Outing Day and Fun Run!!!!

The racers before the Outing fun run!

Another week has flown by.

Its been crazy for work with four night teleconferences completed this past week. The last one was on Thursday night and I took it at the cabin while overlooking the lake. That definitely made up for the 1 hour of Japanese that I endured.

We made our first trip up to Outing this season, definitely overdue but had to work around the move of the house. I went into work early on Thursday and snuck out around noon. I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple essentials before heading home to pick up the kids. We were on the road by 1:30 PM and heading up Highway 169. We didn’t hit much traffic and Riley was sleeping before we even went across the Minnesota River. We made our way towards Garrison and took an ice cream break by the big Walleye (its in bad shape with 2 of its fins missing). After our break, we met the parents in Emily at the Bungalow Restaurant. The kids played first at the new playground (definitely 2 thumbs up!!) and then we ate a great dinner and drank some beer. Following dinner, we drove the long distance to the cabin (6 miles) and the kids ran in to see all the toys that Gramma and Grampa had for them (especially the dinosaurs).

On Friday, in the morning, the kids played in the water near the dock and got some minnows for fishing. In the afternoon, we took it easy and went for a pontoon boat ride with Gramma in the afternoon. The highlight for the kids was swimming in Woods Bay. The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. They swam around without too much help from us and enjoyed the warm water. That night, we headed over to Owls N Things for ice cream cones. The kids had their favorite flavor mini cone of “Superman” (Fruit Punch) while Vicki and I shared a S’mores flavored ice cream.

We woke up Saturday morning ready for the race. Gramma and Grampa ate their granola bars and were pumped for the race. They had trained all summer for it and the goal of winning their age group. Vicki was running in her first running race. The last 2 years, she walked the course. I had the challenge of pushing the kids (in the double stroller) through the 5.5K race course that included multiple hills including a ½ mile section on dirt through the woods and up a hill. The runners started first and the walkers started 1 minute after. There must have been around 40-50 runners and 25 walkers. Weather was ideal with temps in the mid 70s at race start. Vicki and I had made special shirts for the Sholom Shores running team. We had seen the Remer High School team last year sporting shirts and wanted to do something similar this year. Each shirt front was unique with the same logo on the back of all shirts (Sholom Shores Running Team Established 1994). See the pix below to see the actual logos on each person’s shirt.

The race started and the fast runners went off. There were about 6-8 high school runners along with a few other fast runners. I started in back with the kids (gave the kids each fruit snacks at the start) and started picking off other runners. I wanted to save some my energy for the off-road hills section. During that section, I had to push the stroller with two hands and ran on my toes to get traction up the hill. Once we hit the pavement, I was exhausted but still had about 1.5 miles left. I opened up 2 granola bars (once for each kid) and gave them to the kids to get them through the finish. We finally finished the race in around 14th place (according to a guy we passed). Our time was 25:43. This is about 2.5 minutes slower than when I run the race sans the stroller. We finished in 3rd place in the 30-39 age group about 3.5 minutes behind 1st and 2nd place. We went back to run back with Vicki to the finish. The kids cheered on Mommy to the finish. The walkers finished roughly 10 minutes later and we saw Gramma and Grampa. Gramma passed Grampa with less than ¼ mile left and finished under 50 minutes. Grampa was 20 seconds behind. Gramma won her age group and Grampa finished 2nd again (to the same guy from last year). Following the race, we enjoyed snacks and waited for the awards ceremony.

That afternoon while the kids napped, Peggy and I kayaked over to Luscher Park to watch the Waterama water ski show (sorry no pix). The show was good but unfortunately the kids missed it. After they woke up, they came over to the park to play games and had a great time. For dinner that night, we had a fish fry and cooked up some French fries, bass and sunfish. Following dinner, we had a bonfire and ate s’mores.

On Sunday morning, I hooked up the web cam that Marc bought the parents and talked with Marc and his family. It was neat to see Max and Coral. The kids were mesmerized by the video and didn’t know what to think about it all. Pretty neat! We headed back out on the boat for some more swimming in Woods Bay and then came back around noon to head home. The kids took a nap near Crosby and woke up near Princeton.

