Thought and Freedom

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Jessica and Tracey went up on the Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank at the Mall of America.

While they were climbing the ropes course, Abigail, my dad, and I hung out in Nickelodeon Universe below.

This is by far the best deal at the Mall of America. For $5.95, you get as much time as you want to spend in the Ghostly Gangplank. During that time, you can traverse the different levels, challenge yourself to a tightrope walk, and get a pretty good workout in the process.

Jessica and Tracey got lucky. While I waited in line for almost an hour, they were in the Flying Dutchman almost immediately.

But the main reason we went to the Mall, was just to hang out with family. We had a lot of fun!

The Mall of America always looks so festive over Christmas!

Here is Abigail and Grandpa (Mike Pearson)!

Abigail really enjoyed the Rainforest Cafe Store and the Toys R Us Express.

This Tree is as old as the Mall of America. It used to be in FAO Schwarz, but was transferred to the Rainforest Cafe after FAO closed their Mall of America location. My sister, Tracey, loved this tree because they both share a common name.

jessicapearson/archives/date-taken/2009/12/06/”>And here are some more pictures of our Mall of America Adventure…

Today, Jessica and I went mountain biking in Murphy Hanrehan park with a couple of friends of mine (Samar Upadhyay and Adam Bavier). It was a great ride, just like most of the MORC trails.

Jessica rode the beginner and intermediate loops with us, and to my surprise Adam and Samar were up for the expert loop.  The total length of the trail is about 10 miles with about 60% of this being on the expert loop. You can find a copy of the map here.

Here is Jessica doing the great job she always does on these trails!

On the expert trail, there are several obstacles. Some are natural, but the most challenging ones are man-made. For example, there is an amazingly long 1 foot wide pull bridge. It curves and twists while staying about four feet off the ground for most of it. At the end, it has a teeter-totter to get you off the bridge.

I tried it first and could not ride straight enough to make it to the higher sections.

Adam Bavier had an awesome fall, which is definitely worth watching. That’s what he gets for starting in the middle.

Samar Upadhyay also tried it, and he did pretty good at it:

Finally, we saw some guys come by who must have had no fear of death or dismemberment. One of them was able to do the bridge in parts. He made it look just easy enough to encourage us to come back and try it again on another day:

Just about six miles in to the trail, I took a banked curve a little too far. When the bank ended I tried to quickly turn to follow the trail. Unfortunately, there was a slippery spot. My front tire turned sideways and I flew over my handlebars.

The next thing I knew I was on the ground spitting out blood and feeling very sore. I yelled a couple times for help, but eventually rolled off the trail and laid there until Samar came by. He was a little shocked, and came over to help (and document the moment!).

All in all, it was a fun time. I can’t wait to get back on some of the other trails around the Twin Cities in the near future.

This is a Stonehenge style seating wall. Jessica and I had dreamed about building this for a while now.

Originally, we thought it would be awesome to surround our patio with a stone bench like this one. Due to several reasons, we decided to go smaller. After we get the planters taken care of, it will provide a nice “natural” seating area on our patio that still allows flow into the main part of our backyard.

The seating wall is made out of 15″ Catalina style blocks going horizontal and 15″ Belgian style patio blocks going vertical. The blocks are held together with PL masonry adhesive.

I originally saw this displayed at Menards. After talking to the guys who built the display, I realized that it was easy enough to do it myself.

The total length of the bench was about 11 feet. It’s total weight was approximately 1500 lbs.

Well, it finally happened, our little baby has turned one year old! It seems like just the other day that Jessica and I were creating videos for her a few hours before her birth.

During the past year, Abigail has grown and changed so much. I cannot begin to describe just how proud I am of her each and every day.

At first, we were thrilled when she gave us a smile, or stuck out her tongue, or even scooted up toward our faces.

It seems so recent and yet so long ago that she first held her bottle, or said her first words. Now she talks, gives hugs and kisses, and waves to everyone (and everything) in sight. She even takes a few steps.

Even more amazing is that in the next 17 years she will learn to walk without any help, learn read, learn to ride a bike, learn to drive, and even graduate from High School (In 2026).

Jessica and I look forward to every moment of it. Although, we hope it does not go too fast.

It’s one of the great paradoxes of life. You always want your child to learn something new, to gain strength, knowledge, and wisdom, and to take that next step. But, taking the next step means they leave behind the previous steps.

For the child, this is growth, but for the parent it is the last time something happens. There will be the last time you help your child roll over, or the last time your child needs a hand walking. There will be a last bottle, a last diaper change, and eventually a last day of school. Someday, you will even go to their wedding.

