3 years later

About 3 years ago, Johan had tubes out in his ears to battle his recurring ear infections.  They are supposed to fall out within about a year. One of them also did. But the other one proved as stubborn as Johan himself... Now, for the risk of a permanent hole in the ear drum it needs to come out. I'm guessing putting in and taking out ear tubes is the quickest surgery there is...  It took about five minutes.  That's after at least an hour of preparations, of course.  

Johan had a quick recovery and no complications from the procedure!  

Once in a hundred years

Today would have been Mathias' namesake and great grandpa Hilmer's 100th birthday. We had a low key celebration and recalled some of the memories of a great man. 

Those who knew you miss you, old chap!

Cheers!  

Independence Day

The Fourth of July celebration gets stretched into the better part of a week of activities around here. For the first time in a while we missed most of the massive parade going through town, by actually being in it. Mathias & Ericka went with the youth hockey association float. Mathias got to dole out candy on roller blades. Johan and I rode along on the float for the local gym, all decked out with bar bells, a rower, and a pull-up bar.  Johan dazzled the audience by climbing the rope attached to the bar about s dozen times. I'm not sure how we'll get by without al the candy the boys usually get during the parade. 

Out of all the activities, the boys enjoyed the firefighters competition (which invited the kids to try it out and get soaking wet) and a juggler show. 

We're now all exhausted and need to take a few days to recover. 

Out west - Bozeman

We finished our out west vacation with a stay in Bozeman and cousin Colten's wedding. It was nice for the boys to see some of their cousins that they don't run into very often, not to mention Aunt B and Grandpa Charlie. Not that long after the wedding ended it was time to get up veeery early in the morning for the 16 hour drive home. That got to be a bit long. But everyone was a trooper traveling through Montana, North Dakota and Much of Minnesota.

Out west - Cody & Yellowstone

Our trip out west continued through a very large and empty Wyoming until we reached Cody, a gateway of sorts to Yellowstone. We enjoyed some sightseeing in Cody but barely scratched the surface of what's to see and do there. We marveled over some 100 year-old houses and how far we've come from drafty log huts to iPads and central air conditioning in merely ten times Mathias' life span.  We didn't make it into his museum, but we had a burger in Buffalo Bill's hotel. 

In Yellowstone we saw some gloppy 'mud volcanoes', colorful hot springs, and - of course - Old Faithful, which is still going strong after all these years. Although we hear she is slowing down.

 

Out west - the Black Hills

On a tight schedule we dabbled in the black hills over the course of a day and a half. It was somewhat of a repeat of our visit two years ago. We went to the Reptile Gardens which, in spite of being a tourist trap, is a fun spot to visit. The boys enjoyed the alligator show with a very funny host.  We spend a couple of ours walking around at Sylvan Lake. We finished with a visit to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. This is an excavation of an old hot spring where, thousands of years ago. mammoths fell in and couldn't get out. They have been excavating there for 40 years and are nowhere near done. I think they are in a tight race with the Crazy Horse Monument to see who can finish before year 2100.