The Bracken Bunch

Charlie and Santa

2012-01-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

Jenna decided that Charlie really needed to see Santa, so a few days before Christmas, we headed to Mall of America, hoping it wouldn't be too crowded. We grabbed some food at Noodles and then got in line. Charlie watched as other kids sat on Santa's lap, some crying and others smiling.

"Are you kidding? You want me to sit on that guy's lap?"

We had taken off his shirt while he ate, and we practically had to pin him to the ground to get his sweater back on him.

There, all set and almost Charlie's turn.

The decorations distracted him for a while.

Finally, it was time, and Jenna handed him off to the big hairy man in the red suit.

"Mama! Come back!"

(Santa looks totally bored - I think he'd probably had his fill of screaming babies for one season.)

"Let me out of here!"

"Ahhh, that's better - Mama came back, and he even gave me a sucker."

"Yeah! That's over for another year!"

Look at that huge smile - guess he wasn't too traumatized.

Chuck's Birthday Celebrations

2011-12-29T11:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday, dear Chuckie.

Happy Birthday to you!

Chuck's pre-birthday weekend started out with Charlie's first solo overnight at our house. Jenna and Andy had a Christmas party to go to on Friday night, so I picked up Maddox to deliver him to Corey, and then brought Charlie back home to Cannon Falls with me. Andy, Corey, and I all showed up wearing argyle sweaters. What are the chances?

Maddox took the picture, so it's from a rather low perspective - not a bad shot, though!

Charlie did great at our house! After Chuck entertained him for awhile on YouTube, we got out the markers and let him try out his artistic abilities.

I'm afraid he got more on himself than the paper.

Putting the caps back on is a challenge!

Bath time for Charlie (and his onesie).

He slept great, and I even got him down for a nap right after lunch on Saturday so he would be ready for the birthday festivities to follow.

Our plan for the birthday celebration on Saturday was:

*Pick up Kyle, and then meet Jenna and Andy downtown

*Go to Macy's Santaland

*Meet up with Corey and Maddox for dinner at Brit's Pub

*Go to the Hollidazzle Parade

*Eat cake at Corey's place

The afternoon/evening didn't quite work out as planned!

There was about a half-hour wait to get into the Macy's display ("A Day in the Life of an Elf"), and by the time we got to the front of the line, Charlie was totally done with sitting in his stroller. He decided he wanted to play with all of those little elves, so he kept trying to climb right in to the displays, and he did not particularly want to be carried. Needless to say, we walked through fairly quickly! Maybe he'll "get it" a little better next year!

We headed down the Nicollet Mall to Brit's Pub, and on our way, we got a call from Corey saying the wait for dinner was 2 hours. Hmmmmmm, on to Plan B, and then C and D, as restaurant after restaurant was full. We finally ended up at Kieran's Pub after a mad dash through the Skyway system as we tried to keep up with Kyle, who was leading the way. Once we got settled in for our 3/4 hour wait there, Jenna wanted to change Charlie's diaper and discovered they had left their backpack back at Macy's. Fortunately, when Andy went back to look for it, it was right where they left it - soooo lucky!

We finally were seated in our own private little room, which was great since we aren't exactly the calmest/quietest group around.

Charlie was starving by that time, and he loved his macaroni and cheese!

The waitress kept bringing Maddox glasses of milk as we waited - much better than beer!

Dinner was finally served, but by the time we finished, we totally missed the parade. Oh well. Maybe next year! We did not miss the after-parade traffic, though. Downtown was crazy, and the parking ramp was jammed with people leaving. Charlie fell asleep before Jenna and Andy made it to Corey's place, so they just went home, and Kyle had other plans for the evening, so Chuck had his cake with just Corey, Maddox, and me.

He still had candles, though.

Look at that cloud of smoke! We ended up delivering cake to Jenna and Andy on our way home.

We went to Mill St. Tavern on his actual birthday on Wednesday (I had a mega-rehearsal at church afterwards), and then on Thursday, we went to the St. Paul Hotel for an awesome dinner and live radio performance of "It's A Wonderful Life."

On Friday, Sandy and Ray had us over for dinner, and as usual, Sandy went all out with the meal and decorations!

Her centerpiece was beautiful,

and the food was delicious!

After a whole week of celebrations, Chuck is now officially....62!

Charlie, the Monkey!

2011-12-25T06:03:00.000-08:00

Charlie can make a toy out of the most random things. When I was babysitting several weeks ago, Charlie decided the footstool in his room was the best toy ever. It has a cover with storage space inside, so he took the cover off and proceeded to climb in. Then, he put his arms out and threw himself at me, assuming, of course, that I would catch him before he crashed to the floor.

I got a few pictures of the climbing in process, but I had to put the camera down quickly once he got in there so I'd be ready for the "launch."

Such concentration!

Get that leg in there!

"I did it!"

It took me awhile to calm him down for bed after this little game!

October/November Update

2011-12-17T10:44:00.001-08:00

Long time, no blogging. Guess that means we've been really busy with other "stuff." Here's an overview of the last few months. I have to get this done so I can move on and be ready for December.

We had an interesting experience this fall with this almost-dead tree of our neighbor's. It was right on our property line, and really needed to come down. One Sunday afternoon, Paul, our neighbor, got out his chain saw and started to cut. Scary when it started to wobble towards our house!

Chuck and Paul tried to push it, but it wouldn't budge. Finally, Paul hooked a strap to the tree, attached it to his pick-up, and drove away. Only problem was, the strap wasn't any where near long enough, and the tree fell right on top of his truck. He was trapped inside and actually had to climb out the window of the truck! Crazy!!

The truck was a little the worse for wear, too.

He set to work with his chainsaw and had the whole thing cleaned up and hauled away within a couple of hours.

I think he was lucky one of those branches didn't puncture the top of the truck and kill him, and we were lucky we didn't have a tree in our living room!!

Another October event - Jenna got an iPad from her school last summer, and Charlie probably uses it as much as Jenna. I don't even know how to turn it on. Oh well.

I do know how to respond to e-mails offering free concerts at the Ordway and Orchestra Hall! We took Maddox to a Target Free Family Concert by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra - what a great experience for children to be exposed to wonderful music!

This concert was about Mozart and how he wrote a concerto after hearing a tune sung by a little bird in his garden.

We played a little peek-a-boo while waiting for the concert to start.

Maddox had to take a picture of us, too. I also took him to see "The Wizard of Oz" at the Children's Theater in November for part of his birthday present - no pictures of that one, though.

And here's another October milestone! Ray turned 66 on October 11th - wow!

Our tradition of entertaining each other on our birthdays continued, and I made a chocolate strawberry cream torte for dessert - delicious!

Looking good, Sandy and Ray!

So much fun to celebrate with good friends!

MEA finally arrived and Jenna and I took a much-needed break and went "Up North" to visit Chuck's mom and spend a little time on the North Shore.

We can never resist stopping at Gooseberry Falls. Charlie has been there at least 4 times already! We drove on up the shore of Lake Superior to Tofte, where we stayed overnight at Bluefin Bay, one of my favorite resorts. We didn't have a refrigerator in our room, so Jenna took an early-morning trip to Super America to pick up some milk and cereal for our little "early-riser."

Nothing like a little breakfast at the end table (the lamp is on the floor - we had to do a little furniture re-arranging). After breakfast, we went for a swim in the pool and did a little hiking.

Charlie was impressed with my hiking boots!

Look at the big lake, Charlie!

Ahhhhhh, there it is!

I had to get back on Saturday to attend my 40 year college reunion at Augsburg!

Here are a few of my Elementarty Education buddies. It was reassuring to find out that I'm not the only non-retired teacher from my class (3 of us from this group are still working)!

Moving on. Maddox celebrated his 5th birthday on Monday, October 24th!

Here he is with his pre-school class treat of fruit juice bars. The kids love them (the teachers, not so much). Happy Birthday, Maddox! This was just one of many celebrations for this little guy. He partied over the weekend with Heidi, and then...

we had another cake for him at our house on Wednesday night.

Of course, there were a few presents, too. Corey is getting really good at assembling LEGO vehicles!

Blow them all out, Maddox!
After cake and ice cream, we started decorating the basement for the kid's costume party that we hosted on Sunday, Oct. 30, for about 15 of Maddox's little buddies.

One of the games was a bean-bag pumpkin toss.

We covered a lot of the basement "junk" with sheets, and hung streamers from the rafters. We didn't have to put up any fake spider webs - there were plenty of real ones!

Corey and Maddox came back on Saturday to finish getting ready. Here, they're packing up the gift bags for all the little characters coming to the party.

Lots of Super Heroes!

Corey started the party by reading a spooky story, and then the kids rotated to 4 different activity centers (I can't help it - I'm a 1st grade teacher :-)) Next, it was presents, and...

food! Yes, I actually served them in my dining room, but we didn't use the purple grape juice boxes. Those glasses are filled with water! The kids actually did really well, and there weren't any spills at all (a few crumbs, though). After food, we sent the kids outside to run off some energy. fortunately, it was warm enough for everyone to race around the front yard. The favorite activity was jumping off the stump from that tree we cut down a few weeks earlier. After over a week of celebrating, Maddox is now officially five. What a kid - we're so proud of him!

Charlie is still playing with the leftover balloons from the party.

His latest trick is putting the ends of them in his mouth and then running around shaking his head and making noises - so funny!

November wasn't nearly as eventful as October. The month just whizzed right by and we're already at Thanksgiving at Ted and Pat's!

I discovered I didn't have a picture to use for a Christmas card, so we went outside in the afternoon for some pictures. It was a beautiful day, and Maddox and Charlie had much more fun wrestling than posing for a family picture.

Maddox got a new leather jacket like his dad's!

We couldn't believe how warm it was for the end of November!

So....here's the final choice. Happy Thanksgiving, and soon to be Merry Christmas!

This one didn't make the cut, but it's pretty good of everyone too, except for grumpy Kyle. There, I'm caught up to December! My computer has been working really slowly, and this post has taken me forever to do! I think I have to try to do more and shorter posts so it doesn't take me so long! Yeah, right. We'll see how that goes! :-)

Fifth Annual Family Golf!!

2011-11-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

Our Fifth Annual Family Golf Day was a huge success! The weather was cloudy and cool, but pleasant (Chuck, of course, thought it was hot, but the rest of us were a little chilly). We ate LOTS of appetizers during the Viking game and then headed out to Summit Par-3 for a fun round of best-ball.

Our teams and scores were: Jane, Chuck and Jenna - 41; Andy and Joyce - 38; and the winners, Corey and Paul - 33. Maddox and Charlie took a shot now and then, too. They'll probably whip us all in a few more years!
Corey rented a cart so Maddox could have fun zipping around (no, he didn't drive it yet - maybe next year).

He had fun climbing on it, though!

Of course, I had to get action shots of everyone during a tee shot, so here they are, in order of age from oldest to youngest. Oh no - that means I have to be first - where are Ted and Pat when I need them??