All these are wonderful things, and great steps, but there is something wonderful about helping your child through each one of these changes.

As you and your child work on the process of growing up, it builds a deep love and bond between the two of you. As they mature, this love grows into a fellowship, a friendship, and a strong bond.

I think that being a dad helps me truly understand what it means in 1 John 3:1 where it says “See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” Now that I understand the deep love that a parent has for their child, I can better appreciate the awesomeness of this statement!

Happy Birthday Abigail. You are, and always will be, loved!

Jessica and I had a great time this weekend in Two Harbors, MN. This town of about 3,500 people is located just a little North of Duluth along the shore of Lake Superior.

Day 1

We left on Friday evening, and drove straight through until just before 11pm.

We had reserved a “normal” hotel room with two queen beds. Upon arriving at the AmericInn in Two Harbors, we asked the attendent at the desk if they had any of the King Suites with whirlpools remaining. She said that they did, and that it would cost $15 per night more. I just said “oh that much?” and did not say anything else. After a moment of silence, she said that we could have the King Suite at no additional charge! (Thanks Dave Ramsey for your tips on negotiating a sale).

Day 2

We got up at about 8:30 the next morning at ate a delicious breakfast compliments of the hotel! They had a waffle making station, along with bagels, doughnuts, fruit and more (all free). This sure beats the Embassy Suites I stayed at last June where it was $13 for a small breakfast!

After breakfast, we explored Two Harbors. What an amazing town.

Our first stop was at “Sweet Peas“. This store was simple on the outside, but great on the inside. I could not believe the great deals on gift items in this place. If you need to decorate a north woods cabin, or just want some souvenirs, stop here first. You will likely find all you need and more.

Next, we went down to Agate Bay. As the name implies, this is one of the two bays in Two Harbors. The other bay is Burlingtin Bay. We walked a long way out onto the ice of the bay while we were there. (As a side note, I learned that Agate Bay is actually deeper than the harbor in Duluth, which makes it all the more scary that we were walking on it.)

I took the opportunity to make fun of Man vs. Wild’s Bear Grylls. I love the show,  and if you have ever seen it, you will understand this video:

After touring Two Harbors, we went up the North Shore, and ate at “The Rustic Inn and Cafe” in Castle Danger. The food was great, but this was certainly not a very quick eat. It took a while to get our food, and we were starting to regret that we wasted precious hours of daylight at a sit-down restaurant. For dessert, we had some of their famous pie. It was a huge piece that was enough for the both of us.

Jessica and I headed up to Gooseberry Falls State Park. On our way to the visitor center, we encountered several deer. They were working on stealing food from the bird feeders and only seemed a little worried that we could practically reach out and touch them.

At the recommendation of a park ranger, we started out on a loop that runs along some of the major waterfalls of the park. We stuck to the snowshow trails as she suggested. There were a couple times that I made a slight deviation from the path, and I quicly learned that the unpacked snow is very, let me repeat… VERY deep.

You get a false sense of security walking along snow packed hard by snow shoes. Sometimes I would step off the path to get a better picture, and end up past my knees in snow. Off the main path, the terrain is rugged, just what you would expect on the edge of the Sawtooth Mountains.

After our hike in Gooseberry, we went a little further Northeast to Split Rock Lighthouse. Sunset was at 5:05 pm that day, giving us about 45 minutes to enjoy the famous lighthouse. Since we were not planning on major hikes, this was an easy thing to do. We took some great pictures, and saw an amazing start of a sunset on Lake Superior.

There are really too many pictures to post here, so if you want some amazing pictures of the entire trip, check out here and here.

We then headed back to Two Harbors for a relaxing time at Culver’s. Then went back to our hotel for a swim in the pool and some time in the Sauna.

Day 3

On Sunday, we had a much more relaxed day. We returned to Sweet Peas and bought some decorations for our house (someday we will put them in a cabin that we would like to own!).

Jessica got some Iced Coffee from McDonald’s to start her day on a caffeinated note, and we set out for Duluth. We traveled partially on the express highway 61, then jumped on the scenic route near the French River. We stopped briefly to admire the awesome scenery at the mouth of the river.

We kept heading Southwest along the shorline until we hit Duluth. Jessica and I had planned on eating at the Burger King near Canal Park (it was the first place we ate after getting married), however, they recently knocked it down to make room for a bigger hotel next door. So we took off toward the famous Grandma’s Saloon and Grill.

After stopping at Grandma’s, we stopped in downtown Duluth to look at the Duluth Pack store and a surplus store. Then we left for home.

