Memorial Day 2018 - Upper Sioux Agency State Park

Our annual camping tradition with the Holje family (and also now the Hedlunds) this year continues. For year #9, we headed west to stay in tipis. It was a record setting hot weekend with temps between 95 and 101 degrees. Even with the hot temps, we managed to have another amazing trip!

First night bonfire with full engagement from the kids...



Daytime prairie hikes and wooded hikes...



Fishing -- including catching and eating walleye!!!



Campground games - bags, badminton, spikeball



Daytrips to a local lake to cool off and have a pretty awesome pickup game of soccer...



History lessons on the Dakota War of 1862...



Smoke bombs, amazing sunsets, and Eno sleeping



Great families! Great Traditions!

May Visitor Time

The end of May was highlighted with some great visits with family and friends. Trisha's college friend, Elaine, was in town with her daughter for a hockey tournament. While she was in town, we were able to take in an amazing David Byrne concert at the Orpheum Theater.



Ron then traveled to Chicago to attend the Bruks' family annual (and last) Sausage Fest, where extended family gets together to reconnect and make different varieties of sausage. Grandma Harriet brought some of the sausages to MN share with Trisha, Presley, and Canyon. While they were in Chicago, Mom and the kids attended the AdvoKate, a fundraiser for Cancer, honoring Presley's friend Kate who lost her battle to Leukemia last year.




Grandma Harriet came to MN for a week. While she was here, she attended a U of M event with Ron, watched Canyon's baseball games, attended Presley's Spring Choir concert, and enjoyed a downtown day, enjoying Korean BBQ and exploring the Weisman Art Museum that was hosting a temporary Prince Exhibit.

Random May Highlights

Some other highlights from the month of May....

Presley joined Mom for the X-Ambassador concert downtown when Dad was traveling for work. Awesome girls night for a great band...



Mom celebrates the end of a fun tennis season with some of her teammates at the Lifetime annual luncheon...



Mom enjoys a nice Mother's Day celebration at an old school steakhouse. Mancinis, in St. Paul with the family...

Sand Valley Boys Weekend & Kentucky Derby Celebration

The first weekend of May, Ron travelled with his best bud, Steve, to Sand Valley Golf Resort to celebrate their 50th birthdays and their life long friendship. They played 92 holes of golf over 2 days on this brand new championship course on the very first weekend it was open. Great brotherhood for these two great pals.



While Ron was with his buddy, Mom and the kids enjoyed a fun party at our pals, the Holjes, celebrating the Kentucky Derby. The day was filled with Mint Juleps, fun race betting, Croquet, and the infamous Hot Browns. Great time with great friends...

Roxxy Enjoys Springtime

Roxxy is enjoying the springtime weather. She has enjoyed hikes on our neighborhood trail, watching her brother at baseball, and hanging with her neighbor pal Jozy.

So proud of the bird that she caught and tormented on our neighborhood trail...


Watching her brother Canyon at bat for the high school team...


Hanging with pal, Jozy, in the yard (contained by the Invisible Fence)...

Presley Makes High Performance Hockey Team - Travels to Duluth

This spring, Presley tried out for the CCM High Performance Program, a program to train and evaluate Minnesota's best hockey players. There are 4 phases of the program. Phase 1 - Players tryout in their districts to earn 1 of 30 spots on a development team. Phase 2 - Players are narrowed down to 20 to participate in a Spring Festival. This year's Phase 3 festival was in Duluth and brings together the top players from across the state. We were very proud of Presley who worked hard at each phase. It was also a fun weekend, which brought together many players that Presley has gotten to know over the last 3-4 years. We also had some time to explore Duluth in beautiful weekend (much different than the previous weekend).

Presley with pal, Bridget, at the Heritage Sports Center


Lunch in Canal Park, near the Aerial Lift Bridge


Touring the Glensheen Mansion


Enjoying a beautiful day along Lake Superior

Historic Spring Snow

The winter of 17-28 has been a bear. It has been unusually cold. We got our world rocked with a historic snow the weekend of Mom's birthday. Eden Prairie got a record 20 inches of snow, breaking the record for biggest snow in April and coldest April. We are all so ready for spring. Roxxy goes the flow the best, embracing the snow as her new playground. But she also showed some stir crazy signs when she tore up her bed (for a 3rd time)....