Jane

Chuck

Joyce

Paul

Corey

Jenna

Andy

Maddox

Charlie

The course was in really good shape,

and it was fun to be outside on a nice fall afternoon.

Charlie had his own cart, but he didn't quite last in it for the whole round.

It was much more fun to run around!

Until next year!!!!

September Events!

2011-10-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a picture says it all....

Look at that face! :-) We are very excited about the arrival in May of another little grandchild!

Jenna called me on the 2nd day of school and asked me if I was available for some babysitting in May. I told her I didn't even have a 2012 calendar yet, but, thinking they maybe had a wedding to go to, I said it shouldn't be a problem. When she said it would have to be an overnight since she would be in the hospital, it still took me a few seconds to get it. Duh!! We're thinking this one just might be a girl since she's having a little more nausea than with Charlie. Maybe??

We also celebrated Paul's 60th birthday in September. Joyce planned a surprise party for him at a golf course in Waconia, and she actually pulled it off. He was totally shocked at all of the friends and family in attendance.

He survived the "roast," too.
Happy Birthday, Paul!

Since Jenna hasn't felt much like cooking lately, she and Charlie have shown up several times for a good old home-cooked meal by mom. Following dinner, it's playtime for Charlie. A friend of mine gave me this giant dog for the kids to play with. Maddox promptly named him BoBo, and Charlie LOVES to run and dive head first on top of him.

Riding him is fun, too! I think BoBo will be around for awhile!

Charlie with Ba and Jane-Jane.

Hmmmm, this little guy is going to go into shock when he has to share the attention!

I Love Fall!

2011-10-02T12:08:00.001-07:00

I came downstairs Saturday morning to make my morning coffee, and I immediately noticed an orange glow in the kitchen (it's usually still dark when I make my way downstairs during the week, and my eyes are still half shut).

The maple tree outside the kitchen window is in full color, and it's gorgeous!

Here's the view from the deck.
Then, I went into the family room to drink that cup of coffee, and there was a golden glow in that room.

The maple tree outside the window is also reflecting the sunlight, but it's yellow instead of orange.

Our deck has become a treetop hang-out. We might have to do a little trimming next summer!

I wish this could last for a couple of months - it's sooooo beautiful! I'm definitely NOT ready for winter!

First Day of School, 2011

2011-10-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

The first day of school is always an exciting day, and my tradition of taking pictures to document it is continuing with our grandchildren!

Phebe, 8, is starting 3rd grade in West Palm Beach, FL - she's growing up WAY too fast! I wish she was lots closer so we could attend her school events and keep up with all of her activities! She's doing so well!

Maddox, 4, is starting his 2nd year of preschool in Cannon Falls. I love having him at my school so I can see him in "action" and check in with him a couple of times a week. He's been known to ask his teacher, "When is my grandma coming to see me today?"

Charlie, 1, is starting his 2nd year at daycare. He's a busy little guy, and always up to something (looks like he's still chewing on some breakfast here). He loves going to Miss Pam's house, and can now say the names of all of his little friends. It's fun to run up to SSP after school occasionally to pick him up from daycare when Jenna has something going on and can't get there by 4:30.

We are so blessed to have these three beautiful grandchildren!!
We are very proud of them all (and their parents)!

Kyle's Birthday

2011-10-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our "baby" turned 34 on September 6th. How could that be??

Seems like just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. Kyle didn't really have blotches all over his face - our scanner isn't working very well. He does, however, have the same haircut now as 34 years ago! :-)

So...where did the years go? I'm convinced that time really does fly.

We celebrated on Labor Day with a fish fry at our house. Chuck, Andy, Corey, and Maddox caught dozens of fish at the lake in August, so it was a good excuse to eat some of them.

Chuck picked out this card - I'm wondering if he thought Kyle might need glasses in his old age? That print is pretty big!

Celebrating 34 years is serious business!

Kyle's request was a rainbow ice cream cake (a favorite from the past) - it was really good!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Summer's Last Hurrah

2011-10-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

The last week of August is always very busy, as I try to cram as many fun activities as possible into my last week of summer vacation. This year was no exception! First, I headed up to Lower Hay Lake on the Whitefish Chain for a few days of relaxation with Diane.

We had great weather for golfing and kayaking, and of course, chatting!

Then, on my way home, I stopped at Pelican Lake near Breezy Point to visit Kathy. I'm so lucky to have friends who are willing to share their beautiful cabins! :-)

I made it home just in time to celebrate our 38th anniversary with dinner out at Mill St. Tavern in Cannon Falls. Happy Anniversary, Chuck!

On Saturday morning, we took off early in the morning for the State Fair. We picked up Kyle and made it there by 8:00 am. It's great wandering around before all the crowds of people arrive!

Jenna and Charlie joined us later in the morning. Charlie loved the corn on the cob!

He also loved the Rainbow playsets. If we had a few extra thousand dollars (yeah, right) there would be one in our backyard right now! Come on, Charlie, get up there!

Hey, Charlie! Where are you going?

Ahhhh, down the slide!

Charlie also liked the Early Literacy area, where he met an author of children's books, read some new books, and made an ABC crown.

He definitely got the idea of trying out lots of Fair Food!

That milkshake was really good!

Can't beat the Sweet Martha chocolate chip cookies, though, even when you're almost asleep!

Didn't take him long to crash when he finally got in the car.

That night, we had tickets to the first Vikings home game since the Metrodome roof collapsed last winter. We hung out at Jenna and Andy's for awhile after the Fair, and then drove to MOA where we parked our car and took the train downtown.

The new roof looked great, but the Vikings? Not so much - they lost 23-17, which seems to be the way their whole season is going.

Hmmmmm, I wonder what Chuck was looking at?
I'll bet it wasn't the players. ;-)

We were pretty tired by the end of the game!

What a day!

President Obama Visits Cannon Falls - Aug. 15, 2011

2011-09-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

Nearly everyone in Cannon Falls has a story to tell about what they were doing the day President Obama came to visit! Chuck heard the radio announcement about the upcoming event while he was fishing during our vacation up north. He texted me with the breaking news, and my response was "Seriously?" I thought maybe he'd had a bit too much sun and he was hallucinating. President Obama? In Cannon Falls? How could that be? I immediately turned on our little TV in our cabin for the noon news, and sure enough, it was true. We got home on Saturday to a town that was really buzzing with excitement! We heard that about 500 tickets for the Town Meeting would be given out at 1:00 pm Sunday on a first-come, first-serve basis, with the line forming early Sunday morning. Jenna considered coming down to try to get tickets, but I checked out the line at 7:15 am and it was already really long. We later learned that those who got in line between 5:00 and 6:00 got tickets, and the rest went home empty-handed, after waiting 6-7 hours!

We went downtown Sunday afternoon to watch some of the preparations. As we sat in front of the winery, all of the local school buses came around the corner from the bus garage, heading towards Hannah's Bend Park. We couldn't figure out why they were going there, so we took a walk to investigate.

The buses were parked around the whole perimeter of the park as a shield against loonies who might try to do something crazy. Our school superintendent had to come up with 42 buses, and since our district only owns 17, she was recruiting buses from all of the surrounding school districts. We were able to walk throughout the park, and watch the set-up process.

These guys were working on the sound system.

Picnic tables were set up around the podium area.

The podium from the back.

The podium from the front. The river back-drop looked great in all the TV coverage!

And, of course, the satellites.

Beth, our supt. (in the aqua shirt), had a long list of jobs to do, and she was on a first-name basis with these Secret Service guys. They were dressed really casually on Sunday afternoon, but they got out the suits and sunglasses for Monday.

Monday morning dawned clear and beautiful. Jenna arrived at about 9:15 with Charlie, and we headed downtown to meet a few of my friends for coffee at the Old Market Deli. Jenna pulled in to a parking spot right in front of the deli, and we left the car there for the rest of the day as we took off walking and pushing the stroller. There were tons of people hanging out, just waiting for the arrival of the President of the United States! I really thought the cavalcade would come in from the north on old Hwy 52, so we headed north and found a small group of people waiting by the old Searle Grain buildings.

Most of the people were teachers and their kids, the true thinkers in town :-).

This Secret Service guy confirmed our idea that this was the chosen route.

We waited, and waited...

Charlie was very patient, and seemed to sense that something exciting was going to happen.

Here he comes!

Suddenly, a whole crew of State Patrol cars pulled up,

and there was the Presidential bus!

Next came this big red bus, and after that, there were about a dozen white media vans, several ambulances, and more patrol cars. What a parade! While they continued on to the park, we went to another coffee shop for lunch during the speech. After lunch, we walked back downtown, where the crowds were getting bigger.

Everyone thought President Obama would come downtown, and when the bomb-sniffing dogs started checking out the area by the Old Market Deli, we were pretty sure that was where he was going. We were on the opposite corner, and since we had the stroller, it was really hard to move through the crowds. We just stayed put and tried to take pictures from afar. The people who just happened to be in the deli were the lucky ones!

Again, Charlie was very patient!

Sure enough, the bus finally pulled in,

followed by the support staff in the vans.

The media left the vans and took off for the deli.

Cars and vans were parked strategically between the crowds and the deli. It was really hard to see what was going on, so I was unable to get pictures. However, I stole the rest of these pictures from the Facebook pages of some of my friends.

There's Jenna's car, right where we left it at 9:30, probably all sniffed out by those dogs!

And there's the President with Jenna's car! We didn't get to shake his hand, but he maybe touched the car as he passed by on his way into the deli!

He met with some local vets as he ate a turkey sandwich. Rumor has it that three Secret Service men watched the chef as he made that sandwich.

We've been at that same table many times when we've had coffee!

After lunch, President Obama met on the street with a group of people pulled from the crowd, but again we were way too far away. Oh well.

Bye! Thanks for visiting our town!

From here, he went to Zumbrota for pie, then to Chatfield to meet with a group of school children, and finally to Decorah, IA, for another town meeting in the evening. It was quite a day for our small town, and it was a day that will be talked about for many years to come.

Beacon Shores, 2011

2011-09-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I ask myself why I spend the time and energy to do these blog posts. But then, I realize that if we're wondering what we did to celebrate our anniversary or a birthday a few years back, I just check out some of my old posts, and the memories come flooding back. Guess I'll keep at it, but I've got some catching up to do!

Last summer, when Jenna and I spent a few days at a friend's cabin on the Whitefish Chain, we decided we really needed to return to Beacon Shores, the resort where we spent many family vacations in the past. We stopped at the resort and made a reservation for a 3 bedroom cabin for this summer. The deal was, everyone had to come for at least part of the week. I wasn't sure it was actually going to happen until we all finally arrived on August 6th.

Kyle stayed 'til Monday night, Corey and Maddox until Wednesday morning, and Jenna, Andy, and Charlie stayed for the whole week! It was so much fun to have everyone together for a least part of the time! The weather was great, the food was tasty (although I missed having a dishwasher - ha!), and the fishing was fantastic!

