Grandchildren

Yesterday I managed to see and spend some time with all five grandchildren. It was the first day of school for the twins. Grandpa and I, along with Grandma Okland, took them to school. Cailey seemed a little apprehensive and I felt awful leaving her.


Then I went over to Jeremy and Sarah's to watch my newest grandchild and her brother yesterday for the first time (Keira, not Jaren) while Jeremy and Sarah went to radio station 106.3 for an in-studio performance by John Ondrasik from FIVE FOR FIGHTING. Jeremy of course wore one of his many Superman shirts and was in seventh heaven when he dedicated 'superman" to the guy in the superman shirt during his live in-studio concert. It was a fun morning.


Keira's Superman outfit is a Build a Bear outfit.

After that I went in to work for the afternoon.

I Celebrate You, Grandson!

Happy 4th birthday Luke. I love you little man and am sorry I didn't get a chance to wish you a happy birthday on your special day. We celebrate you today for all sorts of reasons, especially because you always bring a smile to my face and gave me a new love for the zoo. We'll make a trip back to the zoo soon, I promise.

He's got his Grandma's eyes

I was just uploading some pictures to my computer and saw this one Roger took last Sunday when Jaren was visiting us, and cruising for porn. I never realized how we had the same eyes. (He has better complexion and is much cuter though.)

Why toddlers should not play with the TV remote

Last Sunday we were watching Jaren while Mom and Dad ran to Wal-Mart. He kept bringing me the remote so I finally turned it on to a program I have recorded for him--Little Einsteins. He was cuddling with me happily watching it. Then he picked up the remote and all of a sudden we were no longer watching Little Einsteins but a movie on HBO. No problem there but as quick as greased lightning he changed the channel once again and the screen has a box on it asking if we wished to purchase "Hot Wet Bitches." I grabbed the remote from his little hands and put it back on an appropriate channel. How he got there in a couple button presses I have no idea. Mom and Dad pulled in the driveway right then so I told them the story. While we were talking he picked up the remote and right away went back to that channel. Grandpa and Dad said if he had purchased it they would have been obligated to watch it so as to not waste any money.

NOTICE THE REMOTE IN HIS HAND IN THE FIRST PICTURE BELOW.....

I have a new granddaughter

and her name is Keira Ann Jorgenson. She was born this morning 45 minutes after arriving at the hospital and one push. She weighed in at 6 pounds 10.2 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. She is beautiful and the family is doing great.

Some more Minnesota Zoo pictures

Here are some more pictures from our trip to the Minnesota Zoo. All these pictures, except the butterfly emerging were taken on the Minnesota Trail. While walking on the trail, we passed a beaver pond where we had a underwater view from large windows. They also had a video monitor to show action inside the lodge. Adjacent to the pond is a small wetland area, where I think it was we caught these river otters sleeping (first picture top row). Not as exciting as watching them frolic at the Des Moines Blank Park Zoo though.

Other animals we saw were coyotes, gray wolf, porcupine, wolverine, lynx.

From the wild bird deck we saw some turkeys. We also saw this bald eagle and this puma.

The butterfly garden is located in the Tropics Trail. They have 40 different species of butterflies and moths, fluttering around, along with chrysalis (or pupa) "boxes". This butterfly or moth was emerging from its chrysalis. The girls would have stayed there all day if permitted waiting to see it take off. Cailey asked if we could come back t he next day to check it out.

Here is a link to live cams at the Minnesota Zoo: http://www.mnzoo.com/animals/animals_liveCam.asp

Have you ever Googled yourself?

I did, and added the word marijuana to my name because right now where I work we are preparing to hold hearings on whether marijuana has medicinal purposes. My email and phone number went out in the press release about the hearings. The results were about 39,100 in less than 0.49 seconds for "debbie jorgenson marijuana." And for the record, I have never ever even indulged.

Our first stop at the zoo -- a wall to get an official zoo picture. Wish these places had signs that were accessible to stand in front of that said Minnesota Zoo.

