No, not all five will be using it at one time...
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Tic-Tac, Sir?
Daniel said something pretty funny the other night that I thought would make a good opening to this "catch-up" blog entry of sorts. He was talking to Aaron and they were discussing numbers of words and in the middle of the conversation, I burped and announced to Daniel, "That's ONE word." Daniel looks up at me and says, "Two words, Dad...BREATH MINT!"
Well, since my last update, Daniel had his birthday party at the Seven Clans water park as planned and had a lot of fun with his buddies. I had 15 passes to give out and used all but one of them up. It was well worth the money for all the fun the boys had. Since then, the rest of the snow has gone and the grass has already begun to green up. I picked up a "new" used bike for Daniel at K-Mart for $25. Besides being rusted from last year's thunderstorm season, his old bike was rather on the small size given his growth spurt. I got him a 20-inch BMX-style with yellow paint and red flame decals. For Aaron, I picked up a new 24-inch 7-speed Mongoose mountain bike with dual shock suspension. This time around, bikes are being brought in to the porch at night so they don't end up with so much wear and tear from the monsoon season. The boys have been out on their bikes practically every day since the snow first melted and are spending less and less time indoors (a good thing).
To help spur along a more "active" summer this year, we picked up some tennis racquets last weekend and headed out to the tennis court in town. Daniel took to it pretty quickly, hitting at least a couple of volleys over the net with me. Aaron liked practicing against the wall on the edge of the court, but managed to hit a few over the cyclone fence and across the street (as did yours truly). We spent about an hour there on Easter Sunday, then returned on Monday as they also had that day off from school for Spring Break.
The boys finally got their yearbooks from last year for Challenger. They had to rebuild the whole thing from scratch and for a while there, the school didn't think they'd have a yearbook at all, so it was a pleasant surprise when the boys brought one home. They've gotten one every year since kindergarten, so it's nice not to have any "holes" in the succession of yearbooks.
The boys had their pictures taken for spring pictures and unfortunately I never got any warning beforehand, so yesterday Aaron dropped his pictures on his lap and I noted his hair was rather out of place and wasn't exactly prepared that day, but the more I look at the picture, the more I like it. It's not an "artificial" posed picture, but more of a candid shot, so I'm actually pretty happy with it. Daniel's picture was even better. We worked with him all winter to stop licking his lips in the cold windy weather to no avail and he ended up with a bright pink ring around his upper and lower lips, kinda looking like a pufferfish. It was mostly gone by the time pictures were taken, but he remains with a slight remnant of it in the pictures. Now that summer is here, though, he's not licking his lips near as much so the damage can finally heal in time for next winter...
The boys and I made an impromptu visit to the store last night and got hopefully our last item for summer recreation - a 12-foot trampoline with enclosure for the back yard. I spent two days so far figuring out how to put the blasted thing together. There's no less than 80 separate springs to put on and over 30 pole pieces to match up perfectly for it to function normally. I managed to get the entire frame together by myself this afternoon and then the pad to jump on by the time the boys got home from school. Now I'm just working on the safety enclosure, which I hope to complete by tomorrow night so they can start using the tramp this weekend. It's clearly a hit amongst both the boys and their buddies. I figure it will keep them quite occupied and entertained the remainder of the summer and their cousins will have something to jump on now when they come to town. I'll post a pic of it here.
In other activities, we have our combined choir performance coming up soon in early May with the choirs of Zion and Redeemer Lutheran. We'll be singing three songs as we did last year with Diane Johnson and Ruth Stenson directing the other two. We also have to sing the first service after the new pastor arrives, so it should make for a lot of singing in a short amount of time.
As for news around town, the Hardees I witnessed open back in 9th grade and ate at more than a few times as a freshman in 1981 has finally closed its doors for good. It had been losing money for quite a while to McDonald's and other restaurants as Hardees is clearly on the wrong side of town. It's good for us, though, as their food was way to fattening anyway. Wal-Mart has also put their sign up on the new store in town, so it looks like their grand opening is just around the corner. I'm thinking it'll be interesting if the lines through checkout get any faster at K-Mart after Wal-Mart's opening.
Anywho, I think we're going to go see the Drevlow kids' recital with Marcia Knuttila tomorrow night at Our Savior's Lutheran. It will be the first recital I've gone to since playing for Ms. K. myself.
I'm starting to yawn something fierce now, so I better sign off for now. Hope everyone is having a great spring and looking forward to a relaxing summer. Take care everybody!
Well, since my last update, Daniel had his birthday party at the Seven Clans water park as planned and had a lot of fun with his buddies. I had 15 passes to give out and used all but one of them up. It was well worth the money for all the fun the boys had. Since then, the rest of the snow has gone and the grass has already begun to green up. I picked up a "new" used bike for Daniel at K-Mart for $25. Besides being rusted from last year's thunderstorm season, his old bike was rather on the small size given his growth spurt. I got him a 20-inch BMX-style with yellow paint and red flame decals. For Aaron, I picked up a new 24-inch 7-speed Mongoose mountain bike with dual shock suspension. This time around, bikes are being brought in to the porch at night so they don't end up with so much wear and tear from the monsoon season. The boys have been out on their bikes practically every day since the snow first melted and are spending less and less time indoors (a good thing).
To help spur along a more "active" summer this year, we picked up some tennis racquets last weekend and headed out to the tennis court in town. Daniel took to it pretty quickly, hitting at least a couple of volleys over the net with me. Aaron liked practicing against the wall on the edge of the court, but managed to hit a few over the cyclone fence and across the street (as did yours truly). We spent about an hour there on Easter Sunday, then returned on Monday as they also had that day off from school for Spring Break.
The boys finally got their yearbooks from last year for Challenger. They had to rebuild the whole thing from scratch and for a while there, the school didn't think they'd have a yearbook at all, so it was a pleasant surprise when the boys brought one home. They've gotten one every year since kindergarten, so it's nice not to have any "holes" in the succession of yearbooks.
The boys had their pictures taken for spring pictures and unfortunately I never got any warning beforehand, so yesterday Aaron dropped his pictures on his lap and I noted his hair was rather out of place and wasn't exactly prepared that day, but the more I look at the picture, the more I like it. It's not an "artificial" posed picture, but more of a candid shot, so I'm actually pretty happy with it. Daniel's picture was even better. We worked with him all winter to stop licking his lips in the cold windy weather to no avail and he ended up with a bright pink ring around his upper and lower lips, kinda looking like a pufferfish. It was mostly gone by the time pictures were taken, but he remains with a slight remnant of it in the pictures. Now that summer is here, though, he's not licking his lips near as much so the damage can finally heal in time for next winter...
