Stubborn Ponies

Did I mention Kamp Dels offers pony rides? I rode a pony ONCE. I was in about 6th grade and our Church was having a fall festival. You know the kind – you get an awesome pork chop dinner, play bingo (because all good Lutherans gamble!), try to win cakes on the cake walk, and then buy someone else’s old junk at the church auction. I was at that age where boys were kind of interesting – and there was a cute older boy leading the ponies. My mom gave me money for a ride.

The pony stood a mere two feet off the ground. Thinking I was all that and a bag of chips, I got on one side of the pony and rolled right off the other side! I landed on my butt in the dirt (‘prolly in some pony poop too!) and was completely MORTIFIED. My life could have depended on getting back on that darn pony - I would have asked pastor to dig my grave and lead everyone in a rousing rendition of Amazing Grace before I climbed back on. After that incident, I was dubbed “Annie Oakley” and have been called that every time I go back to that little old country church! I’m not sure why I was called that, Annie Oakley was a drunken sharp shooter but I’m pretty sure she could ride a horse!

Madison does not come from good riding stock.

We thought it would be fun for Madison to ride one of the ponies at Kamp Dels. It was $10 bucks for a 30 minute ride – and we got to lead the pony. We could go anywhere in the campground.

Mike led the pony while I snapped pictures with the Blackberry. Madison was having a blast. Heather and Terry also led a pony for their little boy, Riley. From the very start, they had trouble with their pony stopping to eat the clover that was growing in the grass.

Our pony seemed to be doing pretty well though.

That is, until we went by the petting zoo.

Suddenly, this little pony decided he was not going to walk anymore. We had ten minutes of our ride left and knew we needed to get back to the barn (The main office) to turn the pony in or be charged more.

The horse kept pulling back towards the petting zoo. Mike tried to pull the horse in the other direction. The horse started to whiney uncontrollably. A crowd of nearby campers started to gather. They were laughing. At us. Mike kept pulling the pony in the direction of the office, time was running out. The pony kept pulling towards a barn.

Madison got scared and wanted off. NOW.

People around us kept laughing.

I was laughing – but I tried not to. Mike has a tendency to walk away in these sorts of situations and laughing only hastens his departure. I didn’t want to be left with an infant in a stroller, a scared three year and a stubborn pony. Amazingly enough, he handled it really well. He kept making jokes and trying to get the dumb stubborn pony to move. He didn’t have any luck.

So, we gave up.

Mike tied the pony to a horse tether and we walked away.

He went to the office to let them know where we had left the pony.

Apparently, this is a known issue with the ponies. Near the end of the day, they have a tendency to recognize the petting zoo as home and a good feed bag of hay – so they refuse to continue. That would have been good to know BEFORE we walked in the direction of the petting zoo.

Poor Riley had the same problem with his pony. His seemed to follow whatever ours did – so when our pony became stubborn, so did his.

I have a feeling Madison won’t be riding horses again either.

First Camping Trip

It is official – summer has started. For us, summer is not officially here until we have had a camping trip and a boat ride. This past Memorial Day weekend, we did both! We joined our friends, the Franz’s, for a long weekend of camping at Kamp Dels in the tiny town of Waterville MN. At just over an hour’s drive, this location is perfect for us!

It was our first trip to this campground and we will definitely be back. We paid $58 per night for a site with water and electric – I was apprehensive because that is pretty expensive for tent camping. We usually pay $15-25 per night. After being there, it was well worth the money! We had a blast. There is a petting zoo for the kids – and it even has a rooster that so conveniently woke us up in the morning, thank you very much. There is a heated pool and children’s water park that kept Madison busy for hours.

Before you go looking for some fabulous pictures from the weekend, don't hold your breath. These were taken with Mike’s Blackberry. In an effort to save space, we didn’t bring my Nikon DSLR and grabbed our Fuji point and shoot instead. BIG MISTAKE. The darn thing decided to lock up on us every time we tried to take a shot – and point and shoots are just too slow to capture kids anyway. I need something that can fire off 20-30 shots in the span of 3 seconds. The Blackberry camera just does not hold a candle to my Nikon.

