River is Down, Snow is Up!

We have snow! Lots of snow! It is very wet and heavy. I've heard 20 inches in the Breckenridge area and it is still snowing. The kids didn't have school today and Emily wanted to go to a friends. She said she would walk, but we didn't think that was a very good idea. Alex cleaned out the shop doors so we could get the snowmobiles out, and he was stuck three times within 5 minutes. He finally figured out that you must lean to turn, and just keep going. Below he is driving in the ditch (on some high ground that we know has no water in it). It is very hard to see because the snow is so wet it melts and sticks to your shield, so we decided to quit until it is done snowing.

Pink Gun Works!

Em shot her gun for the first time yesterday, and as you can see below, it works.

Alex's First Snow Goose!

Alex shot his first snow today after school. After he shot the first goose, he called his friend Caleb, and Alex got another goose.

Sam's Trophy

The first picture is of Sam's Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts and the trophy he won. The second picture is of an assignment he did in January. Goals are a good thing!

River Takes Duck Boat!

We woke Monday morning to a full rain gauge (2.04 inch) and a rapidly rising river. The kids wanted to go for a boat ride on Sunday and we pulled it up the bank and flipped it over. The river level was actually going down so I thought it was high enough. With all the rain, the river came up over two feet overnight and when I checked things out in the morning, the duck boat was gone! Luckily it only floated across to the snow/ice (see top photo). Alex and I took the canoe over and reclaimed our duck boat (even the oars were still under the boat).

Sandbagging!

With all the rain and more predicted we decided t0 sandbag the south side of our addition yesterday. We had several friends and family help and were quickly done. Thank you everyone for your help!

A friend in the window!

As we started laying the sandbags we noticed a muskrat in the window. I used the shovel to scoop/throw him out. You can see in the video below that he rushed up and thanked me afterward!

The River Crest

The river crested at 21.44 ft at 4:00 this morning (about 6 inches lower than 1997). We received only 0.2 inch of rain last night, compared to the 1-2 inch predicted. Our prayers were certainly answered!

The Sun Comes Out!

Campbell Band at NDSCS

The Campbell band had a concert at NDSCS tonight. They sounded very good. The first video is of the concert band and the second one is of the Jazz band.

Looking Good!

Karen was on a billboard in Wahpeton in February. I am embarassed to say I never even saw it during the daylight. I did see it a couple of times in the evening, but the lights were never on it. I wanted to get her picture looking up at it, and we even planned to do it a couple times after church, but we either forgot the camera, or forgot to go take the picture. This is a picture my Dad took. She is getting bigger every time she is on a billboard. Next time it will probably be only her eyes!

Shrek, Spike and the Shamrock! Happy St. Pat's Day!

We had the annual St. Patrick's Day party this weekend at Karen's uncle Tim's. The third picture is of Em's Shamrock hair. The bottom picture is the meal we had tonight for supper. Of course everything was green!

Snow to Water

The top picture is of Alex taken last Friday. The bottom picture was taken today and the X in the center is where the snowmobile was sitting in the top picture. The temperature has been in the 40's since Friday and the river has already come up 4 to 5 feet. The video below is of Alex driving on the river when there was just a little water on the ice Friday. It looks like snowmobiling is over for the year. Alex already wants to get the four wheelers out.

Snowmobiles

Jeff and Becky came over last weekend and brought their little Mini Z snowmobile over. Sophie and their son Ezra had a blast driving it around! They also brought their big snowmobiles and Jeff and I helped get the kids unstuck (is that a word??) many, many times. It was a very fun day!

Preschool Science Day

Karen and I went to Science Day at Sophie's preschool. The kids loved seeing how many pencils they could stick through a plastic bag with water in it, and making silly putty out of glue and liquid starch. There were several other "Experiments", but the kids liked the messy ones the best.

Dr. Seuss, We Love You!

At the Campbell-Tintah school the elementary students celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday each year. Parents are invited to come and read to their child. Below is video of Sam reading to Grandma JoAnne and the students singing. Sam and Emily are both in the group. Right after the song was over Emily and several of her classmates came running over saying "Please put that on the blog!" or was it "Please DON'T put that on the blog!" I just can't remember which it was.