The boys and I made an impromptu visit to the store last night and got hopefully our last item for summer recreation - a 12-foot trampoline with enclosure for the back yard. I spent two days so far figuring out how to put the blasted thing together. There's no less than 80 separate springs to put on and over 30 pole pieces to match up perfectly for it to function normally. I managed to get the entire frame together by myself this afternoon and then the pad to jump on by the time the boys got home from school. Now I'm just working on the safety enclosure, which I hope to complete by tomorrow night so they can start using the tramp this weekend. It's clearly a hit amongst both the boys and their buddies. I figure it will keep them quite occupied and entertained the remainder of the summer and their cousins will have something to jump on now when they come to town. I'll post a pic of it here.
In other activities, we have our combined choir performance coming up soon in early May with the choirs of Zion and Redeemer Lutheran. We'll be singing three songs as we did last year with Diane Johnson and Ruth Stenson directing the other two. We also have to sing the first service after the new pastor arrives, so it should make for a lot of singing in a short amount of time.
As for news around town, the Hardees I witnessed open back in 9th grade and ate at more than a few times as a freshman in 1981 has finally closed its doors for good. It had been losing money for quite a while to McDonald's and other restaurants as Hardees is clearly on the wrong side of town. It's good for us, though, as their food was way to fattening anyway. Wal-Mart has also put their sign up on the new store in town, so it looks like their grand opening is just around the corner. I'm thinking it'll be interesting if the lines through checkout get any faster at K-Mart after Wal-Mart's opening.
Anywho, I think we're going to go see the Drevlow kids' recital with Marcia Knuttila tomorrow night at Our Savior's Lutheran. It will be the first recital I've gone to since playing for Ms. K. myself.
I'm starting to yawn something fierce now, so I better sign off for now. Hope everyone is having a great spring and looking forward to a relaxing summer. Take care everybody!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Happy 7th Birthday, Daniel!!
The day has finally arrived... I was up late last night helping Aaron with his science project for school and true to form, Daniel didn't seem to think much of turning another year older, at first saying he didn't want to open any presents in the morning. Upon awakening this morning, though, he had to open up the "big" box from Aunt Jen and a huge smile appeared when he realized what was inside, a Hotwheels Razor-style foldable scooter. He proceeded to open the present from Nanna and Grandpa and after seeing his present, he grabs the birthday card envelope and tears into it saying, "I hope it's birthday money!" At 7, he's already expecting money...go figure. I dropped the boys off at school this morning as Aaron's science fair display board about Duchess was too big to take on the bus. The fair is from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight at Challenger, so we'll be heading back to school then. Reservations have been made (finally) at the waterpark for the big party tomorrow night and now I just need to find a birthday cake and some ice cream.
Before signing off on this quick blog update, I had a funny interaction with Aaron last night to relate. I was downstairs putting the finishing touches on Aaron's science project when I heard bloodcurdling screams from Daniel followed by the characteristic crying when Aaron's gone a bit too far in their play. I charge up the stairs to see what's amiss and find Daniel crying and accusing Aaron of pushing him into the toy room where he fell on something. I sent Daniel in to the bathroom to brush his teeth as he had earlier been told to do and then sat Aaron down in my room to have a chat. In the sternest voice I can muster, I explain to him that a little brother is someone to be protected by a big brother, not hurt by careless actions and when I asked him to confirm what I said, he gave me a smart aleck response. I put my forehead to his and staring in his eyes I ask him, "What will it take to get you to take me seriously?!" He looks back at me with a sober face and says, "Pushups??" I made it about halfway back down the stairs before breaking into laughter at his latest witticism. It was just about as funny as his offer of donuts to a policeman we drove by in Washington a couple years ago. I just gotta remember to get all these things down so I can write a book of them after he's all grown up.
As for the weather here, the grass is at least half exposed in almost all areas and we saw a rollerblader on the street coming back from Lent dinner at Trinity last night. It reached about 42 degrees yesterday, so it's confirmed the cold temperatures are history for at least another 6 months. Wal-Mart is on track to open come the last week or so in May too, so there's lots going on in this little town...
Before signing off on this quick blog update, I had a funny interaction with Aaron last night to relate. I was downstairs putting the finishing touches on Aaron's science project when I heard bloodcurdling screams from Daniel followed by the characteristic crying when Aaron's gone a bit too far in their play. I charge up the stairs to see what's amiss and find Daniel crying and accusing Aaron of pushing him into the toy room where he fell on something. I sent Daniel in to the bathroom to brush his teeth as he had earlier been told to do and then sat Aaron down in my room to have a chat. In the sternest voice I can muster, I explain to him that a little brother is someone to be protected by a big brother, not hurt by careless actions and when I asked him to confirm what I said, he gave me a smart aleck response. I put my forehead to his and staring in his eyes I ask him, "What will it take to get you to take me seriously?!" He looks back at me with a sober face and says, "Pushups??" I made it about halfway back down the stairs before breaking into laughter at his latest witticism. It was just about as funny as his offer of donuts to a policeman we drove by in Washington a couple years ago. I just gotta remember to get all these things down so I can write a book of them after he's all grown up.
As for the weather here, the grass is at least half exposed in almost all areas and we saw a rollerblader on the street coming back from Lent dinner at Trinity last night. It reached about 42 degrees yesterday, so it's confirmed the cold temperatures are history for at least another 6 months. Wal-Mart is on track to open come the last week or so in May too, so there's lots going on in this little town...
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Winter Melts Away...
It's hard to believe, but only three weeks ago, I was wondering if Winter would ever end, but here we are and the streets are almost entirely free of snow and ice, the sidewalks as well in front of the house, and people have come out of their hibernation to begin walking the streets again. I even see grass in both the front and back of the house and the back alley is all mud and water. The boys decided to take the opportunity to pull their bikes off the porch yesterday and start biking with the Widerski boys yesterday afternoon, which they also did today after church. I was finally able to prove my statement to the boys last summer that "once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget." It's nice to finally have another fitness option for the kids other than just "go play in the snow."
A lot of time has passed since my last blog update and I'm sure I'll miss most of it trying to update everyone. The boys have just over a month to a month and a half left of school and they'll be in 4th/2nd grades respectively. I have made it a regular Friday lunch date with Aaron at Challenger where I get an update on all the goings on at school. More often than not we're sitting at a table with Braeden Drevlow from Aaron's grade and a couple other of his friends. I like Fridays there because it's chef salad day... Last week it was tomato soup, breaded fish in the shape of fish, and the chef salad. I always end up leaving their stuffed even with the dinky portions and the little carton of chocolate milk. I manage to bump into at least one former teacher of mine about every time to go, so that's a bright spot in the week too.
Trinity will be getting a new "intentional" interim minister by June it looks like and the choir will be extending into that time period so the new pastor has a nice welcome from Trinity. In other church news, the youth have been serving Lent dinner every Wednesday night and raised over $1,200 last week alone to apply towards the national youth gathering in San Antonio in June. The church put in nice new gas fireplaces in the library upstairs and the "fireside" room downstairs for the youth area. They look pretty nice, though now with it warming up, we won't get to enjoy them much until next fall and winter. They're also replacing upwards of 70-plus windows in the Sunday school area with new vinyl and welded steel windows so the the building will be much more heat efficient in both summer and winter. I think that's the last major improvement project since they've already fixed the bell tower, the organ, and relaid carpeting in the fellowship hall and painted.