We had a couple of sand monsters. Charlie doesn't look like he's having much fun here, but he loved the sand and the water!

The water toys were fun, too.

And the sunsets were gorgeous!

The kids made tye-dyed t-shirts.

The dye was a little messy.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the finished products, but they were pretty cute.

We spent one evening at a park in Crosslake

The boys had a great time on all the play equipment...

and an even better time eating ice cream in the town square by the Chocolate Ox.

Maddox is such a good helper!

The kiddos also tried out the minnow races. Choosing the best minnow was quite the project.

Mmmmmmm, this one looks good!

Look at it go!

Yeah!

Charlie's turn....

Go, go, go!

This one is a bit bigger!

Chuck and Andy spent a lot of time in the fish house fileting the many fish that they caught.

I tried to spend time with my birthday gift, a Kindle.

Time for a little fishing for Charlie.

Life jacket on.

Check out the live well - nice fishy!

Catch one, Daddy!

Charlie wanted to jump right in! I think he's doing the splits!

Beach time.

Swim, Charlie!

The last day's catch!

Jenna and Andy celebrated their 5th anniversary on Friday, the 12th, so after cleaning all those fish, they got cleaned up and went out for dinner.

Ahhhhhh, cute!

Chuck and I hung around to babysit. Since Charlie had just learned how to climb out of his crib, my goal was to get him to sleep without any tears. I put him in his pj's, strapped him in his carseat, and drove around for about 20 minutes until he was out cold! I then transferred him to the crib. Success!

We played Mexican Dominoes when the kids came home.

We brought along a bottle of champagne to toast the "newlyweds," but the cork was dried up and it shredded into the bottle. Andy and I got real creative and used coffee filters to strain it into wine glasses. Cheers and congratulations!

Time to go...

but we'll be back!
We checked out a few other cabins after people had cleared out on Saturday morning, and we made a reservation for next summer in a bit bigger cabin. If anyone else cares to join us, it would be fun to rent several cabins and have an extended-family vacation!

Wine Making 101

2011-09-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

Ever get the urge to make homemade wine? I had the chance to do so this summer with a group of friends. We went to the Vine Park Brewing Company on West 7th St. near downtown St. Paul and mixed up some Pinoit Grigio and Shiraz. It was quite the process, and, of course, it also involved lunch and a little shopping, too!

The steps involved just pouring, adding "stuff," and mixing, starting with plain old water.

This is the pinoit grigio mix

After adding all of the ingredients, the pail was sealed, but there was a tube for "breathing."

The steps were repeated for the shiraz.

Wood chips were also added to the red - looks kind of yucky.

Here's the shiraz mix.

Ah, that looks better.

After all the ingredients were added and the pails sealed, they were put aside for about 6 weeks. The brewery employees stirred, strained, etc. on a weekly basis, and then we returned for the bottling process (and more lunch).

We started out with sterilizing the bottles by pouring a solution into them,

and letting them drain. That's our pinoit grigio in the background, waiting to be bottled. Looks kind of like....no, I won't say it. :-)

Here's the bottling machine,

and the corking machine.

Finally, we added the labels. Now, the wine has to age for awhile, 6 months for the white and 9 months for the red.

Looks like a lot of wine - sure hope it's good! I think we better have a BIG party! Actually, I only got 6 bottles of the pinoit, since I'm not a big fan of red wine. Jean only got red, and the others got some of each. If anyone is interested in more details, just google "vine park brewery." You can make many different kinds of wine, and also various kinds of beer- it was a fun time!

Star Wars Quilt

2011-09-01T18:03:00.001-07:00

I promised Maddox a long time ago that I would make a quilt for him, but somehow it just wasn't getting done by itself. Finally, one day this summer, after taking him to swimming lessons in Apple Valley, we stopped by JoAnn Fabrics so he could pick out some fabric. We looked at Toy Story, Spider Man, Incredible Hulk, every licensed character fabric you could imagine, and he finally decided that all he really wanted was Star Wars. And did they have Star Wars fabric? Of course not! I told him I would have to shop around, but at least I had an idea of where to start. I checked with a few other fabric stores, and NO ONE had Star Wars fabric. But then I remembered - we're in the computer age!! So.... I googled "star wars fabric" and sure enough, I had several choices of things to order. I ended up ordering some on e-bay and it arrived several days later. Talk about painless fabric shopping (but expensive!). However, it only came in fat quarters (if you quilt, you know what I mean), so I had to seriously alter my pattern.

The center panel is two fat quarters, and I was able to find a cool galaxy print to fill out the total center panel, and then lots of fun coordinating colors for the border - no mini flowers or calico prints for a Star Wars quilt!!

I also made a couple of pillows with some of the leftover fabric.

Maddox loved it, and it goes great in his super heroes room!

Another Birthday (sigh)

2011-08-16T20:24:00.001-07:00

Celebrating with my two favorite grandsons!

Well, it's that time of year again. The end of July seems to roll around faster and faster! It seems like I was just celebrating the big 6-0, and now it's already 6-2 . YIKES! How does that happen? I started this year's activities with our usual "birthday lunch." Jo, Linda and I all have birthdays within 2 weeks of each other, so we've been celebrating together for years. This year we ended up at MOA for shopping and lunch at Crave, after checking out Jo and Roger's new house in South Minneapolis (they move in the end of August), Corey's apartment in the old Sears tower, and the Midtown Global Market. It was a very busy day!

Since Sandy's birthday is in January, she treated the birthday girls to a bottle of wine with our lunch, and we all shared a delicious piece of cake.
Our family dinner was at Corey's roof-top party room where we grilled brats and hamburgers. We've decided it's much more relaxing to get the whole group together at a home instead of a restaurant, especially with the little guys who don't have much patience for "slow food." Maddox thought we should have my birthday dinner at McDonald's, but I wasn't too impressed with that idea.

Angela, Andy's mom, was here from Pittsburgh so it was fun to have her join us. After dinner, we went back to Corey's apartment for cake and presents . The kids went together and got me a Kindle - I love it, especially for reading in the car when we're traveling. I'm also looking forward to this fall when I can download free books from the library. The cake (see first picture) turned out great! I'll have to admit, though, that I made it myself - fudge strawberry cream torte - YUM! There wasn't much left over, but Corey ate Jenna's unfinished piece the next morning, and he said it was still awesome after sitting out all night!

The kids worked off the calories with a little dancing after eating that rich cake.

I'm not sure what Maddox is doing here - break dancing, maybe?

My birthday surprise from Chuck this year was a North Shore weekend trip to attend a Log Cabin Concert at the home of Michael Monroe, a folk/contemporary jazz artist who we have followed for years. He performs all over the state, and also welcomes people into his home near Grand Marais for receptions/concerts several times a year. It was awesome!

We set off Friday morning, and took our time driving up to Duluth. We stopped for margaritas and chips at Little Angie's in Canal Park, and then picked up subs and ate them along the lake. It was great until we started getting eaten alive by the flies! We spent Friday night in Two Harbors at Chuck's mom's home before heading up the shore on Saturday morning.

Hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail between Beaver Bay and Silver Bay was on our list of things to do on Saturday, and we had a beautiful day for it!

There was a 10K race going on that morning, in the opposite direction from the way we were going, so we kept having to step aside off the trail to let the runners/walkers get by. One guy was even running barefoot!

I decided I needed a picture of us along the trail, and I finally found a fallen log at just the right height for my camera. I set the timer, ran to get in the picture, and -- oops! -- forgot to check for leaves in the way.

Ah, that's better.

After hiking several miles, we had lunch in Silver Bay and checked into Grand Superior Lodge. We had a soak in the hottub, got cleaned up, and then made our way further north to Grand Marais for the concert.

Here's our "buddy," Michael Monroe, with one of his many guitars.

There were about 18 people attending the concert, and wine and appetizers were served during the social hour before and at the break. We had front row seats on the love seat. This is the first time I've been serenaded with a reggae version of "Happy Birthday."

Chuck got to tour Michael's studio, and we both posed for a picture after the concert was over - very cool!

We woke up the next morning to another beautiful day, and after going down to the lake with our early morning coffee, we decided to be the first hikers at Gooseberry Falls, and then clean up for the trip home.

Early morning at Grand Superior Lodge - we stayed in the unit in the upper right hand side. It was beautiful, and we even had a bird's eye view of a wedding along the shore on Saturday afternoon!

Gooseberry Falls was deserted at 8:00 Sunday morning!

We hiked most of the way to the lake,

and then decided to just hang out, relax on a bench, and soak up all that early-morning peace and quiet. I should have been playing the prelude at the 8:30 service at church in CF when this picture was taken, but Chuck even arranged for a sub for me - what a guy (and thanks, Anne)!
It was a wonderful weekend!

We still had one more celebration before all the birthday festivities finally came to an end. We have a tradition with our good friends, Sandy and Ray, to entertain each other for our birthdays, so my birthday dinner was the next Friday night. Sandy makes a great mojito! Here's to turning 62!

The dinner was fantastic, as usual!

Well, that about wraps it up - another year older, another week of celebrating with my wonderful family and friends, and another new year to look forward to! Thanks everyone!!!!!!!

The Pink Stripes Are Gone!!

2011-07-24T18:58:00.001-07:00

Yeah!! I did it!
Stripping the wallpaper and painting Jenna's room have been on my to-do list for several summers, and it's been one of those projects that I just couldn't get going on, probably because I knew that once I started, I'd be in that room for days (if not weeks). I was determined to get at it this summer, though, since Jenna moved out and started college 10 years ago, and it was almost 20 years ago that my good friend, Sally, helped me put up the paper. I finally pulled at one little corner behind the door to see how hard it would be to get the wallpaper off, and when it came off in a whole strip, I couldn't stop! Long overdue!!!

Peeling the paper was the fun part.

It came off in huge sheets, leaving the paper backing behind.

Then came the work. I went through 2 bottles of CHOMP, and countless spray bottles of water as I wet down the paper and scraped and scraped and scraped some more.
I tried to get Maddox to help me one day, but all he would do was take my picture. Thanks, kid! After I finally got the paper off, it took several scrubbings with TSP to get all the sticky goo off the walls. That was even more work than scraping the backing! Finally, I was ready to go shopping for a new quilt set, find a paint color ("platinum" from ACE Hardware), and slap a few coats of paint on those fresh, clean walls!

Quite a transformation! I wanted to use my Alaskan prints over the bed, so that's where I started with the color scheme. I also had to make the valance for the window. It's hard to tell from the picture, but there is aqua in the quilt, so I wanted to pick that up in the valance. Check this big project off my summer list!!
(Jenna and Chuck are still in mourning for the pink stripes.)

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-23T10:03:00.001-07:00

July 3rd:

Chuck and Andy set off early Sunday morning for some fishing on Lake Pepin. They headed to Lake City, where they picked up some bait and launched the boat. Boat traffic was really heavy, and Chuck is now vowing to never again go fishing on a holiday weekend! Although plenty of fish were showing up on the screen, they didn't get a single bite. Jenna and I joined them with Charlie in the early afternoon. We had to stop on the way to pick up a life jacket for Charlie. He'll be needing it lots more when we go up to the lake for a week in August!

