Lynda's Christmas List

1.)2011 planner/calander

2.)warm socks for snowboarding

3.)showerhead with hose

4.)painting supplies (accrylic paints or canvass)

5.)books, preferably good

6.)surprises!

Daniel's List:

1.) Tungsten! Careful it's expensive! This is the cheapest i've found- www.sunfisktools.com/tungsten-bucking-bars_c2.htm

2.) 3x or 4x recoilless rivet gun .401 shank 1/4" npt inlet. only affordable used, sometimes on ebay

3.) Legacy Flexzilla Air hose, 1/4" x 50' (DO NOT pay more than $30 ... unless you buy 100', which is $50 at Mernards, and is way more feet than i need)

4.) Pneumatic spring cleco installation and removal tool / pneumatic cleco pliers. There's one on amazon, it even has a review that says it's a luxury item...lol. i typed lol.... lol.

5.) universal sockets. not a universal adapter, each socket swivels. it's sweet. and i should've bought the set i saw at northern in the auto section 2 or three years ago, it was cheap. and i've never seen them at harbor freight.... but somone needs to remind me to stop at northern next time i'm around there!

6.) coffee grinder, must grind as fine as esspresso

7.) small amplifier... a really little one, so i can practice my electric violin... dunno, they're less than 2' x 2' i think.

8.) snow boots i guess... although i don't think i really need them honestly, so i prolly don't need to post this. Lynda and I were just out in this blizzard... we bundled up, i think i had on five layers (long johns, a gortex, and three or four fleeces) and i had on a pair of cotton and pair of whool socks, and my hikers which i had just water proofed in september for canada. We walked through the park and to the bar a few blocks away, and when we got home Lynda's boots with the fur were soaked through and my hikers still looked dry.... so i think i'll stick with my hikers. So overall nevermind and thanks for reading! p.s. it was walmart waterproofer in a can... used it on everything... hikers, tent, backpacks, etc. everything stayed dry. 1/3 the price of other waterproofers, and worked great! it's honestly sometimes getting mildly hard to dis walmart. i exchanged mario kart for wii there the other day...

Christmas list for the boys

Douglas:

Large bionicle sets (he likes a challenge)

comics (spider man and iron man)

Nerf guns

video games for the wii or ps2


Wolfgang:

Batman Beyond anything

Lego's

Mario Galaxy 2 for WII

Train Lincoln logs

Big transformers

Batman books

Yahtzee

Bat mobile

We had a great Halloween! Took the kids to the parade in Oconomowoc and then trick or treating. They both gave up after 30 min. fine with us they had enough candy. Me and Dan went on a haunted hike and then to the bars on the east side. We saw some great costumes! On halloween day we went to a party at Michelle's house and sat around the fire while the kids trick or treated.

Is it de ja vous? No, but it is the same exact weekend as last year that Lynda and I went to Canada for a pleasant four day weekend for a little kayaking and hiking in Superior national parks of Ontario. Last year we kayaked along the shores of lake Superior to see 13 pictographs, paddled four inland lakes with four portages, paddled into superior off our campsite beach for a quiet calm sunset, and hiked a couple medium difficulty trails to view several beautiful landscapes and waterfalls.

Well, it's the same time, the weekend after labor day weekend. For me it's a pleasant three day weekend, two day work week, and four day weekend vacation! unfortunately, Lynda has to work on my three day weekend portion :(

At any rate... we leave Wednesday night, and we'll be ready. Last time, we really wanted to hike a hard trail to what we hope is the most gorgeous waterful yet... but it was a day hike there and rated very difficult. So we took a rain check. Well we're going back... and this time we geared up! It cost some shiny pennies, but we plan on doing lots more backpacking... this is sort of our warm up toward what's to come, and checking off one of those things that got on our to do list at the same time, if you know what I mean. We plan on doing some of the same things as last year, since we know which trails we liked and which we thought were only ok, but this time we'll see if the ones we missed out on are the ones not to miss.

