Gilbertson Family

Post weekend blitz

2012-02-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful weekend at the first year residents retreat up in Beaver Bay MN. Everyone was able to come, as well as their spouses. We had a great time catching up, venting, bonding, playing games, and eating great food.

Unfortunately I did not make it to Caribou Lake for the 5th annual North Shore Wheelers ice races.

Grandma Judy was wonderful and took such good care of Drea over the weekend so Robyn and I could partake in the festivities up in Beaver Bay. We are so appreciative for Grandma Judy and her generous giving of time to our family.

Drea really enjoyed opening here Valentines Day card from Grandma and Grandpa Gonske. Drea is a sweetheart for all her Grandmas and Grandpas. Last weekend she was playing peek with Grandpa Jeff down the isles of the tool store we were at. She would then run and give him a leg hug.

We have had so much fun with family lately and are so grateful for all of the special people in our lives.

Quikie

2012-02-06T17:43:00.003-08:00

Just wanted to post a quick picture of Drea being adorable.

Should have more pictures this weekend after Ice Racing is over.

I better get to work eh?

2012-01-30T18:37:00.000-08:00

That is what I said to Robyn when she was getting on my case about not posting some recent videos of Drea. Little Drea continues to grow by leaps and bounds. She is very smart and has a few words that she likes to say.

Drea's words: mama, papa, baby, yes, no no no!, cuckoo (and points at the clock), uh oh!, shoes, eat (eee), hi, and something that means biscuit (biscuit is her stuffed animal dog).

We have affectionately given Drea the nickname Beboo. Robyn came up with it one day and declared that Drea is her little Beboo. Little Beboo is becoming self aware. She can point to herself in the mirror, in pictures, and in videos. She also recognizes family in pictures and can point to Grandmas, Grandpas, mama, papa, Hannah, Asa, Eillie, Danny, and some of her friends.

At tot time she enjoys going down the slide and organizing the toys. Here is a short video of her swinging on some gymnastics equipment. It is a poor quality video from my cellphone. She was watching other kids play on the bars and then went and mimicked them, only with her feet firmly planted on the ground as she moved back and forth.

Drea has also recently figured out how to have Tea Time with mama and her friends. She received a Tea Set for her birthday but wasn't quite ready for it at the time. She would love for you to come visit so she can pour you a cup of tea.

Continuing with the videos. Drea has started feeding herself with a spoon. The new thing is to eat some raspberry yogurt using the spoon. She is getting better each time and making less of a mess.

Switching gears, the other day we got just a little bit of snow. The four of us (Ringo too) went for a walk so Drea could finally use her sled. She just loved it.

I was also enjoying finally getting to use my snowblower!

Before the snow fell we were out and about. We went down to the harbor canal because we saw that the USCGC Alder was coming in from some drills. I snapped a few photos. Enjoy!

Packing it in for Winter Lay up.

2012-01-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year when boats start to go to anchor for a winter break. Today the M/V American Century came in through the Superior port entry to lay up at grain elevator M in Superior. Drea and I caught it as it arrived.

After we failed to catch the Cason J. Callaway due to it stopping to fuel, we swung by Garfield C to where the M/V American Spirit was docked for winter lay up.

Then stopped at Port Terminal and headed home.

Next I'm hoping to catch the M/V Walter J. McCarthy Jr and the M/V Roger Blough come in for lay up. We shall see.

Ohio for Christmas

2012-01-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

Robyn and I just got back from the Twin Cities this evening from our new years eve party in Coon Rapids. Now that things are settling down a bit and Drea is asleep, I can sit down and get some real work done.

Drea and I surprised grandma and grandpa Rethman this year by traveling to Ohio for Christmas. It was fun to surprise them with Drea and be able to spend some quality time with the family.

We all got together at my aunt and uncles house for Christmas Eve. It was just like old times, but better now because of the kiddos.

Drea was very excited to meet and play with Quinn who is the son of my cousin Brad. It was great having the kids around and able to tear through the wrapping paper and provide entertainment for everyone.

Here are some more pictures of the little family photo sessions.
We had a nice time hanging out downstairs, opening presents, and drinking delicious beer.
Speaking of beer, it should be noted that I am dusting off the old mash tun and brew kettle soon to do some preparation for my next batch that I will be starting within the next week or so. I'm planning on brewing a Scotch Ale.

I will try to do some video, or something interesting to share.

Drea goes fishing

2011-12-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

It has been some time since I composed a blog post worth reading. Truth is, that we haven't been doing anything exciting lately. Each week has been unfortunately the same until recently. Usually we start the week off with a couple residency applicant dinners and just try to keep pace with Robyn's schedule. Drea and I spend time running around doing the usual errands. Go to the bank, get groceries, go to Tot Time, and go clean at church once a week.

Boat traffic has been hit or miss so we haven't been going out lately. It doesn't help that it is a little cold for such a small girl to be out in the weather. We are still hoping to catch some ice covered boats, but the weather hasn't been great, and the boats are not ice covered yet.

Last weekend we had a nice time in Rice Lake for Christmas with the Grandparents on both sides. Drea received many books, lots of clothes, and some nice dolls that she can carry around. She also received a sled that we will surely use once it snows here.

I received a DSLR camera from my parents, and Robyn is eager to go clothes shopping with my mom as the do once in a while. Even Ringo is enjoying his biscuits!

My grandparents in Ohio sent us some money to get something nice. We decided that one of the things that we wanted was a family membership to the Great Lakes Aquarium here in Duluth. Drea and I went and took care of that today. She had a great time looking at the fish, birds, and otters.

Drea really liked watching the otters and did so many times over and over again.

Once she got over her initial shyness she was running around like a wild animal.

I had to stop her at the end from getting on the escalator. She has no fear right now. She loved the glass sections of the aquarium where she could step in and get really close to all the fishies.

Drea and I had such a great time. With winter approaching this will be a great activity for us to do together. A big thank you to Great Grandma and Grandpa Rethman for the gift!

Christmas Cards

2011-12-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

You all should be receiving your Christmas cards in the mail soon along with a Christmas letter. For now, we can take a look at the cards that didn't make the cut this year. I am also working on restoring videos to the blog after links became broken. New video links will be up soon.

Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

2011-11-24T17:41:00.001-08:00

The Christmas spirit has invaded Duluth. It started at the end of last week with the "City of the North" Christmas parade. The three of us met up with friends at the corner of Lake Avenue and Superior Street in Downtown Duluth for the parade.

Drea was all decked out in her snowpants, boots and winter gear. She had a great time with her little friends Signe and Tryg.

Christmas continued it's dominance into this week with the opening of Bentleyville USA. Bentleyville is a Northland tradition around here. It started out with a guy who really liked doing light displays and got out of control from there. It is a free event for the public and an absolute blast. If you have never been there, it is worth the visit.

Again, Drea was all decked out in her winter gear. She loves being all bundled up. She stays warm, and can walk around pretty well in her boots and snow pants. She got a little bit antsy waiting in line to see Santa. In typical baby fashion, she was a screaming baby on Santa's lap.

After that brief encounter, it was back to seeing lots of light displays.

Here you see the SS Bentleyville entering the lighted lift bridge. It was a wonderful display.

Robyn even found some marshmellows to toast.

And to all a good night...

"Cooke"ing out

2011-11-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Monday Robyn surprised us and came home early. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to make the most of it. We had not yet been to Jay Cooke state park so we decided it would be the perfect time to go visit.

Jay Cooke park is just a bit south of Duluth, nestled between Carlton and Cloquet Minnesota in the little town of Thomson. The park runs the course of the St. Louis river and is at the site of the famous swinging bridge. The park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Photo credit goes to both Anders and Robyn.
It was fun to hike around the rocks down by the river. Drea loved bouncing up and down as we ascended and descended obstacles. We played on the swinging bridge. It would swing and sway and creak under you feat. Rebuilt in the 1950's it is very safe and a popular destination to explore.

On Tuesday Grandma Judy came to visit. It was wonderful having her here. Robyn has been working long hours and it was wonderful to have a break from Drea for just a bit. I was able to get some great work done in the garage. I also took a nap, and ate dinner without being interrupted. We are so grateful to have our family closer.

October 31st

2011-10-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Reformation Day!

I figured it was about time for me to check in. My writers block has subsided just a bit and Drea is down for a nice nap so it's time to get back to work.

We last left you with the arrival of the American Mariner into Duluth. Boat traffic has slowed to a crawl around here. Ever since the winds picked up and waves have gotten worse on the lake. Last week Drea and I went down to the canal to welcome the Herbert C. Jackson.

The Jackson is a great boat because it is of the classic laker design. Was converted to a self-unloader and has been owned by Interlake since it's launch. It is also of note that the Jackson has had the same name it's entire career and is hull #302 assembled right after hull #301 (SS Edmund Fitzgerald) was laid at Great Lakes Engineering Works in Rouge River Michigan. Although there are similarities, they are not considered sister ships.

I was trying out some new areas to take photos so all my boat pictures don't look the same. I'm not to happy with these shots but thought I would post them anyways because they are kind of interesting. Especially the second shot with the mirror effect the water gives.

Drea and I also caught the Great Republic coming in. The Great Republic was recently purchased by the Duluth based Great Lakes Fleet. It should get it's colors in about 1.5 years when it goes in for layup. It will look really nice with the GLF color scheme. (Seen below is the Edwin H. Gott showing the Great Lakes Fleet stripes)
Here is the Great Republic as seen from the Maritime Museum.
Not great pictures, but I'm still practicing with some things.

Last weekend I went wheeling at Gilbert OHV and flopped the TJ on it's roof. Minimal damage, just flipped it back over and wheeled the rest of the day.

Muse or, how did the American Mariner arrive on time?

2011-10-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's difficult to put together a "muse" if you will, for blogging. I have been experiencing a bit of writers block as of late. Lacking desire to do much writing. I figure nothing I have going on is of any interest. Maybe I'm right.

Drea is an easy person to write about. She is always doing new things. Today I was pretty sure she said "Red Balloon" out loud. She keeps growing so big.

We went down to the canal today to try to catch some boats. We were watching the Stewart J. Cort on AIS but of course it is about 12 hours late and has taken themselves off radar as they probably are speeding to make up lost time. Chances are we aren't going to see them arrive in the day time, and I'm certainly not going to drive over to Superior without having tracking coordinates.

So we caught the American Mariner coming in to Duluth. Not an overly impressive boat. Only 730 ft long. Designed more for carrying lighter cargo through the St. Lawrence river systems. It is in Duluth to load grain at General Mills dock.