He loved the wind in his face as we scooted around the lake.

He was not quite so impressed with the sunscreen on his face!

Andy and Chuck tried to do a little more fishing, but no luck once again.

Charlie was entertained with a few toys as we baked in the hot sun.

He got to cool off in the whale pool when we got back home!

July 4th:

We watched the CF parade in the morning , relaxed a bit in the afternoon, and then headed up to St. Paul. We decided we wanted to watch the fireworks in the "big city" for a change, and since Chuck had heard about an offer at Kincaid's for $8.00 burger and beers, we thought we'd check it out. What a good deal! We also found a great outdoor patio and happy hour at Wild Tymes (cheap appetizers and $2.00 drinks - can't beat it!), so we were glad we went early!

We had lots of time to hang out after dinner, first in Mears Park and then on the Science Museum patio.

We staked out our spot for the fire works, and then...

listened to music and did some people-watching - much more interesting and diverse than in Cannon Falls!

Finally, the show began, and it was awesome!

I'm afraid my camera doesn't do a very good job of capturing fireworks (probably because I can't hold it still enough - I think I need a tripod), but trust me when I say that it was a GREAT display and very loud with the sound bouncing off the downtown buildings.

I'm always a little sad when we reach the 4th of July because that means summer is almost half over, and the rest of my break always seems to go by sooooo fast! I also realize I don't have much time left for all my summer projects - time to get busy!!

Maddox and Charlie

2011-07-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

It's summertime, and since I am fortunate to have the summer off and my kids don't, I have been helping out by doing some occasional child-care for Maddox and Charlie, sometimes one at a time, and sometimes together. They really keep me hopping! I usually have my camera with me, and I can't resist snapping pictures, so here goes:

I've taken Maddox to private swimming lessons in Apple Valley.

He's a little fish!

He can float, too!

He loves to play video games when we're hanging out, but the teacher in me encourages other activities, too. His comment when I try to play the Wii: "You look like an old girl playing Wii." Ya think??

Maddox is playing soccer in a 4-6 year old league, and we've discovered that watching pre-schoolers play soccer is a real hoot! We cheer for Maddox when the ball just accidentally bounces off his shin pads!

He's playing defense here. Can you tell?

Hmmmm, naptime?

Flirting with the goalie?

Yeah, Maddox!

These pictures were taken at his very first game. He's doing much better now that he's an experienced player with 3 games under his belt!!

Charlie has had several "overnights" at our house , and he loves playing with all of the toys we have around. These beads are leftover from Jenna's baby days, and she used to put them on her head and wear them just like this!

These stacking cups are also from the "olden days." Sometimes it pays to hang on to things forever!

I think he's giving his ball a ride in the stroller.

His own toys are much more sophisticated, like this "noise-toy" puzzle. There's actually a button under each shape that makes the sound of the vehicle when you put the piece in the right place.

He also loves to play with my phone - looks like he's texting!

My friend Kathy brought her little grandson, Grayson, over to Jenna's to play one afternoon, and the boys had so much fun! Charlie was pretty good about sharing until Grayson really wanted one of his favorite toys.

Charlie was also into giving big hugs, and Grayson wasn't too sure about all that affection.

I can't imagine having twins. Two one-year olds in the same room was almost more than two grandmas could handle! We hardly had time for our coffee!

They did share a few good books for a few minutes!

We've had the whale pool out a few times this summer, and Charlie finally had a chance to try it out.

He loved the "blow spout."

Charlie has also discovered the computer. He loves to watch stories on You Tube, and his favorite is "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" (he asks for "boom boom").

Another fun activity is wearing my glasses.

They fit a little better on Maddox, but still look pretty silly.

I spent a whole morning a few weeks ago disturbing Jenna's entire neighborhood with the noise from the air pump as I tried to get this pool inflated. It took over two hours!

I waited until Jenna got home to let the boys go in for the first time - they thought the slide was pretty cool, and so did Crosby.

We took Charlie along to watch soccer one night, and he became the center of attention on the sidelines. Several of my former students are big sisters to some of Maddox's teammates, so the big sisters took over the job of Charlie-watching.

I paid them each a quarter at the end of the game, and they were so impressed! Their first baby-sitting money!

Last week, I had to prepare for a funeral, a wedding, and Sunday services while Charlie was at our house, so guess who got to go along to church with me? He thought those organ pedals were pretty neat!

I ended up turning off the pedals completely and just let him crawl around while I played the manuals. I wish someone had been around to get a picture of that!

I got done with all of my music prep in record time!

Maddox is very tech savvy. Jenna has a new I-Pad for her classroom, and I think he's showing her a few tricks!

Nothing beats a good book, though. Maddox is a really good helper with Charlie, and he does a great job "reading" stories to him.

I'm afraid summer is going by way too fast! It's so much fun having the chance to watch these two little guys grow and change!

Father's Day

2011-07-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

After much debate about what to do for Father's Day this year, we ended up at the Green Mill Restaurant on Hennepin Ave., near Kyle's apartment, for their "Man Brunch." Jenna, Andy, and Charlie were in Pittsburgh celebrating with Andy's family, so it was just me and the guys.

Chuck and his boys.

Hmmmm, who will win?

Maddox gave it his all, but he finally gave up. Give him another year or two.

Ahhhh...
After brunch, we headed to the Stone Arch Bridge Art Festival, just across the river from downtown Minneapolis.

Maddox was pretty interested in the falls, and seemed to understand when Corey explained how the lock and dam works. All that water power ran all the mills and provided electricity for the city of Minneapolis 100 years ago.

My new favorite picture of father and son!

The Stone Arch bridge, Guthrie Theater, and Mill City Museum.

St. Anthony Falls

Downtown skyline

We hung out with Corey and Maddox for awhile, listening to music and people-watching, then checked out a few of the artists before heading back to Cannon Falls. It was a very relaxing afternoon, spent with some of my favorite people!

Carol's Cabin, Part???

2011-06-24T15:50:00.001-07:00

Last week, we had our annual "girls only" outing at Carol's cabin on Lake Zumbro, just north of Rochester. This has been a tradition for years - we're all current or retired CF teachers, and it's a great way to unwind after all the craziness of the last week of school, although I'm the only one still teaching. I guess the rest were unwinding in my honor (or sympathizing?). Four of us went down in the pouring rain on Wednesday afternoon, so there were no outdoor activities that day. We chatted (a lot) and read our June book club selection, Life of Pi. It was actually kind of funny since we were all reading the same book, but we were in different spots so we couldn't talk much about it. Jo was the farthest along, and when I was frustrated with all the philosopical discussions at the beginning, she said, "Just keep reading - it gets better and better!" She was right, and by Friday I couldn't put it down until I was done.

Thursday was a gorgeous day, with lots of sunshine and comfortable temps. After a morning of reading, more chatting, kayaking, and walking, Mickey and Linda joined us in the afternoon. Dinner is always outside, and always wonderful!

We also found some time for a pontoon boat ride. Carol has become a pro at maneuvering the boat around the lake, and it was even easier this year because we didn't have to worry about shallow water. She did have to watch out for lots of floating debris since the Zumbro River flows through the lake and we've had lots of heavy rains recently.

We went out later in the afternoon so we didn't have to worry about sunburn, either.

It was nice and sunny again on Friday morning, but starting to get a bit humid. Jo and I headed out in the kayaks for a tour of the back waters that Carol and I had discovered the day before. We saw lots of fish jumping, a turtle sunning itself on a log, and some interesting vegetation as we paddled through a swampy area not too far from the cabin. We felt like quite the explorers! Thanks, Carol, for another fun getaway! We'll be back next June!

Happy Birthday, Andy!

2011-06-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

We had another celebration this week as Andy caught up to Jenna and turned 28 on the 13th. These kids are getting OLD!

We had a great dinner at Spaghetti Factory,one of our favorites for family dinners. I'm afraid my camera batteries were just about dead and we could only get one picture, but at least Andy's birthday is documented. Happy Birthday to a great son-in-law!

Happy Birthday, Corey!

2011-06-09T06:17:00.001-07:00

Yikes! Corey turned 32 on June 2nd! I can't believe my little guy is that old! We celebrated by going to the 5-8 Club in Minneapolis for Juicy Lucy's (cheese stuffed hamburgers - mmmmmmmm, good!), and then back to Corey's place for ice cream and cake.

The birthday boy and his best little buddy.

The guys :-)

We were eating out on the patio, and since the restaurant is really close to the airport, Charlie was very interested in the planes going overhead. Kinda looks like he's ordering another round. I had just finished my last day of school, so it was fun to relax!

Charlie kept everyone busy - he doesn't like to stay in one place for very long.

Maddox helped entertain Charlie by reading to him. He read the whole book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do I See?" and Charlie actually sat and listened! Good job, Maddox!

Corey's request was yellow cake with butterscotch frosting. We could only come up with 23 candles, but they still made quite a blaze on top of the cake.

He needed a little help blowing them all out. Good job, again, Maddox!

The smoke was a little thick!

Here's Corey's first birthday! (Looks like the same cake pan - I haven't upgraded my bakeware in a LONG time!)

Happy Birthday, Corey!

Maddox's Pre-school Program

2011-06-07T05:21:00.001-07:00

Maddox has been going to pre-school two days a week at the Pre-school/Daycare program at my school. It's been so much fun for me to see him in a school setting and touch base with him a couple times a week. My 1st graders gave him high-fives when we'd pass his class in the hallway, and they also reported in to me whenever they saw him at the bathrooms or on the playground. I usually stopped in for a quick hug before I went home, and he always had something funny to tell me about his day, and once in a while, he stopped at my classroom to visit me! Last week, his class put on a great end-of-the-year program, which consisted of singing goofy camp songs. Pre-schoolers are sooooo funny, and it was a real treat for me to sit back and watch and not have to be responsible for the show (or the behavior)!

Here he is, flip-flops and all. The little guy on the end was sitting in Maddox's spot, and it didn't take him long to let him know!

There, now he has his own chair. Got an itch??

It was kind of hard to sit still, but he tried!
I missed it when he was picking his nose - good thing, or I'd probably have a picture of that, too.

The favorite song was "Tootie Tot." The actions keep building with each verse, until everyone is singing with their eyes closed and tongues out.

Yep, Maddox was getting in to it!

Here's a shot of Phebe singing the same song at her Cannon Kids Kindergarten program two years ago - go Phebe!

Maddox was also in a song about three little skunks (he obviously wasn't a skunk).

Maddox was the first one to get his certificate at the end of the program, and he gave Miss Megan a big hug. By the time she passed out all 20+ certificates, kids were using them as spyglasses, whistles, and sticks to bop themselves on the head. Gotta love the creativity of 4 and 5 year olds!

Congratulations, Maddox! He'll be graduating from high school before we know it!

