Birthday Field Trip

I go to Saint Paul for one of two reasons, to either take-in a Wild game, or because Saint Paul lies between where I am and where I need to go. Today however I broke with past practice and journeyed across the river to celebrate my beloved's birthday at The Nook (Shamrocks location). Recently featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, one look at that Juicy Nookie through my TV set and I said to my family, "we gotta go there!" The burgers were indeed terrific (I downed a Paul Moliter burger) but the surprise hit was the dry-rubbed Minnesota Wild Wings. Michael and Jordon both swallowed the massive double-decker Nookie Supreme Burger - just dripping in American and Pepper Jack cheese. Hmm ... I just might have a third reason to visit Saint Paul.

A Son Returns

After a year of Go Ministries internship, it's great to have our Jordon back in the fold. He did a great job, learned a lot, and is now ready for college and beyond. Here he is with us after the awards ceremony. Well done young man.

Coulee Region

Since the mid-1990’s we’ve enjoyed an annual weekend away to Wisconsin’s beautiful coulee region. Thanks to Bill and Mariann for the great company and terrific food. Oddly enough, only our Mariah and her friend Mo joined us this year. The nest is indeed growing thin. Pictured here is an early morning shot of Lake Neshonoc from just west of our campground.

Yo Jordon – Surprise!

With our youngest son Jordon on the last leg of his road team internship with Go Ministries, the extended family and I decided to surreptitiously follow him to the great state of Missouri. Here, we found Jordon at the C4C conference in Branson. Great job on the bass son! Highlights included Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Hollywood Wax Museum, Whitewater, Presley’s, Silver Dollar City, Dixie Stampede (of course) and the C4C conference itself (which was terrific). Southern-style meals at Lambert’s, Uptown Café, and McFarlain’s (among others) kept meat on our bones. I’ll always remember those late-night forays to Andy’s Frozen Custard, and Sonic (yum).

Cabin Fever

Kudos to the crew that joined us in an "undisclosed northwoods location" for a weekend of yard projects and weenies by the fire. My back may never be the same but we certainly whacked some tall timber!

Beautiful Birthday

Benefiting from perfect weather, the ever-growing crew and I enjoyed a flawless great American birthday - Happy July 4th! It was refreshing to be home once again with family and friends. One parade, two picnics, three baptisms, an all-in birthday party, a pontoon parade, tubing, knee boarding, six quarts of homemade ice-cream, jet skiing until dusk, rock pile construction and a couple hundred fireworks. Yikes! I think I’m worn-out. Thanks to Brandon and Missy (and the little guys) as well as Margie for helping to make this such a memorable weekend. And an extreme thank you to the grandparents of both families who so ably make times like this seem easy (even though they aren't). We love you all. In this photo, Mariah navigates the parade crowd on a one-of-a-kind Whisper Whip which premiered earlier this year at Scorpion Homecoming 2009 (lots of great Scorpion hardware in the parade this year).

"Vanilization" a noun meaning to no longer own a van, mini-van or similar oversized, obsolete people mover

That’s right. After twenty-two years of continual van ownership of various shapes and sizes, we have finally pulled the plug on this decidedly un-cool mode of transportation. Here is our final Waldoch conversion, all spit-shined for the new buyer. This single Ford E-150 went camping in Branson twice, camping in Tennessee once, camping in La Crosse eleven times, vacationing in Florida five times, camping or skiing in Montana eight times, attended Spirit Fest three times, enjoyed Six Flags twice, camped in Niagara Falls once, camped in Colorado once and went up-north too many times to count. Did I really drive all those miles? I'd say this proves that Ford is the only remaining great American automobile.

Next Stop? Ninth Grade!

The school-ending 2009 MCA awards ceremony found Mariah winning a middle-school theatre award and her first letter for drama. Congratulations for lettering in only the eighth grade! You are beating your father in more ways than you may know. Here, Starr and Mariah enjoy a bit of post awards ceremony afterglow.

Sally Brown Takes the Stage

Kudos to Mariah who made quite a splash as Sally Brown in her very first MCA musical production, "Your a Good Man Charlie Brown." She seemed to have a natural talent for playing Charlie's twerpy little sister. I wonder where she learned all that? Regardless, with Mariah still in the eight grade, I think this may be the first of many MCA productions for us. Find below a couple bootleg video excerpts I scrapped from the troupe's final performance. The first is a vignette titled "Coat hanger Sculpture" and the second is the musical number, "My New Philosophy" with Schroeder. The final clip, "Rabbit Chasing" is from MCA's official video feed. Congratulations to Mariah, Kara, the directors, and the rest of the cast and crew. A special thanks to all the parent volunteers. It was a terrific show.

Nothing Like a Beach

We are grateful that after all the busyness of this past year, we were able to return once again to Perdido Key for ten days of Spring Break inaction (yes inaction, with the biggest event of the day typically involving rolling-off a lounge chair and driving to yet another restaurant). The entire area has now recovered nicely from 2004's hurricane Ivan and most of our old haunts are back in shipshape. Kara was our special guest again this year and Jordon was able to join us for several days. My parent’s ably coordinated the event and my sister and her son were able to attend as well (my in-laws and Jim and Dee attended earlier in March). Thank the Lord for our family and His goodness. Wanna see some photos of our "inaction?" Check-out 2009 Perdido Key.

The River is Rising

Steve and Jim lent a hand as we attempted to save my sister's home from the rising waters of the Mississippi. With the river level rising above her basement, things looked pretty bleak. The pumps could barely keep-up with the onslaught of water. Miraculously, the ice flow in front of her house released later this same day and the water level declined dramatically.

More Wedding Highlights: Brieanna & Michael

Just a few more photos being highlighted by SoulCam on their wedding blog. They have also included a terrific little video presentation at the bottom of the post. Check it out here.


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"Snow = Life" A New Anthem for America

Our Mariah and her friend of the same name penned this snappy little anthem to the joys of having fun in the snowbelt. Great job girls ... and terrific production Brian. Love that big-time chorus. Go girls!

25th Wedding Anniversary

This past October, Starr and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Between all the weddings, the credit crisis, Christmas, and the Homecoming, we just couldn't get away sooner. Now that we are here, it certainly was worth the wait. To be here is indeed a blessing of which we are very thankful. Ten days on Maui ... a veritable Garden of Eden. Here is Starr and I just outside our hotel in Wailea. Four kids, two weddings and three dogs have past since our Honeymoon on the Islands, all told I think we are holding-up pretty well.

Homecoming 2009

Despite the current economy, Scorpion Homecoming 2009 may have been the largest yet. Several hundred Scorpion fans were in attendance and we all had a lot of fun enjoying the decent weather and meeting friends both old and new alike. We had people come from as far away as California, Florida, Tennessee and Alaska. If you'd like to know more, click here to link the this year's web page. Again in 2010? I don't know ... I'm feeling pretty tired at the moment. It's been the craziest twelve months of our lives. I think I need to go some place warm.