Now that the Prowler hockey season is over, the Prowlers went to Challenger and Aaron got an autographed felt cloth with all their signatures on it. I'm going to find one of those two-inch thick frames to display it in in his room as it's not very often the Prowlers make it to State. Aaron's still kicking around different sports ideas. Last month it was soccer, soccer, soccer, and this month it's, "How about baseball?" He really wants to take in a Twins game this year.
Tonight we had dinner at the old Calvary Lutheran Church in St. Hilaire, a church so small the sanctuary is little bigger than the main floor of my house. They put on a benefit dinner with ham, mashed potatoes, and all the fixin's as they're raising funds for a new furnace. I saw a few people from Trinity there. It's yet another thing underlying the difference between the big cities and here. There's at least three different benefit dinners in any given week here, so rather than giving money to a fastfood restaurant, we're getting home-cooked meals and doing good for the community. Last week they had a dinner to benefit a young mother of about 22 who had an aneurysm after giving birth to her daughter at Northwest Hospital and had to be flown to the Cities for emergency surgery. Her dinner was at the VFW and there were pictures all over the paper for it and posted on flyers in almost every store in town. In a big city, she would have been but a footnote in the paper if she even made it in there, so it's comforting to know how tightknit our community is, how they will rally around anyone and everyone in need and nobody is "just a number." Reminds me of college days in Pullman... It's nice to be a small part of that.
Daniel will be celebrating his birthday this Thursday (7) and I'm still figuring out whether to celebrate it on Friday at the waterpark or if we should wait a week or so as a lot of his friends including the Drevlow boys may not be able to make it. Funny thing is he's not all that concerned about it other than having fun at the waterpark. He hasn't asked about any presents more than once and it's almost shaping up to be a day like any other day in his mind. What's nice with his birthday approaching is he still looks like the same LITTLE Daniel I've always cherished and hasn't outgrown his little boy nature yet. Most importantly, I can still throw him over my shoulder for a ride up to bed without throwing my back out... :) I'm sure with another year under his belt next year, though, he'll have done a lot of catch up growing behind Aaron and be quite the handful to keep up with.
That's about all I have to write for now as I gotta get the boys in bed for school bright and early in the a.m. I'm crossing my fingers for continued warmer temperatures this week so I can finally see my yard and get moving on spring "dog doo duty" in the back yard. Sorry for the delay in blog updates...
A lot of time has passed since my last blog update and I'm sure I'll miss most of it trying to update everyone. The boys have just over a month to a month and a half left of school and they'll be in 4th/2nd grades respectively. I have made it a regular Friday lunch date with Aaron at Challenger where I get an update on all the goings on at school. More often than not we're sitting at a table with Braeden Drevlow from Aaron's grade and a couple other of his friends. I like Fridays there because it's chef salad day... Last week it was tomato soup, breaded fish in the shape of fish, and the chef salad. I always end up leaving their stuffed even with the dinky portions and the little carton of chocolate milk. I manage to bump into at least one former teacher of mine about every time to go, so that's a bright spot in the week too.
Trinity will be getting a new "intentional" interim minister by June it looks like and the choir will be extending into that time period so the new pastor has a nice welcome from Trinity. In other church news, the youth have been serving Lent dinner every Wednesday night and raised over $1,200 last week alone to apply towards the national youth gathering in San Antonio in June. The church put in nice new gas fireplaces in the library upstairs and the "fireside" room downstairs for the youth area. They look pretty nice, though now with it warming up, we won't get to enjoy them much until next fall and winter. They're also replacing upwards of 70-plus windows in the Sunday school area with new vinyl and welded steel windows so the the building will be much more heat efficient in both summer and winter. I think that's the last major improvement project since they've already fixed the bell tower, the organ, and relaid carpeting in the fellowship hall and painted.
Now that the Prowler hockey season is over, the Prowlers went to Challenger and Aaron got an autographed felt cloth with all their signatures on it. I'm going to find one of those two-inch thick frames to display it in in his room as it's not very often the Prowlers make it to State. Aaron's still kicking around different sports ideas. Last month it was soccer, soccer, soccer, and this month it's, "How about baseball?" He really wants to take in a Twins game this year.
Tonight we had dinner at the old Calvary Lutheran Church in St. Hilaire, a church so small the sanctuary is little bigger than the main floor of my house. They put on a benefit dinner with ham, mashed potatoes, and all the fixin's as they're raising funds for a new furnace. I saw a few people from Trinity there. It's yet another thing underlying the difference between the big cities and here. There's at least three different benefit dinners in any given week here, so rather than giving money to a fastfood restaurant, we're getting home-cooked meals and doing good for the community. Last week they had a dinner to benefit a young mother of about 22 who had an aneurysm after giving birth to her daughter at Northwest Hospital and had to be flown to the Cities for emergency surgery. Her dinner was at the VFW and there were pictures all over the paper for it and posted on flyers in almost every store in town. In a big city, she would have been but a footnote in the paper if she even made it in there, so it's comforting to know how tightknit our community is, how they will rally around anyone and everyone in need and nobody is "just a number." Reminds me of college days in Pullman... It's nice to be a small part of that.
Daniel will be celebrating his birthday this Thursday (7) and I'm still figuring out whether to celebrate it on Friday at the waterpark or if we should wait a week or so as a lot of his friends including the Drevlow boys may not be able to make it. Funny thing is he's not all that concerned about it other than having fun at the waterpark. He hasn't asked about any presents more than once and it's almost shaping up to be a day like any other day in his mind. What's nice with his birthday approaching is he still looks like the same LITTLE Daniel I've always cherished and hasn't outgrown his little boy nature yet. Most importantly, I can still throw him over my shoulder for a ride up to bed without throwing my back out... :) I'm sure with another year under his belt next year, though, he'll have done a lot of catch up growing behind Aaron and be quite the handful to keep up with.
That's about all I have to write for now as I gotta get the boys in bed for school bright and early in the a.m. I'm crossing my fingers for continued warmer temperatures this week so I can finally see my yard and get moving on spring "dog doo duty" in the back yard. Sorry for the delay in blog updates...
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Happy St. Patty's Day?
Wow... It's been so long I almost forgot I had this blog to begin with. Nobody's sent me any nagograms to update it, so I guess it slipped by the wayside. Of course it didn't help being sick in February and recovering from that, then preparing for Mom and Dad's visit, which concluded last Wednesday. I missed the last home hockey game of the Prowlers thanks to being sick, so that was a bummer, but the Prowlers did pretty well, going to state for the first time in 41 years and section 8A champs for the first time in 46. It was almost like a Cougar Rose Bowl story.