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-05T19:46:00.001-07:00

We decided to take a quick trip to Two Harbors with Jenna, Andy, and Charlie for some fishing and relaxing over Memorial Day weekend. Since we've had such a cold, rainy spring, Chuck never got the boat out for a trial run before taking it up north, so he finally bought an attachment for the hose that runs water through the engine, and he did a little test drive right in the driveway. He looked pretty silly driving the boat down the cement.

It worked, though!
All set! He hooked the boat to the Explorer on Friday morning and I drove it to school while he took the car to work. My kids were really impressed that I had our boat in the school parking lot. After school, I met Chuck at Jenna and Andy's, where we left our car, and then we all headed "Up North." Traffic, of course, was pretty bad, but we made it!
The weather was iffy on Saturday, but Chuck and Andy took off fishing (they actually caught 7 or 8 - fish fry coming up!), and Jenna, Charlie, and I went up the shore to Gooseberry Falls.

Charlie wasn't too impressed by the Falls.

He just wanted to get down and...

RUN!

What he really wanted to do was play with two sticks he picked up along the way.

He refused to keep a hat on his head, and we were worried that he'd get a sunburned scalp. He didn't like the hood, either. He's starting to show his independence!!

Hog pile on Andy!

On Sunday morning, Charlie decided to climb right into Crosby's kennel.

and then he waited while I ran to get my camera. A little poser already!
I love taking pictures of Gooseberry Falls, so after Jenna and Andy left for home on Sunday afternoon, I drove back and took some scenery pictures without the distraction of a 1-year old!

There was a LOT of water rushing through the river.

It was also pretty crowded, so it was a real trick getting pictures without any people in them.

You can walk right across these rocks in the middle of the summer without getting your feet wet. Not this day!

It was a gray day, so the lake and sky seem to blend right together on the horizon.
I'm sure we'll be back again later in the summer!

Happy 60th Birthday, Joyce!

2011-05-31T20:52:00.001-07:00

YIKES!! My "baby" sister, Joyce, turned 60 on May 16th! How can that be? Aren't we still little kids, playing duets, building forts, riding bikes in the cemetery, playing jacks on the kitchen floor, roller-skating (clamp-on skates) on the front sidewalk, telling silly stories at night, walking to school (uphill both ways, of course), practicing the hula-hoop, playing chicken-base-bounce-out in the street, spying on the neighbors, running around after dark playing Starlight Moonlight, and on and on and on. We didn't have much money, but we sure had a great childhood!

The birthday girl!

We celebrated with Joyce, Paul, Ted, and Pat by going out for lunch at BANK, a restaurant in the old Farmers and Mechanics Bank building in downtown Minneapolis (pictured in the photograph on the wall). Our Aunt Alice was an officer at the bank, so we had all of our savings accounts there, and visited her whenever we went shopping downtown. Walking through the lobby after lunch brought back many memories of the "good old days."
Fortunately, our lunch lasted long enough so Ted and Pat missed the tornado that went through North Minneapolis. The sirens were going off when we left the restaurant, and we weren't worried since we were heading south and we could tell the storm was to the north, but Ted and Pat were headed right into it. Many roads were blocked by fallen trees, and it took them a really long time to get to Brooklyn Park. They made it, though, and there was no damage to their house. It kind of reminded us all of the tornado that hit the same area in 1965 (when we were all just babies).
Happy Birthday, Joyce!

Congratulations, Teddy and Angie!

2011-05-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

After being together for about 15 years, Teddy and Angie finally tied the knot on May 14th!

Paul officiated at a beautiful service in the party room of their apartment complex. Family and friends attended, and then we all celebrated at a delicious dinner afterwards!

They did it! Better late than never. :-)

Congratulations, guys! We love you all!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

2011-05-07T18:42:00.001-07:00

Can't believe Charlie is one already (well, tomorrow, but we celebrated today). Where did that year go? He's such a happy, smiley, good-natured baby!

The cake!

Come on - let's get this party started!

Hmmm, that looks interesting.

So now what do I do?

So much for the fork.

I'll give it another try, but fingers work soooo much better!

That red frsoting is awesome!

Clean-up time already?

OK, I'll be patient.

Ah, the face is a little sore from all that scrubbing!

All clean!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Future Drummers???

2011-04-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a good noise toy!

Besides teaching Charlie how to beat on the drum, Maddox is also teaching him how to SHARE - one drumstick for each. Good job, guys!!

Easter 2011

2011-04-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

The week before Easter was a whirlwind of activity involving several concerts, conferences, solo/ensemble contest, rehearsals, services, and of course, excited kids. We squeezed in an egg hunt, dinner, and egg coloring with Maddox on Wednesday night.

Last year's hunt was outside, so he had to discover all of the indoor hiding places.

Corey gave lots of clues (hmmmmm, that bunny needs to learn some new tricks).

Jelly beans fit well between the piano keys,

and on the book shelf.
After dinner, it was time to dye a few eggs.

Pink is a good color!

Looks good!

Ahhh, the blue is really cool! Unfortunately, I had to leave for a rehearsal, so the pictures stop here.
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon and family pictures.

Charlie was a little sleepy.

Andy, Jenna, Charlie, and Crosby (the dog)

It's hard to get everyone looking in the right direction, when one family member is a dog and the other is a baby!

Paul and Joyce

Chuck and Jane

Charlie's demonstrated his latest trick -
"Oh, it's been a HARD day!"

Then, it was time for the outdoor egg hunt. The weather was sunny and mild, so we all headed outside to watch Charlie and Matthew hunt for eggs.

Charlie got the idea right away. However, he was more interested in opening the eggs than looking for more.

Here's another one!

They make good rattles, too.

He took off with Jenna in tow. Next year, he'll be on his own!

He plopped himself right in the middle of the hosta bed.

Matthew found all of his, too!

There were a few presents inside, too. Charlie was more interested in the wrapping paper. After the hunt and the presents, I got a little busy with the dinner, and the camera got lost in the shuffle - no more pictures until...

clean-up time. Sandy and Joyce were great helpers!

It was great once again to spend time with family and friends! Our next gatherings will be coming up soon when we celebrate Charlie's 1st birthday, then Teddy and Angie's wedding, and finally Joyce's 60th birthday! Whew, what a busy spring!

Shower for Angie!

2011-04-21T19:38:00.001-07:00

My nephew, Teddy, and his long-time fiance, Angie, are getting married in May! We are so happy to officially welcome Angie to the family (although she's already been a part of it for a really long time). My sister, Joyce, and I gave a shower for her last week at Joyce's home in Waconia. It turned out to be a bad day for lots of the invited guests, but you don't need a big crowd to have a good time!

Charlie came along, although he was the only guy in attendance (Paul hung out downstairs, but came up when the food was served).
Joyce and Pat (mother of the groom)

Charlie practiced his gift-opening skills for his upcoming 1st birthday.

He was a good helper!

He kept us all entertained!

We had to pose for a family photo.

The food was great, too! If you look real carefully, you can see Joyce in one mirror and me in the other, both of us taking pictures - ha! I'm sure we'll have our cameras handy at the wedding, too!

We're all looking forward to May 14th!

Phebe

2011-04-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Here are a few current pictures of Phebe in Florida. They are really little since I saved them from Kate's Facebook posts from her mobile phone, but Phebe's cute smile still shows!

Love the socks!

Ahhhh, look at that long hair! Phebe and her puppy!

St. Patrick's Day - so cute!

On the way to the beach.

Wow! That sunshine looks great, and so does the little girl soaking it up! :-)

(Looks like she still fits in her Minnesota swimsuit.)

Maddox

2011-04-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

After looking back at my last few posts, I've found that most of the pictures are of Charlie. It seems it's very easy to get cute pictures of a baby, but getting a 4-year old to cooperate for a picture is another story. I still try, though! These pictures of Maddox were all taken at Jenna's birthday party a few weeks ago.

He was posing perfectly here, but my camera was a little too slow - he moved!

"Hmmmmm, things sound a little funny with stacking cups on my ears." "My voice sounds funny when I talk into one, too."

Dress up is fun, but a purple pom-pom, ski mask, and Twins sweat bands? Where does he come up with this stuff??

Rockin' !!

I also tried to get a good shot with Corey - looks like neither one is cooperating here!

Ahh, that's a little better.

My motto: "Never give up."

Sit 'n Spin

2011-04-07T20:21:00.001-07:00

Whenever Charlie comes to visit, I try to find some new ways to entertain him. Last week, we brought out Phebe's rocking horse and Sit'n' Spin from about 7 years ago. He didn't want anything to do with the rocking horse, but he thought it was pretty cool to spin in circles.

Those buttons make music, too. Yeah - another noise toy!

He didn't even seem to get too dizzy. However, he decided it might be more fun to turn it into a Walk 'n Spin.

When Charlie lost interested (see him taking off in the background?), Jenna had to give it a try, too!

Hide 'n Seek

2011-04-01T20:33:00.001-07:00

Charlie seems to discover new tricks every time we see him.

Last week it was "hide 'n seek." OK, ready to hide.

Off he goes, heading for that little space between the couch and the book shelf...

Checking to see if we're watching, and waiting for the big question:

"Where's Charlie?"

Peek...

Here's Charlie!

All tuckered out after all that fun. He gives the best hugs!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

2011-03-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jenna's 28th birthday today, and I thought it would be fun to go back a year...

March, 2010 - Dinner at Spaghetti Factory,

and DQ cake at Corey's place.

March, 2011 - Dinner at our house (much easier with an active 10-month old than at a restaurant),

and DQ cake (some things never change!).

Happy Birthday, Jenna!

And he crawls!

2011-02-20T15:03:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, Charlie decided to start crawling. Now, he's everywhere, and FAST!

Watch out, Jenna and Andy!

He has a set of heavy plastic balls that he loves to roll on the hard wood floors, and then he follows them.

He can even crawl with one in his hand. Fortunately, Crosby is on the other side of the baby gate.

Wow! One handed! Get that big ball out of the way.

Where did it go?

Ah, there it is.

Now it goes into the drum. Learning how to pick up already? Yeah, Charlie.

There, all done!

Oops, here's another one! This one goes in the mouth.

Christmas in February

2011-02-20T14:11:00.001-08:00

Our Catlin/Casey/Bracken/Held Christmas celebration was put on hold until February this year, due to travels to Illinois and Pittsburgh on Christmas by some of the family members. We finally scheduled it for February 6th, and we all gathered at Ted and Pat's on Super Bowl Sunday. I decided it should be a "souper" bowl party, so I made two kinds of soup - pizza and split pea/ham, and we also had lots of appetizers, salad, and dessert. We never go hungry!

There were presents for the kids, which was a little confusing to Maddox and Matthew since Christmas was long ago, but Charlie didn't care.

What could it be?

A dinosaur puzzle!

New toys are fun any time of the year!

Charlie wasn't sure quite what to think of Kyle.

Who is that guy?

At least Kyle is no longer afraid Charlie will break (at 25 #, he'll probably be able to arm wrestle him pretty soon!)