Finally, some down time for an update!

2011-10-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

A few of you might have noticed that my videos that were uploaded through youtube were taken down. I received an email that one of my video's was in violation of the terms of use policy. Apparently the video "Drea Racer" infringed on someone's copyright of that name. Bizarre.

I don't really care. I pulled the videos and will put up a new channel soon enough so you can see our favorite little girl running around and doing things that little girls do.

Last weekend was Drea and Danny's big birthday bash. It was also a party for Claire, Mack, and Aunt Kristy. Pretty much a big bash for all the October birthdays.

Drea and Danny had fun playing together outside. It was a beautiful day. Mack, Anna, and I threw around the football and wrestled with Mack's new tackling dummy.

The day after the party we went to the pumpkin patch just like we did last year.
She's grown just a bit in the past year eh?

Our little pumpkin was all over the place showing off for Grandma and auntie Kristin who was working that day.

One of the great gifts that Drea received for her birthday was the Gonske chair. It is a family heirloom. Drea figured it out in short order.

Short update

2011-10-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

Things have been very busy lately and it has been difficult to sit down and write anything substantial. Hopefully soon though. We went camping this past weekend and wheeling again. Here is a video that my friend put together.

Turnin one and havin fun

2011-10-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Well, my little picture folder is full again so it is time to send a report.

Drea turned one year old on Saturday. Robyn was working so we had a small party for her and the neighbor kids on Sunday. We got to meet some of the new neighbors and Drea had fun playing with new friends.

Here she is the morning of her big day. Giving me a look saying "papa, not in my jammies!"

Drea enjoyed eating cupcakes with her friends. She got a nice sugar high from the frosting.

Drea also went out to the cabin and had fun playing with baby Trig.

We were at the (Duluth) Gilbertson's cabin spot up on Alden Lake doing some fishing and camp cooking. The Gorhams, Josh and Anne were kind enough to invite us. I hope we can go back soon for more fishing.

Trip of a Lifetime part 2

2011-09-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

I have been getting a lot of interest in regards to my trip. Things have been pretty busy around here with Jeep breakage, but I won't get into that.

So... Eventually it was time to depart the C. Reiss dock with an empty hold. We were off to Two Harbors to load BFT (Blast Furnace Trim).

Blast Furnace Trim is just raw crushed Taconite Ore. Looks like finely crushed grey rock. It is used to adjust the silica content of the Blast Furnace charge. Source - (Boatnerd.com)

Here we are leaving the dock.

Once we left the dock we had to go through 4 bridges to reach the lake. The first was a swinging train bridge.

Then the Bong bridge which is US Hwy 2 connecting Superior WI with West Duluth MN.

Then past Hallet #5 and the Canadian National Ore docks.

Under Blatnik bridge and past Midwest Energy dock.

We passed the Edgar B. Speer on our way to the aerial lift bridge. It was getting a rear prop seal repaired. It was ballasted down in front to raise the rear end up for repairs.

Going through the lift bridge on an Ore Boat is definitely an experience. I'm used to being the one on the pier taking photos, this time I was the one people were taking photos of.

I was able to call Robyn and she and Drea went down to the bridge to see me sail through. She took the above photo.

Duluth looks really pretty at night from the lake.

Leaving Duluth

The journey took around four hours to complete. Here are some photos as we came into Two Harbors and DM&IR.

Arriving at Two Harbors

It was a quick drive back to Duluth and then off to bed before midnight.

I want to thank those who made this trip possible. Canadian National Railways, Great Lakes Fleet, Keystone Shipping, Capt. Mike and the crew of the Arthur M. Anderson, and most of all my (shall remain nameless) contact at CN.

This was truly a dream come true for me.

Trip of a lifetime

2011-09-20T07:51:00.001-07:00

I had the great honor of boarding the steamer Arthur M. Anderson yesterday in Duluth for its trip to Two Harbors 20 some miles away.

Let me preface by saying that the ability to ride the ore boats is not one that is given to civilians. People have asked several times what it takes to be able to ride the boats. The simple truth is that you have to know people and be well connected in the shipping industry. Civilians are not permitted on the vessels, they are not to carry passengers, and are not insured for such cargo.

I am very grateful to have made the contacts I have in Duluth, and for their eager willingness to take me aboard the boats. I well understand that this is something that is not afforded to anyone/everyone and is not something that money can buy. Don't even ask me who I know or if you can get on the boats, it's not going to happen.

Excitedly I was the first one to sign on board.

We met up with the Anderson while it was unloading a full cargo of sugar stone at the C. Reiss terminal in Duluth MN.
The Reiss dock is the furthest dock up the St. Louis river that the large boats can travel.

Here she is unloading sugar stone with the "self unloading" boom.

It took several hours to finish unloading so we began to explore the boat. We stopped by the pilothouse to drop off our things and meet the ship's master, Captain Mike.

Then it was time for supper and we headed down to the galley.

Dinner was amazing, roast duck, lasagna, potatoes, and as much pie as anyone could eat.

That is enough for now, just a taste of what's to come once I get some more videos uploaded. Stay tuned.

All over the place

2011-09-14T10:31:00.001-07:00

Things change quickly

2011-09-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

September has been flying by. The lack of new posts is attributed to Drea taking an increasing amount of time to take care for, and compounded by my wrist injury which seems to be healing up nicely.

Drea has started the walking phase, so it's all over for me now. She is getting more and more difficult to keep up with. Thank goodness we have a play room where we can sit and chill for a while. That way Ringo gets a break too.

Drea received a fun gift from Grandma and Grandpa's trip to Ohio. She got a new little baby doll and loves it so much. She always is sure to know where it is and knows just the right way to put it to bed. It is really cute the way she is learning, understanding, and communicating.

Baby and her crib came from great Aunt Mary. Drea takes baby with everywhere she goes.

Getting out and about has become more difficult as Drea grows bigger and needs more attention from me. We had a date planned today to go see the Joseph L. Block come into port. Problem is that I hardly ever know what day it is and the boat actually comes in tomorrow, not today.

There hasn't been much picture taking lately. That is just how it has been. Aside from the the trip last week to Wisconsin Point there hasn't been much to report on.

Drea's almost 1 year old!

2011-09-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

She has been growing fast and learning a lot.

We love to look at books together and go for walks with Ringo. Robyn and I have been working on some simple baby sign language with Drea. Here is the result so far.

Checking in

2011-09-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to check in to say that we are still around. Summer has been busy. I hurt my wrist about a week ago playing softball so that has hurt my chances of blogging as of recent.

Yesterday all three of us went to Superior to check out the Wisconsin Point harbor entry. Here is a good picture of the Superior light house.

Drea's all over the place!

2011-08-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well, she experiments with walking when she is in the right mood. Give it a week and I'm done for. Right now it's really cute, but very soon it is going to be "hey, get back here"!

Drea and Ringo have also been getting along better. Here they are playing "hostage". Take a guess who the hostage is. (Click on the picture to really get a good look at their facial expressions) Priceless. Sorry buddy.

Drea as also become quite fond of my hat. She plucks it off my head when it suits her. I can have it back when she moves on to the next toy.

Sometimes we play so hard that she just falls asleep. She is still "sometimes" a little baby.

Then back to wheeling. She is practicing her driving.

She looks like me.

Drea's kinda weird

2011-08-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

In addition to teething, she came up with this today. Go ahead and watch.

Our North Shore vacation

2011-08-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

We have been busy lately. Robyn was able to take a few days off for vacation so we went up the North Shore of Lake Superior. As I wrote in the last post, we started off by stopping in Two Harbors to hang out for a bit. It was a great short stop. We saw the Two Harbors light, and toured the Pilothouse of the old Frontinac boat. We even got to see the Edgar B. Speer leave port.

First stop on our trip was Split Rock Lighthouse. We had been there five years previous but didn't pay to go in. This time was different and it was one of our points of interest. After a short tour filled with facts and history, we set off exploring on our own.

After we had our fill of touring the lighthouse and adjacent buildings, we went off hiking down the old tramway to the beach. It was a hike, especially carrying a big girl with.

The view is great though.

After Split Rock, we headed over to camp to get setup, build a fire and cook dinner.

Drea helped out by watching the Dog.

The we had some dinner and goofed around.

We like vacations where there is no plan. We followed our gut the next morning after driving to Two Harbors for coffee. We just kept on driving till it was obvious that we were going to Grand Marais.
It was a beautiful day. After lunch at Sven and Ole's we hiked along the shoreline to check out the light and the beach.
People often stack rocks to make fun little sculptures on the beach. It was fun to see. Robyn took a turn carrying the pack as well.
Our spontaneous outing turned out to be the best part of the trip. On our way back we actually went to Gooseberry Falls, which was were we were staying.

We spent the rest of the evening eating back at camp, doing a little hiking by the shore, and hanging out in the tent.

Finally an update

2011-08-23T13:37:00.001-07:00

I realize it has been an obscene amount of time since my last post. Summer is always difficult because we jam pack so much into these weeks it's hard to sit down and make writing a priority.

Over the past couple weeks we have been doing a bit of traveling, and re-traveling to some of our favorite destinations. Taking plenty of pictures on the way. Drea keeps growing big and strong. She has taken several steps on her own but is still trying to get her balance dialed in. She also enjoys pushing her wagon around the house.

It seems like every day she is doing something new and exciting. It is such a privilege to be here to see all the fun stuff she comes up with.

Last week we went on a family camping trip to Gooseberry Falls and Grand Marais MN. On our way up we stopped at Two Harbors where the Edgar B. Speer was loading Taconite.

We also toured the lighthouse, and went aboard the Pilothouse of the Frontinac.

Two Harbors is a great place to go on a warm summer day. Walk down the breakwater to watch the boats and enjoy the breeze.

More on our vacation on the next post. This one is running long...

Later last week we were visited by some friends from the Twin Cities. Lydia and Aaron Buetow came up with their two kids, Sam and Claire. We went down to the canal to hang out and were given a surprise showing by the Philip R. Clarke who decided to make a late departure.

It's great to finally get a good picture of her. Anyways, Sam is a huge Jeeper so he was excited to get to go rock crawling down by the beach.

The next day we packed it up and went back to Gilbert for some more wheeling. Took both rigs this time and it was a blast.

Robyn's day wheeling

2011-08-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

We did end up going to the Iron Range OHV park today. Last night we received a couple messages of people who were going to be there, so we packed up early this morning and left.

