And another visit by family & friends

Last weekend, the 5-7th of October was a fun one!  

Mom & Dad came in for Bethel Alumni events and for homecoming and a 40 year reunion.  We were able to enjoy Old Chicago with them on Thursday night before they were off and running with their plans.  

Friday night Katy and I went to Bethel for her own five year college reunion.  It was a night of small food, snacking and chatting with some of her classmates.  They also organized a small program which took up a little bit of the evening but it was mostly chatting, socializing in smaller groups.  

I appreciated that it was more informal and more chances to mingle with more people than mine was, as it was a more formal table style meal, but she didn't nearly have as many people turn out as my five year reunion.  Nonetheless it was nice for Katy to catch up with a few friends.  

Saturday was a very nice day to get things done around the house.  Katy and I went to Ace Hardware in the morning for their second fall festival.  That's where I won the leaf blower last year.  This year I think we registered to win a yard treatment package.  But we bought a couple things to help me trim some branches away from the driveway so they don't fall down a few a day for the whole fall and winter.  It was annoying last year to pick up all of the weak, dead and dying branches during a rainstorm or snowstorm.  

However, the highlight of the morning at Ace Hardware might have been the petting zoo!  It was quite the attraction.  They had a camel, donkey, goat, bunnies, snakes, small alligators and probably a couple other things but the highlight was the kangaroo and the nine month old bear!  As we were walking there I was looking at the animals and as we got closer I was like, "is that a black bear!?"  It was awesome watching it.  We talked with Mike, the owner, for a few minutes before heading in and finding a few things to pick up.  I only hope that his event has been a success not only from a community aspect but from a business perspective as well.  I know I appreciate seeing him drive in and out of work as he's always one to wave and smile on the way by.  

Saturday afternoon we got together with Paul and Lance.  We then met up with Kristine and Liz who came in from Michigan and Texas (and the world), as well as Laura and Abby.  We thoroughly enjoyed a night at Brasa as it was a first for everyone except me, Katy and Paul.  

After Brasa we went to Old Chicago for dessert and a couple drinks and another place to hang out and catch up.  We unofficially and officially made plans to take a trip to Las Vegas next spring to hang out and have fun.  I think that would be a blast to hit Las Vegas with college friends!  We'll see if it happens!

We met up with Kristine and Liz again on Sunday morning (with Lance and Paul) to enjoy a few more minutes and some Breuggers and Caribou before they both took off for home.  It was great to see them.  

After that-Katy and I hit the Twin Cities Marathon and watched the marathon finishers for a few hours. Unfortunately, we missed the TC 10 Mile though.  

Later on Sunday, we watched football and then welcomed Mom and Dad in for the night.  We went to eat at Granite City and hung out at home for a little bit before Monday morning work arrived.  

It's nice having an extra room available and it's proven to be very useful this summer.  I feel like we've had a steady stream of visitors since July and it's been fun!  

A Weekend With Megan

Catching all of no one up; Megan visited two weekends ago and we had a good time visiting with her and Myla.

She landed in the afternoon and I met Meg, Myla and Katy at the Mall of America for dinner.  We enjoyed some good food at Crave.

Saturday I had to work during the day but after work we ate dinner at Noodles, enjoyed a malt from Snuffy's and watched a movie to hang around at home.

Sunday we went to church and had a great afternoon hanging out and celebrating at Heidi's wedding.

It was alot of fun having her here and it was fun seeing Myla even though she didn't really warm up to me at all.

Reference the pictures that Megan put up on Facebook to see how the wedding went.

Thanks for coming Megan!  

Painting 1064

Well, better late than never.

Here's the change of our jewel of the nile to bridle path.

I got things on the driveway about 7:30am and Katy and Paul joined me a little later and we put a full day of painting away!

Painting this stucco was quite the challenge with it being so textured.  Katy did a great job trimming most of the house, Paul did a great job soaking his roller and lathering it on the outside and in all the crevices.  And I did a little bit of both but it was probably shoddy.

Lance joined us later in the afternoon getting the back of the house 99% finished before we ran out of paint.

And we celebrated by going to Lake Minnetonka and eating outside at Maynard's right on the lake.  Well, somewhere on/in/near the lake.

Memorial Day 2012

Katy and I had this last Memorial Day weekend off.  It gave us the chance to get a few things done around the house.

I worked Friday night but we got right to checking things off the list on Saturday morning.  We hit the gym and afterwards on our way to pick up some Breugger's we got caught in the pouring rain!  It was the hardest I've seen it rain in a long time!  Once we got home we enjoyed some breakfast and coffee and saw Josh as he was dropping Libby off for us to watch for the weekend.  