Our backpacks are completely set... that is we packed for four days, since we'll only be hiking for two but we figure we need to practice and warm up a little for what we'll get into later ;) Lynda weighed in at about 25 lbs and I made around fifty.... but baby we got it all! Everything but the backpackers sink! (really i saw that at the store and wanted it! but i really don't want it that bad!). We got the fancy bear spray, the bear bell, an awesome tent light that puts out 40 lumens and hangs from a mini beaner and weighs nothing! We got the water purifier with the field maintainable element that pumps over a liter a minute and we're bringing a hatchet and we each have pillows! The tent is lightweight and we didn't forget the deck of cards! We're bringing a camera of course and swimsuits in case we can swim by the waterfall! Most importantly, we've got high levels of excitement and adventure!!!!! whoooohoooo! oh yah, and for people who know me and realize i didn't mention the important thing yet... yup, we've got a nice 1st aid kit! So, we'll show you what we got when we get back, and hope the hike is worth it!

Just finished my last class today and now I have off for a few weeks! Next week I'm going to visit Allen for his graduation. I am so happy for him! I hope he moves back to Wisconsin. I miss him so much.

2 weeks left before our vacation to the east coast. I think we need to start planning :)

Last weekend was very busy. We went to see Dan's Dad and Dianna on Sat. then we spent the night at Olympia. The kids had fun in the pool, actually we all did. The kids stayed with Mike for the night and me and Dan went out with Ruckus. For mother's day we had lunch with Dan's mom and Todd. The kids got to do a Easter egg hunt. Wolfgang was so happy to find the dollars in the eggs. To him the $5 bill didn't mean anything more then the $1 bills. Dougie was nice and didn't try to trade his 2 $1 bills for Wolfgang's 1 $5 bill.

We got home kind of late and full on mothers day so Dan made me a nice dinner on Tuesday when we could actually relax and enjoy it. He made a great cheese cake too!

Yesterday we had an appointment to get Dougies braces. He has to do 2 more before they even put the braces on. I wish they would just get started already.

This was a hard weekend. Rocky had to lose a leg because he broke it so bad on Friday. He is doing much better and should make a full recovery. He seems to not miss his leg and can get around pretty good. The only thing giving him trouble is the silly coller thing around his neck.

We did have a good weekend with Wolfgang! We went for a bike ride at High Cliff. He loved it! It was so funny watching Dan hover over him in case he fell. Wolfgang can only ride his bike a little over walking speed. It was so funny because Wolfgang has trouble walking his bike, he pushes it away from the side he was standing and he was walking away from where he was trying to go. We told him to go to the other side of his bike and push and he didn't understand so Dan told him to go around the bike, Wolfgang walked all the way around the bike to where he started. It was so funny.

This week has gone by so fast again. We worked out on Monday and got free pizza. Tuesday we had a little cook out right before the tornato touched down. It was so nice out, the clouds came and went so fast we didn't even get rain. Last night I tried to work on my final essay but didn't get anything done. I made some progress today.

Yesterday I saw a huge turtle in my parking lot at work. It was about 2ft tall. I don't know where it came from. The truck driver put it in the pond across the street.

We had a fun week but it went by way too fast! I'm talking about last week, but this week is flying too. We went to a nice wine bar in Appleton last Sat and hung out with Jason and his girlfriend Jessica. Jason got a job far away so we are losing one of our few Oshkosh friends.

Work has acutally been nice lately. I have been so busy and I love it. I hate during the winter when we are so slow and I don't know what to do all day.

We got our garden dug up and I'm going to stat planting today. I hope it doesn't get cold again. I can't wait for my veggies to grow!

Dougie is doing better in school. It was a rough start for him because he didn't really want to move. He made friends right away but was slacking in his classes. He is doing much better and is excited to go online and check his grades everyday.

Wolfgang is doing great. He is the happiest boy in the world and we don't know why, but it makes us happy to see it!

