Other Pre-holiday activities

Presley transitioned from band to Choir this year at school. She had her first choir concert in early December followed by a concert at the Mall of America. While she is still finding her voice, she has enjoyed the transition from band to choir this year!




Mom continues her involvement with Chicks with Wicks. We continued our annual holiday sale. While we didn't really make money, we did recoup some of our expenses for the year and we always have fun together as friends!

"Fall" Out of Town Hockey Tournaments

This "fall", the kids each had an out of town hockey tournament. Mom traveled with Canyon's Bantam AA team traveled to Duluth the weekend of December 2-4. Mom and Canyon had some nice bonding time. And the boys won the tournament with a huge win over long term rival Edina!




Presley's 12UA team traveled to Grand Rapids, MN the weekend of December 9-11. Because it was Dad's birthday weekend, both Ron and Trisha came to be with Presley and celebrate Ron's 50th birthday. Before we left the Twin Cities, we enjoyed a nice family celebration with Canyon. Ron's birthday celebration continued with the girls singing to him at lunch, bringing him a cake after one of the games, and making a huge sign that they presented to him after one of their games on the ice. While the weekend was not a winning weekend for the girls, it was a well celebrated birthday weekend for Ron.

Thanksgiving 2016

Grammie and Aunt Kimmy traveled to MN for Thanksgiving this year. It was a short but quality visit. Ron and Trisha prepared for Thanksgiving by purchasing our first free range Turkey from local Ferndale Farms in Cannon Falls. The weekend was also filled with hockey, fun games, and good food and drink. Thanks for making the road trip to MN. Looking forward to Christmas with them too!

Phi Mu Reunion in Austin

Hard to believe but it has been 25 years since Mom graduated from U of I. This month, she travelled to Austin to reconnect with 12 of her sorority sisters where we rented a house for the weekend. It was a wonderful weekend in a fun city. While in town, Mom also got to see cousins Meghan and Cody (and newest cousin Peyton). Fun weekend with some amazing women!!

Our awesome house...


Lunch with Cody and Meghan



Dinners & Nights Out on Rainey Street and 6th Street




Lunch at Lady Lake

All The Pergandes Get in on Halloween Fun

With Halloween on a Monday and the kids getting older, we thought we might all decide to chill at home and hand out candy to the local neighborhood kids. However, Presley got the family action started by leaving home to go trick or treating with a couple of friends. Canyon was just chilling at home with some friends when Mom pulled out the old costume box. Canyon and his buddies actually got into the spirit and decided to stop at a couple of the neighborhood houses in their newly created costumes. I asked these "HUGE" trick or treaters to not scare the little kids and prepped our neighbors that some large kids might be stopping by. Mom and Dad didn't want to be left out. Since, the Bears were playing on Monday Night Football, we decided to dress up as "108" celebrating the recent Cubs World Series win! Never too old to get dressed up!

Early Happy 50th for Ron!

It is always a special time to come back to Chicago. How could we not take this time in Chicago during Ron's 50th year and not celebrate his birthday. We had to! Aunt Kimmy helped coordinate by helping us reserve Brehon Pub (where we also had his 40th birthday party). While we don't think Ron was truly "surprised", we do think he had an amazing time celebrating with friends and family and watching the Cubs clinch the National League 2016 title. We were also blessed with surprise visits from his high school drama teacher and his buddy Steve Sachman who flew in from NYC to celebrate with Ronnie!

MEA Chicago - Day 2

On our second day in Chicago, we headed downtown again for another day as tourists. On route downtown, we stopped by the new Ed Paschke Art Center, which displays rare art of the artist and a re-imagination of his studio. Super cool to check out.



We then headed to Michigan Avenue where we saw the historic Pumping Station which takes in water from Lake Michigan. We then explored some of the stores on Magnificent Mile, including the Polo Store, Tiffany, Underarmor and a stop at Starbucks :).





We then took the Chicago Architecture Foundation Boat tour along the Chicago river. Can't believe we never did this while living in the city! Great tour.





Today was Game 6 of the National League Playoffs. To ensure good MOJO, we went to the Billy Goat Tavern for some cheeseburgers and chips (no fries) before the game! We also made a stop at the Apple Store to charge our phones and listen to some tunes!

MEA in Chicago

We planned a trip to Chicago for MEA weekend. Cubs are in the playoffs and we thought it would be fun to be in Chicago during this moment in history. Unfortunately, after we planned our trip, we found out that Canyon had a full weekend of hockey games. One of his teammate's families offered to host Canyon for the weekend so we could keep our trip on as planned. We wanted to make the most of our trip and enjoy the city as tourists. On route to the city, we made stops in Red Wing to visit with Great Granny and Libertyville to visit with our pals, the Haddons. Both great stops!




On Friday, we headed downtown to Millenium Park and Grant Park. On route to the "Bean", we made a stop in Daley Plaza with the famous Picasso statue and listened to some street music near the historic Marshall Fields store.






We continued exploring the park with a stroll through the Lurie Garden and then adventuring in the new Maggie Daley Park with awesome playgrounds, an enchanted forest walk, and a cool ice skating ribbon. My new favorite place in Chicago.

Hockey Season 2016-17 Begins

The kids' hockey season has begun. Canyon is starting his second year as a Bantam AA and Presley is starting her second year as a 12UA. Both of the kids should be have pretty decent seasons.