Probably Not Spring
I haven't really felt like blogging lately. I don't seem to have anything positive to say so rather than have everyone leave comments like "Children are a blessing!!!" I skipped on the blogging for a couple weeks. This last week has been better since we were able to go outside most days. There's still a glacier in the driveway but most of the snow that's been around since Thanksgiving finally melted and the ground is thawing some (which means we are almost to the "muddy" season).
The kids like to explore the irrigation ditch when it's frozen. Hopefully they won't be so interested in it when it's not frozen until they're a little older. Lincoln wouldn't stop running on the ice even though he kept falling over and over again. There was a neat layer of ice crystals on some areas of the ditch.
Here's Lincoln enjoying his birthday balloon. Do you think this picture might appear during his high school graduation? He told Zia "Pee part big!" in the shower one night.
Boomer is doing OK and only pukes occasionally (he eats literally anything that isn't nailed down and he gets into things in the kitchen sometimes). He is enjoying exploring the vast boundary-less outdoor world. He's hunted pheasants, killed a snake or two and climbed almost every tree we have. Here's him with a kill and in a tree. And wrapped up in a picture that Zia took of him.
For a couple of days Lincoln was obsessed with making paintings. He painted a lot of these left-handed. 
Most of this last week was spent assembling a new playset for the kids. We bought the kit at Sam's Club in Billings and hauled it home last weekend. I spent two full days building it and then off and on for several more days. No wonder it was cheap - it took 20+ hours to put it together. It was fun because it felt like I was building something without having to measure and think about what I was doing.
The kids will enjoy it I think and have already spent some time playing out there as "Batman" and "Wonder Woman." And since we're in Wyoming the house got its own decoration courtesy of Grandpa Mark finding dead stuff along side the road.
And lastly, a couple more pictures of the family!
Lincoln’s Birthday/Queen of Hearts
Lincoln turned two last weekend. He had two birthday parties with two cakes. He was very excited to blow out the candles himself. He got a lot of Cars and Cars Toon merchandise. I think we've personally kept the Cars franchise in business.
So Lincoln is two and he's definitely acting like it. The cat is a major source of problems during the day. Once every five minutes Lincoln tackles the cat and steamrollers him. Then I swat Lincoln's butt and put him in the corner for a minute. This process gets repeated every five minutes all day long. It's very frustrating.
The cat has also been a headache this week. Something is wrong with him and two trips to the vet haven't figured it out yet. Only I could get a cat with a terminal gastrointestinal problem. There's been a lot of vomiting and diarrhea. I still think he ate a Lego or something but they did an ultrasound on him and couldn't find anything. What a pain in the ass. I don't know why we figured that having an animal in the house would result in anything but destruction and a waste of money.
Zia starred in her kindergarten class's play The Queen of Hearts. She was the Queen of Hearts. Most kids had a line or two but Zia had dozens. I guess I will brag and say that she did a good job! All the kindergartens are missing teeth. It's like a classroom full of mini-meth addicts.
I've pretty much finished up the research project I was working on, at least until May when all the museums open up again. We went to the cemetery to find a grave but it was unmarked.
Not much going on otherwise. I've been going through all our comics and cataloging them. We have thousands. It's sort of embarrassing. So far this is my favorite cover. All the Conans have pretty great covers though.
Weekend Edition
We decided to go to Red Lodge this weekend because the weather looked good and we didn't have anything else to do. We stopped in Billings first and took the kids to the waterpark there. It's called "The Reef." The kids were chanting "Reef! Reef! Reef!" for several miles. We could probably just entitle this blog "Things Andy can't do anymore."
The Reef was full of fat people who think that shorts and tank tops have replaced good old fashion swimsuits. The kids had fun. Zia got stuck in loops like she always does and Lincoln finally figured out the slides.
Here's Lincoln trying to stay awake in the wave pool. He was yelling, "Awake! Awake!" so his eyes wouldn't close.
Meanwhile, I tried to make myself sick with waterpark food, which is like the food service version of state fair food. Not pictured: the most awful cheeseburger I've ever had.
In Red Lodge Zia and Amber went skiing. Zia has left the beginner hill behind and this time skiied mostly blue runs with Amber. We got her a helmet since she just points herself downhill and goes. She looks like a little cannonball.
Zia got in some wrestling with Grandpa.
Back at home we've been having trouble with Boomer. He's a great cat and is dealing with Lincoln OK (Lincoln has frustrated us more in the last week than I can ever remember) but everyday he pukes somewhere. Not a lot of puke, just a little watery puddle. We don't think he has worms or a stuck hairball. We don't know what's going on. We're going to change his food, wait a week and then take him to the vet. We have to get him fixed up - we can't have a cat vomiting on the rugs every day. I don't really want to take him to the vet though: it will quadruple his value.
We found Lincoln trapped in the mud room a couple days ago. He had a mostly empty gallon of milk in his hand. He thought the cat would like some milk so he got the milk out of the refrigerator, filled up the cat's food dish with it and then kept on pouring.
On a positive Boomer note, he found and attacked a snake in our dining room this week. We definitely need a cat to take out the occasionally snake that finds it way in. Boomer kilt that snake good.
In other news it's still winter. It's not too bad. I just we'd get one really warm day to melt the snow that's been there since November. That would be awesome.
