Freezin' Fun in ND

There is SNOW in ND!.. We are visiting the Wixo family in North Dakota and it is a winter wonderland. Brandon and I have been snowmobiling for the past couple of days even though the weather is 20 some below when we wake up in the morning.

You might notice from the pictures that one of the snowmobiles is the "right" color and the other is not. I was not able to get any loaner sleds at Polaris because all of them are in high demand as snow has blanketed much of the northern US. So I called my trusty friend in Arizona and asked if I could use his sled.

He said "yes, it is for sale but it is an Arctic Cat". I said I don't want to buy it, I just want to use it for a couple of days. He, being the good friend he is, said no problem. Adam, if you are checking this blog the sled runs great and I'll see if I can find a happy home for it as you won't need it in Arizona.

Brandon is also getting a schooling in how to jump and drift bust as you can see by the pics. He is just like his ol' man. ;)

Until next time...

We'll Be Home For Christmas...

Tomorrow (Saturday) we leave for the US. We are flying Korean Airlines and have a major layover in Seoul, Korea so we are spending the night in Seoul. We'll get up and leave at 11 AM on Sunday morning and we'll arrive in Chicago on Sunday morning two hours earlier than we left at 9AM Chicago time.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you that we can while we are home.

Until next time...Happy Birthday Sabrina!!

Thanksgiving Week - Sanya Post #3

We are back home now getting ready for a Monday morning after a vacation week (the worst Mondays).
We were really pleased with Sanya. The weather at this time of year was about perfect (mid to upper 70's/ lower 80's) and the facilities were top notch. I think we'll go back sometime. The picture below is Caden doing his best imitation of his brother Brandon the swimmer.

There are some funny things about watching the Chinese while on vacation. Here are some examples: you know the shower robe and the hotel slippers that you never use in the closet at the hotel...well the Chinese use these to go to the beach. It is the funniest thing...you see a married couple or a group of guys all wearing their shower robes with their white hotel slippers walking through the sand to the beach. We tried to covertly take a picture because it was borderline hilarious... here is our attempt.

Another thing...and we have posted a blog about this before - they will not leave our kids alone. It is like our twins are superstars or something. For example, we'd be sitting on the beach and people would just come up and take their picture or walk by and make a "knocking" sound with their mouth. I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. But the whole "zoo" attention thing gets a bit old after awhile.

Anyway, here are some more pics of the twins (that we took).

Until next time...

...Caden says don't eat sand!

Thanksgiving Week-Sanya Post #2

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Thanksgiving Day afternoon here and although we don't have football to watch we did take a long snooze after a Thanksgiving lunch of Panini sandwiches. :) ...but it is just not the same without our families around. We miss you all.

Yesterday we hired the wedding photographer from the hotel we are staying at for the grand cost of $60 to take some pictures of us on the beach and around the resort - candid type shots. The ones on the beach turned out OK but the ones around the resort look like a photo shoot for a hotel advertisement. I like the one of Ava below as it looks like she is meditating with her flowers and sea shells.The photographer took 325 pics and gave us the digital images so hopefully we can find 10 or so that we really like. The pictues posted on this blog are from that session. We had the photographer for 2 to 3 hours but used him for only about an hour and 45 minutes. There are only so many bribes you can make with M&Ms and Skittles to get smiles from 2 and a half year olds and so on before the novelty wears off.

Until next time...enjoy the turkey and the football.

Thanksgiving Week-Sanya

We are spending our Thanksgiving week in Sanya. Sanya is on Hainan Island in the South China Sea. Pull up Google Maps or get out your globe for a little geography lesson.

It is absolutely picturesque here. Basically they call this Island the "Hawaii of Asia" and so for it seems like it. We have only been here less than a day, and so far so good. You can also see by the pictures that there is basically no one here. It kind of feels like we have the resort to ourselves as I challenge you to find someone other than our family in the four pics I posted. You'll have to look really hard. We are told it is the down season.

Until next time...there will be more pics to post and you can visit this resort at: http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Sanya/Default.htm

Some Caden & Ava Pics

Sabrina had the twins pictures taken recently... just around the neighborhood. Nothing formal.