At noon we set out to clean the basement with it looking like this.  

Once we broke down all of the cardboard and took it out along with the garbage we found we had started to see some progress.  

We ventured to Costco for some shelving because of the slight leakage in our basement.  I wanted to keep the plastic bins off the floor and not near the wall in jeopardy of a little bit of water when it pours hard for a while.

So, we picked up these shelving units.  

It's no where near as exciting as a flight and a quick few days to Chicago but it was a huge thing that has probably been weighing me down for a long time.  I knew the basement needed to be cleaned up for so long but it was so hard to get down there.  But we did!

And despite it looking great we can still do more.  But this was step one in the successful accomplishment during the rainy and cloudy day Saturday.

Saturday night we went to Green Mill with Paul.

Sunday we went to church, Costco again for some grilling ingredients and enjoyed the warm weather by going to the Mall of America with our friend Emily.  We hit a bunch of stores, enjoyed the wandering and made an afternoon of it.  After the mall we grilled out; hamburgers, asparagus, fruit, mojitos and a fantastic strawberry shortcake Emily made!

We also watched True Grit.  It was a decent, entertaining movie.

"You're no bigger than a corn nugget!"  That seemed to be our favorite line of the movie when True Grit was talking to the 14 year old girl as she was trying to hire him to find who killed her father.

Monday we went running at Como.  I ran twice around the lake and the second time I brought Libby with me.  She ran a 6:40 mile with me however started out much too strong for finishing in a 6:40.  Although she did poop twice causing a stoppage in pace.  I didn't get too many looks at my Garmin to see how fast we were going but at one point early on we were at 5:56  pace.

Our Memorial Day activity took us to Bob & Deb's too.  We grilled out again with them, Bopa and Bob's mom.  Again it was burgers and brats with some wild rice in them.  We also ate potato salad with bacon in it, cole slaw, fruit salad, chips, ice cream and cookies washed down by iced tea or lemonade.

The other activity going on for Memorial Day was once again with my favorite Twin Cities tie company, Pierrepont Hicks, was holding a little challenge to wear their goods and show them off.  So, that is what this outfit resulted in.  Sunday night Emily, Katy and I picked this outfit out.  And I liked it enough to add a khaki blazer and wear it all day to Bob & Deb's!

Pierrepont Hicks bow tie (a sample; meaning I might be the only one who has one, if not I'm one of a very select few who have one)

Pierrepont Hicks Buzzy Pocket Square

J. Crew woven & shorts

Banana Republic belt

Cole Haan shoes

So, I emailed her this picture and I got on the website, just as her challenge stated!

The link to this shot at Pierrepont Hicks.

The link to this shot at Pierrepont Hicks.  Any opinion on who did it best?

These were the looks that didn't pass the test to Pierrepont Hicks.  

And one shot of our new shoes...Katy's J. Crew Soludos and my Cole Haan Franklin Wingtips.  

Twin Cities 1 Mile

The Twin Cities 1 Mile came and went quickly last Thursday night.  

I have been running a few times a week for a couple months which I thought put me in a good place to run a little faster.  However, I still have not gotten any speed work in so I just wasn't ready for a fast pace.  

I worked until 6pm and picked Mom up before arriving to Nicollet Avenue with about an hour before the race.  I warmed up with 1.75 miles and stretched and off I went.  However, I didn't get as close to the front of the line as I wanted to, the corral packed in early I think.  

After getting going I did my best to stay strong and consistent with effort, though soon my mouth was so dry my spit solidified, I'm pretty sure, because I spit out once and it felt like I was spitting out a piece of sand.  About half way through I kept running strong and maybe for a close to two tenths of a mile I really thought hard about going hard to the finish but I just couldn't pull it off.  I just maintained as best as I could and finished up.  

Also, previously to running I asked people to tell me how they thought I'd do.  

I finished in 5:11.2 making Katy and Paul the winner because their guesses of 5:12.00 and 5:13.50 were the closest.  Megan guessed 5:07 and Eric 5:18.  Amanda guessed 5:15 and Lance said "best ever."  

It looks as if I owe Katy and Paul dinner.  

Katy's Talent

My wife did this this weekend.

What did your wife do?

I worked 1:30-11pm on Saturday & 10:30-7:45pm on Sunday and she pounded out this new headboard for our guest bedroom. She bought the wood, cut it, sanded it, designed it and I'm sure she had alot of fun nail-gunning it.