Cameron even enjoyed the waterpark. He looks like an old man in his cute swimming trunks! He was a great camper too!

The fresh air made the kiddos sooooo tired! They slept like rocks out in the cool night air. I love sleeping outdoors when it is in the mid 50’s! – it is the best sleep ever.

Funny story about sleeping – it was about 7pm on Sunday night. Mike had gone to shower. Madison and I were going to go for a much needed shower after he returned. I had her waiting in her campfire chair while I grabbed towels, clean undies, and shampoo for both of us – and this is what I found:

She was completely zonked out! She fell asleep, sitting up, in her chair! I even tried to wake her when her Daddy returned but her shower train had already left the station. Instead, I just snapped pictures and figured she could smell for one more day!

And yes, she is sleeping in this picture – Madison and Cameron both sleep with their eyes open. It is the weirdest thing and creeps me out.

We learned that Cameron likes the boat – but he is not at all fond of his life jacket. What kid is tho? They are big, bulky, constricting, and hot. He did really well for a 3-4 hour boat ride on Sunday. Boating with an infant is tough – you have to hold onto them, so it is hard for me to help with much – poor Mike gets stuck doing most of the work when we’re out on the water.

We can’t wait for more camping trips this summer – once I get through these two MBA classes, be on the lookout for the Lee Family around a campfire.

Derailed

But only a few cars have left the track.

All of you know that I have been working on my MBA for almost two years now. My original plan was to complete my program in about three and a half years. I have had some questions as to why it is going to take that long…because “so and so” did it in two years or “this person” did it in 18 months.

The answer is simple.

Priorities.

I’m not sure why I even feel the need to defend it – but I guess I do.

Obtaining an MBA has been a personal goal for me since I graduated from college. It wasn’t until I started working for Mayo Clinic that I became motivated enough to actually start it. With a young daughter, I wanted to make sure that my program did not take away from her. So, I had a few goals.

1. Complete my program without taking away from family time. I did not want to be that person that started school and woke up two years later to find that I missed Madison learning how to ride a bike or reading her stories at night. It was my goal to work on my program after Madison (and now Cameron) was in bed for the night. This is why I chose an online program.

2. I also did not want to pay for the degree on my own. Since my employer gave me a very generous $7200 per year tuition reimbursement, I would use that to pay for my education. The reimbursement covered all but about $300 of my four classes. It also did not cover books. However, books have been pretty inexpensive as I buy them used on Amazon and then immediately sell them again after the class is over. I just keep using the same money over and over for my books.

So – there you go. It is taking three and a half years because my kids are my first priority. I am proud to say that I have never missed a family event, weekend, dinner out, etc. because of school. I do, however, get a little stressed at bedtime if Madison isn’t going down as well as she should be. I think I would get stressed about that anyways, even if I weren’t taking classes! It is also taking three and half years because I do not want to deplete savings or rack up student loans to complete the program.

So – there you go. Any questions?

Now – the subject of my post – Derailed.

My program was working really well for me. The economy has not been working so well for Mayo Clinic. I found out about a month ago that our $7200 per year tuition reimbursement was going to be cut down to just $5250 per year, effective July 1.
YIKES.

That means to finish my program under my current plan in late 2010; it would cost me about $7000.

I reviewed my priorities and priority #2 said no student loans or depleting savings.

With the July 1 deadline looming, I had just enough time to finish up the statistics class that I was in and complete two more classes and still maximize the $7200 reimbursement – but I would have to do two classes at once. Two classes at once is something I hadn’t done – and didn’t really want to do. However, I knew I needed to get this thing done with.

So, I am in week two of taking two classes. Once of them is a very intense class with a group project and an individual project. Group projects aren’t bad, but they are more challenging when your group members are spread out across three time zones.

