Have you missed us? I have been getting emails from some of you wondering what on earth happened to the Tiedes. Sadly, our desktop died this week and we couldn’t get back to the blog. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we have a new desktop on the way from Dell and should be able to welcome its arrival early this week.

For anyone keeping track … here is the count on lost or broken items for the Tiede’s this summer:
Mike’s crown
Mike’s glasses
Air conditioner / Furnace
Gracie’s battle with pancreatitis – near loss, huge expense
Big screen TV
Telephones
New tire on the van
Desktop – CPU

We are praying that the start of school will usher in a new season of wholeness and wellness for the family!

I’m going to give you a quick update on the last couple of days ~
Wednesday ~ we went to Como Zoo and enjoyed a gorgeous day! We spent 2 hours checking out traditional zoo animals … none of the funky, unusual critters for us. We were most enthralled with a baby orangutan. Too cute for words!

Then we went to the Mall of America. I’ll let Kadi tell you about that in a bit.

Thursday we had a morning at home and then Kadi and Ben had their first day of choir. They both wore their new “back to school” clothes and were tickled to see all their friends. Ben was a bit hesitant about the whole experience, as it’s his first year, but he has already expressed enthusiasm for next Thursday, so we are off to a great start.

Friday, Mike took the boys hiking and geo caching and Kadi and I went shopping. Everyone was happy! I spent the afternoon catching up on a few things and having some great quiet time. My friend, Jill Pearson, just released her new CD. Check it out here! She sent a copy over to me and I had some wonderful “on my face” time with Jill crooning in the background. Ah, sweet refreshment.

We spent ALL DAY Saturday cleaning house. Can I just confess that I was nearly as excited about that as most of our staycation? The house was a pit  and we did a really deep and thorough cleaning. Now we are all on the right path to start school tomorrow and to send Mike back to work. Mike and I went out to dinner last night, on Mayo. Mike recently clocked in 10 years at Mayo Clinic and they thanked him with a nice gift certificate to one of a variety of restaurants. We chose to go to 300 First and then ran to the library, Kohls, and … our favorite … Barnes and Noble. Most of our dates end there and it’s a treat. I found a couple of great resources for the new talks I’m writing and have renewed excitement for the material.

Friends, Mike and I agreed last night that the saddest thing about our staycation is that we don’t schedule it more often. If you’ve never enjoyed a staycation, I highly recommend it!

This is Kadi!!!

Okay, so I am here to tell you about Mall of America! It was a lot of fun! We were only there for a couple of hours, but it was fun anyway. Mom and I went together to find beautiful, wonderfull ,and oh so perfect things! Dad and the boys went to find boring stuff like socks and swords. Mom and I got 3 really cute outfits for me! It was the weirdest shopping experenice for me! There was NO ONE there! Like no one! We saw one other Home school family, but like other than that, the place was empty. So, we got special attention from everyone working there! We encountered the usual shopping delays: People messing up when we are trying to buy stuff and it taking days beyond days for them to figure out how to do something right, wierd people trying to sell us stuff from the kiosks, and our feet getting tired. But by like 5pm, we were ready to eat. We ate at the Rainforest cafe. I had pasta, and one little bite of Mom and Dad’s chicken that they spared for me, after I had begged for what seemed like forever! It wasn’t as spectacular as some would have thought. I am more excited now for things like Choir again, and other social hangouts, to spend time gabbing with my BFF’s. Wish me luck tomorrow, for My first day of school! I feel bad you know, cuz My friend, Rachel has already been doing school for 6 weeks! And I was complaining because Mom was forcing me to get up at 7 cuz we were going to start school at 8! Well, then I found out that my friend, Emily, who is a freshman at Plainview, has to get at 5am, and has to ride on the bus for an hour and a half!!!! My life’s not THAT bad, I guess! I am looking forward to the first day of school….and then the last day of school. Well, wish me luck! It has been my pleasure and honor to blog on my wonderful teacher’s blog these past three times, and I loved getting all of your comments! TTLY, KDTD:)!

Note from the “wonderful teacher”: Did you notice that Miss Kadi doesn’t mention any of the days between day 1 and the end of school? Oh, my. 🙂 It’s been so much fun blogging with the family, that I may just make it more regular. Also, I had every intention of adding pictures today, but we were out for the evening and I am getting things ready for school and catching up on emails, so the pictures will have to wait. I’ll add them later. Thank you all for going on the Tiede staycation with us! Stay tuned for new posts as I enter into a very busy fall speaking schedule. I covet your prayers.  With Holy Enthusiasm ~ Vicki