We've had great weather for the most part with some warmer 40+ days that melted off some of the snow on the streets, but just when we started to think of spring days ahead, it snowed yesterday and all the slush turned to ice overnight. That's normally not too bad, but the neighbors across the street had an ill or injured child this morning and the Great Plains ambulance medics almost fell down a half dozen times in walking between their front porch and the ambulance, so after watching the 2nd or third near fall, I ran over there with a full bag of kitty litter and spread it all on their front walk less than a minute before they all came out together carrying the child in their arms instead of a stretcher. I don't think they saw me, but thankfully they got to the ambulance safely and hopefully all's well that ends well.
We got the house in pretty good order for Mom and Dad's visit and they stayed here at the house with us from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, flying out of TRF. The boys really enjoyed the visit and playing games with Nanna and especially making the Crazy Chocolate Cake. It was nice to visit the boys at lunch together at Challenger on their last day of school last week. They closed the entire school district because of the boy's hockey win against Warroad and placement in the state tourney. They don't go back until Tuesday this week. We had Mike Lehrer over for a giant ham that Andrew had bought shortly before Mom and Dad's arrival and we feasted like kings. It was like Christmas dinner in March... The only downer to the visit, besides its brevity, was the roof started leaking on the house. Thankfully I had one of the boys' sleds available, though, to put up in the attic and we're relatively dry now. I think most of the snow and ice has melted off so it shouldn't be much of a problem for a while.
The Prowler Hockey Team lost their first round game with Hermantown Hawks and won the consolation game against Orono, then lost a second time to Blake yesterday, so that about does it for the season. Michael Forney, their star forward, suffered a grade II separation of his shoulder, so he wasn't able to play much of the time. Aaron has asked if we can go to every single home game next year, so I guess we'll be busy again next winter. They ended up with a 22 or 23-9 record, the most ever by any Prowler team.
The boys continue to do well in school and are having fun with the snow they have left. On their days off, I've put a cook's timer on the front porch and told them when it goes off, they can come back inside (60 minutes) and more often than not, they forget all about the time and stay out there. I had enough of the inside time and noise, so that turned out to be a good solution for all of us (and Andrew could hear himself think).
Not much else is going on these days over here. We're not due to have a combined choir performance until late April/early May, so it's pretty much just the routine stuff for the time being. I gotta find another big St. Patrick's hat for the boys to wear to school...
We've had great weather for the most part with some warmer 40+ days that melted off some of the snow on the streets, but just when we started to think of spring days ahead, it snowed yesterday and all the slush turned to ice overnight. That's normally not too bad, but the neighbors across the street had an ill or injured child this morning and the Great Plains ambulance medics almost fell down a half dozen times in walking between their front porch and the ambulance, so after watching the 2nd or third near fall, I ran over there with a full bag of kitty litter and spread it all on their front walk less than a minute before they all came out together carrying the child in their arms instead of a stretcher. I don't think they saw me, but thankfully they got to the ambulance safely and hopefully all's well that ends well.
We got the house in pretty good order for Mom and Dad's visit and they stayed here at the house with us from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, flying out of TRF. The boys really enjoyed the visit and playing games with Nanna and especially making the Crazy Chocolate Cake. It was nice to visit the boys at lunch together at Challenger on their last day of school last week. They closed the entire school district because of the boy's hockey win against Warroad and placement in the state tourney. They don't go back until Tuesday this week. We had Mike Lehrer over for a giant ham that Andrew had bought shortly before Mom and Dad's arrival and we feasted like kings. It was like Christmas dinner in March... The only downer to the visit, besides its brevity, was the roof started leaking on the house. Thankfully I had one of the boys' sleds available, though, to put up in the attic and we're relatively dry now. I think most of the snow and ice has melted off so it shouldn't be much of a problem for a while.
The Prowler Hockey Team lost their first round game with Hermantown Hawks and won the consolation game against Orono, then lost a second time to Blake yesterday, so that about does it for the season. Michael Forney, their star forward, suffered a grade II separation of his shoulder, so he wasn't able to play much of the time. Aaron has asked if we can go to every single home game next year, so I guess we'll be busy again next winter. They ended up with a 22 or 23-9 record, the most ever by any Prowler team.
The boys continue to do well in school and are having fun with the snow they have left. On their days off, I've put a cook's timer on the front porch and told them when it goes off, they can come back inside (60 minutes) and more often than not, they forget all about the time and stay out there. I had enough of the inside time and noise, so that turned out to be a good solution for all of us (and Andrew could hear himself think).
Not much else is going on these days over here. We're not due to have a combined choir performance until late April/early May, so it's pretty much just the routine stuff for the time being. I gotta find another big St. Patrick's hat for the boys to wear to school...
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Saturday, February 04, 2006
A Blowout & A Nailbiter In One Week...
As we are midway into the first week of February, hockey season is rapidly coming to a close with juat another home game, possibly two, left until it's over for the 2005-2006 Prowlers. We attended last Tuesday night's game against Red Lake Falls and it was almost a shutout, but Red Lake Falls managed a couple of goals to make it a more respectable score of 7-2. The boys attended skate lessons a couple more days this past week on Tuesday and Thursday. Danny was all over the ice again and Aaron was again wishing he could just skate out there like a miniature Eric Heiden or Scott Hamilton (wait a sec...maybe not a "miniature" Scott Hamilton) without having to go through the grueling process of walking along the wall holding on for dear life. I rewarded them, though, with another hockey game immediately after Thursday night's practice, this time against the Crookston Pirates. It was another great game with Coach Scott Bergland saying the Prowler boys, especially Michael Forney, Robby Phillip, and others "putting on a clinic, unfortunately at Crookston's expense." Coming into tonight's game, the Prowlers were undefeated in Section 8a play in Northwestern Minnesota. Tonight would be the closest matchup in many games with the Prowlers taking on the Lake of the Woods "Bears." It was a real back and forth cat/bear fight with the first blood drawn by the Bears at the end of the first period and the Prowlers coming back quickly in the beginning of the second period to tie it at 1-1. The Prowlers then let a puck in and found themselves clawing back to make it 2-2, then pulled ahead with a quick scoring run of two goals to make it 4-2, but Lake of the Woods was not to be denied, suddenly coming back from a lackluster few minutes of play to score two goals and tie it at 4-4 as time ran out in regulation.
They went into overtime at The Ralph and within a couple of minutes or so, the Prowlers sent the puck flying into the net and the entire Prowler bench cleared with the players crowding each other on the arena pressing the glass with the fans on the other side of the arena from us. Young fans, mostly from elementary and middle school, clamored up the side of the safety glass leading down the ramp from the Prowler box to the locker rooms so they could give the players high fives as they left the ice. I think it was the noisiest and most electrifying crowd all season as they barely escaped with their perfect Section 8a record.
