Beach Bums

The heat came to town in Portland which means the Cruzes were ready to head for the cooler weather of the coast. Unfortunately we forgot the camera. God forbid I post a pictureless blog so I created a few pictoral depictions of our weekend.

We headed out of town Friday night after I got home from work.

Gloria and Jose were also down at the beach this weekend. They brought Kendra and Andre down with them for the night as well so all 4 kids got to spend Saturday playing together.
It was a little cool and windy on the beach so Saturday afternoon we headed to one of our favorite parks, Regatta Park, on Devils Lake in Lincoln City. This park has fun for the whole family. It has the coolest playground we've ever seen and a boat launch for Luis and I to ride the waverunner on the lake.

Here's a real picture of the playground and lake courtesy of the world wide web.

Luis and I have talked since spring break about getting a crabbing pot since Yaya and Papa Ron's beach house is at the perfect spot on Schooner Bay to drop a pot and see if you can get some dinner. We also got a clamming "gun" to try to dig up clams in the low tide. Clamming was a definite success. We got about 20 clams in less than an hour of digging. The kids even help using their plastic sand toys to dig through the sand to see if we got any clams.

While I thought my picture was good, this depiction I found via google describes it even better.

Unfortunately for all the clams we caught, somehow they got lost between the beach and home. Go figure. Only we could manage to lose a whole bag of clams.

We didn't have as much success trying to crab but only had a half hour to devote to the endeavour before needing to head home.

We stopped off at Joanne and Doug's on the way home for a going away party for Shelley. She's moving later this week to North Carolina. Best of luck to you little cuz!!

July-ing

After our busy trip, we've been keeping things pretty low key of late. Except for the incident of almost sinking our car in the Willamette last weekend but that's beside the point. Lesson was learned, have car in Park + Parking break when attempting to load Waverunner onto trailer. Regardless, the tail light is fixed, tires have been replaced, and the back end interior is almost dried out.

Yesterday Luis taught the kids to play the exciting game of Uno! They are hooked. We have the version of Uno that spews cards at you if you can't play so that adds an additional element of fun.

Today was the annual picnic at my work. As you can see in the background, there was all kinds of bouncy things and blow up slides for the kids. Siena also chose to partake in face painting and balloon animaling. The arts and crafts table was also a hit for the Cruz kids.
Since we were busy doing stuff, we didn't take many pictures. That expains why I allowed this horrible one of me to be posted...don't have anything else. Aahhh well, its me enjoying a free beer and brat. Can't beat that. The kids got cotton candy and ice cream too.

I also finished pulling all of the weeds in our backyard this weekend. Since I didn't take a before picture, showing an after picture would be less than impressive. Anyway, 10,000 square feet, every square inch of it covered in weeds is now just unlandscaped dirt. I'm ready for another yard break.

Livin' it up in Minneapolis and Chicago!

After the torrential downfall of the previous night, the sun came back and we were ready to check out Minneapolis. We visited the downtown farmers market, tried some strange cheese, and the kids got balloon swords and flowers.
The boys had to take back the rental van so the rest of us (sans Yaya and Siena who went back to the hotel) went for a walk around the river area. In the background is an old railroad bridge converted into a pedestrian walkway. That is the Mississippi river in the background.

Mason from the top of a knoll.

Flour mill ruins in downtown Minneapolis. None of these mills are still functional but the ruins are still visible. The ruins in front are the result of a fire in the early 1990's.

View of the river and falls from the pedestrian bridge.

We also got to see a barge coming through the locks.

Later in the afternoon, we met some other relatives that dad was able to locate as a result of his geneology research. I'm sure he'll be able to correct me on this one too but I'll do my best. Irene's mother Ida (Irene is the older woman in yellow) was sisters with my Great Grandma Anna Swanson. Our families had maintained contact until my Aunt Hannah passed away. After that we lost contact until my dad found them a few months back. They were all wonderfully nice people and it was great to meet them.

