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We left the valley yesterday afternoon, loading up the car with everything I could cram inside the car and topper. Our summer in the Sonoran Desert is over. One more day in the mountains before starting another long drive (see re: the trip down in June). In some respects I wish I had written more about our summer sojourn, but I'll do my best to sum up the experience. In surviving the summer in Phoenix you hear a lot about 'beating the heat.' As well you should, the temperatur

We tried something different in Alaska this year, and it took me a bit to decide how I felt about it. But I think I've got it figured out. As you likely know, my wife's sister's family lives up in Alaska, near Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. We visit near annually for about a week and it's always an adventure. I've written in the past about Homer specifically, as well as our ordeals in traveling there (see posts tagged Alaska). We've always flown through Anchorage, gotten to Ho

'It's a dry heat!' It was a comment we heard countless times before reaching Arizona at the onset of the summer. As if that makes up for 115 degrees. But, still, somewhere in my brain it was a sort of consolation. At least I wouldn't sweat that much, even if I was warm. Or so I told myself. As a quick aside I've humorously learned that this saying is also oft repeated here in the desert. For one example I found it on one of my brother-in-laws t-shirts, as a joke. I'm likening

When we visit Alaska in the summer, an annual thing in our family (see Alaska posts), one of the big adjustments is to what we're heard referred to as 'Alaska Time.' As a result of the long summer days, the sun going down at like midnight in July, people stay up late and then sleep in well into the morning. For us this has frequently meant we can get up at, I don't know, 7am (aka 10am in Minnesota), go into town, get some coffee and/or breakfast, mill around a little while, t

We made it. After leaving Minnesota last Saturday afternoon (we're crazy and also did a birthday party first) we made it to Arizona. It took something like 53 total hours, 24 active driving, and involved transversing more than 1500 miles before we reached my parents summer home in the mountains Monday evening. That felt like the end of the long journey, even though it wasn't the final actual destination. Tuesday afternoon we tagged on the last couple hours and landed at last

As written about previously (see Leaving home , The best decision we ever made , Where we're supposed to be for a few examples), my wife and I are both from Minnesota originally and live here now, but have experienced life elsewhere. To friends outside the state that probably doesn't seem all that notable but most Minnesotans never leave, and if they do they frequently come back. It's cultural. Though moving away was difficult for me I grew to love living out east, largely b

This winter I took the next step in my coaching career (if we can call it that) and coached our eldest son's basketball team. That long season came to a close Valentine's Day and I want to record some thoughts, and feelings. Here's the story. Early fall there was discussion amongst parents at our son's school about signing up together. This is how it starts, and what's resulted in flag football teams, this basketball team and, from what it sounds like, a baseball team this up

I've never been into New Year's resolutions. It seems pointless to me to wait for a calendar turn to make changes if I feel they're necessary or valuable. And I generally think I can make those kind of lifestyle changes, it's been done before (like, say, when it comes to diet ). As I say all this here I am writing about a post about resolutions. But I can explain. As with many aspects of my life I'm going to credit my wife. For 2025 she bought, and successfully completed, a s

We all want to share the things we love with our children as they grow, hoping they'll take on those interests for themselves. We also instinctually know reading to our kids is overwhelmingly positive, to bond with them, to stimulate their brains, and at night to help them sleep. Reading has always been something I've enjoyed, in particular when it comes to old, classic stories. There's usually good reason something's lasted decades, or centuries, and I want to be part of tha

When you have young kids life just keeps getting busier and busier, especially after entering real (elementary) school for the first time. I've always known this was the case, how could it not be?, that as you increase the number of family members participating in activities there's more to do. When I wrote a post last year (' First real busy summer ') I was, in a way, a sweet summer child, even if I had an inkling how the future would look. A little over a year later, things

There's this meme I've see online, seems like it's fairly new, about people demonstrating competence and bemoaning that they...

My wife a few years ago introduced me to the idea of 1000 hours outside . The concept in basic terms is making it an annual goal to spend...

At the end of August tragedy struck the family on my father's side. My dad, 'Papa' to the kids, is in his mid 60s now. One of his younger...

I've written twice this year already about our daughter. One of these detailed how she's becoming a handful, thinking she's a princess ...

We moved back to Minnesota in November 2021 and I was very conflicted at the time (see: Leaving home , Leaving home part II , and The...

Kindergarten, and 'real school,' is when most kids truly start learning to read. It's a crazy process to watch, and one that's certainly...

'She's SO cute!' Everywhere we go, our daughter, our youngest and kid #3, gets this response. The comments used to focus almost...

In the past year I've started to feel old. Not elderly, or frail, to be clear, but I think there's a difference from not that long ago....

Our eldest is motivated to make money. Or, I guess I should say, he's motivated to spend money. We don't buy many extra toys, outside...

On Friday we embarked on potty training round three, always a trial by fire, with our nearly two and a half year old little girl. For...