I think it's fantastic!

When can we book your stay?

Joel, Katy & Paul Go To Switchfoot

Northwestern College hosted one of my favorite bands a couple weeks ago.


Paul realized they were coming to town and asked me and Katy to go to the show.  He hadn't ever been to their show before so he was pretty excited.  Katy and I have seen them a few times before at Concordia College and at the House of Blues in Las Vegas and also at the Minnesota State Fair.  


The Rocket Summer opened...

but the real draw was Switchfoot.

I am the sea on a moonless night

Calling falling, slipping tides
I am the leaky, dripping pipes
The endless, aching drops of lights
I am the raindrop falling down
Always longing for the deeper ground
I am the broken, breaking seas
Even my blood finds ways to bleed
Even the rivers ways to run
Even the rain to reach the sun
Even my thirsty streams
Even in my dreams
I am restless
I am restless
I am restless
I'm looking for you
I am restless
I run like the ocean to find your shore
I'm looking for you
I am the thorn stuck in your side
I am the one that you left behind
I am the dried up doubting eyes
Looking for the well that won't run dry
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/switchfoot/restless.html ]Running for the other side
The world that I've always been denied
Running hard for the infinite
With the tears of saints and hypocrites
Oh, blood of black and white and grey
Oh, death in life and night in day
One by one by one
We let our rivers run
I am restless
I am restless
I'm looking for you
I am restless
I run like the ocean to find your shore
I'm looking for you
I can hear you breathing
I can feel you leading
More than just a feeling
I can feel you reaching
Pushing through the ceiling
Till the final healing
I'm looking for you
Until the sea of glass we meet
At last completed and complete
Where tide and tear and pain subside
And laughter drinks them dry
I'll be waiting
Anticipating
All that I aim for
What I was made for
With every heartbeat
All of my blood bleeds
Running inside me
I'm looking for you
More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/switchfoot/#share

Fumbling his confidence 
And wond'ring why the world has passed him byyy (guitar) 
Hoping that he's meant for more than arguments And failed attempts to fly, fly We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside Somewhere we live inside We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/switchfoot/meant+to+live_20134687.html ] Dreaming about providence And whether mice or men have second tries Maybe we've been livin with our eyes half open Maybe we're bent and broken, broken We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside Somewhere we live inside We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside 
We want more than this world's got to offer We want more than this world's got to offer We want more than the wars of our fathers And everything inside screams for second life Yaaa We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live We were meant to liveWe were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside Somewhere we live inside We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/switchfoot/meant+to+live_20134687.html ] Dreaming about providence And whether mice or men have second tries Maybe we've been livin with our eyes half open Maybe we're bent and broken, broken We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside Somewhere we live inside We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside We want more than this world's got to offer We want more than this world's got to offer We want more than the wars of our fathers And everything inside screams for second life Yaaa We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live We were meant to liveWe want more than this world's got to offer We want more than this world's got to offer We want more than the wars of our fathers And everything inside screams for second life Yaaa We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live We were meant to live

Winners!

Katy and I had a great weekend off together.  One of our events included going over to Ace Hardware on the corner to visit, walk around and see their Fall Festival!  The owner, Mike, put together a Cub Scout Troop selling hot dogs, chips, soda and popcorn.  He also had a chainsaw artist making bears out of huge logs.  He had painting activities for kids pumpkins, which he was able to collect himself in the field for a low cost and early in the morning he had a petting zoo with a camel, kangaroo and well, I forgot the other animals.

So, we walked in, browsed through the aisles with numerous other people.  It looked like a good turnout for his first time event planning this Fall Festival.  Before we left, we dropped our names in the give away buckets.  A Craftsman toolbox, a Stihl leaf blower, Scotts turf builder and maybe birdseed.  I forgot.  We both tossed our names in the Stihl leaf blower thinking that would be our best shot to win something.  But we never win anything, so I wasn't overly worried.

Well, Sunday afternooon Katy got a call from Mike and we/she won the Stihl leaf blower!  It was great news and she went to pick it up that afternoon.

It is pretty similar to this one here.  It's simple and occasional use but it's a two cycle gas blower!  It's not even a cheap electric one!  I love it and I have yet to even use it!  And better yet it matches my chainsaw!

Thanks Mike!  Thanks Ace Hardware!

(They do a great job in the community.  On our block party night they donated four $10 gift cards and Scotts Turf Builder and I think something else, birdseed?  But they're great!)