I really wanted Robyn to get some good time behind the wheel today. She has wheeled the TJ before, but that was a couple years ago and she needed some seat time.

I spent the whole day riding along and spotting her through some of the tougher trails. A spotter is someone who is outside the vehicle and relays information to the driver regarding tire position, rock placement, and other important things.

I did a pretty good job spotting because we made it home with no body damage. That is always a good thing!

The XJ flexes out really well. I made some special modifications earlier this week that allow for more wheel travel. The point is to keep all four tires planted on the trail to get the most amount of traction and stability possible. That is why it isn't so tipsy. Imagine if the front axle didn't move like you see above and that it just tried to stay parallel to the ground? Would you roll? Probably not, but you wouldn't have as stable of a footing.

Robyn did a great job of listening to me when I was giving instructions. She was able to take those instructions and really learn how to drive off-road. She didn't get stuck once!

Even Drea found some time to do a little rock crawling.

After we were done wheeling for the day we headed on over to Virginia and visited the "Mineview in the Sky" lookout. It was interesting.

It's only two wheel drive though :(

Hitting up the Rose Gardens

2011-08-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Robyn had the great idea of taking an evening stroll through the Rose Gardens and Leif Erickson Park. It was cooling down nicely and it was a great idea, so we went.

We had a nice time walking through the park. Robyn and Drea took a break on the bench.

One of Robyn's favorite flowers. The Hydrangeas looked very nice.

One of the turrets from the amphitheater.

Train tracks are fun.

I caught Robyn entertaining Drea while I was at the railroad tracks.

I'm also glad to tell you that the American Steamship Co. Officers strike is over, so I can get back to taking pictures of more boats, because that's what we all want to see anyways :)

We were going to go wheeling tomorrow also, but those plans fell apart when the people who we were going to go with had different things come up. Maybe next post.

Sunny Superior Day

2011-08-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

It is 6:30am. Drea and I have been up for an hour now. The coffee has been made, oatmeal eaten, and it is finally a reasonable temperature.

We were able to seek refuge at the neighbors for a little while yesterday. Enough to cool Drea off enough to take a nap. We broke down last night and went out to find an air conditioner unit that would work with the old wiring and low amp breakers in our house. We finally found one that only pulled a max of 12 amps so we nabbed it knowing the AC season would be over soon.

Everyone warned us about the cold winters and snowstorms that Duluth is known for. I could have never imagined the unbearable heat in the summers. Everyone here is saying this weather is uncharacteristically warm for this city.

There is a nice calm breeze this morning which is likely a precursor to a morning storm.

Yesterday it wasn't unbearably hot all day though. The morning started out much like this morning. It was a cloudy and 70 degree morning when Drea, Ringo, and I set out to explore some of the local areas on our list. We started out by driving down the narrow unpaved portion of Wisconsin point to check out the Superior harbor entrance and light house. This seems to be a much better place to catch incoming ships. No crowds, hardly anything obstructing your view. Just amazing really.

(Remember to click on the pictures for the full size view)

We kept exploring and ended up on a sandy section of beach on the harbor side. It technically is a service road for UW Superior's Lake Sciences program. We checked it out anyways because we wanted to try to get a decent shot of the Burlington Northern Ore Docks.

They are quite massive. The ore is loaded onto the boats from chutes that open up from the side of the dock. Millions of tons of taconite pellets travel through here each shipping season.

The Wisconsin Point light house is also really great. It is at the end of a jetty. I didn't go out there because I had Drea and Ringo with me and they are both a handful when you are trying to take pictures. I did snap this one though and am pretty happy with it until I can get closer, or get a better camera with more zoom capabilities.

Next we traveled to Loon's Foot Landing, which is an old abandoned BN dock. It is currently being scrapped so I wanted to go and snap it before it's gone forever.

There is currently, and hopefully finished soon, a strike going on that has harbored some of the boats. We saw the "Indiana Harbor", and "Burns Harbor" docked at a grain elevator with picketers near by. Without a crew the boats are idle. I couldn't get close enough to get a decent shot of them because I didn't want to disrupt the protest. I'll get them later.

The three of us then left the landing to go to Frasier Shipyards. It was starting to get hot out so we tried to make it quick before going home. We got a couple great shots that I think you will like.

The "American Victory" has been docked at Frasier for as long as I can recall. She was built in 1943 and immediately entered service into World War II. At the time she was called the "Neshanic" and was a tanker vessel in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. She has a purple heart from a run-in with a Japanese Bomber while she stationed as a refueling ship in the Pacific. It's current name is fitting given it's military service history.

You can read on about it's vast history by clicking on the name in blue above. It's pretty good stuff. Now, on to pictures.

The "American Mariner" was at Frasier because it had no where else to go. Pretty much abandoned because of strikers it is just waiting for a crew to come back. Hopefully soon she will sail again. Below is the best photo I was able to get due to tight security around the port and the number of obstructions in the area.

As for tight security, I think it goes without saying that security is always more present during times of labor unrest. I had one run in with a security guard while on a city street near the yards. I never left the jeep and just stood on the roof taking photos. Once she saw what I was doing she waved and gave the thumbs up.

Last stop of the day was at the "Ryerson". I had been planning this trip for awhile but wanted to make sure the weather and lighting were correct to get the shots I wanted. I'm pretty pleased with them.

She has kind of been a good luck charm to me since moving here. The first boat I saw as we went over the bridge and toward our new home. Her lines aesthetically pleasing, and paint still in good shape. She has sat for 3 years due to her straight deck and steam powered engines. A source familiar with ship building stated to me personally that it would take about 25 million dollars to convert her to a self-unloading ship and to change over the engines to diesel. In a few years the EPA will not certify her for sailing and without the modifications she will likely be scrapped. I hope it doesn't come to that. She is far to beautiful to suffer that fate.

I think it's important to keep these pieces of history alive. I know it's not practical to save every vessel from the scrap pile. Some have truly outlived their use.

I think there is a direct link between photographs and memories. When you see a photograph of something it causes neurons to fire in your brain and recall images, or memories of the past. If the landscape changes, or ships come and go, the photos will stay reminding us of those times and those feelings.

Looking forward to August

2011-07-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Robyn completed her first rotation and we are looking forward to a much calmer August.

"Just like momma"

Just for fun

2011-07-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

We were able to see some boats come through today. The barge "Presque Isle" and the "Arthur M. Anderson"

My parents came today with nephew Daniel. Drea and I tagged along for the ride and invited the neighbor boy Drew along as well. We had a great time. Click on the photos to enlarge them for amazing detail.

Duluth aerial lift bridge as viewed from the inner harbor.

Barge "Presque Isle" creating some spray in the canal.
Historic "Arthur M. Anderson" entering Duluth Harbor.

"Grizzled Veteran" of the lakes, the Anderson makes safe harbor.

Couple new videos of Drea

2011-07-26T09:07:00.001-07:00

The dog days of summer

2011-07-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

It has been unseasonably warm here in Duluth. Without Air Conditioning Drea and I were struggling with the heat and decided a trip to Grandma and Grandpa in Rice Lake was in order.
Since some of the last posts Drea has perfected the art of cruising and I will give it a week before she can stand up on her own, unassisted.

She is up and about and pulling everything off the shelves. She does whatever she wants at this point until we stop her.

Drea is all about pushing the limits right now to see where she can go, and how far she can get. She loves to explore and look in and under things.

Here she found some of Grandma's bells.

Feeling hot hot hot

2011-07-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

As the temps near 100 degrees today need we be reminded that we are only 5 months from winter. (photo credit goes to http://www.duluthharborcam.com/) I wish they were my work.

Anywho, as we try to stay cool today, here is a picture of the Arthur M. Anderson coming in yesterday morning at sunrise. Enjoy.

Going for a cruise

2011-07-19T10:57:00.001-07:00

Just the other night Drea started cruising around the house. Chairs, tables, she just started going. Robyn was quick enough to catch a video of her moving about.

It has been hot here the past couple days. It is cooling down though. It has cooled off enough to have all the windows open again and let some nice cool 70 degree air in. It has been difficult to want to do anything other than just work on staying cool. We have done a few things though. The other day we went to be beach and cooled off.

We also played sand volleyball with the residents last night. It was fun and we even won 1 out of the 3 games. Robyn did well. She showed a great attitude and willingness to get out there, show some grit, and battle her tail off. She needs a jersey with a #8 on it or something.

Until next time.

History Alive

2011-07-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

I often frequent the Minnesota Historical Society's Photo archives for scenes of old Minnesota. You know, the way things used to be.

Every so often I give myself a challenge. Find a cool photo, or post card and go find the location it was created. Sometimes it's easy, take the lift bridge for example.

Easy, large structure, popular, and easy to find.

Now there are some more difficult ones. Here is one I am working on right now.
Unfortunately the wooden bridge is no longer standing over Lester River Falls. I still want to find the ruins of where it was. There has to be something left.

Here are a couple successful finds.

Chester Bowl Ski Jump.
Tischer's Creek Falls

Duluth Skyline

Pretty good eh?

We had a nice morning at the lake.

2011-07-11T09:15:00.001-07:00

Drea and I were watching a couple boats on the radar last night and decided that we would try to meet up with them as they came into harbor this morning.

(PLEASE CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM ON YOUR SCREEN :)
We met up with Hon. James L. Oberstar and the Phillip R. Clarke around 08:00 this morning. We got there early so we could take some other photos too. There was a "saltie" in the outer harbor waiting to be cleared for entry. It was the Federal Nakagawa from Hong Kong.

Here we have "Uncle Harvey's Mausoleum"
Morning in Duluth
We waited just a little bit before the Hon. James L. Oberstar came through first.
It was built in 1959 and is 806 feet long. Really a beautiful boat.
The trailing ship was the smaller Phillip R. Clarke. Along with the Cason J. Callaway, it is the sister ship of the famous Arthur M. Anderson ( I have yet to get a picture of her). Once I do I will have all three of the American Steamship "AAA" class boats. The battery on my camera was running low and shutting down so I salvaged as many good ones as I could and did some creative photo editing to dim the sun a bit. I only got one good photo, but I only needed one.

Explaination and Brew Review

2011-07-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

MT. Carmel Nut Brown Ale is a crisp refreshing end to a long day. This top fermenting beer is good cold or slightly below room temperature. It's 6.0% ABV is a nice shoulder massage to the end of the day, or right after you put the baby to bed. It is strong but not so strong as to drop kick you in the face.