Can't see the turtle statue here, but the kids were all climbing onto its back to get this group shot.
Puma.
This wolf was a one year old female. I thought Cailey would be infatuated with her but she didn't pay her that much attention.


I thought this was pretty cool. The diver, while feeding the fish in the tank, was telling us all about the various fish and their habits.



Time to head home. A couple of us had trouble waking up. Had a bit too much fun.
We're up!
Fairy dust boxes the girls picked up.
Cousin It? I love the necklace accessory.

Vacation photos

Back home now from our mini-vacation to Minneapolis. The zoo was a really great choice as a destination--two thumbs up for the Minnesota Zoo.

The Mall of America may have been too much for the kids. Perhaps it was the two hours I let the girls swim the night before at the hotel, but we hadn't been there an hour and they were dragging. We decided to rent a dual stroller for the girls to use along with the umbrella stroller we brought along for Luke. The kids enjoyed the rides--especially Cailey, who rode the roller coaster once and the log ride twice. Mia sat out the log ride the second time and the roller coaster. I'll give the Mall of America one thumb up.

Our hotel, the AmericInn in Shakopee, which I booked through Expecia, was really nice and had a water slide and a kiddy wading pool. Unfortunately we were placed in a smoking room, which the hotel tried to clean the air, but the hallway was filled with cigarette smoke and was unbearable. Lesson learned--just because Expedia asks you what your smoking preference is doesn't mean that is what they get. They have a very small disclaimer that they can't guarantee the availability of a non-smoking room. The hotel happened to be booked solid and there were no other rooms to move us to, so the assistant manager said if I want to come back up, call her directly and she'll take care of us. Two thumbs up for the AmericInn; two thumbs down for Expedia.

For some reason I've uploaded my pictures but they aren't showing up, so here's a link to my Flickr Photostream to see some pictures from our vacation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenshakenbake/.

Dogs, thunderstorms, and free dogs

While we were on vacation Carrie watched our three beagles. She was telling me they were really good except for one morning when she went over and they had gotten an onion off the pie safe and a zuchini off the table. That would be Maddie. Maddie may be ten in dog years, but is still going through her terrible twos. That dog can get onto a bar-stool high chair and get up where no dog should be able to get.

Last night Molly was acting up even before being put in the kitchen for the night. I wondered then if there were storms in the air but I didn't hear Ed Wilson mention any overnight thunderstorms, so I didn't give Molly a Nervoheel pill. Her heavy breathing and pacing kept me awake until around 11:30 when I finally fell asleep, only to be awaken at 3:15 by her doing her best to tear the gate down. Fortunately for us it is a new gate and not as easy to pull down. Unfortunately she has figured out how to open it up so we bungie cord it shut. While on vacation earlier this month she chewed through the bungie cord and Jeremy tied it together and we have failed to replace it. I yelled at her a few times and dozed back to sleep. I was awaken once again at 4:15 by her heavy breathing/panting in the bedroom and two other dogs jumping up in bed with me. I listened for a moment and heard thunder off in the distance. I dragged their sorry butts back into the kitchen, gave her some Nervoheel. When I tried to fasten the gate again saw it had once more been chewed through. So in my lazy/sleepy frame of mind, I saw the cooler, still filled with cold beverages and icy cold water and thought I'd just move it in front of the gate so she can't pull it open. I went back to bed only to hear a thud and went back to the kitchen to find Molly had removed the lid to the cooler and using all her strength, tipped the cooler over. Now I had a small flood on the kitchen floor to clean up. After doing this, I dragged her sorry butt downstairs and put her in a kennel, came back upstairs to go to bed. I wasn't able to get back to sleep, but did stay in bed until 6. I went out to the kitchen to feed the dogs and let them out only to find that Maddie had gotten into the lazy Susan and got a pasta salad mix and ate all the dried pasta and seasoning. She also got a box of spaghetti and ate them.

With threats of thunderstorms again tonight, Molly and Maddie are both being put in a kennel tonight and I'll let the "good" dog sleep with me.