The kitchen floor was a popular hang-out spot for awhile.

Silly Charlie!

Maddox is very patient with Charlie,

even when he crawls all over him and grabs his hair.

The guys occasionally left the downstairs TV to load up on food, but I never did get pictures of everyone. Next time.

Charlie and Jenna had to leave early since Andy was hosting a Super Bowl party. They got all dressed up in Steelers gear before they left.

Charlie is going to have to be a fan of two teams! Maybe he might live to see the day the Vikings win a Super Bowl, but I'm not so sure we will! Yeah, Steelers!

January Trip to Florida

2011-02-01T20:07:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, I escaped this crazy winter and flew down to Florida to visit my friends, the Dawsons, and then spend a few days with Phebe. My timing was perfect! I had great weather for flying, on-time flights, no security hassles, nice Florida temps (although not quite as warm as I expected), AND I missed the coldest weather of the winter in Minnesota. I even had to call my sub on Friday morning to revise my plans for the day because Cannon Falls had a late start due to -30 degrees temps. I headed out on Wednesday evening, after teaching all day, and arrived in Ft. Myers at midnight. John and Kathy picked me up at the airport, and I knew I was really in Florida when they both showed up wearing shorts! This was the view I woke up to the next morning - sun, grass, and palm trees!What a treat in the middle of a tough Minnesota winter!

Dawson's house is gorgeous, and the area where we hung out the most was the lanai, complete with a pool and hot tub - beautiful!

We also went biking,

played tennis,

and spent a lot of time playing duets. They had a big party on Thursday night, and Kathy and I were the musical entertainment! It was really fun meeting people from all over the country who have migrated to Florida for their retirement.
On Friday afternoon, I borrowed their PT Cruiser and drove straight across the state to West Palm Beach to see Phebe. I checked into my hotel and then went to pick her up (fortunately, Kathy programmed the GPS so I had no problem finding my way).

Here she is!
She was so excited to have me come all the way from Minnesota to visit her! I had to snap a few pictures right away!

Kate and Phebe

Finally, a big hug after not seeing her for a year and a half! The biggest change? She now has her two front teeth and her hair is long! She's still the same goofy Pheberella who entertained us constantly for 9 months!
Since it was dinner time, I asked her what she wanted for supper and she said, "STEAK!"
So, we headed to a steakhouse near my hotel.

She immediately went to work coloring - she's still quite the artist, too!

Then, when the food arrived, she went to work on that, too! What an appetite - we packed up the leftovers and she gobbled them all up before bed.

Our sweet Phebe.

Look at that long, beautiful, healthy hair!

Talking to Daddy on the phone.

Phebe remembered how she jumped on the bed when I visited her a few years ago, so she had to re-create that experience. Don't tell the Hampton Inn! :-)

Showing off her new pillow.

Jenna bought it for her Christmas present, but since it wouldn't quite fit in the Christmas box that I sent in December, I carried it on the plane.

Hugs before bed.
We got up the next morning, had breakfast at the hotel, and then headed off to Lion Country Safari (about 15 miles west of West Palm Beach).

The animals were amazing! We drove our car through the various areas of "Africa" and the animals wandered free (except for the lions - there was chain link to contain them).

They give you a CD to play in your car system, which explains what part of Africa you are in and gives details about the animals you are seeing.

You have to keep your windows rolled up, so I took all of these pictures through the car windows. We were driving very slowly, so Phebe was going back and forth in the back seat, taking pictures, too.

This ostrich actually pecked my window (very gently) right after I took this picture.

I zoomed in on some of these, but most are really that close to the car!

These zebras wandered across the road right in front of us.

Then there were the rhinos. Phebe thought this was so funny - she made me take a picture of the "rhino butt."

I had turned off the CD player and didn't hear until later that you aren't supposed to stop near the rhinos. I guess they have been known to attack cars. Don't worry, Kathy - they didn't bother us. :-)

Looks kind of threatening, doesn't he??

Now that's better - I don't think a parrot could cause much damage.

I have never seen so many giraffes (check out the background)!

This one also crossed right in front of us.
After the drive-through, we went to an amusement park area where we could see more animals, go on rides and paddle boats, play a little miniature golf, and check out the gift shop.

Phebe played the African drums

and posed on the African lion.

She also took advantage of the small crowds by staying on the rides multiple times.

She was so impressed that I let her (I was just enjoying sitting in the warm sunshine)!

The paddle boats went right past the flamingoes. I was just hoping there weren't any alligators around to tip us over.
They had a big area with lots of cut-outs that you could put your head in. Of course, Phebe had to try every one, and I had to take her picture at each stop.

I had to join her in this one.

Yikes!

This one really cracks me up.

She even had to ride on the kiddie train, although I think she's pretty much outgrown it.

Ahhhhh, here is the alligator moat!
After we left Lion Country Safari, we ate some lunch, visited Kate's dad and step-mom, and went to a movie. We saw Tangled, the Disney Rapunzel movie. It was great!

After the movie, we ended up at a family restaurant that specializes in cool ice cream treats for dessert. Phebe didn't eat much of this - I think she was pretty full from the popcorn at the movie.
We went back to the hotel and spent several hours playing "Go Fish!" This girl just doesn't wear out, but what a fun time we had!

On Sunday, we met up with Kate, and while Phebe was at her church school class, we went to Mass with Kate's dad. After church, Phebe gave me big hugs and kisses for EVERYONE and we said our goodbyes. I told her I'd be back again, and next time maybe Grandpa will come, too!

I wasn't quite ready to drive back to Ft. Myers, so I headed east, knowing I'd eventually find the ocean, and sure enough, there it was!

I watched the surfers and enjoyed the sunshine for awhile (it was only in the low 60's).

The waves were really crashing in! I didn't actually go down by the water - it was too chilly! After soaking up the sunshine on a park bench, I got really thirsty for coffee so I did a little exploring and discovered that I was parked 1/2 block from the West Palm Beach upscale designer shopping area. Neiman Marcus, Gucci, Prada, the list goes on and on, and guess what? I didn't buy a thing except my Starbuck's latte (surprise, surprise). $300 sandals are a bit out of my league, but it was fun to browse.

I finally hopped back in the car to make the trek west across the state to Ft. Myers, and I arrived at Kathy and John's in time for dinner. Kathy's mom, daughter, and 2 grandchildren had come down from Minnesota on Friday night, so we had a houseful! We hung out all evening and then did some more biking the next morning before I had to pack up for my flight home. What a great trip! It was so much fun spending time with good friends and my little Phebe!

Kate took this shot right as we were saying good bye in the church parking lot. Can't wait to see her again. I miss you already, Phebe!

Friday Night Bathtime with Charlie

2011-02-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

Chuck and I hadn't seen Charlie for a couple of weeks, so one Friday night we headed to South St. Paul just to hang out. Jenna also had to show off her new Tasimo machine - she makes a great white chocolate raspberry latte!

Charlie is growing so fast, and he changes everytime we see him. After playing for awhile, it was bathtime, which he absolutely loves!

Look at those teeth!

I think he'll know the letters of the alphabet by the time he's 2.

Jenna just rolls up her pants and hops right in the tub with him (much easier on the back than bending over the edge).

There, all clean!

Nothing more cuddly than a baby fresh out of the tub!

Playing Grandma's Piano

2011-01-01T20:52:00.001-08:00

As I was posting some pictures on Facebook of Charlie playing my piano, it suddenly hit me that this has been a common pose with each or our grandchildren, so I just had to go on a search for the pictures. Little kids LOVE to play the piano, and I love to take pictures of them doing it!!

Charlie, almost 8 months.
Such concentration!

Maddox, 14 months

Again, such concentration!

Phebe, about 9 months

I think they all look like they have a lot of musical potential. Time will tell!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010 came and went with the usual whirlwind!

We celebrated with our kids on Christmas Eve, starting with lunch, appetizers, and gifts in the afternoon, then church and dinner. Since I have several services to play for (4:00 and 10:30), we have to fit everything in between my mad dashes out the door with armloads of music. We had the added distraction this year of a non-heating hot tub, a plumber trying to figure out the problem and offering advice, and then a decision to drain it. Always something!

The tree was overloaded with gifts, as usual,

and the table looked great!

The guys spent some down-time before the grand opening.

Kyle found his favorite chair,

and Corey played Santa.

Charlie was the star attraction as he celebrated his first Christmas.

Between teething and a bad cold, we were "mopping the deck" with kleenex all afternoon. Poor baby! He was in a great mood, though, and had fun learning how to open the packages.

Hmmmm, wonder what silly remark Chuck just made?

He loved these little characters on wheels - thanks, Phebe!

He also loved the wrapping paper!

He'll be hammering on this workbench before we know it!

Charlie loves his cousin, Maddox!

So big!

Maddox is really good with him, and he had fun helping Charlie play with some of his new toys!

Corey still plays a mean drum.

See the expression in Maddox's eyes?

Corey caught it perfectly in his present to us, a 16x20 original oil painting! It's now hanging in our entryway, and it may find it's way to the mantle after all the Christmas decorations are put away. Awesome!!
Chuck's brother, Ken, and his friend Kim joined us in the evening for a ham dinner. After dessert, Jenna, Andy, and Charlie headed back to the Cities so they could get packed up for their Christmas Day flight to Pittsburgh to visit Andy's family. We picked them up and took them to the airport around noon and then went to Corey's for more presents and lunch.

Corey is a great host, and he makes a fantastic carmel latte!

Kyle entertained Maddox, or vice versus?

He really gets into opening gifts!

Corey got him an easel with all the accessories. Maddox will be able to paint right along with his dad!

Oh, a shirt - how boring!

A Spiderman hippity-hop!

What could this be?

Joyce and Paul joined us for a lunch of chili, cinnamon rolls, pineapple, and cheese sticks (sounds like a CF school lunch!).

After lunch, we all piled into cars and went to a movie. The guys went to True Grit, and Joyce and I took Maddox to Gulliver. We missed our usual gathering with the Catlin clan this year, but they were in Illinois visiting Tom and Kim. We'll get together in January!

Chuck and I took a quick trip to Two Harbors on Monday and Tuesday. We were going to go up on Sunday and do some skiing at Lutsen, too, but plans changed because we had to hang around to deal with the hot tub issue. When we discovered on Monday morning that we couldn't get a technician to come out right away, Chuck bought a space heater, set it up under a canvas to keep eveything from freezing up, and off we went.

We stopped at Scenic Cafe for an early dinner. What a beautiful setting, and even better food!

We brought lots of presents for Chuck's mom, some for Christmas and some for her 85th birthday, which she will be celebrating next week!

It was such a quick trip that I didn't even take any pictures of all the snow. We'll have to get back up north again this winter, hopefully for some skiing next time!

Now it's about time to take down all the decorations,

and put them away for another year.

The house always looks so bare after all the decorations are gone, but it's always good to start fresh in a brand new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

Happy Birthday, Chuck!