Aaron got to visit with the Prowler players this past week at school during "Prowler Pride," the regular event for third graders where the high school teams come in and talk to the students. He heard from Michael Forney that he has been chosen as the only non-team player from Ann Arbor, Michigan to play on the team traveling to Russia this year, so that was pretty cool. Speaking of Michael, the Prowler goalie said his favorite opponent is "practicing against Michael Forney."
Andrew is enjoying his first week of work at K-Mart, keeping rather busy between that, Domino's, and his classes at Northland. He mentioned wanting to pool some money with me on the Superbowl tomorrow as we both think the Hawks have a great chance of winning even coming in as the underdogs by 4 to 4.5. We're looking forward to watching the game tomorrow and hoping it maybe warms up a few degrees in the meantime (it was 2.5 degres below zero when we returned from the hockey game tonight). We got a lot more snow this week and we have a special path carved out of our front lawn between the neighbors on each side of us so the mailman, Kjel, doesn't have to trudge through the snowdrifts. He mentioned this block may be his favorite neighborhood to deliver in with how clear we've made our sidewalks and the little path we may christen "Kjel Drive..."
They went into overtime at The Ralph and within a couple of minutes or so, the Prowlers sent the puck flying into the net and the entire Prowler bench cleared with the players crowding each other on the arena pressing the glass with the fans on the other side of the arena from us. Young fans, mostly from elementary and middle school, clamored up the side of the safety glass leading down the ramp from the Prowler box to the locker rooms so they could give the players high fives as they left the ice. I think it was the noisiest and most electrifying crowd all season as they barely escaped with their perfect Section 8a record.
Aaron got to visit with the Prowler players this past week at school during "Prowler Pride," the regular event for third graders where the high school teams come in and talk to the students. He heard from Michael Forney that he has been chosen as the only non-team player from Ann Arbor, Michigan to play on the team traveling to Russia this year, so that was pretty cool. Speaking of Michael, the Prowler goalie said his favorite opponent is "practicing against Michael Forney."
Andrew is enjoying his first week of work at K-Mart, keeping rather busy between that, Domino's, and his classes at Northland. He mentioned wanting to pool some money with me on the Superbowl tomorrow as we both think the Hawks have a great chance of winning even coming in as the underdogs by 4 to 4.5. We're looking forward to watching the game tomorrow and hoping it maybe warms up a few degrees in the meantime (it was 2.5 degres below zero when we returned from the hockey game tonight). We got a lot more snow this week and we have a special path carved out of our front lawn between the neighbors on each side of us so the mailman, Kjel, doesn't have to trudge through the snowdrifts. He mentioned this block may be his favorite neighborhood to deliver in with how clear we've made our sidewalks and the little path we may christen "Kjel Drive..."
Monday, January 30, 2006
Is January Over Already??
We've been having too much fun for the first month to be over and done with already over here. It's now officially been a year since we arrived and I thought it would be fun to mark the anniversary by bringing the boys to formal skating lessons last week at the Huck Olson arena. We had been using ice walkers up until then and it appeared while Daniel was progressing nicely with them, Aaron was leaning a little heavy on them, thereby probably delaying his own progress. We were told upon arriving at lessons last week that ice walkers are not used at all and the boys would be expected to maintain balance on their own after they walked along the wall of the arena to get used to it. Danny took to it like a fish to water, stretching his arms out parallel with the ice to catch his balance and then just walking across the ice as if he were wearing regular boots. The instructor walked with Aaron along the arena wall a couple of times and that was about it for their first lessons. They have open ice about three days a week, so they should get plenty of exposure and hopefully both of them will be independent on skates by the end of winter so they can really enjoy next year's skating. Aaron understands as with learning to bike, it's going to take some effort, but he will have much fun and freedom once he's mastered the basic skills.
We attended the East Grand Forks hockey game last week and the Prowlers were beating them 5-0 by the end of the second period. We left then as it was late for a school night and the game seemed to be pretty much in the bag. They ended up winning by a total score of 7-0. Unfortunately their luck ran out some Saturday when Duluth-Marshall skated into Ralph Engelstad Arena. They are presently the #1 team in the state and their goalie showed it in a final score of 3-0 in their favor. We enjoyed watching it again, though, sitting behind the Prowler net and watching the players and/or puck slam into the boards right in front of us. Tomorrow night will be against Red Lake Falls, so hopefully we'll made it to that game after skate lessons.
Andrew has been doing well with his studies at Northland and continues work at Domino's. He has an interview tonight at K-Mart, though, to supplement his hours at Domino's. If that doesn't pan out, he's considering applying at the new Wal-Mart before it opens in May/June.
As for TRF weather, we unofficially set a new record last week with a high temperature in the 40s. The last time it got that hot in the winter was in about 1974. It got pretty slushy around here as most of the streets melted, though that was followed by wind and snow over the weekend, so it was back to shoveling for the mailman again...
We attended the East Grand Forks hockey game last week and the Prowlers were beating them 5-0 by the end of the second period. We left then as it was late for a school night and the game seemed to be pretty much in the bag. They ended up winning by a total score of 7-0. Unfortunately their luck ran out some Saturday when Duluth-Marshall skated into Ralph Engelstad Arena. They are presently the #1 team in the state and their goalie showed it in a final score of 3-0 in their favor. We enjoyed watching it again, though, sitting behind the Prowler net and watching the players and/or puck slam into the boards right in front of us. Tomorrow night will be against Red Lake Falls, so hopefully we'll made it to that game after skate lessons.
Andrew has been doing well with his studies at Northland and continues work at Domino's. He has an interview tonight at K-Mart, though, to supplement his hours at Domino's. If that doesn't pan out, he's considering applying at the new Wal-Mart before it opens in May/June.
As for TRF weather, we unofficially set a new record last week with a high temperature in the 40s. The last time it got that hot in the winter was in about 1974. It got pretty slushy around here as most of the streets melted, though that was followed by wind and snow over the weekend, so it was back to shoveling for the mailman again...
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Prowlers Rule!!
We attended the Prowler v. Warroad Warrior hockey game last Thursday night with the Drevlows and sat at the top of the section behind the Prowler goal and enjoyed ourselves a tremendous game of hockey. There were a ton of people there compared to usual for the much expected matchup between the two giants of Northwest Minnesota high school hockey. The Prowlers scored quickly and never looked back, burying the Warriors by a score of 5-0. They scored one of their goals only 6 seconds into the third period, so they didn't have much trouble handling the puck that night.