We crashed hard on Sunday night after a fun filled weekend. On Monday, the kids and Vicki went to Kelly Park while I went to work. Not fair! J

Actually, I went blading on Monday morning at Cleary getting ready for this Sunday’s St. Paul Inline Marathon. After skating, I stopped at the new house and took pix. The roof was going up today. 2.5 months until we move into that house or earlier (if we choose another house).

Wayne and Carol are heading over here on Thursday and have a busy weekend planned. Prior Lake Lakefront Days and Shakopee Derby Days are going on this weekend along with inline marathon and more.

Well that’s it for now! Talk with ya next week.

Kids enjoying some tootsie pops following games at the park.

Captain Riley on his mighty kayak

"Are we there yet Gramma?" as the we headed to Woods Bay.

The Spieler family swimming.

Gramma Peggy accepting her 1st place medal.

Grampa Milty and his sidekick.

Can you say Cheese Puffs?

And another house picture........

Valleyfair and more!

Back to Blogging again!

Well, its been 11 days since my last blog report and wanted to get you all updated on the crazy activities that have been keeping us busy.

Last time, I wrote that we had the following events in front of us:

Thursday (7/10) – Bob and Loree coming over for dinner
Saturday (7/12) – Tot Shabbat and then Uncle John and Aunt Pat’s 50th Anniversary Party
Sunday (7/13) – Pool Party at Kathe and Franks
Wednesday (7/16) – Seagate Valleyfair Day
Saturday (7/26) – Outing Fun Run

Dinner with Bob/Loree – Kids had a great time seeing them (we did too!). We were able to eat outside (weather was good!). Loree brought over DQ Dilly Bars and the kids were thrilled to eat them.

Tot Shabbat – Smaller than normal turnout for Tot Shabbat probably due to the weather along with it’s the weekend following July 4th. The singing leader read a book about Dinosaurs on Shabbat. Riley really enjoyed the book. Following the services, the kids had a pot-luck lunch and made bird feeders (made out of pine cones covered with peanut butter and bird seed).

Anniversary Party – After Riley took his nap, we loaded the kids in the car for a trip out to Carver to Uncle John and Aunt Pat’s 50th Anniversary Party. The party had people in the garage and in the house. The kids had a great time seeing the relatives especially Gramma and Grampa along with Tammy and Mary (their favorite cousins that babysit). There must have been enough food to feed 250 people and only 90 people attended the party. On the way back from the party, we stopped by the new house to show the foundation to the parents.

Pool Party – On Sunday morning, I bladed 27 miles in preparation for the upcoming St. Paul Inline Marathon. We followed up that afternoon by headinig over to Kathe and Frank’s place for a pool party with Gramma and Grampa and cousin Ali. The kids had a blast and we couldn’t keep Riley out of the pool. Both Brooke and Riley loved being the pool. Ali was showing us her diving and swimming skills. She dived off the diving board and even got Gramma Peggy to go off of it twice. By the time, we got the kids home, they both wanted us to put in a big pool in our backyard. Needless to say that the kids were exhausted after that weekend.

Monday (7/14) – We received a call on Sunday night from Greg’s realtor asking to show his house on Monday from 10:30 to 11:30 AM. Vicki got the house ready and took the kids out. Well, we got another call that afternoon from the realtor and we had a showing that night as well. So after dinner, we got the kids in the car and did some shopping while the house was being shown. Greg’s house has been on the market for one month and had 2 showings and both were on the same day. The realtor was shocked but didn’t expect that to happen again.

Valleyfair - This past week was a bit more relaxing but still kept the kids busy. The highlight of the week was the annual Seagate trip to Valleyfair. This may be the last trip to Valleyfair with Seagate for sometime since the economy has been impacting our business. But this is similar to years in the past in which we hit a rough spell and then a year or two years later, we do better and the reinstate some of these benefits.
The kids had a great time at Valleyfair. I went into work early and then met Vicki around 9:30 AM. We headed to the park and arrived there a few minutes before it opened. Belinda Jensen (weather guru for Channel 11) forecasted for on and off rain, so we figured if we got a couple hours in at VF, we would be happy. Well the weather cooperated most of the day and the forecast scared away others from coming to VF. We went on majority of the kids ride without any wait. The kids tried new rides this year and loved the Frog Jump ride. We went to the water park and the kids had a blast. There were no crowds in the water park area and made it enjoyable and easy to track Riley. He’s a little maniac when it comes to pools and water parks. We headed to have lunch around 1 PM and finally found a spot in the Seagate lunch area. Everyone was waiting to leave the picnic area after the gift raffles. After getting food for the kids (hot dogs, fried chicken, and mac & cheese), I went up to get my food. On the way to the food line, I heard the MC calling the last 2 digits of my global ID (11442). I was in contention with 2 others for a gift certificate. The MC then spun the dial and it was a “5”, so the last 3 numbers were “542”, luckily no one had those numbers. They spun the wheel again and came up with a “4”. So I won a $100 gift certificate that will be used for stuff for the new house. We spent the next hour eating and the kids jumped into the bounce house before we left.