Here's my best attempt to identify the family members in the picture. From bottom left: Kris Kyllo - Irene's daughter, Linda, Irene, and Marie. Linda and Marie are daughters of Irene's brother Carl Hagan. From top left: Tom Rindahl - Linda's husband, Arika - Marie's daughter, Tony Wagoner - Marie's husband, Jason - Cara's husband, and Cara - Marie's daughter. The baby is Cara and Jason's daughter Elena.

Here's our crew with Irene.

The Ham crew and cousin David with Irene. As you can see, this was a pretty big family reunion.

Irene turned out to be a great storyteller and we had a nice time listening to her tell stories about the family.

On the recommendation of Arika and the rest of the Minneapolis locals, we took the kids to the Mall of America for some fun and rides. The Mall of America is insane - there is a Lego land, indoor amusement park, and 4 stories of restaurants and stores. Course, we spent the majority of our time at the amusement park.

These were fun rides for the kids. They all had horns to honk on the trucks.

And Siena got to meet her idol Dora.

Heidi joined the kids on the Diego bus ride.

After rides, we hit the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for dinner. It was goood.

The next morning we took the Mill tour in Minneapolis. This was actually more fun than the name sounds. The main part of the tour consists of a freight elevator going through various levels of the abandoned flour mill showing video, old machinery, and voices of former workers. It was very cool. This is the view of the city from the 8th floor observation deck of the Mill museum.

Luis and the kids on the tour.

The old Gold Medal Flour sign. The mill is no longer operational but the sign is a city landmark.

From the flour tour to the Swedish Institute. We couldn't take pictures inside due to the artifacts on display but the Institute provides a good history of the Swedish immigration to the midwest.

After a couple rounds past the Gay Pride celebration, we were able to find the home that my Great Grandmother Anna worked in for 5 years as an indentured servant upon arrival in the U.S. The family that owned the house paid her way overseas in exchange for her work.

No pictures from the next day as it was spent entirely on a Mega bus from Minneapolis to Chicago. It was a long 8 hour ride but the bus wasn't bad. It stopped a couple of times and we made it there. Craig and Janene met us and got us back to their place to stay which was very nice. It was especially nice to not be in a hotel.

After a wonderful breakfast of homemade pancakes and fruit, we went to Cantigny. There was lots to see and do at Cantigny. It was the home of Robert McCormick, Chicago Tribune guru, as well as a military museum dedicated to the First Division. The kids liked the collection of tanks that they got to climb on. So did Luis.

This is the scene from inside the First Division Museum. This is a very cool museum, designed to provide a first-hand look at life on the front.More tank climbing!

Siena at the children's garden.

More family in the gardens.

This look familiar to anyone? Think A League of their Own, Tom Hanks...job offer...this is outside of the McCormick mansion at Cantigny.

The next day we first went to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Not sure why Dad and Craig look like ghosts in this picture... The museum had this huge model train set up. There was a lot to do at the museum. One could easily spend 2 days there and not see everything.

There was a lot of interactive stuff for the kids.

And for the big kids.

Cow.

We couldn't spend all day museuming though because we had tickets to the Cubbies at Wrigley!

As you can see they lost in a low scoring affair but it was still very cool to be in the historic stadium and watching a game. The kids liked the food - hot dogs, nachos, kettle corn, lemonade, cotton candy...

In case a museum and baseball game isn't enough for one day, we then went to Navy Pier. We rode the huge ferris wheel and carousel, checked out shops, and ate dinner.

This touring the town business is hard work!

Thursday - Taste of Chicago. For those familiar with the bite of Portland, this is a similar affair only much bigger.

It didn't take long for Siena to make herself at home.

There was so much food but we did our best to try as much as possible. Papa Ron shared some of his samplings with the kids.

Craig returns triumphantly to COMCEN with a plate of homemade chips from Harry Carey's.

The famous wagon that not only toted all our stuff but the kids as well.

The group in front of Buckingham fountain in Millenium Park.

We're home now and are back to a more low key existance. It was a wonderful vacation. Now we have lots of laundry to do!

Bowdon or Bust!

In most towns, the best bet for food is to eat at small local diners. That's where you get the best food. As we've learned, this is not true of the Dakotas. Hamburgers have no condiments. You have to order sides extra. Nothing tastes good. At least in larger towns there are the occasional chain establishments that are okay.