Come Saturday this past weekend, Drew and Tyler Widerski celebrated both of their birthdays at the same time and had Aaron and Daniel over for cake and ice cream followed by an afternoon of sledding on the old Armory Hill that sits behind the National Guard Armory on the outskirts of town. It overlooks the river, which surprisingly hasn't frozen in that stretch of water yet, so Pastor Dave and I were joking about looking for the "first splash." It was safe, though, as nobody got closer than a pool's length from the river's edge. When I say Armory "Hill," I use the term "hill" somewhat loosely. It's not what a person in Seattle may consider a "hill," but nonetheless, all the kids had a great time and a few even managed to "catch some air" off a jump they had made with a depression in the hillside. All cheeks were bright pink by the time we all piled into the Weasel for the ride home. Aaron and Danny both had the time of their lives and were begging to return the next day for more sledding as they had never done that before.
Come Saturday this past weekend, Drew and Tyler Widerski celebrated both of their birthdays at the same time and had Aaron and Daniel over for cake and ice cream followed by an afternoon of sledding on the old Armory Hill that sits behind the National Guard Armory on the outskirts of town. It overlooks the river, which surprisingly hasn't frozen in that stretch of water yet, so Pastor Dave and I were joking about looking for the "first splash." It was safe, though, as nobody got closer than a pool's length from the river's edge. When I say Armory "Hill," I use the term "hill" somewhat loosely. It's not what a person in Seattle may consider a "hill," but nonetheless, all the kids had a great time and a few even managed to "catch some air" off a jump they had made with a depression in the hillside. All cheeks were bright pink by the time we all piled into the Weasel for the ride home. Aaron and Danny both had the time of their lives and were begging to return the next day for more sledding as they had never done that before.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Of Birthdays and Baseball...
I finally have a brief moment to myself here to update the blog. The boys have been dropped off at Awana Club and I've got about 45 minutes to go until choir practice.
This past week has been busy as usual with the boys. Aaron celebrated his 9th birthday last Friday with a trip to the Seven Clans Casino & Indoor Water Park (No, he didn't go to the casino...) He invited along a few of his buddies and by the time we left, there were a total of 7 boys in the weasel including Aaron, Daniel, Braeden and Brett Drevlow, Dusty, and another friend named Chad. We left in the early evening around 5 and the boys stayed in the water park area until about 8 and then played in the video arcade. The party at the water park included pizza, pop, and a cake with his name on it. They all had fun and Aaron was no exception with his usual broad grin. I played a dancing video game in the arcade named Dance Dance Revolution, otherwise known as DDRMax2, which has a lit dance pad with arrows on it in four directions and you have to match the arrows scrolling upward on the screen in front of you with your feet on the corresponding arrows of the dance pad. The game has two side by side pads so you can play against each other or separately. An 11 or 12 year old girl ended up taking the open pad next to mine as it was free to "join in" once I had started the game and I was actually able to beat her on all three songs. This old dog really can learn some new tricks. It wasn't easy, though, with 138 beat-per-minute songs like a technotronic version of The Twilight Zone song and a few other popular dance tunes.
After the water park, we dropped Dusty and Chad off and then Brett and Braeden Drevlow came over and stayed the night with Aaron in his first sleepover that didn't include Dusty. They played video games til the wee hours and it took me a good two days to get my own sleep back on schedule after that.
As for the baseball part of the above title, Aaron mentioned last night it was "Twins" day at Challenger Elementary today and he and Daniel needed to wear Minnesota Twins baseball clothing. We stopped at K-Mart last night and bought them each Twins ball caps as they don't sell any other Twins stuff in the offseason. Aaron came home today, though, to announce the Twins actually visited Challenger today! He brought home a sheet with the autographs of four of the players that visited along with the autograph of the team mascot, "T.C." He said he also shook hands with the mascot. I don't seem to recall anyone famous coming out to sign autographs when I was attending school here and here the boys have seen two different celebrity teams in less than a month. I can imagine the Minnesota Wild will show up next... :o)
Andrew started school at Northland Community & Technical College in town this past week with an eye toward an electrician's apprenticeship. He's taking a computer course amongst others and finds himself busy between that and working at Domino's. He's managed to pass some time as well in a cribbage group in town once a week too while poker is not in session. It sounds like he is enjoying himself and will probably stay in Minnesota long-term, at least until he finishes training for electrician.
The new tourist guides for TRF just got published and we noticed them last night while out shopping at K-mart. They have a picture of Jerry and Marilyn Wigness on the cover looking out over the Red River. It's a very tastefully put together publication. I think I'll ask for their autographs tonight to add to Aaron's burgeoning autograph collection... :o)
Tomorrow night should be an interesting matchup for hockey at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. We have Warroad coming to town, one of the two or three powerhouses historically in Minnesota high school hockey. I think they are a much larger school than TRF and are in a larger division, so it will pose a significant challenge to the Prowlers. TRF lost a heartbreaker in overtime last night to the Moorhead Spuds. I believe the score was 5 to 4. TRF now has a record of 10 wins and 4 losses, which places them 9th in the state in their division. Speaking of hockey, I still don't know the official tally in terms of points for that scrimmage against the Women's Olympic Team, but I was able to find out in the Grand Forks Herald that the Prowler boys did indeed outscore the Olympic Team, so both Warroad and TRF beat them. Not bad, considering there was no checking allowed.
The only other news at this point is the choir at Trinity is starting up with their first performance of 2006 on this coming Sunday (both services) and we'll probably not get a break until sometime in April or so. There hasn't been any news about upcoming string performances, so the cello will collect a little more dust, I figure. Hope everybody is enjoying the new year wherever you are!
This past week has been busy as usual with the boys. Aaron celebrated his 9th birthday last Friday with a trip to the Seven Clans Casino & Indoor Water Park (No, he didn't go to the casino...) He invited along a few of his buddies and by the time we left, there were a total of 7 boys in the weasel including Aaron, Daniel, Braeden and Brett Drevlow, Dusty, and another friend named Chad. We left in the early evening around 5 and the boys stayed in the water park area until about 8 and then played in the video arcade. The party at the water park included pizza, pop, and a cake with his name on it. They all had fun and Aaron was no exception with his usual broad grin. I played a dancing video game in the arcade named Dance Dance Revolution, otherwise known as DDRMax2, which has a lit dance pad with arrows on it in four directions and you have to match the arrows scrolling upward on the screen in front of you with your feet on the corresponding arrows of the dance pad. The game has two side by side pads so you can play against each other or separately. An 11 or 12 year old girl ended up taking the open pad next to mine as it was free to "join in" once I had started the game and I was actually able to beat her on all three songs. This old dog really can learn some new tricks. It wasn't easy, though, with 138 beat-per-minute songs like a technotronic version of The Twilight Zone song and a few other popular dance tunes.
After the water park, we dropped Dusty and Chad off and then Brett and Braeden Drevlow came over and stayed the night with Aaron in his first sleepover that didn't include Dusty. They played video games til the wee hours and it took me a good two days to get my own sleep back on schedule after that.
