Mike and Brooke Kadow Wedding Weekend

The weekend of August 13th - 16th was a wonderful family weekend. Great Granny, Aunt Colleen and cousin Brandon (and girlfriend Taylor) came to stay at our house in celebration of Brooke and Mike Kadow's wedding. The weekend kicked off with Presley's end of school party for Hopkins Early Learning Center where we have been going for over 6 years (first with Canyon and then with Presley). Presley was so excited to celebrate with all her friends (especially her friend Ben who has been off for the summer). Granny and Colleen were also able to see Canyon play hockey and score 3 goals against his former teammates from the Redwings.


The wedding festivities began with a rehearsal dinner at the bride and groom's new home in Farmington. We found out that night that Brooke's parents are neighbors and friends of some of our good friends (a small world). The wedding was a wonderful celebration with lots of women in black and white. It was also very fun to see the kids get dressed up for the special event (Canyon for the first time in a tie and Presley in a rare dress occasion). We danced into the evening and the kids partied like it was 1999! A fun celebration and sharing of time with family.

Health Updates and Summer Fun

First the health updates.... Presley has recently gone to an opthamologist and the neurologist to determine if her eye incident was an ocular migraine or something more serious. The opthamologist appointment went excellent and no concerns raised. For the neurologist, she had to have an EEG and an MRI scan done. Presley is an amazing trooper. I have included some pictures from the EEG appointment. We had to wake her up at 4 a.m. and then she had wires attached to her head to monitor her brain activity for anything unusual. She was a rock star and went to sleep as requested. EEG looked great. The next day she had an MRI to look at her blood vessels and her overall head inside. The screens did show some prominent lymphoid tissue, which may not be unusual for a child of her age but they are sending the scans to a pediatric neurologist for additional review. More to come... After her great appointment and attitude, we upgraded her bike (which was much overdue) as a reward. We enjoyed a nice family bike ride and finished off with a kayak ride and swim on Lake Minnetonka. Other summer fun activities included a picture from Canyon's Top Dog Hockey Camp, one of his favorite camps this summer, and a picture from the General Mills family picnic at our Technical Center where the kids enjoyed games, rock climbing, bouncies, Wii, waterballon sling shots, live music, good food, prizes and the Pillsbury Doughboy! Last week, Mom also had her benign lump on her shoulder removed. Surgery went excellent and the scar should be minimal.

Awesome Chicago Adventure!

Grammie and Auntie Kimmy informed us that it's been two years since we've been to Chicago. I can't believe it. This year we came on our annual Haddon/Rizzo/Pergande get together weekend. To kick off the week, Trisha and the kids headed to the Sears Tower (oops I mean the new Willis Tower) where they recently installed these 360 glass rooms on the top floor that extend outside the building. Wow! What a trip. I literally screamed as I creeped my way out. Presley crawled out. And fearless Canyon walked out without hesitation. It was a long wait but well worth it (and a good Chicago thing to do, which I never did growing up).



Much of the remainder of the weekend was dedicated to our good friends the Haddons and the Rizzos. The Rizzos just bought this amazing new boat, The Legocy, that they dock on Lake Michigan. We spent time on the boat tubing with an amazing skyline behind us. We watched the Wednesday Night Fireworks. We ventured down to the Indiana Dunes for more tubing, sand castle building, and "camping" on the boat at a local marina. One of our highlights was climbing Mt. Baldy, the largest dune. May not look that tough but it's really hard to climb when you keep sinking in the sand on your way up. Good workout but an even more fun descent. The kids got to spend the night with Grammie on Saturday. And we also caught quick glimpses of Aunt Kimmy and Grandma Harriet. A really fun adventure. Looking forward to our next trip and my tennis match (that never happened) with Kim Rizzo!

Summer Highs and Lows

No one said life was easy. This summer, Ron and I are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. We have been looking forward to enjoying my anniversary gift to him, which was VIP tickets to the Detroit Lakes Music Festival where Dave Matthews Band (our long time favorite) was headlining. And Grandma Harriet was coming up to watch the kids. On Thursday, Ron noticed a large, suspicious lump on my shoulder. Needless to say, I started to freak out. Ironically, I had a dermatologist appointment scheduled for the next morning. The dermatologist swears it's a benign lipoma (fatty tissue). I am scheduled for surgery in two weeks to have it removed and tested. After the appointment, I was able to lift my spirits (and thank you to Ann for a wonderful chat) and Ron and I headed north for an AWESOME weekend. We "camped" near the festival and checked out some awesome bands like Todd Snider and Ozomatli. We also got to see Pistol Whipping Party Penguins (the lead singer played at our Summer Solstice party) and our beloved Dave Matthews band. VIP is the way to go with special seating, free drinks and food, and our very own bathrooms! A fun adventure sandwiched between some life realities.





After a great weekend away, the weekend ended with another scare. On Sunday, while we were eating dinner, Presey quietly told Mom that she couldn't see out of her right eye. The episode lasted for about 2-3 minutes. After 4 hours in the emergency room, we are hopeful that the diagnosis will be declared an ocular migraine (harmless). However, we have had a detailed eye exam with an opthamologist and have an upcoming appointment with a neurologist to rule out anything more serious. More to come but we are hopeful.