We had a nice spring break with the kids. We celebrated Easter again on the 10th. The kids got a ginger bread house that we decorated. The kids did a better job at it then me and Dan :) We got started digging the garden this weekend. By we I mean Dan dug while I held his beer and told him where to dig. It was funny because we rolled up the lawn like a carpet and moved it. I can't wait for all our veggies to grow!
Dan finished fixing his Honda and let me drive it on Sunday. Big mistake! Oshkosh has a lot of hills and it was freaking me out. I kept doing burn outs at ever stop sign. Poor Wolfgang didn't know what the heck was going on. He was very nice about it and said I'm a great driver when we got home.
Last night I finally talked Dan into watching Gone with the Wind with me. He likes it! We only got through half because it is so long. Plans tonight include working out then watching the rest of the movie!

We had a great weekend! Started off Friday night going to Peabody's for some live music and a few games of pool. I tried to practice darts but I still suck. On Sat we went to Tylers birthday party in the afternoon and Erica's in the evening. Dan lost his bet with me saying Oconomowoc was only a 40min drive from Madison. I said 50-60min. He did 80 the whole way and it took 50min. Our hotel room was really cool. It had a bedroom, living room and kitchen and 2 bathrooms. It had a fun arcade game and a dartboard in the living room. It also had a fire place. We ate dinner there and bought some drinks so we wouldn't have to spend a lot of money at the bar. It was a fun party. It was nice seeing everyone from Oconomowoc again. Just makes me want to move back sooner. I did really good at the golf game in our room and was kicking everyone's butt :)
Easter morning we slept in as late as we could. We we got up we didn't know what to do with ourselves because our plans didn't start until 3pm. We went to home depo to look for some stuff for the house and met Chris Missy there. She knew almost everyone that worked there. After that we went to the park for some archery. It was really nice out in the morning. We went to Matt's house for a bit and then had dinner with Dan's dads side of the family. On the way home we picked up Leo. He is going to visit us for the week.

We have been very busy the past few months. Dougie is now living with us in Oshkosh. He wasn't happy about it at first but he is adjusting well. He has made some new friends and is happy that he has been able to keep in contact with his old ones. He loves facebook :) Things have been going good for me. I finished 2 of my classes and just have one left for the rest of the semester. Me and Dan have been into archery lately. Dan set up a target in the basement for us to practice. I love going to the park across town. I'm so happy it is so nice out again and can't wait to go to the park later today!

We had a little cookout yesterday and made some brats on the grill. Dan was sick and took the past 2 days off of work but was feeling better by the time I got home from work. We went to see a motivational speaker and I won the door prize. It was a $10 gift card to Walmart. It's funny because I keep trying to boycot Walmart and it keeps drawing me back. I really hate that place. I had a meeting with my team at work and ended up spending most of it complainning about walmart.

Last day in Australia

Today is Australia day. We have a big good bye celebration set up for tonight. I have had so much fun! I'm sad to leave but I really miss my boys so much and can't wait to see them again.

The other day I got attacked by a Kangaroo. Someone made it mad and it came running after me and hit me in the back a bunch of times then it went after someone else in our group and then it attacked an old man. That was the scariest part of my trip. The rest of it was a lot of fun. I rode on the steepest railway in the world. I loved Blue Mountains but I'm going to have to come back because I went on the foggiest day they ever had and I couldn't see everything I wanted to. I was also here on the hottest day they had in the past 4 years. There was a crazy sand storm at Bondi beach.

Wow, it is so easy to fall behind with the blog. I have been so busy everyday. I am now in Sydney. I love it here! The city is beautiful! We took a walking tour and go to see all kinds of cool stuff. I wish I took notes because I'm so forgetful. We took the ferry to Manly beach and some of the group surfed. I didn't really want to go in the water because I'm not a very good swimmer and the waves were pretty big. I got a new swim suit for $5. It was the only one and it fit me perfect! Everything here is pretty expensive. We have a travel pass to get around. It works on the ferry, buses and trains. I love the gardens here are so pretty. I have gone two days in a row. The other day I got lost. We were on the bus and got to our stop and we were like "is that our stop" but we stayed on the bus and ended up in another city. A nice guy told us how to get back. It was a fun little adventure.

