No More Lake Melby

If you've built a house, you know the stresses you deal with getting everything in order. In the first week Jason and I managed to break a couple expensive items. One was our vacuum attachment for the central vac- we hadn't even got the chance to use it! The other was the round glass plate for the microwave- Did you know that those suckers are $100!?!

And then the dumbest thing of all time, I melted an aluminum catch tray to the bottom of our oven the very first time we used it. We'd previously used them to keep from having to clean up the mess at the bottom of the oven when things cook over. When unpacking I found one, so I just stuck it in the oven without a second thought. Later we were baking a frozen pizza and the house filled with a nasty smell. When I opened the oven door I found the tray had become one with the bottom of our oven. As I looked at it more closely it occurred to me that the implement was actually under the bottom of the oven, to make it easier to clean, and it was applying direct heat to the tray! Thank God for warranties! What would have been $200+ was covered under the IDIOT clause.

In June the builder came to grade our lot to get it ready for irrigation and landscaping. There ended up being an issue with our next door neighbor's grade so it took longer than it needed. Once the neighbors yard was fixed we were able to move forward with ours. A few days after they were finished with the grade, we had a very green lawn. While everyone's yards around us were turning brown, we had a Kelly green lawn!

After we started watering the lawn we started to notice that one area in particular was a bit more spongy than the rest. We started experimenting by not watering that section of the grass and it still was really bad. When the sod started to stink, we knew there was a serious issue.
It's been a lot of back-and-forth dealing with this mess, but when you're an employee of the builder you kind of get placed on the back burner. It's not right, but I'm not going to complain because I know they're busy and I know that I got an awesome employee discount that I'm grateful for!

During heavy rains we'd get our very own lake, Lake Melby. The water would get so deep as to flood our irrigation control box. Even after a few days of no rain and no watering, you'd sink while standing there. Shortly after our backyard had a funky smell; rotting sod!

Since I work for the company, and the guy in charge of the Warranty Department is my boss' husband, I was able to complain my way up to the man in charge. He contacted the excavating supervisor and told him to get out to my place ASAP and resolve the issue. Well he did, and he tried to blame it on the landscaping....Jason does landscaping (part-time job) and he knew it was most definitely not a landscaping issue. The landscaper came out and said it wasn't, just as we said, but he sent out the irrigation guys just to be sure it wasn't a leak; It wasn't.

A few weeks later I asked Bryan (my boss' husband) where we were at with it all, and he flipped! He thought it had been resolved. Again he contacted the supervisor, and again was promised it would be resolved. He joked that someone could get fired over this...I joked that it would be me! One of the exhibitors did come out and look at the yard and wrote out what had to be done. When no one returned, I got frustrated.

Again...a few weeks ago I asked Bryan in passing and this time he went nuts! He was pissed that we were still dealing with this. He immediately picked up his Nextel and yelled, "BJ!" That same day Trent (Bryan's brother and the person that is really in charge of the excavation things) drove to my house and looked at the issue.

So was that it??? No. Unfortunately not.

On Monday, August 21st I emailed Bryan asking on an ETA. A few minutes later my phone was ringing off the hook...so obviously the shit hit the fan! I was given the promise that it would be all resolved by September 1st.......today is September 1st!!!

Lake Melby is gone...however they landscaping company won't be out until the 6th to lay the new sod. Please please please God, let this be the end of it! I want to use my backyard! If I wanted to live on a bayou I would move south!!

Volunteering

Most of you know that at one time Jason was a volunteer fire fighter with Prior Lake. He currently works full-time for the Mdewakanton Fire Department.

A few years ago Jason got a bug in his pants and wanted to started a Fire Explorer post. Explorers is run by Learning For Life...which in turn is the same organization as Boy Scouts. The premise behind Explorers is to give kids a chance at career exploration at a young age. In doing this, kids get to have hands-on contact with things like fire fighting, EMS, law enforcement, computer engineering, sports medicine, ...you name it! Jason was actually a Explorer with the Edina Police when he was in high school!

Roughly at the same time the fire marshal was asked by the president of the tribe to start a program that could give the reservation youth something to do and be involved in. Bada-bing! We started a post that would accept both community members and kids from the surrounding communities.

Jason and I logged the man hours and got the post up and running. Though we've hit a few snags along the way, we are giving it our all and refuse to give up. The kids that are involved LOVE it! Most of the kids are not into sports and not into school activities; they need an outlet. A lot of the kids have fathers that are volunteer fire fighters with departments in the area, and some are just really interested in EMS and/Fire Fighting.

On Friday Jason and a few of the other advisors are going to the state fair for a competition. Every year the first Friday of the fair is the Governor's Fire Prevention Day. The Learning For Life organization then puts on a competition for the kids to compete in through out the day. A few years ago our kids actually got the opportunity to be on TV! In the Teen park we had two staged auto extracations. Our group used the Jaws of Life to extracate "victims" from a wreck. John Hines from the K102 Morning Show MC'd the event.
This year the extracation will be done by another post, but just the same...it's great to see the impact the Explorers make on the guests at the fair!

I unfortunately can not attend the fair; I have a full-time job to attend to!