Date Night – We finished the week by having date night for Vicki and myself. Cousin Tammy watched the kids and they couldn’t wait for us to leave for the night. Vicki picked the movie and restaurant. We saw Mama Mia. We were probably the youngest people in the theater (except the parents we saw with their teenage girls). As you can see from the previews, it’s a musical featuring the songs of ABBA. Well it was a 100% musical and even Pierce Bronson sang. It was a pretty good flick and I am sure a lot of people saw it this past weekend. Following the movie, we went to Axel’s Bonfire. By the time we got there, we were starving. After looking at their extensive menu, we opted for beer, pizza and dessert. We had 2 pizzas, the first was artichoke, spinach and tomato. The second was 3 sausage and wild mushrooms. Definitely good stuff, I ate 11 slices and Vicki had 5 slices. (Did I mention that I went for a Mt Bike ride at 7 AM and then Vicki & I ran around Cleary Lake at 9 AM, then we stopped at the new house and then went to farmers market in Prior Lake). We finished the dinner with dessert – a huge chocolate chip cookie with scoop of ice cream.

On to this week, its going to be a short week in Savage but lots of stuff to do. I have 4 nightly teleconferences with my Japanese customers and getting honored by the mayor on Tuesday night for my work on the Park and Natural Resource Commission. On Thursday, we are heading up to Outing to see Gramma Peggy and Grampa Milty. The Outing Fun Run is on Saturday and Vicki will be running it for the very first time (she’s walked the past 2 years). I’ll be pushing the 2 kids in the double running stroller. Gramma and Grampa have been training for the walk as well and want to win their respective divisions. Looking forward to getting away for a little break.

Its been a very strange summer. We sold our house and spent 7 weeks, preparing the house for the move, moving and putting some stuff away (our garage is packed). Now, we are in a holding pattern and kind of bored (since its been so chaotic). I am sure once we move into our final house (no matter if it’s the one in Prior Lake, Savage, BV, Lakeville, anywhere), we’ll be busy again.

Is it just me or is the news very depressing. Between the newspaper and TV news, its all about the poor economy, foreclosures, oil prices increasing and utility prices at a record highs. But the optimistic economists believe the bottom is coming soon and it should rebound soon. I hope they are right.

Now, enough of my soapbox speech, here’s some pix from the past week.


Where' Gilligan?

Practicing driving the boat to get ready for the cabin!

The kids loved the frog hopper!

Making progress on the house!

Crazy Month!!!!

The past month – moving and more…..

Well, its been a crazy month since the last blog update.

For those that don’t know, we sold our house in mid May after Vicki and I thought, let’s put the house on the market and see what happens. Well, guess what, it sold in 2 days to the first people that walked through. After looking at over 70 homes (variety of ages, prices, sizes and more), we came up empty handed. We made 2 offers and neither seller took them. The funny thing is that both houses are still on the market. Over those weeks of looking, I spent 3 hours a day researching houses. What I found out is that people paid too much for their houses a few years back (compared to new prices today), people believe their house is worth more than it really is, and the last is that most people do not keep up their house. I cannot tell you how many houses that we looked at that were in poor condition.

So where does that leave us, we decided to build a house in Prior Lake next to Cleary Lake Park. The house is nice but the location next to Cleary Lake is what really sold me. I needed to be close to a park system. We signed papers in early June and the house was to be started in early July for move in by mid-October. I still haven’t stopped looking at other homes. I am going with a parallel path in that we can still cancel our new house purchase if we buy something else (and lose our earnest money – not much). So why not, continue to keep looking.

