A Day In the Life Of...

We got the awesome chance to go out on the lake last Saturday on a friend's boat. I took Kreed, Dawson, Ryker, and Beau. Melissa unfortunately had to clean houses, and Riggs got to go play with Grandma. That was one of the best days of my life. And to think it was totally unexpected! We got a call mid Saturday AM from our friends wanting us to go, so it wasn't even planned. In thinking about some of the best days/nights of my life, I notice the pattern that often they happen when they aren't even planned. For some reason it must be easier to be in the moment at those times.

Kreed tried Wakeboarding and got up his first try. Staying up seemed to be harder than getting up for him. The rest of the boys all got to bounce around in the tubes, as well as jump in the lake to cool off every once in a while. At one point, I was on a tube with Dawson, and our friend put Beau in the driver's seat and totally let him drive, completely solo. It didn't matter to Beau that he couldn't see over the dashboard, and therefore the oncomming boats and shore, he was just feeling cool to drive the boat all by himself. (Don't tell the park rangers).

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but remembered at the last moment that I could use my phone. So here are two pictures of Kreed's first experience behind a ski boat.

COON DAWG!

So where is my coon dog? Apparently I don't have one. We have been having a racoon sneak in through the cat door into our house at night. It comes in, eats all of the cat food, drinks all of the water, and grabs the cat food bag and tries to drag it back outside. So I borrowed a couple of traps from my brother in law. I set one up on the garage on Saturday night and Melissa and I went on a date. At about 11PM Kreed called me to say that the coon came into the house, opened one of the drawers in the kitchen and then went into the office and pulled a book off the shelf. Then the coon went into the garage and got stuck in the trap. Exactly what I wanted (however I have had these traps set up for over a month and the coon has kept on outsmarting me somehow).

When we pulled up that night, the coon was still trapped, but as soon as I got out of the car, it was so scared it peed all over. I didn't know their bladders were that big. Now folks, coons are cute, but size for size, they are as vicious as a bear. That sucker was trying to eat me through the cage. It was sticking its little hands out and grabbing my jeans and trying to bite me. Man that thing was ferocious.

Back to the dog comment. If you look in another post earlier in the year you will see our "coon dog". It is a little miniture pincher. I know it is not the biggest dog, but you would think it would at least want to protect its turf. Not so. I asked Kreed what "Charley" (our coon dog) did when the coon came inside. Kreed said that Charley came flying upstairs as fast as she could and then sat down and peed all over the floor. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? Come on, really. What use is that dog then? Geez. Can't even utter a bark. And oh by the way, my blog title is misleading. THAT DOG CANNOT HUNT.

Well I have attached a couple of photos of the coon. It was a small one. The next day, yesterday, we drove it up further into the mountains and let it go. I was out of spray paint, but I was going to spray a yellow line down its back, in case it came back, so I would know we had caught it before...

Check this link out!

My sister, Rachael was here last week. She took some amazing photos of us and Nathan (my nephew and her son).
Check it out here: http://nathanielcharles.blogspot.com/

3 Strange Days

Beau and Riggs

Ryker pretending to be "Predator"

Some of the Crew and G'pa Andersen

Riggsles and his natural "faux hawk"

Beau Rocking Out

I took Zane to the airport today. Beau was with me. On the way back we heard the below song by School of Fish. I was listening to the 90's station on Sirius. I had forgotten all about this song. Not even on my Ipod. It will be now. I taught Beau how to rock out. The pictures is included. We listened to the song twice with the windows rolled down and the radio all the way up. It was awesome! Strange moments, out of the blue, like these are really enjoyable.

For three strange days

I had no obligations

My mind was a blur

I did not know what to do

I think I lost myself

When I lost my motivation

Now I'm walking 'round the city

Just waiting to come to

For three strange...For three strange daysI couldn't put a smile on my face

So they dressed me up in all of their clothes

And took me somewhere else

Johnny Clueless was there

With his simulated wood grain

So I pulled up a chair

And started drinking by myself

For three strange...I've got to make it through

No matter what it takes

Oh I've got to make it through

These strange daysI lay down for a while

And I woke up on the ocean

Floating on my back

And staring at the gray

It was completely still

Except the pounding of my heart

Bringing me back to life

From three strange days

Three strange...Three strange daysThree strange days

My Mom, Grandpa, and Zane came to visit us this week. My Mom left yesterday with Grandpa. Poor Grandpa. He just is getting old and can't think too well anymore. We had an enjoyable time. Hopefully they did too. Zane and I got up this AM and went Mtn. Biking. It was actually warm, like summer should be.

Rachael comes this week, with Nathan. I hope Nathan enjoys it, he is going to be mobbed by his 5 cousins. I don't think he will be lacking for any entertainment. We are really looking forward to it.

Here is a video of Ryker and Dawson on the Dunes. Ryker is the one that gets stuck, and Dawson comes to rescue him, but ends up making it worse. Check out Ryker falling down, and Dawson giving one more blast of the throttle just to make sure he is stuck. Pretty funny stuff!

OK, on my first blog when I asked for snow, I just meant for the winter season. This was taken just this week, the last week in May. Notice the SNOW FLAKES! Wow. You know what they say: "be careful for what you ask for..."
Things have been real busy, as usual. We went to the dunes again last weekend. Photos will be posted a new blog later. All of the boys got Buzz cuts, so that saves some money on haircuts. The kids got out of school last week. I, personally (Matt) am happy about that. I don't have to drive them to school anymore, and Melissa does not have to pick them up, which will save money in gas. On the flip side, Melissa gets to have them in her hair all day long. Her most recent, repeated comment is "What did we do? Five kids!". No kidding.
I will post some more later...

The Dunes

Our family's newest member "Charlie"

These pictures will help catch you up

Melissa & Beau kick'n it
Riggs just could not take it anymore
Beau get'n ready for winter X games

They say pictures are worth a thousand words. Since I am short on time, I have put these in to catch you up on the past few months. Enjoy.