Besides assisting Jason with Explorers (which is minimal since the birth of MacKenzy!) I have now joined the New Prague Volunteer Ambulance. I've been an EMT for over 3 years now, and I have really had the itch to use my skills. When we moved to New Prague Jason immediatley said that I should join. I had already decided that I would, but to hear that he was excited about it was good too. I have to work 7 twelve hour shifts a month. Since I have a DAY job, I will work evenings and weekends. Like volunteer fire fighting, I respond to the ambulance garage from home. I don't have to sit there for 12 hours!!! Since I can pick my shifts, I obviously can schedule them around Jason's crazy schedule.
In joining New Prague Ambulance I've actually added some more kids to our Mdewakanton Explorer post. New Prague doesn't have a post, but there are kids willing to make the drive! I am going to be working with both the ambulance and fire to recruit New Prague kids for the post. We could use the added numbers in the post, and from what I've heard there are plenty of interested kids. New Prague could set up there own post, however they don't have someone willing to do the leg work to set it all up...and then man it!

With that said, this past Friday was my first shift...and we had ZERO calls!

What's Up!?!

As the Summer is starting to wind down I'm starting to realize really how fast Summer went. I look forward to the Fall, but at the same time know it means Winter is only to follow!



This Summer was really MacKenzy's first for many things....first of all she's now old enough to understand whats going on around her. On the boat she would rather sit on her Dad's lap and drive, than sit with Mom. The horn is also a favorite!

She caught her first fish this summer. To this day I'd prefer not to actually touch the fish. They're slimy and scaley, and I'm always waiting for their dorsal fin to slice my hand open (happened once). MacKenzy on the otherhand thought it was pretty neat to touch the fish! In the picture you can see Brynn (Jason's couin's little girl) and she wanted NOTHING to do with the fish once it was out of the water!



In the early Spring (March) Nana (Jason's mom) took MacKenzy too the zoo for her very first time. It was much too early to actually enjoy the outdoor attractions though. About a month later we made the trek to see all of the baby farm animals. We were joined by Jodi Muelken and her two girls (Cady and Maiah) and had an incredible day. MacKenzy is fascinated by anything pertaining to farms. She loves tractors, barns, and every animal you can think of. Being that cows are truly her favorite I thought she would be super excited to get to pet one...not so much. She did pet a piglet, and fed goats, but the cows were just too big up close!
















MacKenzy talked about the animals for weeks after we visited the zoo. If you asked her if she pet a cow, she would say that she did. And I really think when she was petting the piglet, she thought she was petting THE Piglet!

Now just this past weekend we made yet another trip to the zoo. For my birthday Jodi bought me a membership to the zoo, which is an incredible gift to give anyone with children!! I hope I properly thanked her! We went to the zoo with my good friend Laura Meyer and her daughter Olivia. MacKenzy and Olivia are two weeks apart, so we try and get them together once a month for a playdate. We were long overdue, so the zoo was a great way to spend quality time together.
In the last month or so MacKenzy has fallen head over heals in love with the movie The Lion King. So naturally she is now all about African animals! (she still loves her farm animals!!) Through Labor Day the Minnesota Zoo is hosting an African Exhibit which includes giraffes. In the very beginging of The Lion King MacKenzy has always pointed out the giraffes, so I knew she'd love them! The line was too long to actually feed and pet the giraffe, which she so deperately wanted to do. We stood as close as we could though and she studied that giraffe up and down. Though not as exciting, she got to see other animals from the movie...wildabeasts, gazelles, antilope, zebras, and a tiger. No Simba or Mufasa, as she put it.

Just last weekend our neighborhood had a block party. We were pretty excited about it because we really haven't met a lot of people yet. Plus, we are still babysitter-less! We struck out in the babysitter department, but now we know more people and can possibly get some help. The party in the eyes of MacKenzy for one reason, and one reason only....they had a "puppy jump." I seriously don't know what they are really called, but since this one looked like a dalmation, MacKenzy called it the puppy jump.


Here she's with the neighbor girl, Carely...who she adores!












Though fire trucks are old news to her, she climbed in and waved like she was in a parade.
In June we went to Dan Patch Days in Savage. We intended to simply watch the parade, but since Jason's truck was basically empty we jumped in and became apart of the parade. MacKenzy LOVED throwing candy and waving to all of the people...oh and the puppies!

Every year Jason and I make a point of being in Le Sueur for Giant Days. This year is again one of MacKenzy's first. Last year we had to skip due to another family obligation, but the year before she was only a few months old! She loved catching candy, and we actually had to wrestle away her goods! She was eating it like someone was going to steal it from her. Being the youngest child in our specific area, people practicully dumped candy into her bag...gee, thanks.
She danced to the bands and thought every clown was somehow related to her favorite show, "JoJo's Circus." "JoJo's Mommy!....JoJo's Daddy!"
After the parade, as we always do, we walked to the park for free corn on the cob. I can't say this was her first taste of it, but it was the cutest! Look at the picture! Don't you think they should use it as a promo next year!?!

So here we are at the end of August expecting the inevitable, shorter days and colder nights. I do love Fall, and I know MacKenzy will love picking out her pumpking and going to the apple orchard. It's just a reminder that soon we'll be throwing on the snowpants and boots all too soon.

Hello!

I have decided to start a Melby Family website...and being that a blog site is free, this is where we'll be!

The idea behind having our own site is to chronicle our life as a family. With having friends that live far away, they can check in and read about what's going on...and see pictures. Mainly pictures! This isn't the best site for posting photos, however it's the most user-friendly site out there.

This way I can do the Christmas letters I've always thought were so cool...but never had the time to do. I can talk about all the crazy things MacKenzy is into...and all about our pychotic dog, Ozzy. Jason and I are pretty boring, so I'll try to keep the details to a minimum.

Now, I am a pretty good speller...and this site does have spell check...but please don't let me know when I've misspelled something or used bad grammer...or a lot of DOTS! This isn't a professional writing...it's for fun, so leave my DOTS alone! I also type really fast so sometimes my fingers are ahead of my brain and words are left out...so FIGURE IT OUT!