The Galvin Family

With the strong support and backing of the administrative staff at my office, you are now talking to the Manager of Information Technology. What’s changed? Nothing really, more responsibilities and paperwork generally. The best part of the change is my salary range now allows pay increases again. Yippee!

What happens when you enter a curve covered with a glaze of frost just a little too fast?  Poor Laura had a bad morning while taking the kids to school. Nobody was seriously hurt with the exceptions being Laura’s pride and the poor oak tree that jumped out in front of her.

Welcome Buddy

This Christmas Santa took pity on the kids and delivered a Shorkie puppy for the kids. Sounds like Claire is the one who asked Santa for a puppy without our knowledge. What a surprise! Not sure what Dad did to deserve such punishment. Whatever happened to good old coal in the stockings?

As you can tell from the picture this was the mildest winter on record. Christmas day we are outside on the deck wearing nothing more than pajamas and enjoying the bright sunshine.

Once every 40 years I agree to let my wife throw me a birthday party.   It started out more as a joke when I said sure throw me a party, there won’t be anyone there.  Low and behold we had a yard full of friends and relatives. The weather was perfect as we setup a large screen and projector outside for the kids to watch movies, complete with a theater popcorn popper, kegs of good brew, and many bottles of fine grape spirits.  I must be blessed because I was not expecting the excessive turnout and feel very humbled.  Many thanks to my wife for throwing one heck of a bash and making my birthday the most memorable on record.

What a soggy end to our vacation at Lost Lake. Rain and drizzle persist. We pulled out  of Lost Lake and headed to the Mall of America for some mini golf. Claire has been saving her money all year to make her biggest purchase ever, a Kanani doll from American Girl. Garrett talked dad into a Dinasaur Lego set.  Spent the night at a local hotel with a large hot tub and pool for the kids to play in. Tomorrow we head for the Minnesota Zoo and then home to Ames. Please say it’s not over yet.

Blah – more rain rain and rain. The Lost Lake dock is under water. Cabin Fever lead us into town for some shopping and bowling. We returned back to the camp for supper followed by a rain-coat hike around the Lost Lake to find the hidden medalion which thanks to Laura we found much to the kids delight! Determined to not let the rain stop the fun we still spend some time at the beach, played shuffleboard, and took walks in the rain. Checkout is tomorrow already, the time has passed quickly.

Rain rain, go away. Weather turned wet and cold. Since we cannot get wet at the beach we headed into to town to a local waterpark for some an afternoon of fun. Kids loved the Paul Bunyon themed water park and slides, though what in MN is not Paul Bunyon themed? Wrapped up the day with more games and smores by the fireplace. Maybe tomorrow will bring better weather.

Another great day. Weather forecast was questionable but the sun came out. Started the day with a bike trail ride and some ice cream. Afterwards we did some shopping, tick removal, and then back to the camp so kids could play at the beach. Garrett took his first solo kayak ride and did great! Claire worked on making a series of lakes in the sand. Wrapped up the day with a fire, smores, and games in our cabin.

Today started out great as my kids surprised me with some hand made Fathers Day gifts. Weather was cool but we played on the beach all morning. Dad took a great nap down at the beach. Lunch was dads choice so Zorbaz it was. The sun finally came out so we headed back to the beach in swimsuits for boating and water fun. Mom and dad managed to get nice sunburns. After supper and some games it was smores by the fire and a late bedtime. Perfect Fathers Day.