The gardens were great yesterday. I have lots of pictures. The guide showed us lots of cool stuff. Some leave turnded into soap or can be sand paper. All kinds of cool stuff. I ate the free dinner again then went out with some of the girls. Drinks were 2 for 1 so they were normal prices. Drinks are so expensive here. I met a lot of people and had a good time.

Today we went to a summer camp for the local children. It was so much fun! We took the kids rollerblading and swimming. I met a cool kid named Hayden he is 12 and made me miss Dougie even more. He was very mature for his age and he had been to the US. He really liked the US and had tons of questions for me. It was sad though because he lives on a boat and doesn't have any brothers or sisters and his friends live too far away from him. He also can't play video games very much and doesn't have air conditioning because they use a generator on the boat. He is very smart though so he must be spending his time studying or something.

It is so hard to write about my days. I have been doing so much and my mind is racing. Yesterday we went to a lecture but I was hot and couldn't hear anything. As soon as they let us go we rushed off to the lagoon. The water felt great. Then we had our free dinner at the hotel and it was good so we were all happy. We walked around to some shops but I'm trying not to buy anything until we get to Sydney. I don't want to have to carry to much around. Everyone went to a bar to watch the packer game so I had a relaxing night to myself and went to bed a little early.

Today I went to a school of long distance learning. It was very interesting and they had all these wonderful snacks. I'm on a short break right now then I'm going to some gardens with some of the group.

I had a wonderful day today! We took a bus tour up to the rain forest. It was beautiful! We had a very interesting tour guide. We got to go on a few hikes. I saw the most beautiful birds ever. I also got to see some kind of forest dragon. We went to some wild life place and got to pet kangaroos. They were so cute. I also got to see squirrel gliders and they looked just like huge sugar gliders.

Last night I went out with some of the girls. On of them we talked into the wet t-shirt contest and she won! They girls did a great job of keeping the guys away from me. the guys here can be pretty aggressive. I had a great time :)

After 2 days of traveling I am here! Cairns, Australia! It is so hot out! For our first day we took a walking tour of the city. We went to the logoon, a huge swimming area. It is man made right by the ocean. You can't swim in the ocean because the crocs will eat you. There are a lot of cute shops that I'm going to try to stay out of. We ate lunch at a place called Rattle n Hum. Food was good, we ate outside and right after dinner there were these huge bats flying over us. It looked so cool. I got some pictures of it. A little after dinner I went to bed. It was about 4am Wisconsin time.

Today I woke up early and ate breakfast with everyone in the group. We split up and I did some shopping for some things I needed. Then I called Dan. I miss him so much! It is sooooooo hot out. I spet a long time by the pool. I must have put on enough sunblock because I not even tan. I went to the farmers market and got a funky watch because I don't have a cell phone to tell me what time it is. They had fruit I've never seen before. I got pictures of some. I know I'm a dork, but wait to you see it! Now I'm waiting for my group to gather so we can go eat dinner. Everyone in my group is very nice. We are going to have a great 3 weeks!

I'm leaving tomorrow! I took off work the past few days to get ready. I hope I did a good job. I hate how I always forget things until I'm too late then I remember. I always try to guess what I'm going to forget. I packed everything on my list but I'm sure I forgot to add some important things to the list.

Today me and Dan worked out. We haven't been doing so good at sticking to it lately. It was so busy because it is still so close to New Years. It will be funny when I get back and nobody is there.

I called the boys to say goodbye. Wolfgang was so cute. He asked "Are you in Australia mommy?" I hope I can call him when I'm there. Dougie is worried. He kept telling me to be carefull and that Australia is not the safest place. I'm going to miss them so much.