Summary

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. We had a lot of fun, and can’t wait to get back up in the area. Fortunately, we will be heading up North of Duluth to stay in a cabin on Pequawyan Lake with our family in a couple weeks.

Well, it’s official. Jessica and I are the very proud new parents of a baby girl!

The baby’s name is Abigail Ellen Pearson. She was born at 2:12 pm on May 6, 2008. Abigail measured at 20.75 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 6.4 ounces.

At first, she was only happy if she was being held. But now that we have acclimated her to the idea of sleeping in the bassinet, she seems much happier.

I noticed that Abigail is able to distinguish voices and sounds. She is even able to see you make faces at her. Yesterday, I copied the sounds she was making when crying, and she stopped and listened. Then she did it again, and I copied. She smiled a big smile for me. I think she thought it was funny. Today, Jessica stuck her tongue out at Abigail, and the baby responded by sticking her tongue back at Jessica!

Just a quick note, Jessica is being induced tomorrow morning! So we will be having our new little baby girl sometime tomorrow.

The hospital does not have wireless internet, so no “live” blogging will take place , but you can expect an announcement sometime on Wednesday with all the details!

Well, I had a great time tonight at Governor Pawlenty’s Inaugural Ball this evening. It took place at the Hilton in Downtown Minneapolis. Below is my somewhat short summary of the activities.
It began for Jessica and I at about 3:30 pm and went until close to midnight. We had both volunteered to help with the event, and were assigned fun, but cool, jobs.

I helped with a band. Mainly, I had the staff bring them food and reminded them when their gig was going to start.

But Jessica had the cool job. She got to be assistant to Luis Anderson. That’s right, the Comedian from Minnesota. She got to show him where he was supposed to go and talk briefly with him. She also got to spend time with Scott Hanson and his wife. She thought they were very friendly people. I met them at the end of the night, and I would whole heartedly agree with her assessment. They were both very nice people and fun to talk with.

Anyway, the ball was a lot of fun. Governor Pawlenty and his wife (Mary) seemed very happy. As always, the Governor of Minnesota did a great job speaking. He is always very sincere, and you can tell he means what he says. I always feel better after hearing him speak.
Mary Pawlenty spoke for a little bit as well. She told of how proud she was of her husband, Tim Pawlenty, and how she thinks he is a wonderful husband and father. He appeared to get a little misty eyed at that point. It is very great to see that even though he is in a very important position, he still has such a great love for his family. I have a lot of respect for our governor for this.

About two years ago, I bought a DXG camera for my wife, Jessica. It was on sale at radio shack when we were in Sioux Falls, and she and I thought it would work great.

After using it for a while, we noticed a few major quirks. There were two that were the most problematic. First, the camera would reset all settings whenever it turned off. Second, it would not take good pictures in low light (such as indoors).

These two factors nullified most of the advantages of the high megapixels and small size of the camera. It was very unfortunate that we did not discover these problems earlier.

Today, I was able to finally replace that camera for Jessica. Now, she has a Nikon Coolpix L3. In my opinion, this camera rivals a large part of the Canon Powershot series in size, functionality, price, and quality.

This is a very small camera. It is just slightly larger than a deck of cards, yet it fits comfortably in your hands.

The camera comes with several preset modes for taking pictures. It advertises 15, but in actuality, there are more. For several of the modes, there are sub categories of modes. The camera has a video mode that captures audio; a basic feature for more expensive models, but a luxury in this price range. Another very useful feature, is the fact that the camera can be used as a voice recorder. If you want, you can even tag a 20 second audio description on each picture.

The price was simply amazing. It runs about $150 dollars at stores around my area, although Sam’s Club is selling it for cheaper than the rest by a little. For such a low price, I would think the quality would have been reduced, but it is not.

The picture quality is pretty good on this camera. It definitely exceeds the $150 dollar camera quality range. Video is clear, even when moving. Pictures turn out clearer than some more expensive models. The wide range of modes allow for a setting for almost any situation you would find yourself in. One innovation Nikon has included is an “Auto Focus on Face” portrait mode. It automatically focuses on the face no matter which quadrant of the screen the face is in. It baffles me how it finds the face, but it does every time.

So, if you are looking for a low cost, high quality alternative to the Canon Powershot “A” Series Cameras, I would strongly recommend investigating the Nikon Coolpix L3.

I just found out that Minneota Boxelder Bug Days has a forum. You can now post ideas, memories, comments, etc.

The Forum is found at http://www.minneotabugdays.com/forum/