I recommend this beer as a quality brew for those who like darker English style ales. This easily doubles as a dinner beer and would go well served with beef or even chicken.

My Aunt Mary Jo picked up a 6-pack for me last May. She showed great taste in this choice.

MT. Carmel Brewery is located in Cincinnati Ohio.

Please, whenever possible support your local and regional breweries!

I wanted to also take a second to explain the infrequent nature of my blog posts as of late. Robyn has a very busy schedule this month (July). She works long hours, and because she is working long hours, that means that I am too.

It is tough to set aside some time to put together a decent blog post with such a hectic schedule. Once August hits things will hopefully slow down. Needless to say I haven't forgotten about you and have a lot of adventures to write about. Just don't have as much time as I used to.

I always make sure I have time for the important things. Blogging has been a little bit lower on the priority list as of late. Don't worry, I don't have any plans of retiring the blog.

Andy

Micropost

2011-06-30T16:22:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to jump in and write something quick.

I have gotten accustomed to my morning cup/cups of coffee. At my old job we had this thing called the "Latte Lounge". It was this big machine that made mediocre coffee, but at least it was free.

People from my old job will know exactly what I'm talking about. Well tonight Robyn got me a late Fathers day present and brought it home from the store.

She got me a basic 4 cup Mr. Coffee and some "Caribou Coffee" grounds. She had been getting on my case for going to the "Bou" and spending too much money on my way to go watch boats with Drea.

It didn't take me long and I had it unboxed, cleaned, and ready to roll. It doesn't look like much, but it can brew a mean cup'a Joe. I pushed out the max on the first pull and mixed up a couple of my own flavored recipes for Robyn and I to have as an after dinner snack.

It brews very well for such a little machine. Just wanted to share, and if you are a coffee fan, come over sometime for my famous "Caramel Mocha".

Time for an update

2011-06-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by here in always sunny, but mostly cloudy Duluth. It is true that we get some wonderful summer days, but it can also be said that we get some interesting weather here too.

We have had the heat on several times because it has been so cold. Living by the lake will do that for you... You have to take the good with the bad, and the bad isn't all that bad, it's just different.

Drea and I have been doing a lot of hiking lately. There are a lot of great parks here that are just begging to be explored. Sometimes we will just start out on a hike and see what we find. Sometimes we don't find anything, sometimes we find really amazing things! It just depends on where we are and how hard we are looking.

This past weekend we had visits from both of the Grandparent sets. Jeff and Ann came on Saturday to check out our place for the first time. It was nice to have them here to visit. We went to Sir Ben's for lunch and had sandwiches.

Later in the afternoon we spent time putting together a grill that my parents gave us as an anniversary present for your 6 year anniversary this year. Thanks!
Sunday was such a beautiful day that I had to break in the grill right with some steaks. We ate on the deck. It was a perfect afternoon.

Grandma Judy came later to visit and watch Drea while Robyn and I went to a concert. We saw Jack's Mannequin play here in Duluth. It was amazing and we had a great place to listen/view the concert.

We have been having a nice time exploring the city and getting outside. Drea keeps growing a ton and wants everyone to stay in touch.

Change of Plans

2011-06-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

Drea, Ringo, and I were going to go down to the park to watch the "American Integrity" ore boat come in to unload limestone.

We were all set to go and I noticed that Drea was still hungry after I gave her lunch of sweet potatoes. After a 4oz bottle, she decided it was time to nap again.

So here I sit, watching the harbor cam on my other screen. The boat is supposed to come in around 1pm, so I will see how close it will be.

It has been really foggy lately. Duluth receives about 52 days a year of heavy fog. Today the sun is out and all the fog is burning off leaving only pictures behind.

I figured while she is sleeping I would take this time while she is sleeping to update everyone on the rest of our trip.

One of the days we took a trip to Helen GA and went tubing on the Chattahoochee river. Drea came with as well and had a great time.
Robyn held her the whole time. She had two nice naps while floating down the river.

She also found some fun toys to play with.

Later that week we went and watched Hannah ride horses. She is very good with them and often is asked to help out with some of the horse training.

It was great to see her riding.

Drea and I were watching when Robyn snapped this gem. Definitely one of my favorite Papa+Drea pictures.

Visitors in Duluth, and the first part of our Vacay

2011-06-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had some visitors come to Duluth to pay us a visit. My friend Tony came up from the Twin Cities to pick up the Jeep I had been working on for him. I ended up replacing his steering column. He was really happy to be able to drive his Jeep again.

I was done with his Jeep so that left us with all day Saturday to go hang out in Duluth. We went down to Canal Park to watch the 1000 ft "Mesabi Miner" leave harbor, and take in the sites. We later hit up a local disc golf course.
It was really fun to have visitors and we look forward to having more soon.
On Monday we jumped a plane to go to Georgia to visit family. The first full day we took it easy, shot some guns and drove around on dirt bikes. On one trail I was going down a hill and some rocks slid out from underneath me. The bike went sideways and I went over then handle bars tumbling several times before coming to a stop. Needless to say I am still quite sore from that and probably won't ride the bike again.

Today we went tubing down the Chattahoochee river. It was Robyn, Drea, Hannah, Asa, Gretchen, Eillie, and myself. We had a good time. We played mini golf afterward and had two servings of ice cream.

Pictures of Drea floating down the river in a tube will be posted in a future post.

Drea and Eillie get along great. Eillie likes to take Drea's things and claim them as her own. Drea just likes watching Eillie. It works. Here they are pretending to be Fire Chiefs.

Today I took the kids to the Dentist. They both had good reports, so it wasn't such a good idea to tell everyone that Asa needed a root canal. I got in a bit of trouble for that one my humor was not taken so well.

Drea found a swing that she liked and was in there for a long time. She just loves going on the swings.

And it's never too soon to start them driving.

Papa day!

2011-06-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Robyn needed a study day so she could go through her Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) materials undisturbed.

Drea and I took the opportunity to go see if we could watch some boats this morning. We stuck around for a couple hours but no boats came :(

That's me and Drea. I had her in the stroller. It was pretty chilly so we were bundled up.

We waited around for two hours but the boats didn't come before I had exhausted Drea's patience. She is such a trooper. I treated her to some coffee and a muffin because she was such a good sport.

Once we got home and warmed up a bit. We goofed around some, and then started folding laundry. She is always a huge help to me.

We played some more in the sunroom, and then she went down for nap. Robyn finished up her work and was itching to get out of the house. I suggested we take Drea and Ringo up to Enger Park and visit Enger Tower.

The weather was beautiful but a little chilly up on the hill. We had a wonderful time anyways. (Note) If you click on the pictures you get larger better resolution versions.

We had a wonderful time exploring today.

Oh, and when we got home, Drea started doing this.

Until next time!

Check out our new home!

2011-06-08T19:00:00.001-07:00

I wanted to take some time today and write a new post.

I spent some time today uploading videos on the computer so I could share them here. After several failures I finally have 5 videos that are worth watching.

All of the 5 videos are of our new place. I hope you enjoy them.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

We absolutely love our new place. It is just amazing how well it fits our family. The neighborhood is also great. Our neighbors have made us feel welcome here. We are mostly moved in now. Our washer and dryer were delivered today and have been in use ever since :)

In the coming days we are looking forward to the Park Point mega garage sale, watching boats come in and leave harbor, and visit Anchor Point Church this weekend. On Monday we will be hoping on a plan and flying to Georgia for 6 days to visit the Lundeens. We are very excited to spend some time with our nieces and nephew.

Greetings...

2011-06-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

from beautiful Duluth Minnesota.

Sorry, no house pictures yet. We still have to get everything unpacked. Then we will do some walk through videos for you to see our new place. Stay tuned for that.

Through all the moving, unpacking, and reorganizing. Drea has done very well. She continues to grow and get smarter every day. One of the things that she enjoys is eatting "Puffs" Puffs are like a softer version of Cheerios made especially for babies. She is getting pretty good.

We have quite a few stairs at our new place too. Drea already has one down. Surprised us the other night when she went after it. Figures there was a mirror to look at.

That's it for now but keep checking back for some more photos/videos of our house once we get a few more things unpacked.

AG

Someone's watching the baby right?

2011-05-29T07:11:00.001-07:00

Apparently not.

This will be our last Blogpost from our home in Madison. That's OK, because this blog has traveled to many places over the past years. Our new home base will be out of Duluth Minnesota. We are happy to be going "home".

The past four years of living here have been the longest we have lived at any one place since becoming a family back in 2005.

Two years in Shoreview MN, and four years in Madison. That brings us to our 6 year wedding anniversary this July 16th.

We have gone through incredible highs and lows the past four years. We look forward to living more life and sharing it for the next three years up in Duluth and beyond.

Couple more quick videos

2011-05-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Drea loves her toys, she has a good many of them but always knows where to find her favorites.

Yesterday Anika and Jonathan Enger came to visit us. They brought their dog Molly. Ringo loved playing with Molly, but I think Drea enjoyed it the most!

Quick post

2011-05-21T11:08:00.001-07:00

All in the middle of moving Drea decided that she will sit up by herself. We also had to drop to crib to the low setting because she is trying to pull herself up on objects.

What a little peach.

Let the festivities begin!

2011-05-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was commencement for Robyn. After 4 years of Medical School she is finally a Doctor.

Dr. Robyn Gilbertson MD

It was a wonderful day of festivities. I usually don't like that sort of thing and find it boring. However, I really did have a good time. It allowed me to reflect back on the years we have been here and all we have worked for.

We got some great seats which allowed us the flexibility to get up and move around if needed. It was also good for Drea because we were not in the main seating area but a box seat with it's own entrance. I did a pretty good job finding that spot if I say so myself!

After the Recognition ceremony at Memorial Union. We had a short brunch and then went upstairs for the Christian Medical Association Oath Ceremony. Robyn gave a great speech about loving your patients.

After the Oath ceremony we went outside by Lake Mendota to take some pictures.

Drea is very proud of her momma.

Drea is the littlest cute.

2011-05-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

She just keeps growing and growing and doing new things.

On Monday we stopped in New Auburn to have lunch with the Kargus family and to visit 4 week old baby Grace.

It was nap time when we got there.

Monday was also Robyn's birthday as well. We celebrated with chili, sandwiches, Root Beer, and a home made spice cake!

Drea drove most of the way home. She was getting drowsy so she grabbed a Coke to keep her alert!

Then she crashed when we got home.

