the Village Inn

A special family treat, dinner at a restaurant! (And yay for giving Mommy a break from figuring out what to make for dinner that night!) In case you aren't lucky enough to have a Village Inn where you live, every Wednesday, no matter what you order, you get a free slice of fruit pie!  Cup of coffee? AND pie! Grilled cheese sandwhich? AND pie! This was our first time taking advantage of this sweet treat, but I have a feeling it won't be our last... Our waitress was kind enough to take a family photo!

 

The kids were both pretty well behaved! Here you see the snuggly boy and his Daddy.

 

Daddy was kind enough to let us take turns holding the baby while we both ate dinner. Then we let baby John sit up in the bench all by himself! He was reaching out to grab the children's menu.

  

He got it!

 

And--- into his mouth it goes!

 

3 slices of peach pie, please! YUM YUM YUM!

 

Boys Weekend: Motorcycle trip to Minneapolis

July was a month full of vacations- at least for Daddy! The weekend after we got home from our trip to Yankton, John went on a motorcycle trip with his brother Jeremy (Bear), and their buddy Jeremy (Schmotz) up to Minneapolis. There they visited more friends, and did manly things including fixing Bear's bike, and drinking LOTS of beer!

 

First things first!  Before Bear and Schmotz even made it to our house to pick up John- we got a call from Bear asking if we could quickly research if it is safe to ride a motorcycle without the air filter.  Turns out his air filter had "silently" fallen off -sure it's loud riding a motorcycle, but can you imagine not noticing part of your bike FALLING OFF? Well that's what happened-- so Bear and Schmotz are on the side of the freeway, on their cell phones, calling and trying to research.  When Bear calls our house to ask, John is out walking the dog, so Mommy hops on the internet to do research.  The prevailing answer I found is "don't ever ride your motorcycle without an air filter- you can ruin your engine and quickly"!  BUT there are also comments about not riding on dirt roads- and the guys are on the freeway which shouldn't be nearly so dusty. So I decide to call a Harley dealership back in WA, since the time difference makes them 2 hours earlier than we are, and a live person is still available to talk with in the service department.  Well their answer is: you can probably try to make an air filter, since this is an emergency, and hobble the bike to your destination. But stay off any dirt roads. 

Armed with this new info, the guys luckily find a farm close by, and ask the owner for some scrap pieces to make an air filter, and they eventually arrive at our house, only a few hours later than expected.  In the morning they call all the Harley dealerships close by and on the way to MN, to find a new filter- but none are in stock!  SO the guys head out to the hardware store and jimmy-rig this fine invention:

 

But I digress- the guys enjoyed a late night Friday, chest thumping and drinking plenty of beer- and in the morning there was this box full of empty cans as evidence.

 

The morning of their trip from IA to MN- wait is that a beer for breakfast? No, no, don't worry, they ate Panera bagels and scones first-- THEN more beer!

 

Schmotz, gearing up with goggles, getting ready to ride.

  

The three amigos: Schmotz, John and Bear.

  

And away they go!

  

At this time we have no further pictures from their shenanigans in MN. There are rumors of baseball games, brewery tours and closing down bars, but all parties are innocent until proven guilty.  What I can tell you is that the boys plan to make this a yearly excursion. This has been a pipe dream for many years, and what better excuse is there for a motorcycle trip than "boy's weekend".  (A side note about Bear's air filter, he was able to order a new one over the phone and get it shipped out to MN- and was able to make the long ride home with peace of mind!)