As for the baseball part of the above title, Aaron mentioned last night it was "Twins" day at Challenger Elementary today and he and Daniel needed to wear Minnesota Twins baseball clothing. We stopped at K-Mart last night and bought them each Twins ball caps as they don't sell any other Twins stuff in the offseason. Aaron came home today, though, to announce the Twins actually visited Challenger today! He brought home a sheet with the autographs of four of the players that visited along with the autograph of the team mascot, "T.C." He said he also shook hands with the mascot. I don't seem to recall anyone famous coming out to sign autographs when I was attending school here and here the boys have seen two different celebrity teams in less than a month. I can imagine the Minnesota Wild will show up next... :o)
Andrew started school at Northland Community & Technical College in town this past week with an eye toward an electrician's apprenticeship. He's taking a computer course amongst others and finds himself busy between that and working at Domino's. He's managed to pass some time as well in a cribbage group in town once a week too while poker is not in session. It sounds like he is enjoying himself and will probably stay in Minnesota long-term, at least until he finishes training for electrician.
The new tourist guides for TRF just got published and we noticed them last night while out shopping at K-mart. They have a picture of Jerry and Marilyn Wigness on the cover looking out over the Red River. It's a very tastefully put together publication. I think I'll ask for their autographs tonight to add to Aaron's burgeoning autograph collection... :o)
Tomorrow night should be an interesting matchup for hockey at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. We have Warroad coming to town, one of the two or three powerhouses historically in Minnesota high school hockey. I think they are a much larger school than TRF and are in a larger division, so it will pose a significant challenge to the Prowlers. TRF lost a heartbreaker in overtime last night to the Moorhead Spuds. I believe the score was 5 to 4. TRF now has a record of 10 wins and 4 losses, which places them 9th in the state in their division. Speaking of hockey, I still don't know the official tally in terms of points for that scrimmage against the Women's Olympic Team, but I was able to find out in the Grand Forks Herald that the Prowler boys did indeed outscore the Olympic Team, so both Warroad and TRF beat them. Not bad, considering there was no checking allowed.
The only other news at this point is the choir at Trinity is starting up with their first performance of 2006 on this coming Sunday (both services) and we'll probably not get a break until sometime in April or so. There hasn't been any news about upcoming string performances, so the cello will collect a little more dust, I figure. Hope everybody is enjoying the new year wherever you are!
Saturday, January 07, 2006
TEAM USA 2006 WOMEN'S OLYMPIC HOCKEY VISIT
Per the title of today's post, the 2006 Team USA Women's Olympic hockey team came to visit Thief River Falls last night. They were in town to scrimmage with the Prowler boys of Lincoln High at Ralph Engelstad Arena. They boys and I headed out earlier in the afternoon to the outdoor community skating rink at the corner of 10th and Labree Avenue to break in our new hockey skates. I lifted Danny over the boards onto the ice and he held on to the boards for dear life once inside. Quite an alien experience for him to say the least. I walked him around the rink with my regular boots on so I could better keep both of us upright. He did great, but called it quits a short time later as he was having a bit of difficulty standing up. I skated around the rink for the first time in over two decades (I never knew they made Cougar hockey skates, but they work great). I managed to finish about a half hour of skating without falling once.
We headed to the rink at 6:45 p.m. with the boys' friend, Tyler Widerski, and took in the scrimmage with Team USA. We got nice seats down at the Team USA goal right up at the plexi-glass, so we had pucks hitting only inches from in front of us and players slamming into the boards, so we really felt a part of the night's action. Joe Drevlow showed up a short time later with Brielle, Braeden, Brock, Brett, Brianna, Brigham, and I think one other girl to make a full house. At the break, Joe went to the concession stand and came back with a large cardboard box loaded with boxes of popcorn and pop for all of us. We all had a great time watching the action and I think the score was pretty close, though they didn't officially keep score on the scoreboard. It looked like the Prowlers enjoyed talking to the Team USA members at slow points in the game. Team USA is made up of about 10 Ivy League players coming from Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Brown with the majority of the remaining teammates from the U of Minnesota, one from U of Wisconsin, and one from the U of New Hampshire. There's one from Seattle and I think she attends the U of Minnesota.
The team visited Challenger Elementary yesterday afternoon before the scrimmage and signed a couple of autographs on Aaron's Prowler Pride t-shirt that all third graders get. After the scrimmage, Joe and his kids and Aaron and I headed down to the basement of the arena where the locker rooms are and waited outside the Team USA locker room with just a handful of other kids and parents and waited for players to come out and quite a few signed the kids' t-shirts, arms, programs, etc. with Sharpies and I got Aaron's picture with a few of them as well (posted above). Little did I know that moving to Thief River would afford the boys an opportunity to meet Olympic athletes. Aaron was positively beaming from ear to ear. I also got some good video footage of the team. They are scheduled to play in Torino, Italy next month, so it was nice of them to take the time to come all the way up here and visit with the kids.
Today, we decided to further break in the skates. We headed over to Huck Olson Memorial Arena for open public skating. Aaron put his skates on this time and both he and Daniel had the assistance of some walkers specifically designed for skating. Aaron said he wanted to "learn the hard way," i.e. fall down without any help, but I encouraged him to try the walker at first. He quickly found how valuable it could be. I think he made it about 20 minutes out there and fell a few times, but never hurt himself. Danny also fell a few times, but amazingly was able to pull himself up with the ice walker with no assistance and go on his way again. After open skating was closed about an hour later, Danny said, "Can we go to that outside rink again? I like skating, Dad. It's fun!" So, off we went to the rink at 10th and Labree. This time around, though, Danny walked from the car to the rink on his own with his skates on, climbed over the boards, again on his own, and proceded to walk around the rink, all on his own. He did kind of a babystep walk, but was amazingly steady and fell fewer times than when he used the walker at the Huck. He cried a few times and said he didn't want to skate again, but later tonight was asking me if we could "skate every day from now on." We ended today's activities with a trip to the Galaxy Twin to see the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" and are having a relaxing evening at home now watching Ernest Goes to Camp. I think we spent a good three hours on skates this afternoon and we'll probably go skating again tomorrow at the Ralph, so we'll be able to say we skated on the same ice as Team USA. Talk about a fun weekend!
We headed to the rink at 6:45 p.m. with the boys' friend, Tyler Widerski, and took in the scrimmage with Team USA. We got nice seats down at the Team USA goal right up at the plexi-glass, so we had pucks hitting only inches from in front of us and players slamming into the boards, so we really felt a part of the night's action. Joe Drevlow showed up a short time later with Brielle, Braeden, Brock, Brett, Brianna, Brigham, and I think one other girl to make a full house. At the break, Joe went to the concession stand and came back with a large cardboard box loaded with boxes of popcorn and pop for all of us. We all had a great time watching the action and I think the score was pretty close, though they didn't officially keep score on the scoreboard. It looked like the Prowlers enjoyed talking to the Team USA members at slow points in the game. Team USA is made up of about 10 Ivy League players coming from Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Brown with the majority of the remaining teammates from the U of Minnesota, one from U of Wisconsin, and one from the U of New Hampshire. There's one from Seattle and I think she attends the U of Minnesota.