Merrell Boots-Emily, Megan, Katy?

I need to buy these boots for one of you this winter.  I think they are fantastic. 

Merrell Natalya Waterproof

Herberger's has them which is how I noticed them. 

E4 Drive Through

Last Friday, on their way to Verndale, E4 stopped in Minnetonka for the night at Eric's aunt and uncle's.

Only alot of niece fun and sibling bonding occurred.

Ellie, check these pictures out!

Also, Eric dunked!

But we enjoyed some chinese food, talked about jobs, our house, their new house and saw some of the impressive demolition they have done.  We taught Eric how to tie a bow tie, heard a very very (very) long story about a customer yelling at me for 20-25 minutes at work, looked for a snowblower on Craig's List and more.  It was a great evening and I was glad to drive down to them to say hello and enjoy some food.

As always, it makes me happy that Ellie gets to excited to see me and Katy.  It was also great to have Edie, however tired, walk over to me and calmly sit on my lap for a few minutes before bed.

Ella's Picture Taking

Can Ella take pictures?  Well, we asked.  And she delivered. 

 And a couple other Chicago pictures I forgot to include.

Chicago Spontainiety

I know everyone has been waiting for this post; so here it is.

On August 10th I went to a Red Sox v. Twins game with Katy, Paul, Lance, Nick & Becca. I was off the next weekend and saw that both the White Sox and Cubs had home games. The Cubbies were in action at 3:10pm and the White Sox were playing at 6:10pm so I said to Paul and Lance as we were waking out about how fun it'd be to go to Chicago and hit two Twins games.

Well, I didn't put my plan in action with Lance and Paul soon enough but Katy and I still wanted to go and worked it out to hang out with Eric, Emily, Ella and Edie for a day and a half.

We got up bright and early Saturday morning, before the sun, and got to Chicago about 12:30pm. And our 19 and 1/2 hour day began but it was well worth it!

We arrived when E4 was running an errand and I heard Ella was pretty excited to see me so I ran down the stairs and picked her up! I believe she promptly went to doing flips and asking me to throw her up in the air.

After arriving Eric, Katy and I went to Cemitas Puebla where I ordered a Carne Asada cemitas. It's a delicious sandwich; sesame seed bread layered with avocado, steak, adobo chipotle peppers and fresh oaxacan cheese. I belive Eric ordered the same thing and Katy ordered a chicken burrito. (However, ask her how that ended up.) I found it delicious again and could eat that for lunch every day. It fits into my "sandwich" requirement for lunch.

Once it stopped raining and cleared up Emily, Katy and I hit North Ave and went to the store on North Ave that I've been waiting to go to for a while. Since they have like 3-4 different locations on the street I found their website and saw they had a great selection of goods. Well...I got in there and was glad I stopped! Akira had a number of great pieces I would have loved to buy. But I only tried a couple on and wished I could find them closer to home.

This was a look I liked and Em wanted to show Eric.

























Anyhow, the bright sun came out on North Ave and we went to the women's Akira before hitting J. Crew, Gap, Banana Republic and the Starbucks before heading back to the girls after their nap.

We went to see the house they just bought to which Katy and I thought it was in a great place. We can't wait to come and visit; or help tear something down!

We then stopped at the park near their house and enjoyed some time on the swings and playground. Ella even ran through the water fountain.

After the park it was time for a little snooze on the couch before we went to Via Carducci for some Italian food. I ordered the nightly special of lobster ravioli! But it was good eating all around.


















































Ok, so we may have been tired but kept on trucking. Emily needed to get beignets at Grand Lux Cafe! Oh man were they delicious. It was made of deep fried dough with confectioners sugar on top. It's kind of a cross between a doughnut and a biscuit. Light, flaky, buttery and ultimately one of the best desserts I've ever had! Thanks for taking us Emily! It came with three dipping sauces, a Jack Daniels type sauce, a raspberry sauce and a dark chocolate sauce. By the time we got out of traffic in Chicago it was about midnight and Katy and I had been up all day!

Sunday morning we gave Eric his birthday presents-a load of World Series DVD's and a couple of woven's.

Then we hit Flo for breakfast, yet again, more delicious food. We chatted about the floor plans and the demo they'll have to do when they move. It seems like it'll be quite the task but I think it will be worth it judging by the pictures of their place.

Ultimately the weekend was a whirlwind but I'd do it again to spend some time with E4. Thanks for having us!

I'll do my best to update this soon so watch for more. Katy's iPhone has some good video of me and Ella playing games on Saturday afternoon.