Why I haven't been looking for a job.

2011-05-10T08:58:00.001-07:00

This past weekend at Bjorn (brother) and Claire's wedding, [which was a great time and we are so happy for them] I was asked quite a bit by a wide variety of people regarding finding work once we moved to Duluth. I gave a lot of different responses. Some truthful, some not so much.

The truth is, that I have already started to have to deal with societal stigma of choosing to be a stay at home papa.

The general story I give people when they ask me what I'm going to be doing or what kind of job I have been looking for has been that for the first two months I will be at home to help with the transition, and then after that "who knows". The truth is; I have no intention of going back to work full time now, or in the near future.

I love being home and spending time with Drea, watching her grow and teaching her things. Robyn will have our financial obligations handled with her resident doctor position, and the growing cost of child care pretty much makes my job a wash. Besides, I can do a better job of taking care of her than any daycare/preschool in the world.

So,

I have received a lot of support for my decision, but also a lot of weird looks from people. Being a stay at home papa isn't very accepted in my experience so far. A lot of people have told me that if I don't work for a while it will be more difficult to find a job later or ever "in this economy". I just get the general feeling that people don't understand why a guy would want to stay home with is child?

I am not a victim of the economy! I am not staying home because I cannot find a job. I am choosing not to work. I will not be drawing unemployment or taking any social services because of my choice. I want to do this! It makes sense. This is why.

1. Robyn's job is always changing.

Her scheduling is always going to be different each given week. Even her daily schedule will not always be clear. It provides tremendous value to the family for Drea and I to be at home and our schedules to be completely flexible around Robyn's. That way we are maximizing our family time when we are able to have it.

2. Scheduling.

Pickups and drop offs would be a nightmare. Her schedule always changing, and negotiating that with the demands of my schedule would be very difficult.

3. Burnout.

Having a ultra hectic routine is speeding right towards burnout for both parents. Neither of us want that. We want to have a healthy work/home-life balance.

4. The option to do so.

We have the unique opportunity to provide this lifestyle choice for our family. It is more valuable for us to be together more and have less money than to be apart, work a lot and have lots of money. Money has never been a motivator for us doing anything. We are not here to impress people.

5. Drea.

I can't ever see myself saying, "You know, I really regret all those years I spent raising my daughter. I could have used that time to work more and make lots of money."

So, come the end of May, I will be out of work for an extended amount of time. This is by choice and I believe I have laid out our reasons very clearly. This is not about being lazy and getting out of work as some have suggested. Being a full time care provider and parent to a child is hard work. It is way easier for me to be at a job and have someone else take care, raise, and teach my child.

So I am taking the path of more work in this circumstance. More work, greater reward. It's because I love my family and want to provide the best for them.

Your support would be appreciated.

Mailing it in

2011-05-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

It's about that time again isn't it.

I had a good wheeling trip over the weekend. 12 hours round trip down to Indiana and back without AC, heat, real windows, radio, cruise control, automatic transmission, and any sort of regard for gas prices. I can't imagine it any other way.

We rolled into Attica Indiana around 12pm Central time, 1am Eastern. Set up camp and got a rough nights sleep on the bumpy ground.

In the morning we started lining up as soon as we could to get into the park.

It was cloudy in the morning and looked like it might rain. We had a great day as the sun came out and it was in the mid 70's for the rest of the day.

On a completely different note. Drea is getting really big, she lights to try to pull herself up on things.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

He is Risen indeed!

Hope this day finds you all well. We are so thankful for this day and what it means for us.

Robyn has one more week of being a medical student. She did a great job on her Internal Medicine rotation and is looking forward to one last week of Hematology. She says it should be an easy time. I sure hope that is true, I don't know how many more 30+hour calls I can handle!

We have a busy 3 weeks ahead of us. Next weekend I will be going to the Badlands to do some wheeling with the MCJAG crew. I am bringing a long "Fish" who will be doing some driving and a lot of photography on the trip. Looking forward to good grill food, cold beer (non while wheeling of course), and some great offroad driving.

The week after next is BJ and Claire's Wedding. We are very much looking forward to seeing family. It is going to be very nice to have everyone together for such a joyous occasion. Drea is also excited to spend some time playing with cousin Danny.

The next weekend is Robyn's Graduation from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. We are so excited to have family and friends here to celebrate. It has been such a long road and we are just about finished. On to the next chapter!

Drea is growing like a weed, she sits, rolls, and tries to crawl at will. Papa even found a little tooth last night!

Picture time!

So much to look forward to

2011-04-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Time seems to be flying past me. Everything we have been planning and preparing for is going to be happening in the next 5 weeks.

Each day I spend a lot of time day dreaming as to what things will be like up north. The weather, the walks, time, and a new chapter in our story.

Living just a few blocks from the lake is going to be a great thing. I wonder what the view will be from our kitchen, deck, guest bedroom. I keep thinking about all the amazing things we will see, things that will happen.

Truth be told, I never wanted to move here to Madison. It took me a couple years to even acknowledge that I lived here and not still the Twin Cities. It has been our home though for the past several years and there will be a lot of things that we will miss about this town.

1. I am really going to miss our life group. They have come along side us for the past 4 years and it has been great to have that family type stability. They will be missed terribly.

2. Madison is the hub for a lot of great beer. I have to say right now that the beer culture down here is greater than any I have ever witnessed. I hope to bring some of that culture and palate north with me. I am grateful for Capital, New Glarus, Ale Asylum, Lake Louie, Sprecher, and Tyranina Beers. They will be missed terribly.

3. My friends at work have been great to me. Even though I hate the job, the people I work with are wonderful and have made it tolerable for the past 3 years. They are the best. They will be missed terribly.

4. We are going to miss our neighbors! Bill and Carol S. have been wonderful neighbors, the best you could ask for. They will be missed terribly!

5. I am going to miss being a part of MCJAG Jeep club. Although I will likely join a new club, the members of MCJAG have helped me learn so much and really cultivate my passion for wheeling hard and fixing things. They know how I feel, I will still see them from time to time at the great 4x4 parks around here.

We have so much to look forward to though! Being closer to Rice Lake is going to be wonderful. It is going to be great to not have that 4 hour drive to make any time we want to go visit. People tease us that once we live up in Duluth we are never going to move away. I hope that is true!

I plan on spending more time with Drea, concentrating on my brewing, and taking daily walks to the lake with my hunny girl. It is important for Drea and I to be flexible around Robyn's schedule to make the most of our time together.

I also plan on enjoying my guitar playing a lot more and working towards my goal of completing a half marathon in 2012!

Speed Racer

2011-04-10T09:46:00.001-07:00

Crazy Times

2011-04-07T08:41:00.001-07:00

That last week has been a whirlwind of activity leaving us very blessed, but also very exhausted.

It all started out with a trip to Chicago for Robyn to take her "Step 2 Boards Clinical Skills Exam". I don't need to tell any of you how much I dislike driving in/through Chicago. We made it though after a few wrong turns and extra tolls paid :(

We got there in time to do our trial run of the morning drop off at the testing site and grabbed some dinner at Outback. We then settled in at our hotel to watch the Twins lose to the Yankees and played with Drea.

Drea is moving around now more than ever. She has recently started not minding tummy time so much and likes rolling around. This morning she kicked her leg in as if to crawl forward a little bit. It won't be long now.

One of her favorite activity is practicing her stands. She is getting better at it and improving her balance.

We got done in Chicago after Robyn aced her Clinical Skills Exam and headed back home. We had sent Robyn's mom up to Duluth to take a look at a house we were interested in renting. After a good report we contacted the landlady and we should be signing the lease in the next day or two!

This is where we will be living come June.

More pictures can be found here: Our Photobucket Page Feel free to click and take a look!

The weather has also been warming up. Yesterday afternoon Robyn, Drea, and Ringo took a nice walk to the park to swing on the swings and enjoy the fresh air.

Watch out, it won't be long and she will be after the puppy!

Rolling over and Wrapping things up.

2011-04-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

As Drea grows she has developed new skills and new preferences. One of the latest developments is that sometimes, Drea likes to sleep on her side or tummy. We initially noticed this in the middle of the night when we would put her back to sleep and she would immediately roll over on her tummy.

She sure is getting big. We aren't too concerned with her tummy sleeping. She is a big girl and rolls around at will.

Her friends at daycare always comment on how strong her legs are. We spend a lot of time sitting up and practice standing. Her balance is getting better too.

We also really enjoy looking at and reading our books. Sometimes we watch Trucks! on TV but not very much. Drea likes it when we make different voices for the animals in the books. She can hold the book on her own an only sometimes tries to eat it.

We try to go outside as much as we can while it is nice out. Drea loves going for rides in her off-road stroller. It tracks very well and is a pretty good rock crawler out the box. Ringo also likes to go for those walks, but he is more interested in sounds and smells than Drea is.

We have just under two months until our big move to Duluth. We obviously still are very excited. Grandma Judy is going to look at a house for us on Tuesday. We are hopeful that it will be where we move to. We shall see...

This weekend I'm planning on doing some Jeep work in the garage and Robyn will be studying for her Clinical Boards exam on Tuesday. We will be in Chicago for the exam, which is lucky because it is only offered at a half a dozen major cities in the US.

Right now Robyn is on her final 4 week rotation of Medical School. She is doing Internal Medicine on the Cardiology unit at UW Hospital. She will end her Med School career with one final week of Hematology before graduating on May 13th.

I am so proud of her for all she has accomplished. She always says that she couldn't have done it without me. I believe her when she says that, but I don't think I could have done it without her! Medical School is something we both navigated and struggled over. It affected each of us in different ways. In some and a lot of ways we are both graduating this May.

That picture was taken in September of 07 after the "White Coat" ceremony on campus. Way back then it was just the two of us. No Drea, no Ringo at that time. We have come very far as a family in the past few years here in Madison. We look forward to what the future holds up in Duluth. We are thrilled to be closer to family and friends. We are sure our extended family and friends are also excited to be closer to Drea as well.

After all, it IS all about Drea!

Long overdue update

2011-03-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Things have been just crazy as of late (see a trend). Since finding out we are moving to Duluth there has been a fury of activity at the Gilbertson household. Baby clothes, papers, and car parts flying every which way.

Attempting to locate and secure a place to live when you are 6 hours away is a bit stressful. Robyn is on a highly time consuming rotation right now as well. That doesn't make it any easier.

Eventually we will find a place to live, it just is going to take some leg work. Wish us luck.