2010-12-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

We braved the cold, snow, and bad roads on Sunday to travel to Mall of America for a family birthday celebration for Chuck's (gasp) 61st birthday at the Cadillac Ranch, a new restaurant that just opened about a month ago.

HOW old is that dude?

Maddox was entertained for awhile with some coloring, but they only gave him one crayon - how uncreative! Orange got pretty boring after awhile.

Jenna and Andy forgot toys for Charlie, so Andy found a ToysRUs close by and bought him an early Christmas present. I think our kids had this same toy!

Ummm, how many birthdays have we celebrated together? I think about 38 or 39.

Kyle always comes up with some interesting cards.

Chuck's cake was a little the worse for wear. It had kind of a rough trip - first, I dropped it in the driveway before we left Cannon Falls (it actually flipped upside down), and then Kyle sat on it when he slid into the booth at the restaurant. Good thing it was only one layer. It may not have looked so great, but it sure tasted good!

There, that's better.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Another One Joins the "60" Club

2010-12-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

Our good friend, Roger, finally joined the rest of us! He's been the baby of our Gourmet Group, and he's been told that he will be driving the rest of us around in a huge Cadillac in our "old age."

Only 6 candles? Guess we all know how to count by tens. :-)

My trusty timer worked again. The Lindors are missing,

but we'll get the whole crew together again soon.

Happy Birthday, Roger!

Making Friends with the Baby in the Mirror

2010-12-05T14:02:00.000-08:00

Jenna and I spent the afternoon shopping at MOA yesterday, and when we took a break in the GAP dressing room, Charlie discovered a baby in the mirror! He was so funny, and, of course, I had my camera handy!

Hey, who is that kid?

Can I touch him?

He looks like fun! He even smiles!

How about a hug?

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T19:25:00.001-08:00

Wow! What a great Thanksgiving! Our house was overflowing on Thursday, and we actually had 4 little ones running around, too (well, Charlie isn't quite running yet). People started showing up around 10:30 for some fantastic appetizers and some boring football, and dinner was served around 2:00.

Fortunately for me, everyone brings something. Pickle roll-ups anyone?

I put an appetizer table in the family room this time, and it sure helped the congestion in the kitchen.

That still seems to be where everyone gathers, though.

Teddy once again carved the turkey. I'm so lucky to have a professional on hand for this job (not my favorite). I think he was about done, here - that poor bird looks pretty picked over! It was delicious! My one glitch in the dinner was the mashed potatoes. I cooked them in two pots since I didn't have one that was big enough, and the first pot I checked was totally done so I drained all of them and put them in a huge bowl. Well, the 2nd pot was NOT done. Lumpy potatoes, anyone? Even my mixer couldn't get those lumps out. Oh well....

It was fun having Tom, Kim, and Amariah here from Illinois.

Seal of approval! Oh, by the way, check out the SNOW on the deck - looks more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.

Amariah was so cute in her turkey bib.

And, of course, Charlie stole the show.

Maddox and Corey posed for a few pictures,

and one of my goals for the day was to get a family picture for this year's Christmas card. This one did NOT make the final cut! Actually, everyone cooperated really well, but we just had to do one "goofy" picture. Some things never change!

Charlie finally got to eat his dinner long after everyone else was through. He actually thought this plastic banana looked pretty good!

Hmmmmm - not bad!

Ahhh, carrots, rice cereal, and real bananas - that's much better!

Chuck got into the feeding action, too. I think Jenna's trying to train him for doing some daycare. He draws the line at changing diapers, though, so it may be awhile before he does more than an hour or two.

What a great day! We are so thankful for all that we have, and for the chance to spend time with family!

Halloween

2010-11-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

Yikes! It's almost Thanksgiving, and I haven't posted Halloween pictures yet. It's tough when I'm try to keep up two blogs. Somehow I manage to update my classroom one almost every week, but then my family one gets neglected. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

This year, both Corey and Jenna came down for the local downtown Halloween event. Kids dress up in their costumes and all of the store owners pass out goodies. Since Halloween was on Sunday this year, the celebration took place on Friday.

Maddox and Corey

Jenna and Charlie

Charlie was the cutest little pirate ever, and Maddox was definitely the strongest Power Ranger in town (check out that six-pack!).

Maddox is in to anything that has to do with a Super Hero!

After collecting candy downtown, we went back to our house for Dudley's pizza and breadsticks (Jenna and Corey's all-time favorite).

Charlie was showing off his new sitting-up-straight skills. What pirate doesn't need his favorite dragonfly with him?

Arrrrrgh!

Arrrrrrgh, again!

Ahhhhh, finally, time to get out of those crazy costumes and relax on the couch!

I wonder what they'll be next year?

Charlie is 6 months old!

2010-11-15T11:56:00.001-08:00

Jenna and I took Charlie to Sears on Saturday to have his 6 month pictures taken. He looked like such a little man as he sat and smiled for his pictures! He's growing sooooo fast! He'll be walking and talking before we know it.

What a cutie!

Happy Birthday, Maddox!

2010-11-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Maddox turned four on October 24th! We celebrated on the 17th with a family gathering at the party room at Corey's place. It was a Sunday afternoon, so the Vikings game was part of the entertainment, and they even won!

Maddox wanted an Incredible Hulk cake, so of course that's exactly what he got!

Chuck, Paul, and Ted were the official cooks at the rooftop grill. Maddox chose the menu, and the hamburgers and hot dogs were great!

Cheese puffs, veggies, and pretzels were part of the menu, too, along with chips, fruit, and ice cream. Maddox is a true gourmet!

Nummy!

Presents!

The hot wheels launcher from Melissa was a hit!

Of course, you can't have a 4-year old party without games, so I made up a pin-the-face-on-the-pumpkin game. Matthew tried it out, but Maddox just wanted to stick the face on without the blind fold.

Corey did this one.

Maddox and Corey are quite the rock stars!

Ahhhh, a little downtime to check out a new book with Melissa, Kyle's girlfriend.

Time to blow out the candles!

Happy Birthday, Maddox!

You are INCREDIBLE!!

We didn't quite manage to get an organized picture of the whole crew, but I think everyone except for Teddy and Corey are in this one (Charlie is on the floor getting a diaper change). Nicole, Andy's sister, was even here from Pittsburgh.

We love you, Maddox!!

MEA Trip to Two Harbors

2010-11-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

MEA weekend comes at just the right time every year - the weather is usually great, and we're all ready for a short break after the first wild, crazy, hectic six weeks of school. This year, we left Thursday morning for a quick trip to visit Grandma Bracken in Two Harbors.

Jenna and Charlie joined us on our road trip.

Great Grandma Bracken loved the chance to see Charlie again. He grew a lot since we were there in July! Jenna and Charlie relaxed Friday morning while Chuck and I hiked around in the woods, looking for the perfect place to put up the tree stand in preparation for hunting season.

Then, we headed north to our all-time favorite spot, Gooseberry Falls. We popped Charlie in the front-pack and took off on some of the hiking trails around the falls.

It was a gorgeous day, and Charlie seemed to like all the activity. I really think he wanted to hop out of there and join all the kids climbing around on the rocks.

I'd say he looks a lot like his mommy in this picture.

So serious!

Hiking with a 20 # baby in a front-pack is a lot of work! We didn't quite make it all the way to Lake Superior.

Looks like we really wore the little guy out! He crashed as soon as we got back on the road. We were home by Friday night, refreshed and rejuvenated by the fresh air and beauty of northern Minnesota!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

We headed out to a pumpkin patch a few weeks ago to pick out the "perfect pumpkin" for Charlie. Of course, he couldn't have cared less which one we chose, but it was fun for us!

How about this one, Charlie?

Hmmmmmm, maybe...

This one looks good.

Don't bug me, Grandpa. I just want to find my fingers!

We ended up with a couple of good ones for ourselves, too.

Of course, of the five we bought, the one we got for Charlie is the only one that has rotted so far. Oh well....

Family Golf

2010-10-10T17:54:00.001-07:00

We finally got a beautiful afternoon for this year's family golf outing. It only took us 4 years! We watched the 12:00 Vikings game and snacked (lots) before we headed to Summit Par 3 for a round of best ball. We are quite creative with our rules, and since it's never crowded at the par 3, we all go around together. This year's teams were Chuck and Corey, Andy and Joyce, Paul and Jane, and Jenna and Charlie. Yes, Charlie went too, but he'll have to wait until next year to actually golf. :-)

What a perfect afternoon!

Andy and Joyce checking out their next shot.

Charlie spent most of his time in the stroller, but he wanted to see what was going on, too.

That green looks pretty crowded with 6 golfers on it. Fortunately, no one went in a sand trap all afternoon. They were still pretty soggy after our 8" of rain on Thursday.

Hmmmm! Where did Chuck's shot go this time?

Great form, Corey!

Smack it, Joyce!

It was really soggy in some areas, so Andy decided to protect the bottom of his pants by tucking them in his socks - very cool!

Paul and I actually used a few of my tee shots! His were sometimes too long...

or off to the right or left :-)

Hit it, Chuck!

Charlie needed a little snack,

and a diaper change.

Ahhhhh, all better.

Tough going uphill with the stroller!

And the winners were:

Jane and Paul, and Andy and Joyce in a tie, even after a one-hole tie breaker, so

the trophy stayed at our house. Hopefully, we'll get Ted, Pat, and Teddy out with us next year!

The Many Faces of Maddox the Wolverine

2010-09-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Maddox had his face painted on Sunday, and he was definitely the cutest wolverine I've ever seen (although I can't remember ever seeing a wolverine - oh well).

He usually isn't too interested in posing for pictures, but he was really getting into it. I'd snap a picture, he'd take my camera and show it to everyone, then come back to pose again. Now if I could just get him to do that without the make-up!

He must have had to sit still for a really long time - what an awesome job!

Beware!

What's up?

Hmmmmm!

Just thinking....

It's always a little sad to have to wash that off, but make-up and pillow cases definitely don't go together!

The Many Faces of Charlie

2010-09-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

Soon after Charlie turned 4 months old, I was assigned the fun task of capturing his official 4 month picture. Chuck and I were babysitting while Jenna and Andy were at a wedding, and Charlie was in a great mood for posing, although he hadn't been quite so cooperative when Jenna tried earlier in the day. He was teething like crazy (his 2 bottom teeth just popped through that day), so it was a real trick to catch him without his fists in his mouth. Oh, the joys of digital photography! I slapped the 4 month sticker on his onesie, set him up in his bouncy chair, and started snapping.

Right thumb, tastes good!

Left thumb, shy smile ;-)

Whole fist, argh!

Hands folded, soon to be two fists in mouth - yum!

No hands, but a little worried :-/

Where's that thumb?

Come on, Grandma - enough already!

Almost there...

SMILE!!

OK, now will you stop?