The team visited Challenger Elementary yesterday afternoon before the scrimmage and signed a couple of autographs on Aaron's Prowler Pride t-shirt that all third graders get. After the scrimmage, Joe and his kids and Aaron and I headed down to the basement of the arena where the locker rooms are and waited outside the Team USA locker room with just a handful of other kids and parents and waited for players to come out and quite a few signed the kids' t-shirts, arms, programs, etc. with Sharpies and I got Aaron's picture with a few of them as well (posted above). Little did I know that moving to Thief River would afford the boys an opportunity to meet Olympic athletes. Aaron was positively beaming from ear to ear. I also got some good video footage of the team. They are scheduled to play in Torino, Italy next month, so it was nice of them to take the time to come all the way up here and visit with the kids.
Today, we decided to further break in the skates. We headed over to Huck Olson Memorial Arena for open public skating. Aaron put his skates on this time and both he and Daniel had the assistance of some walkers specifically designed for skating. Aaron said he wanted to "learn the hard way," i.e. fall down without any help, but I encouraged him to try the walker at first. He quickly found how valuable it could be. I think he made it about 20 minutes out there and fell a few times, but never hurt himself. Danny also fell a few times, but amazingly was able to pull himself up with the ice walker with no assistance and go on his way again. After open skating was closed about an hour later, Danny said, "Can we go to that outside rink again? I like skating, Dad. It's fun!" So, off we went to the rink at 10th and Labree. This time around, though, Danny walked from the car to the rink on his own with his skates on, climbed over the boards, again on his own, and proceded to walk around the rink, all on his own. He did kind of a babystep walk, but was amazingly steady and fell fewer times than when he used the walker at the Huck. He cried a few times and said he didn't want to skate again, but later tonight was asking me if we could "skate every day from now on." We ended today's activities with a trip to the Galaxy Twin to see the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" and are having a relaxing evening at home now watching Ernest Goes to Camp. I think we spent a good three hours on skates this afternoon and we'll probably go skating again tomorrow at the Ralph, so we'll be able to say we skated on the same ice as Team USA. Talk about a fun weekend!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy New Year 2006
Christmas has come and gone and with 2006 here, we find ourselves halfway through the school year and nearing our one year anniversary of moving here last January. Our Christmas was very enjoyable as expected. We spent the day as planned with Jerry and Marilyn Wigness, their kids, Doug & Kim Williams, and Steve Wigness along with Steve's boys, Drew (17), Sam (14), and Dylan (12). The boys spent time in their hot tub, which overlooks the river. It looks kind of funny out there as you stand out on the deck with the hot tub and about 20 yards away is a guy sitting on an upside down 5-gallon bucket ice fishing on the river. There's about two dozen ice houses on the river at this point, though it remains to be seen how successful they are at fishing this year. We had a lot to eat thanks to Marilyn including the obligatory meatballs and lefse and the boys received a lot of gifts there including blankets, uno card sets, drawing materials, etc. Andrew couldn't believe how stuffed he was and that the food just kept coming. We also played pool in the basement and had a rousing electronic game of "Catch Phrase" that lasted about two hours or so with Doug and Kim's three daughters and a couple of Steve's boys along with Marilyn and Jerry. Marilyn was the highlight of the evening, mixing up the timer button with the other button to advance trivia topics. We were all about to fall backwards in our chairs from laughing so hard when she kept pressing the wrong button.
As for our post-Christmas activities, we invited Joe Drevlow out to the recent hockey game between the Prowlers and Forest Park Rangers and he brought his "six eldest" kids with him, so it was quite the party. I'll post a pic here of most of them with Aaron (Danny was shy that night). The Prowlers won 5 to 3. We are expecting an interesting hockey event, though, on Wednesday or Thursday here in town. I opened the paper right after mom and dad called for New Year's to find that the USA Women's Hockey Team (for the 2006 Olympics) will be in town for a scrimmage game against the Prowler BOYS!! Talk about a once in a long time opportunity. The boys are looking forward to seeing that. I wonder if the Prowlers have a chance... :o)
School will be resuming as of tomorrow morning, so we took the opportunity Saturday night to bring Dusty and Kasey out with us to the water park at Seven Clans Casino. Dusty spent the night afterward. I could tell the boys really needed the opportunity to blow off some steam before classes resume. Aaron is also asking me daily now to take him there for his 9th birthday on January 13th.
Andrew is still working on gaining his "snow feet." He's fallen a few times already delivering for Domino's and finally broke down last week and got special oversoles for his shoes that grip the ice. He also has a heckuva time getting in and out of the back parking area in the back alley. I've had to push him either in or out about three times now. He hasn't gotten the hang of rocking a stickshift yet and has a habit of creating ice under his frontwheel drive Honda. The good news is we should only have another 3 1/2 months or so to go and the temperature has been kind lately. It's been hovering consistently around the high 20s and low 30s for a few weeks and we haven't had any subzero temps for some time (knock on frozen wood).
That's about all there is to report at this point. Hopefully all is well with everyone and all of you have a great New Year's.
As for our post-Christmas activities, we invited Joe Drevlow out to the recent hockey game between the Prowlers and Forest Park Rangers and he brought his "six eldest" kids with him, so it was quite the party. I'll post a pic here of most of them with Aaron (Danny was shy that night). The Prowlers won 5 to 3. We are expecting an interesting hockey event, though, on Wednesday or Thursday here in town. I opened the paper right after mom and dad called for New Year's to find that the USA Women's Hockey Team (for the 2006 Olympics) will be in town for a scrimmage game against the Prowler BOYS!! Talk about a once in a long time opportunity. The boys are looking forward to seeing that. I wonder if the Prowlers have a chance... :o)
School will be resuming as of tomorrow morning, so we took the opportunity Saturday night to bring Dusty and Kasey out with us to the water park at Seven Clans Casino. Dusty spent the night afterward. I could tell the boys really needed the opportunity to blow off some steam before classes resume. Aaron is also asking me daily now to take him there for his 9th birthday on January 13th.
Andrew is still working on gaining his "snow feet." He's fallen a few times already delivering for Domino's and finally broke down last week and got special oversoles for his shoes that grip the ice. He also has a heckuva time getting in and out of the back parking area in the back alley. I've had to push him either in or out about three times now. He hasn't gotten the hang of rocking a stickshift yet and has a habit of creating ice under his frontwheel drive Honda. The good news is we should only have another 3 1/2 months or so to go and the temperature has been kind lately. It's been hovering consistently around the high 20s and low 30s for a few weeks and we haven't had any subzero temps for some time (knock on frozen wood).
That's about all there is to report at this point. Hopefully all is well with everyone and all of you have a great New Year's.
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