Drea girl continues to grow by leaps and bounds. She likes to try to stand up when you hold her. She has 0% balance so it is always funny to see her wobbly knees going. She will sit up, reach for toys and try to grab hold of the puppy.

Grandma and Grandpa Gonske came to visit over the weekend. We all had a nice time together watching Drea. It is all about her after all.
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A couple days ago I got to go out and have some fun time out in the woods. I took the Blue XJ and tore it up a little bit. It flexes out pretty nicely but maybe a bit too much. Maybe I can install those bump stops this weekend :)

A couple bad cellphone pictures but you get the idea. I also got hung up pretty good in this ditch while trying to squeeze through. Had to do a little trail repair afterwords.

We shot some trap out in the woods with the 12 gauge. How often do you get to wear a bandolier full of shells? We had a good time and shot up all our target loads.

After we shot up all the targets I stole a Suzuki Samurai and drove it around for fun. Thanks DJ!

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my grandparents in Ohio. Excited to see you soon!

Growing Girl and Big News

2011-03-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

Drea continues to grow more and more. Here is some video of her sitting up and reaching for things.

We sure had a fun weekend in Minnesota. Robyn had a great time at Claire's wedding shower and I was able to fix 2 jeeps over the weekend. I replaced the crank position sensor in a friend's XJ and put in a new brake booster in Uncle Jon's WJ. It was a lot of fun.

It is really exciting that we are moving to Duluth. Only a couple months to get everything together, and that includes finding a place to live. Hopefully we can find something with some good garage space!

MATCH DAY

2011-03-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come. We've all been waiting.
Where will we be for the next 3 years?

Visit to Playland!

2011-03-07T15:13:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we made the trip up I39 to Marshfield to hang out with the other Gilbertson crew of Bjorn, Claire, and Danny. After catching up we had a lunch full of Pizza while Danny and Drea took their naps.

Bj and I plinked around with the BB gun while Robyn and Claire talked wedding stuff. When the kids woke up it was game on with toys, playland, and Skyping with grandma and grandpa Ann and Jeff.

"Playland"
Danny was excited to show Drea all of the different things that Playland can do! Drea was euphoric with all the learning. It was nice to see them playing together. Although they are about a year apart they play really well.

Because it's hard work

2011-03-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

I have seen recently a lot of blogs dying off. There are a lot of really good blogs that start off really strong and then fizzle out. Some are re-launched as something with a slightly different topic only to be abandoned. What accounts for this phenomenon? Well, simply. Putting together a decent blog requires a little bit of hard work.

People start blogs for a variety of reasons. Some want to write about a specific topic that they enjoy, such as fly fishing, or comic books. Some want to get all philosophical and crave attention. Some, just wanted a fun and easy way to keep in touch with family. That was the initial purpose of this blog and will continue to be as surroundings and life situations change.\

It makes me a little sad when there are blogs out there (ones that I enjoy reading) that just die out. Whether it is lack of time, substance, or general indifference, it is sad.

Some have the gift of writing but just chose to let it go unused due to lack of interest. Hopefully they are using that gift in other ways.

I believe this Blog stays active and vibrant due to family and friends that are constantly checking in. Sometimes it is difficult to put in the time to create a post, organize the photos, edit and publish when you know that maybe someone won't see it or someone won't care. That is a risk you take when putting your thoughts and life out there on a blog. There is a good chance that no one will care, and no one will read.

I am thankful for the following I have on this blog. It keeps it fun. Drea keeps it fun as she grows and gives me new things to write about, post pictures of, and videos to marvel at.

It also helps us feel a little bit closer to those who we are geographical separated from.

Take my cousin Craig's Blog for example. Poor kid has been away from home for way too long. In a foreign country that is still developing. Internet access is sparse. Post are few and far between but when he gets the chance it is a good, robust post with some cool photos. I hope this one dies out when he comes home and he relaunches a new blog because he has the writing skills to keep people interested. The photos aren't bad either. If you get a chance you should check it out for sure.

So to the writers out there. Keep going, don't get distracted or disinterested. If you have something going, keep rolling with it. It may start small and slow but if that snowball keeps going it will sustain it's own momentum!

Back by popular request...

2011-02-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

Things have been a little busy lately. Robyn has been on an intense surgery rotation requiring her to work some crazy hours. Drea has started daycare at Playful Kids and is doing really well. My mornings have also started earlier as I am the primary pick up and drop off person for Drea.

We spend some good times in the morning. Waking up slowly, playing, cuddling, and getting dressed. Drea really likes wearing some of the new clothes she is growing into. The other day she wore some doggy slippers that she is borrowing from her cousin Danny.
She spends a lot of her time contemplating the wonder of feet.

This past week she has started to smack her lips together and really explore the sounds she is able to make. Some soft, some loud. Sometimes when she is in a silly mood we can get her to giggle.

I caught her playing with her lion rattle we named Lylo. She has really taken to playing with toys.
Almost responding as if to scold me for taking a picture of her in just her onesie.

Here she is all tuckered out.

Robyn and I are getting very excited for match day. Only 23 more days to go until we find out where we are going for residency. I can't hardly wait to find out.

Aside from visiting with our life group every Wednesday night we are also taking Financial Peace University again at church. We had been bugging them to offer it for years and they finally are. It is a really good class.

7 weeks too long...

2011-02-11T17:19:00.001-08:00

Robyn and Drea got back yesterday around 5pm. It was so good to see them and have them home again. 7 weeks of Ringo and I driving back and forth every weekend was getting really difficult.

I spent the past couple days giving our home a good cleaning so it would be perfect for their arrival. I got real groceries for the first time in 7 weeks and had the menu all planned out.

Drea has also started rolling over on her own. She started doing that this past weekend. One morning she rolled over and just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, we set her on her tummy and she rolled over again. She is such a big girl!

She will grab hold of anything she can get her mitts on. Especially my beard. She will grab her toys and blankets and put them to her face. One of her favorite things to do is to pull the blanket over her head while sleeping.

She will also rotate a full 180 while in bed. She will wake up and play quietly with her hands or toys before making a peep. Sometimes we go to check on her and find her like this.
She is just growing so fast and doing new things almost every day. Yesterday I caught her playing with her feet. I took some video.

Again, so cute. Everything she does is the cutest thing ever.

She loves her baths and playing with toys. She just melts me...

Nothing new to report

2011-02-10T08:47:00.001-08:00

Except that Robyn and Drea will be home tonight. Get ready for tons of pictures and video that I haven't been able to get at for the past several weeks.

Drea has gotten so big. Can't wait to see them tonight.

Hello

2011-01-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would drop in and say hello. I haven't been doing much lately, but at the same time I have. I try to stay busy every night. That why I don't get too lonely from missing Robyn and Drea. I don't even have my camera so I can't take very good pictures to post either. :(

I've been working on the Jeeps here and there but basically holding my own during the weeks until I can take a long weekend up north with my girls. When they come home in 2.5 weeks there will be much rejoicing.

Wish I had a cool picture to share, but I don't.

Hands

2011-01-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

Don't have time to write much, but Drea wanted to show this video of how she is learning to use her hands.

-Robyn

8 hour weekends

2011-01-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

What does that mean? Well I drive 4 hours north to be with Robyn and Drea over the weekends, then turn around and drive 4 hours back during the week.

It is getting pretty taxing on me. I have been getting pretty tired during my travel weekends. This weekend was a little different though. Equally as tiring.

Yesterday I drove north with 4 other Jeeps to wheel the Jackson County forestry service roads. A little snow wheeling if you will. The snow was deeper than we expected and ended up being around 1.5 feet. Each trail we (and by we, I mean I) were plowing through the trails. I would go a little bit at a time. Get stuck, back up, or get pulled back and make a longer run at it trying to break through. I was doing the majority of the plowing because I had probably the best tires and wasn't having any engine problems. Here is a picture of after we gave up on one trail.

That is my Dark Blue XJ. the snow was going up to my grill as you can see. We tried another trail about a mile down the forest road and made that one. I plowed that one as well. Here is a photo were we stopped to chill for a bit.

Ringo really doesn't like wheeling. He gets really upset, shakes, pants, and drools. He was happy to be able to go outside for a bit and play in the snow.

The MTR's (new tires) did really well in the snow. They dug in and provided a lot of traction and the only downside is that the increased traction made more work for the XJ as others had to have me pull them out and plow ahead.
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I have been having some good Drea time over the weekends. She is getting so big and growing longer. She sometimes will giggle and loves watching football. She gets upset when it is halftime.

Duluth was great last weekend and we really like the town. Robyn also liked United in St. Paul and learned a lot of new things about residency there. We are very much looking forward to the match where we will find out where we are going.

Due to popular request

2011-01-09T19:04:00.001-08:00

I will update this thing.

One would think that not much is going on. Robyn and Drea have been up north since Christmas, Ringo and I have been back home.

Robyn is doing great at Marshfield Clinic and Lakeview Medical Center in Rice Lake. Robyn and Drea are staying with grandma and grandpa Gonske. Auntie Kristin has been around to help too but will be leaving shortly for her new assignment working at a horse camp by St. Cloud MN. We are very excited for her.

Drea has grown a lot over the past weeks. She has a lot of neck strength and can sit up well with just a little bit of assistance. She also is starting to interact with people more and more. The other day Auntie Kristin got her giggling. She has been having good tummy time and getting stronger and stronger.
I really miss them but have gotten to spend good time during the weekends. Otherwise I have kept myself busy with working on the Jeeps and having dinner with other families. A lot of people have had me over for food, and to do various chores and odd jobs. It has been good and kept me busy.

Right now as I am writing this we are at "The Inn on Lake Superior". Robyn has her interview for the Duluth Family Practice Residency tomorrow. Drea and I are going to explore the city tomorrow. We are very excited to be here. Especially me. I love the lake, love the history behind it, love ships, boats, shipwrecks, and lore. We already saw half a dozen ore boats today. We watched the Mesabi Miner and the Walter J. McCarthy Jr. Both boats were 1000+ foot ore boats and the biggest on the lake right now. It was pretty amazing.
The first picture was taken with 4x zoom from our hotel balcony. (Mesabi Miner)

After having dinner at Fitgers Brewhouse we took a drive down a deserted Canal Park. At the pier we saw a large ore boat on it's way into the Duluth Harbor Basin. I took off running for lift bridge and snapped these night photos of the Walter J. McCarthy Jr.
I really like this last photo because there is a lot of depth to the picture. Different colors as the ships spotlights hit the lift bridge and bounce off the churn of the water. Probably the best picture I took today. I really would like a camera that could take better zoom pictures though. Anyways, I could spend all day photographing these ships. Maybe if I'm lucky I can do more of this in the future.