We next made it to Bismarck, ND. After a relaxing morning at the pool and water slides, which the kids loved, we took the Lewis and Clark riverboat down the Missouri river.

No, Siena isn't missing a tooth. That's just chocolate.
And Ellia has a blue tongue from a sucker.

Berren was feeling a little woozy so Heidi busted out the barf bag. He fell asleep this way.

The kids got to visit another captain's cabin and steer another ship.

Next day...Bowdon! Bowdon is a small town in the center of the state where my Grandpa Art was born and raised. Current population is a little over 100 people. Armed with Grandpa and several of the great aunt and uncles memoirs, we had our list of sites to visit and stories to place.

We met up with Rod Whitacre, the curator of the Bowdon museum. He has the museum well organized and filled with town relics. Here's the kids in front of the school exhibit.

The girls and I are contemplating the early hair perming apparatus. Ellia and I are glad our hair curls naturally after seeing this contraption.

This exhibit is dedicated to the local town doctor (pictured in the background). This doctor delivered Grandpa Art.

Siena had more fun drawing mermaids than seeing old stuff.

Yaya and Papa Ron check out the school exhibit.

The kids outside of the museum.

Rod then took us to the high school. The school has been closed up to students since 1998 and also served as the grade school. Grandpa Art and the other Torland kids attended school here as children. Of course it was fairly new then.

This is urban spelunking at it's finest!

The kids in the gym in front of the class of '94s contribution to the gym wall.

Me trying out my ballet skills on the stage.

This is what remains of the school office. There is still furniture and papers left.

And the classrooms. The desks are for sale for $2 each if anyone is interested. What was cool about the classrooms is that there is a cloak room in the back of each of them.

The kids added their name to the chalkboard of messages.

The floors are quite buckled in many places, as Mason is demonstrating.

Heidi tries to bust into the door to the school attic.

Turns out Rod found the key. Now this is a scary staircase and somehow I ended up going up first. I was trying to determine what kind of poisonous spiders reside in ND the whole way.

A view of downtown Bowdon from the HS attic.

The attic window caught siena on the nose, giving her a nice cut and a nosebleed. I don't think she's anxious to go up there anytime soon. Mason wasn't too fond of the "bird bones" either. There were quite a few of those up there too.

Eating lunch at the Bowdon cafe. Rod, our tour guide, is seated to Luis' right. He was very nice and had a lot of jokes for us about "Ole and Lena".

After lunch we visited the Torland homestead, which is now the town landfill. Yaya found a broom to prop open our van door.

The Torland farm.

Papa Ron on the entrance to the farm/landfill.

We the drove up the road to the Bowdon cemetery.

Bowdon cemetery.

Photo on the grave of my Great Great Uncle George Torland. This was Great Grandpa Rasmus' brother who died at age 22 after complications from being gassed during WWI. The picture on the grave has held up amazingly well.

After Bowdon, we drove on to Fargo, ND for the night. The next day we headed east to Minneapolis. On the way, we stopped in Little Falls, MN to meet a relative of Anna Swanson (dad's grandmother). My dad's cousin David met us there and is with us in Minneapolis. From left, David, Mary Lou, Debbie, Dad, and Charlotte. Debbie and Charlotte are the relatives we met in Little Falls. You'll have to ask dad how the ancestory works. I'm still a little confused but it all goes back to Sweden.

Charlotte and Debbie have the family's old Bible from Sweden. This Bible was amazing. There's some uncertainly as to the year. One page has handwritten 1514...another has a copyright 1817. They know that the that the book was rebound at some point and missing pages put back in and the thought is that this is the work done in 1817. The original was several hundred years before that. It's reassuring that the family Bible is in good hands. They have taken very good care of it.

Charlotte and Debbie brought along some family pictures to share.

They took us to the town cemetery to see some family graves.

The group in front of the Peterson graves.

We headed on to Minneapolis after Little Falls, finding ourselves in quite the thunderstorm. The torrential downpour left us eating dinner of the happy hour menu at the hotel bar. Luis went outside at one point to plug the meter for the van and came in after a minute or two in the rain looking like he had gone for a swim in Lake Superior. This was some serious rain.