Since we decided to build a house and had to move out of our house by June 27th, we need temporary housing. After looking at apartments and rental homes, we got lucky and rented my friend Greg’s house (since he moved to California last November). So Vicki led the charge with the packing and the move. We moved most of our stuff on June 22nd with the help of Scott, Bob, Grampa Milty and Gramma Peggy, and cousins Travis & Erik. The movers did the rest on June 26th. Vicki cleaned up the house that night and I finished it on Friday morning. I met the new owners (Scott and Janis) on Friday morning and showed them the ropes around 917 Southwind Drive. We went to the closing at 1 PM and unfortunately, the buyers had paperwork issues but we finally got the check later that day.

We had moved a 5 bedroom (+ workshop) house into a 3 bedroom house. So Greg’s house is packed with our stuff, most of our belongings are still in boxes and we have the majority of the garage full. There are days in which we cannot find what we are looking for but maybe we don’t need it. Within a few days of moving in, we met the neighbors and the people behind us are from Kaukana (next to Little Chute) and Park Falls (near U.P.). Small world.

Last weekend, we headed to Pine Grove Campground to see Vicki’s parents and Brad’s family. On Friday, July 4th. I competed in the Leopolis Triathlon. I was in the Jock class. The swim was 50 meters, bike was 12 miles and run of 5 miles. The swim was crazy, it took place in a river and halfway though the swim was a mucky sandbar. I did OK on the swim. The bike didn’t go well. My cycle computer stopped working before the race and I had an upset stomach from the energy bar that I skarfed down. I finished the bike course and hopped onto the run course. The race staff pointed me in the wrong direction and I ran the wrong course. I ended up running the short course (2 miles) when I pointed that out to the finish people, they told me to do another lap. Needless to say, I finished in 9th place but should have been closer to 20th place. Following the race, we all ate brats and burgers and stayed around for the parade. Wayne and I even drank a beer waiting for the parade to start. The parade was nice and short. The three kids (Brooke, Riley and Trent) must have collected 5 pounds of candy. On Saturday, my good friend Scott McMillan and his family stopped by the campground. We caught up on the good old days and his recent career in North Carolina. His girls (Brianna & Reina) had a great time. While at the campground, Trent and I went fishing and he must have caught 60 fish in 30 minutes. On Sunday, we left for home with 2 dirty kids and plenty of bug bites.

On Monday, July 7th, I attend my last Park and Natural Resources Commission meeting for Burnsville. The meeting went almost 2 hours with my resignation being discussed as the last topic. I hated to resign but since we are moving out of Burnsville, I had no choice.

On Tuesday, July 8th, Brad and Katie (with kids) came to visit us on the way down to Kansas City to visit her parents. I took Brad for a mountain bike ride at Murphy Hanrehan. I believe he liked it and he didn’t get hurt. I followed it up with a teleconference with a customer.

On Wednesday, July 9th, we stopped by the new house and the foundation was already poured. The house takes up the majority of the yard. Progress is being made. Many people have said to stop by the house every day to make sure they are building it properly. But since this house is a more of a cookie cutter house (standard configuration) and I don’t believe they need someone looking over their shoulder. The new house will be ~ 4000 square feet finished with 300 square feet of storage. There will be 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 1 family room, 1 living room, 1 office and one huge amusement room. The house will be huge.

Well. I am going to cut the blog off here but here’s a sneak peek on our upcoming activities.

Thursday (7/10) – Bob and Loree coming over for dinner
Saturday (7/12) – Tot Shabbat and then Uncle John and Aunt Pat’s 50th Anniversary Party
Sunday (7/13) – Pool Party at Kathe and Franks
Wednesday (7/16) – Seagate Valleyfair Day
Saturday (7/26) – Outing Fun Run

By the way, we no longer have a home phone and using our cell phones for everything in case someone needs to contact us.

Here's pictures in revers order (from newest to oldest!)

Our new home foundation.

Grandma Carol making the famous ice cream cake.

Trent and Brooke celebrating their candy colelction at the Leoplois triathlon.

Grampa and Riley in their July 4th best!

Where did Gramma hide the keys? Gavin (18 months) was the first one to drive the cart by himself.

Riley is just hanging around to see the lil' chipmunks.

Riley ready for the slip and slide

Our old home.... 917 Southwind Drive

The kids looking out of their temporary home....

Father's day celebration with Grampa Milty

Vicki and Brooke at the hole digging of the house


Talk with ya later!