Hustle and Bustle

2010-12-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas is one of my most favorite of the year. Aside, from my birthday on the 19th it just feels like Christmas all week. People driving around in the snow, packed malls, and visiting family.

On Saturday we had a party for Claire and Chris for their graduation at UW Madison. Claire graduated with a degree in Education and Chris graduated with Engineering. We had a nice get together. Claire, Bj, and Danny weren't able to make it though. Claire had been battling the stomach flu and wasn't feeling up to it. We all missed them at the party. Grandma Ann's butterscotch cookies and cake were a hit.

Drea is getting so big. Last night she accidentally rolled over. She had been kicking her leg for a good 30 minutes, then rolled on to her side. After she tried to free her arm she flopped on her belly. I called for Robyn to share the news. She is such a big girl.

You are usually able to get her to smile and giggle when she is in a happy mood. She also enjoys when Robyn sings to her.

I had a nice 27th Birthday. My parents took the family to Old Chicago for a big pizza. Dad also pulled some strings to get me a pretty cool air compressor and tools.

This Christmas weekend we are going up to Marshfield to be with family. Then we will travel to Rice Lake sometime the next day.

A big Merry Christmas from the world's tiniest and cutest Elf.

Growing Girl! 2.5 months old

2010-12-15T10:51:00.001-08:00

Drea is just about 2 and a half months old and super cute every day of the week. Grandma Judy is taking care of her during these two weeks while Robyn is on rotation.

She has started to scoot in her crib. She started out in the center of it and moved herself up to the corner.
Every day she looks more and more like a Gilbertson. I go home for lunch almost every day and it is hard to sit down and eat anything because she wants to be held or cuddled, or played with. She is the best. Here are some more pictures.
This is the one where she really is looking like a Gilbertson.

Drea has moved out of her 0-3 clothes and is now in 3-6 sizes. As we sadly said goodbye to "giggles", "Pandafeet", and "froggyfeet", we welcomed some new "love you" suits, and more cute dresses. She is starting to look like a little lady now, and she really is growing up way to fast.

Working Mama and Growing Baby

2010-12-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

I completed my first week back to school, which I refer to as work, because its not like I'm sitting in a classroom or reading books. I'm on a two week orthopedics rotation that is mostly in the clinic. Fridays are half-days so I'm home for the weekend already. This is making for a good transition to being gone during the day. At the end of next week I will be off again for 2 weeks of Christmas break. Then January 3rd I will be starting a 6 week long rotation in Rice Lake, so Drea and I will stay in RL once we are there for Christmas. Andy will have to come back to Madison for work, but I figure we will see him every weekend during those 6 weeks.

Drea has not been making Grandma Judy work very hard this week. She has been such a good, easy baby for Grandma too. Lots of naps and she enjoys just hangin' out when she is awake. Grandma was surprised that she finished stuffing her Christmas letters in just 2 days. She has been asking me what she can do around the house. Nothing!-- just relax. We got to celebrate Grandma Judy's birthday on Wednesday. We went out to a yummy restaurant called Oliva that serves fresh, delicious Mediterranean food. This was where Mama and Papa went to celebrate when we found out we were pregnant with Drea.

Last week we added the toy bar onto Drea's Froggy Bouncer. Because she is really starting to see well and loves to stare at things. She can't reach or hit the toys but she loves to sit and look. And she likes how she can move her arms and legs all around when sitting in the bouncer.

Robyn's back to work

2010-12-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

Today(Monday) was Robyn's first day back at the clinic. Since today was my normal day off it was Adventure day with Drea and Ringo. I started this post on Monday but due to computer issues wasn't able to get it finished until today (Wednesday).

We started out by going to the grocery store this morning. When we got back we had some milk and then went out to hunt night crawlers. You have to get them while it's dark out. We turned off all the lights and went to have "tummy time" and look for those crawlers. We had fun pretending.

She is such a big girl, almost, just almost able to sit up for a couple of seconds before I have to catch her. She is getting really strong.

The other day I went out the the farm and did some wheeling in the XJ and tore up one of the fenders. I bent it back but the suspension really needs to be bump stopped to avoid further fender destruction. We also shot several hundred rounds of ammunition. 7.62X54r, 12 gauge, 22 short, 9mm, and .357mag. We were shooting at frozen pumpkins left over from this falls harvest.
Grandma Judy is here now with Drea and they have had some good days so far. Robyn is still enjoying medicine, she was assisting yesterday on a total knee replacement.

Drea also had a message for Grandma Ann and Great Grandma Marge.

Trimming the Tree

2010-12-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

Last night we put up the Christmas tree and decorated it. We had a cute little helper elf too! Well maybe she didn't help much, perhaps she slept through most of the activity, but she sure was cute.

2 Months Old

2010-12-01T08:44:00.001-08:00

Little Peach is two months old today! Drea went to the doctor for her well baby check-up yesterday. She weighs 10 lbs 7 oz and is 23 inches long. So she is a long slender girl, but perfectly healthy and growing well. She also had her first set of vaccinations. She took it like a champ--screamed when she got poked but was quickly and easily soothed by Mama. She had some extra fussies last night, but is back to her happy self this morning.

Within the last week Drea has really started becoming very interactive. She makes good eye contact, loves to "chatter," and we can get her to smile her adorable little smile. She was showing off these skills a lot last week in Ohio for Great Grandpa and Grandma and her Great Aunties and Uncles.

Her smile makes both Papa and Mama just melt! Yesterday Andy asked me to send a new picture of her to him at work. Below is the picture. Andy couldn't resist forwarding it to a bunch of people. She is so beautiful!
I go back to "work" starting next Monday. Its a two week long rotation on orthopedics. Grandma Judy is going to come to Madison to take care of Drea. Even though I'll be back to work, I will be enjoying the rest of this week and the coming weeks because we don't have to travel anywhere until Christmas. Those 3 1/2 weeks will be the longest consecutive amount that we've stayed home since she was born. Whew!! All the traveling has been wonderful (and Drea is really good at traveling) but quite exhausting. We are so thankful for all the family and friends that we have seen in the last 2 months!

Drea making sounds

2010-11-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

It has been way too long

2010-11-14T09:38:00.001-08:00

You would think that nothing has been going on but you would be wrong. Drea continues to grow at a staggering rate. She is so sweet and we figure is starting to look at us. Drea and Mama have a special relationship.
It has been difficult being back at work. I really miss Drea during the day and always feel like I am not going to be there for something important. Sometimes I send messages to Robyn to take a picture of what Drea is doing and send it to me. The picture above is what I have on the background of my computer. She is such a sweetie.

Papa spends plenty of time with her too. I feed Drea from the bottle at least once a day and have gotten pretty good at warming up the frozen stuff. I have watched her all by myself when Robyn has had to do some Med School stuff and on Residency interviews.

She has become a bit of a spitty girl. I find that when I hold her on my lap and burp her it keeps it off my shirt a bit better.

We have also been working really hard on having quality "Tummy Time". It is difficult to stay awake sometimes though! Drea is getting really strong. She can lift her head up and look the other direction if there is someone over there she wants to look at. She also holds her head up well when we carry her around. She likes the ceiling light in the kitchen, and the standing lamp in the bedroom.

Anika and Jonathan Enger came to visit on their way up north. Be careful guys, babies are contagious! Drea does well with visitors. She doesn't fuss but doesn't go into a complete shell either. Which is good because if she sleeps a lot during the day it can sometimes make for a difficult evening.

Speaking of evenings. Drea slept 6 hours straight last night. That's my girl!

In a few hours we are going to be leaving to go to La Crosse for another interview.

More family pictures

2010-11-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to have Drea Skype with my Grand Parents yesterday. It just happened by chance but it was really nice that they could see her moving around, awake, and interacting.

Today I am just home with Drea while Robyn is at a required Medical School function.

Our niece Eillie is 20 months old now and really fun. She wanted to walk around Ringo's dog toy and even called him Petey. She got along well with both Drea and Ringo. She wasn't too pushy or rough for either one of them. It was nice that everyone could play together.
Now for some Drea pictures

Andrea's first trip to Rice Lake

2010-10-26T12:37:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday we packed up the crew and headed on up to Rice Lake for an extended visit. Both Grandmas were very excited to have Andrea for so long.

She is growing so fast. She already does not fit half of her newborn clothes. Grandma Ann made sure that she had plenty of new diggs for her visit. She also made sure we didn't go hungry by supplying plenty of pulled pork, cookies, and cupcakes. YUM!
Andrea got her first real bubble bath with help from Grandma Ann. She really likes bath time. She didn't cry or carry on. Just laid there and interacted with the water. Maybe she will be a swimmer?
She has a lot of cute clothes. I like the ones with frogs on them.

On Sunday we packed up the whole family and went to the pumpkin patch with Drea. She had a special new Halloween tutu that Grandma Ann got her. She looks like a little pumpkin seed.
She was asleep for most of the time but we were able to snap some nice pictures.

Danny's first birthday party

2010-10-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video of him walking around and playing with his new toy car.

And the photo slide show.

All About Drea

2010-10-14T15:14:00.001-07:00

It has been a whirlwind "almost" two weeks for us. Drea will be 2 weeks old tomorrow at 11:26am and we have been up to a lot lately!

Last Friday we went down to Evansville to visit Great Grandpa Ramsett at his home. Great Grandpa is 91 years old and Andrea was just 1 week old at the time. He was so excited to see her. Here is a picture of him being a proud Great Grandpa.

Great Grandpa, daughter Judy, grand daughter Robyn, and Great Grand daughter Andrea. We are planning on going down to visit when Auntie Gretchen and cousin Eillie come to visit soon.

This past Sunday BJ, Claire, and Danny came to visit. Danny is a big boy, crashing around, and getting into everything. He stopped playing with the remote control and the coasters long enough to say high to Drea.

It was good to see all of them and we are excited to go to Danny's First Birthday Party this weekend!

Our friends Cody and Amber Kargus came over today and brought their 3 girls. We had a nice time catching up and sharing news. There were just here for a short visit while passing through. We hope to catch up with them more when we are up north in a couple weeks.

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Robyn, Drea, and I also enjoy taking walks around the block with Ringo. We have a baby carrier that I wear to keep her close as we show her off to all the other dog people around here.