So – I may end up missing a few family things in the next 5 weeks in order to get these two classes done. I can handle it since I know it is very very temporary. I stay up late working and I get up early – to maximize my time when there aren’t little voices screaming for attention from Mommy. Sleep is so over rated anyway. Falling asleep in meetings at work is a small inconvenience…and so many other Mayo employees are doing the same thing right now, so I’m not the only one!

At the end of June, I will have just five classes left to complete my MBA - but because of my top two priorities, it will take me until about April of 2011 to complete it. After these two classes are completed, I am going to take a break until January – then I will do three classes in winter and early spring of 2010 – and have one class and a 6 week capstone course to finish up in the first part of 2011.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So – this is why my blog has been really quiet lately. I’ve had to drop a few less important things like blogging, housework, exercise, and sleep. It’s only temporary! I do hope to have some posts soon (maybe this weekend???) about Cameron’s first camping trip, his first boat ride, stubborn ponies, and maybe a few of my thoughts about the Daniel Hauser chemotherapy case – if there is time.

My New Toy

I FINALLY bit the bullet and bought a laptop. I have wanted one for a long time - but I couldn't find an affordable laptop that was powerful enough to handle all of my pictures and photo editing. I just didn't think I could give up the desktop computer.

Mike has been building an arcade emulator cabinet and needed my old ginormous monitor for it - so we started looking at the prices for new flat screen monitors so he could take mine. At the same time, Mike got a pricelist at work with some special deals on business class HP laptops. They were powerful enough for my pictures! When I compared the prices, I realized that I was better off spending a little more and getting what I want. So, I did it.

My favorite features are the built in web cam (someday I'll record Madison singing the national anthem or something!) and the built in SD card reader so I can quickly and easily transfer images.

Swine Flu Tuesday

All of my hand sanitizer and constant hand washing seems to have failed us. The bug has hit the Lee Family. Mike started with it on Sunday morning. I started with it on Sunday night. Madison started it on Monday night. Is Cameron next?

Mike's was short lived and he felt better after a couple of hours. Mine lasted about 24 hours of feeling really yucky. I feel better today, but not 100% yet.

Madison's was short lived too - she just felt yucky over night. Darn kids, they bounce back so fast! I kept Madison and Cameron home from daycare today, in an effort to stop the spread.

So, if it was swine flu, it was relatively mild. (I think I got the worst of it!) From the sounds of things and the experts thoughts that it will come back this fall with a vengence, I HOPE it was swine flu. Now maybe we have some immunity to it???

Today is a quiet day of watching movies on the couch and doing quiet activities like puzzles and coloring. Notice the bucket? She nearly overflowed it last night. YUCKY.

It is a rainy day here - thankfully. However, if the sun does make an appearance, we might have to go outside for a little fresh air and hopefully clear this bug out!!!

Little Diva

Madison is such a girly girl. She loves clothes, makeup, and getting her nails done. Grandma and Grandpa Lee brought her a cute sundress and hat for an Easter gift and she immediately had to try it on.

Mike grabbed the camera and snapped the cutest pictures of her checking out her new outfit in the mirror.

I'm really in trouble when it is time to start shopping for prom and wedding dresses!

Baptized in Christ

Cameron was baptized on April 19! I had been working on the baptism plans when I learned that my Grandparents would be here from Texas for Easter. So I was able to work the baptism in for the Sunday after. It was a crazy busy day for baptisms at our church! Four babies were baptized at Bethel Lutheran Church that day! It's a good thing we have a huge altar - it got pretty crowded up there.

Cameron with Pastor Wahl. Cameron was so cute while he was being baptized. He didn't cry at all, in fact, he was smiling and giggling at Pastor Wahl as he was pouring the water on his head and marking him with the sign of the cross.

I love this family picture. Madison put together her outfit herself and was so excited to wear it to Church!

Cameron with his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Tigue.


Cameron with all of his Great Grandparents.

Cameron with his baptism sponsors (yes, his Grandparents!) and his big sister.

After the service, we had lunch and cake back at our house. Cameron and Madison all had fun playing with Mason, Riley, Evan, and Kyle.