And here is my contribution....

Images of Australia

At the time of my last blog I was writing in my hotel room in Lorne, Australia along the coast just getting ready for bed. The picture above was what I woke up too. The scenary and visuals of Australia as I stated in latest blog are awesome and this is the best motorcycle riding I have ever did. So I thought I'd provide you a few more images to convey my message.In all we had 8 bikes, we cruised to Lorne one afternoon, spent the night, and then headed back to the home office for Polaris-Australia in Ballarat (about 2 hours drive). A great way to mix business with pleasure and to bond with guys that you work with over the course of the year. The guys pictured in this photo are Polaris' guys that live in Britain, Norway, Australia, & of course the home office in Minnesota.
This is me rounding a corner on one of our Victory bikes. Notice the big back tire....this is standard equipment - you won't find that on a Harley. :)
This is a view from my hotel room. Sweet. The next morning when I walked to the patio door to face the day and the beach a cockatoo was on the balcany to greet me. How cool is that...?Until next time... you can't go to Australia without seeing a kuala and a kangaroo...

Too Much Business Traveling...coming to an end.

I have been traveling for the past two and a half weeks - save 36 hours over this past weekend when I was home. This is too much. Over this time I've been to the island of Taiwan, through Hong Kong, to the inner reaches of China, back to Shanghai to make sure the family remembers who I am, and now I'm in Melbourne, Australia. I had business meetings all day on Monday and all this (Tuesday) morning as well. But this afternoon, we were able to take a little break and have some Polaris fun on some Victory Motorcycles.

8 or 9 of us started off the afternoon by heading to the Great Ocean Road. This is kind of like the Pacific Coast Highway on the west coast of the US, but this follows the south cost of Australia. This is probably the best ride I have ever been on. Absolutely awesome, well almost. It would have been perfect if Sabrina was here to share it with me.

I almost forgot...they drive on the left side of the road in Australia which makes it a bit tricky...From the pictures you can see it is still a bit chilly in Australia. They are about half way through their spring season and by Christmas it will be full on summer in Australia. It seems weird... Christmas in the summer. We then took a walk along the trail of Werribee Gorge. We didn't complete the full 10km but walked far enough to get to the beautiful areas.
Now I'm chilling in my hotel room trying to complete this blog so I can go to bed.

Until next time...my travels will be over (I wish I had my ape hangers)

September

September is almost over, but we still have some things to show you. This blog is dedicated to Caden and Ava, since it has been a while since they have made a presence. The first picture is Ava in her pig tails showing off her Play-doh jewelry.

Caden also has developed a need to carry things in his pockets or his hands. In the picture above, you see him with his favorite "McQueen" car (from the movie Cars) and in his left hand is 2 Chinese RMB coins. He takes them everywhere and is always looking for "money". Today, he took my money off my night stand and had it in his pocket. I think a piggy bank would make a good Christmas present - * hint * . Maybe CNN talking about Wall Street all the time is wearing off on him. This picture is of him showing off his muscles.

These days the twins are learning what the "potty" is as it sits right next to the big toilet in the bathroom. They are also starting to wear "un-dee's". Ava is way more on top of it and willing than Caden but we expected this from everything everyone has told us. Yes, girls advance faster. We figure he'll come around in due time. So far we have only had a handfull of mishaps. (No pictures here - you'll have to use your imagination.) We have also dismantled the cribs and they are sleeping in their own beds thanks to IKEA.

Today we spent some time at the pool as in September the weather is still warm enough to enjoy it. As you can see the kids have everything they need to be all decked out for pool and they love it. (Look out Brandon soon they'll be catchin' you!)

Caden has also developed a liking for music. Ava dances to the music and Caden plays the guitar when he's not dancing as well. Hilarious. I want to show Caden an AC/DC video so Caden can imitate Angus Young but Sabrina won't let me. I had Johnny Cash, why can't Caden have Angus Young...?? Actually, I think I understand.

Ava is more the color, sticker book, and artist type. As you can see here doing her finger painting. Most of the paint managed to end up on the paper.

Until next time...our kids will continue to grow.