:-)

Phebe

2010-09-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it was two years ago when Phebe arrived from Florida to live with us and go to kindergarten in Cannon Falls. She did such a great job adjusting to a new home, new school, and new experiences. We had a bit of an adjustment to make, too, since it had been 20 years since Jenna was a kindergartener, and our nest had been empty for quite awhile.

Here she is on her first day of school, 2008. Look at that sweet smile!

Now, she's back in Florida and starting 2nd grade, 2010!
Same cute smile, but so grown up!

We miss you, Phebe!

End of Summer

2010-09-12T18:06:00.001-07:00

Summer wound down really quickly once August rolled around. I can't believe school is back in session, and fall has arrived! These summers go by faster and faster every year!

Here's our little guy, Charlie, enjoying a beautiful summer day at the Skrien's cabin near Pequot Lakes. Jenna and I went north for a few days before we both got back "at it" with workshops at the end of August.

Charlie wasn't quite ready for a boat ride, but he sure loved hanging out in the grass...

and down by the water. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite warm enough for swimming - maybe next year!

Chuck and I took a quick trip to the North Shore over the long Labor Day weekend, leaving early Thursday morning. We spent a night with his mom, and then headed up the shore on Friday for some hiking and outdoor activities. However...

it was cold, windy, and rainy all day! Fortunately, there are LOTS of good restaurants along the way, so we basically ate our way up north (Sven and Ole's Pizza and The Crooked Spoon in Grand Marais - mmmmmmmm!). We ended up driving all the way to Grand Portage near the Canadian border. We probably would have gone all the way to Thunder Bay if we had our passports with us.

It was only 48 degrees on our car thermometer, but what a difference a day makes!

Saturday dawned clear and cool!

We set out right after breakfast on a great hiking trail near Cascade Lodge, where we had spent the night.

After hiking along the river and the lake for several hours, we returned to Grand Marais for an outdoor concert by Michael Monroe.

We have been following him for years, and really enjoy his music. He lives north of Grand Marais, and often gives free concerts in the area.

We had to head home on Saturday afternoon, but not before checking out another favorite restaurant for lunch - the Coho Cafe in Tofte.

Kyle's 33rd birthday fell on Labor Day this year, and his choice for a family celebration was a trip to the State Fair. We met at 8:00 am at a Park n'Ride so we could get an early start and beat all the crowds.

See how empty it is early in the morning??

First stop - mini donuts! So good (and all gone)!

While waiting for Jenna and Andy, we hung out at O'Gara's, and the boys got out their phones for a little texting. Maddox had his own in his pocket, too (Corey's old one).

They are actually texting each other. Why not?

The Big Slide.
Maddox wanted to ride with Melissa.

Andy and Charlie were both pretty bored with the Grandstand stuff.

Charlie is teething, and loves to chew on his fingers!

Here's some creative finger sucking!

Maddox: "So what should we eat next, Grandpa?"

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

The whole family.

Right after we took this picture, it started sprinkling so we all split up and went our separate ways. We headed home, since Chuck was afraid he would melt if he got wet, and I needed to rest up because....
I started my 40th year of teaching the next day!

I can't believe I've greeted more than 900 little first graders on their first day of school, and I've taught them ALL how to read! I actually survived the week in great shape. My class is good, although my schedule is pretty goofy. Oh well, we'll carry on and have a good year!

I was definitely ready for the weekend, and since today was a banner day, we headed to Frontenac State Park for some exploring and hiking. No way could we stay inside!

The view of Lake Pepin was beautiful!

We found some great hiking trails that followed the bluff line and offered lots of scenic overlooks. As we were walking along through the woods, I heard a noise off to our left, turned and saw...

two deer! They weren't spooked by us at all. We stood and watched them for quite a while, and when they finally took off, they met up with two more and continued to graze beside the trail. We spent about 15 minutes watching all four of them.

Of course, Chuck was wishing it was deer season, but I just thought it was so cool to share the woods with these beautiful creatures!

Coming soon....Renaissance Festival and Family Golf. Never a dull moment around here!

Summer Update

2010-08-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's August already! Summer has sailed by, and I've got lots of updating to do on this crazy blog. Be prepared for a LONG post!

Book Club

Mid-July found me on the road to Alexandria for "Book Club at the Lake" at the summer home of Linda, one of our members. We had a small group this year, but great food, good wine, and an interesting book discussion

I've become the designated photographer of our group, so first we posed on the front deck. Next, we moved to the waterfall/garden area where I set up my camera on a wrought iron picnic table. I leaned over to check the angle, pressed the timer, and...

my necklace was stuck in one of the holes in the table! Needless to say, my rush to get into the picture was thwarted! And all they did was laugh at me, except for Sandy, who ran to my rescue. :-) After some serious finagling, I was able to release my necklace without any damage, and I tried again.

Ahhhhhh. that's better!

Grandkids
I've also been spending a lot of time in South St. Paul with Jenna and Charlie.
Of course, whenever I'm there, I can't resist taking a few pictures.

He has the biggest eyes!

I'm also getting pretty good at setting up the timer and snapping some of
us together. It's hard to get him to smile at a flashing light, though.

Charlie has also made a few trips to Cannon Falls, and one day, he actually took a nap in the cradle that we used when our kids were babies. So cute!

I've been doing some daycare for Maddox, too. He has a great imagination, and here he is taking my coffee order:
"One carmel latte coming right up. $20, please."
We were hanging out at the kid's play area at Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.

Lots of fun toys! Ready, set,

go!!

Oops, I think he forgot to put on the brakes!

Two Harbors

We took a weekend family trip to Two Harbors to visit Chuck's mom and introduce her to her newest grandson.

Great Grandma and Charlie. He definitely doesn't look like a newborn anymore!

Chuck and his little guys.

The plan was for the guys to fish, but due to rainy weather, we ended up riding the Timber Twister at Spirit Mountain, and then hanging out at Canal Park, where Corey gave Maddox a lesson in skipping stones into Lake Superior.

He decided wading was a better option.

Wait 'til next year! Charlie will definitely not be laying around then!

Family picture on the front steps (re-creating a similar pose from about 27 years ago with our kids).

Four generation picture (no, they are not at a North Shore river - that's wallpaper in the background).

After the kids took off for home on Sunday, Chuck and I headed up the shore for a little hiking and sight-seeing. We didn't have time for any extended hikes, but we did find a good trail along the lake near Tettagouche State Park.

It was a beautiful day! That's the cliff at Palisade in the distance.

Overlook above the water - what a day!
We stopped for dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Scenic Cafe, on our way home.

Minnesota Zoo

Jenna bought a MN Zoo membership this summer, so we met my sister there for a quick tour one morning. Since it was hot, we spent most of our time at the indoor displays.

Charlie loved the front-pack and he could see everything!

He followed this blue fish as it swam up and down in front of him.

He really watched this crazy seahorse!

When he started to get tired, we just turned him around and he was out cold. Can't beat mom's chest for a pillow!

He started to get a bit heavy on Jenna's shoulders, though, so we took a break in the Rainforest.

We had a passer-by snap this one. I have a feeling we'll be back at the zoo again before the summer is over!

Summer Gourmet
We missed getting together with our gourmet friend's on the 4th of July since several couples were out of town, so we actually found a Friday night when we were all free and we got together at Lindor's for a summer picnic (indoors again since it was VERY hot)!

We've been enjoying dinners with this group for over 20 years!

My Birthday - July 28th

As usual, my birthday celebration went on for about a week. It started with coffee with my teaching team on Tuesday, then dinner out with Chuck at Norton's in Red Wing on Wednesday, our Zoo trip on Thursday, and the Twins game with the whole family on Sunday. Chuck loves to plan birthday surprises, so this year he gave me tickets for the game for the two of us, and when we found our seats, eveyone was there waiting for us! Not quite like Italy last year, but a great surprise once again!

The stadium is so cool!

I've been bugging Chuck all summer to go, so I was very excited to actually get to a game,

and...the Twins won!!

My hat is a present from Kyle and Corey.

Melissa and Kyle

Jenna, Charlie, and Andy

It was hot and humid, so they spent a good share of the time walking the air-conditioned hallways.

Corey and Maddox, playing superheroes.

Cotton candy, anyone? Yuck!

Melissa brought some fake moustaches, in honor of our hairy baseball players, and Maddox had a great job trying on the blonde one.

Looks good, doesn't he?
After the game, we went back to Jenna and Andy's to grill - steak, corn on the cobb, pasta salad, potato salad, and cake. Delicious!

Kyle had been putting off holding Charlie for fear of "breaking" him, but we decided that now was the time...

Good thing Charlie is easy-going!

I had to get a picture of all of us in our Twins gear!

Cake time!

The candles were in the shape of 61 (thanks, Corey - you had to remind me!)

Our big boy (Charlie, not Chuck!).

I had one more birthday celebration the next week when I went out for lunch with friends. Three of us have birthdays within 10 days of each other, so we've been celebrating together for years!

This year, we went to Southdale for shopping and then had lunch at Tavern on France -delicious! Finally, it's official - my birthday is OVER!

Roadtrip to Illinois
Last weekend, Jenna and I took Charlie on another roadtrip, this time to Fulton Ill. for my nephew Tom's surprise 40th birthday party. He was REALLY surprised since his birthday isn't until February (he actually is just 39 1/2). His wife, Kim, decided more people would probably make the long drive in the summer, and he might be suspicious about plans in Feb. He had NO clue what was going on , so it was a fun surprise!

Happy Birthday, Tom!

My big brother Ted and his two sons, Teddy and Tommy :-)

My sister Joyce and her husband Paul made the trek, too, along with Ted and Pat. It was a fun weekend, but a very LONG drive for just two days. Fortunaltely, Charlie loves the car and he slept most of the way down and back. What a good baby!

Grandkids (again)

I have to finish this very long post with more Maddox and Charlie pictures. I wish I had some Phebe pictures to add, too. She continues to do well down in Florida, and she's actually starting 2nd grade next week! I'm hoping to pay her a visit soon, maybe over MEA.

This week, while I was doing some more Maddox daycare on Monday and Wednesday, I got to take him to Caldecott Camp at the Stepping Stone Theater in St. Paul. Each day, the focus was on a Caldecott award winning book, and the kids got to hear the story, act out different parts of it, do an art project, and then share with parents at the end of the session. Monday's story was "Where the Wild Things Are," one of Maddox's favorite books.

Here he is showing his terrible claws,

and rolling his terrible eyes.

Pre-schoolers are so cute!
Another project this week was transferring all of Jenna's school stuff from our basement to her new school in South St. Paul. We packed it all up from Red Wing in June and stored it at our house until she could get in to her new room. It took two trips in our Explorer to get everything moved, but I was able to combine the trips with transporting Maddox to and from his theater classes. Andy was around on Monday to help her unload, while I watched Charlie.

And here he is! What a big boy! He now totally holds his head up by himself, smiles whenever he makes eye contact, and kicks his feet like crazy!

So.....two more weeks until my vacation is officially over and I'm back to school full time, and I've got lots of things planned to fill up the last days of summer. Hopefully, my next post won't be this long!!