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While Robyn's mom was here I was able to do something nice for Robyn and Drea. I switched the transfer case in the black Cherokee to the NP242 Full-Time case.

I did this so Robyn would have the most reliable vehicle with the best 4x4 system for winter driving. That will help keep them safe, as well as the Jeep safe. Robyn even came down stairs to work the floor jack while I was under the Jeep!

I know they look similar in the picture but the one on the left is much bigger and is the full time case that I put in for Robyn. I worked out some kinks and some vibration issues and it is now 100% ready for a safe winter driving season for Robyn and Baby Peach.

Growing Girl

2010-10-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

Drea is growing and getting stronger by the day. She had a little bump in the road with some Jaundice but is doing a whole lot better now. Here are some updated photos. Just doing the Papa thing right now, not much else going on. Just loving her lots.
Ringo went and staked his claim on the changing pad.
Look at my arm cannons!
Of course more to come. Days are filled with plenty of things. I'm just not always around to get the photos. Looking forward to seeing BJ, Claire, and Danny this weekend.

I also pulled the NP242 out of Dark Blue to swap into the XJ. Basically a Transfer Case reversal. I also got some new wrenches.

Andrea Slideshow

2010-10-04T07:42:00.001-07:00

Three Humans and a Dog.

2010-10-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

We welcomed into our family today.

Andrea Evelyn Gilbertson
Born 10/1/10 11:26am
8.2 pounds
19 1/2 inches

Here is our 39 weeks belly bump picture taken late last night after labor had started.
There was a lot of work done, some goofing off, and eventually a baby.

Here is the goofing off.
And then she didn't want any more pictures taken. Then the baby came.

And More to come!!!!

The End of an Era

2010-09-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

Baby could go any day now. Robyn is a plump 38 weeks along. We were talking last night that she has seen me trying to squeeze a lot of guy things into these last few days before baby Peach comes. I have been noticing that too and am aware of it. It isn't that I think my social life is going to end, it is just going to be drastically different than it was before.

I know that baby is going to demand a large amount of our love and time, because that is the way it is supposed to be. We are so very excited for her arrival and that excitement builds with every passing day. Robyn just completed her Dermatology rotation and has 2 more scheduled weeks that she may or may not complete. It isn't a big deal though.

We still have a few odds and ends to wrap up before baby arrives but we are right now as ready as possible for baby Peach to make her debut.

The bumper will go on "Dark Blue" this afternoon and we might go to a Jeep "Rocks and Roads" Event tomorrow but after that, we really don't know what is going to happen. We are keeping our schedules open.
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We went out to a friends place south of Madison last night for a good old Lead Fest. Robyn had never shot a firearm before so that was a fun thing for her to do.

Here is some video of our night.

It was a really fun night. We spent quality time with friends, fired off a lot of rounds, and ate some good food. It is truly the end of an era.

Baby coming soon!

2010-09-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend when I was at Northwoods Overland Offroad park. Robyn had a shower with her medical school classmates and friends. Our friends Susie and Emily made a video for Robyn. They took me over one night and asked me a bunch of questions. They edited a wonderful video for us. We would like to share it with you below.

For our friends with slow internet connections this will not work very well.

We are very excited for the arrival of our little girl.

Like I said, I was wheeling last weekend up north. Not too much damage. Here are some pictures.

Playing on the rocks
Here is me winching DJ out of a stuck situation.And flexing out the suspension
I have also made some progress on Dark Blue. A friend and I were able to take the trailer hitch off with some persuasion with a really big hammer and a reciprocating saw. I put a good coat of primer and three coats of flat black on the new rear bumper. It can go on any time.

Happy 37 Weeks!

2010-09-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Baby Peach has reached the 37 week mark which makes her full term. We have yet to take a new picture today but here is my lovely wife at 36 weeks.
I know that the blog posts have been few and far between lately. Truth is, we have just been really busy. I don't like being busy but it just seems like we have a lot going on lately. Between getting ready for baby to be born, building a new rig, taking care of each other, and taking care of ourselves it doesn't leave much time for anything else. We are doing well though. Our life group from church started up 2 weeks ago and we have 3 new couples this year. Everyone is very nice and we have a lot of diversity in our group. New families of different sizes and at different stages of life. Makes it nice to interact with people who are in different places right now.

We have pretty much all we need for baby to arrive. Bags packed, things are ready. We are just waiting on baby right now. Robyn has slowed down a lot in the past week. Walks with Ringo are becoming increasingly tiresome for her. She has dropped her bump a bit too and started to waddle around. She is doing a very good job at taking care of herself, baby, and me too.

Robyn has a baby shower this weekend with her friends from school. We are also visiting Grandpa and Peg on Saturday this weekend which is always exciting.

Since Robyn has the shower on Sunday she has cleared me to go up to Northwoods Overland to go wheeling. I will be wheeling the TJ still as she put the kabosh on taking DB since I am not really done building it yet. I got Paul to pick up some parts for me in Kalamazoo and we are going to be visiting them as well as Leo and Lindsay Morales in Michigan.

Oh, here is my build progress for the Dark Blue XJ

It has been a crazy week.

2010-09-06T10:49:00.001-07:00

I got back from Dresser last weekend and dove right into a crazy week filled with a lot of different activities.

We finally got around to installing the car seat we bought. We made a little video to show people that important moment.

We also went to Baby's R Us and used up some gift card that we had left from the shower. We bought a few necessary items. A "Diaper Champ" and a child carrier.

I have also been working on the "Dark Blue" XJ project. Got the front end lifted last night. Hopefully will have time to finish the rear end tonight. Tires come in on Wednesday!

The last day of August

2010-08-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was pretty eventful. Robyn had a baby shower and I screwed up my steering.

Last night we went out and got our car seat. I picked it out and started practicing with Alice May.
Robyn's mom made the crib linen set and it is very nice. We are very happy with it and the whole color scheme.
I like it a lot.

I had some good wheeling over the weekend but broke my steering and had to do a trail repair until. I made it home but it needs to be replaced with better parts.
And some much needed repairs.

33 & 1/2 Week Photo Shoot

2010-08-22T18:07:00.001-07:00

Don't miss out on Robyn's post from earlier this evening. Here is the link.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I had the wonderful idea to take Robyn and baby Peach to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens here in Madison for a pregnancy photo shoot. I wanted to do this for Robyn so she can have some nice pictures of herself in all of her beautiful roundness.

We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful day to visit the gardens and made the most of it while spending the afternoon there.

We didn't do much sitting though. It was a nice walk through the park. Stopping occasionally to rest in the shade.
It was really fun just to go out on a nice date with the Mrs. We got to spend some real quality time together doing some educational dating. Here are some more pictures.

I also grabbed some pictures of the actual gardens. Here they are in slide show form. You can always click on the slide show and it will take you to my Photobucket page where I have all my photos displayed.

Slow and steady wins the race

2010-08-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

More progression of the baby growth. Just gradual growing and stretching. Although Baby Girl works very hard for many hours a day on "renovating" her home, through stretching and pushing against my belly or my ribs or my back or my bladder. She is well-placed in the head down position yet still manages to find various arrangements for her butt, knees, and feet.

Weeks 31,32,33

Now that we have rearranged the bedroom to make the nursery wall, we have no bare walls to take pictures against. So I suppose the crib is the next best thing. :)

Photos Overdue

2010-08-14T07:26:00.001-07:00

A little behind on getting this photo series posted, since we're 32 weeks already. So here's a flashback to July.
Weeks 27-30.

New Blog Feature

2010-08-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Someone asked my why I didn't blog about beer more often. The fact is that I often do. Just not here.

I often have a facebook feature on beer reviews. I thought, if I am writing them, why not post them. So we will start here with a brand new review.
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Beer Review - Edmund Fitzgerald Porter - Great Lakes Brewing Company - Cleveland OH.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee...

-Gordon Lightfoot

This was the very first brew I drank when we arrived at Madison. We were unable to get this brand in Minnesota so I jumped on it. I just bought some more yesterday.

I believe they changed their recipe a couple years ago. I remember it more harsh, more hopped, less refined. Today it is a bit more mellow, less harsh, very smooth. Maybe it hasn't changed at all. Maybe it is I who have changed...

It is dark, toffee and chocolate flavored from the dark malts and black patent roasted barley. An excellent after work beer to sit back and reflect on who you are and what you have done with your time.

It helps us all appreciate life a little more with each sip.

Our Vacation - Part 7 - Alcatraz

2010-08-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, what a week. Baby has kicked into high gear lately. Going to take some time to catch up and finish out our vacation.

Previous Vacation Posts
Our Vacation - Part 1 - Washington
Our Vacation - Part 2 - Washington to Oregon
Our Vacation - Part 3 - Oregon Trail
Our Vacation - Part 4 - Coasting Along
Our Vacation - Part 5 - Redwood Forests
Our Vacation - Part 6 - Fisherman's Wharf
Our Vacation - Part 7 - Alcatraz

Our last post from our vacation all the way back in June is going to be Alcatraz, which really deserves a post all to itself.
We took the night cruise because we would get more time on the island that way. On the boat ride over we circled the whole island. This was one of the most fun parts of our trip. If you are ever in San Francisco you absolutely have to go to Alcatraz.

At night they did a special extra thing of operating all the doors. It was really cool. Here is the video.

It was really cool. I would definitely go back again if anyone wants to go.

On our way back I caught this great shot of Coit Tower

The morning after we swung by Lombard street one last time before we had to fly out. That is where I will leave off on our vacation.

Home Invasion!

2010-08-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

The Lundeen clan (Robyn's sister's family) made a last minute plan to stop and see us on Saturday and Sunday. Steve, Gretchen, Hannah, Asa, and Eillie came on Saturday to hang out and take a break from their long road trip from Georgia.

Asa found a place to hangout right away. Ringo then had no place to hide while Eillie chased him around the house.

After a while I was able to get Asa to give me a hand with putting together the crib. He helped me break down the box and bring the pieces upstairs.
After a while Hannah came in to help too. It didn't take us long to get the crib put together. Then I started on supper. We all had hamburgers, brats, and potatoes' to eat.
After dinner was cleaned up Robyn and Gretchen went out bumming around. I took this opportunity to take the kids to the park and play a little baseball. We all took batting practice and it was really fun. I relish time spent with them.

They eventually had to leave on Sunday after lunch. We played some Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. I fell asleep on the floor. Eillie took her opportunity to rest too.