Eko's thoughts on the Dog Show

Thanksgiving day, after the Macy's parade, a dog show started as we were hanging out in the family room. Our fabulous dog Eko was right there with us, relaxing. Soon enough, I noticed he was intently watching the tv (which he does occasionally). I tried peering in front of him and he did not like the distraction, so like anyone else would have done, he moved his head to see the dogs.

It's harder to tell in this video, but you'll get the idea. Notice I get in his way twice, the first time he lays his head down to see under me, the second (near the very end) he smoothly shifts to the left to see around me. It was just too funny, we can't help but share!

A New Thanksgiving Tradition?

Last year if you remember, Jon and I had welcomed both of our families to our home for Thanksgiving. It was such a great time, we decided to do it again. If you also remember, my sister Michelle helped me to draw and paint a tree on one of our basement walls. This year, I promised no painting, but she did help me draw out a deviously cute owl and tree in the babies room. Later that evening, after everyone had left, I couldn't help but paint... and start a new tradition.

The only question is - where and what tree are we painting next year?

Us

Picture Memories

Fall 2006


North Park Graduation


Christmas 2007


New Year's 2007


Mick & J's Wedding Weekend




The Chicago Bungalow


The City


The Art Show

Piles of Fun

Eme and I decided to take advantage of the nice Saturday weather to rake up the nice blanket of maple leaves in our back yard. It seems like it has been raining every other day with temperatures in the 30s around here (brrr!), so Saturday's morning sunshine and afternoon high of around 48 was wonderful!

Getting ready for Saturday, Eme is thinking of dressing up as Pregnant Home Depot Compost Bag Lady. Good idea - plenty of room for candy! Bad idea - can't see where you're going.

Eko was trying to help gather the leaves in between his stick fetching, rabbit hole discovery, and play time with Eme and me.

Our trusty Toro handled the front yard pretty well. It's always a great feeling of acomplishment when you begin with a yard draped with yellow leaves and end with nothing but green grass showing. And then there's always the immense satisfaction of having the visible green grass compared with the neighbors leafy yard ;)

163 -- 55,088(9) -- 2009 -- 12 -- 1

163 - Number of regular season games the Twins played this year

55,088 - Largest crowd to ever attend a regular season Twins game at the Metrodome. Ahem, excuse me...The Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome...as of Monday. Of course, no one will ever know, but there were actually 55,089 people there since our coworker got in without his ticket being scanned. But then again, they may count the sold tickets rather than the scanned tickets. Oh well.

(Our little perch in the upper deck)

2009 - Regular season attendance record set for the Twins. My guess is that people signed up for season tickets in order to get priority for Target Field. I say that, partly, because that's what we did!

12 - Number of innings the Twins and Tigers played last night

1 - Winner of the Central Division...The Twins!!!!!!!

What an amazing game! It is difficult to convey how FANTASTIC last night's game was! But my hoarse voice probably says it all (pun intended). We scored tickets by waiting patiently online after the Twins completed the sweep of the Royals on Sunday. The moment we walked in the Dome there was an electricity that I've never experience watching a Twins game in the Dome.

I had the opportunity to watch the Twins play at Fenway a few years ago and that, along with Cubs games, and last night's game, what I consider real baseball atmosphere. From about the 6th inning on we were standing and cheering for every out and every at bat and then sitting (resting) between innings. Pretty much the opposite behavior for the typical Twins fan.

The Tigers were up. We tied. We went ahead. The Tigers tied. The Tigers went ahead. We tied. We won! What an incredible back and forth, high emotion, dramatic way to win the Central Division! I didn't get to experience either game 6 or 7 of the '91 World Series in person so 2009's game 163 is BY FAR the best Twins game I've ever been to. And it is most certainly the best sporting event I've ever seen in person or on TV. What a great memory! Eme, Baby Bon, and me were all there to soak in one lasting memory of Twins Metrodome Baseball.

1 - Winner of the Central Division...The Twins!!!!!!!

Best ever

Bottom of the ninth...

No matter what happens absolutely...hands down...the best baseball game I've ever been to!!!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Gophers Vs. Badgers

This past Saturday, Jon and I were able to attend the 3rd game in the new TCF Bank Stadium - Gophers vs. Badgers - a huge Big 10 rivalry for who will keep Paul Bunyan's axe for one more year. It was chilly and a little rainy and the only coat I had was a brilliant shade of Red (the Badger's color). What you can't see in this picture is my Gopher gold under the jacket. You could say I just couldn't make up my mind, but as one coworker (a Badger fan) put it, "I'm just leaving baby's options open." Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Just Pure Enjoyment!

I hope everyone with beautiful weather this weekend was able to get out and enjoy it. Fall is our favorite season and we love being out in creation, seeing the trees change color, and hearing the crunch under our feet. Sunday we traveled to Taylors Falls and hiked around the woods along the MN side of the St. Croix. After not much debate, but maybe a little hesitation, we packed up Eko to bring with us. He's not a big walker, seems to tire easily, so long walks are a gamble. He did great! I think he loves the Fall as much as we do. He jumped up rocks and around paths to be where ever we were. (For those that don't know, Eko is wearing a Gentle Leader. It doesn't hurt him and allows him to do everything normally, it just keeps him from pulling. It works really well.) On the way back, he almost lead us the entire time, as if he knew exactly where to go. We hope you're able to get out and about this fall and enjoy every smell, crunch, and breeze that comes your way!

P.S. This weekend marks our 1 year anniversary of being back in MN. Not that it was planned this way, but only fitting to be in Taylors Falls to commemorate our "home" coming.

Picking Up Where We Left Off

Monday started with a trek through Arlington Cemetery. It was fascinating to witness the monuments to our nations leaders and those that served our country. We watched the changing of the guards and then made our way to the Iwo Jima memorial.

After lunch, we walked back to the Lincoln Memorial to spend a more time and then walk the rest of the way on our monument walk.

We ended our day by walking up and around the White House and being caught in a rain shower that left us wet and ready to go back to the our hotel and dry off.

Since it was still early (5:00) we walked back to Georgetown, where we had dinner the first night, had dinner, and found some ice cream. We passed by this church on our way notice the corner stone in the bottom right - 1769.

No Pictures... but Here's the Trail Map

Since we knew Saturday was going to be wonderful, we decided to plan a short bike outing on the Willard Munger Trail, which begins in Hinckley. I didn't remember to take any pictures but it was beautiful outside and we had fun on our adventure. Jon, Jeff, Micah, and myself loaded up our bikes and headed out Saturday morning. Jon and I actually used Jon's parents recumbant bikes - they worked great. With a growing belly and a lack of overall steady balance, it was great to be able to sit down and enjoy the ride. I believe to our turn-around point and back to the car was about 10 miles, which was so much fun and left us wanting to go further. The whole trail is 63 miles long. Maybe next time!

Opener!

Eme and I scored free tickets to the gophers first game at TCF bank stadium (that Mortenson built)...

P.s. Don't worry...we'll finish our DC trip pictures and narration soon ;)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Almost 7 Miles

Our second day started at the National Achieves. Not much of a line, which we were grateful for, so we got right in. We were able to see the big 3 documents - the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of The United States, and the Bill of Rights. It was pretty amazing how faded they actually were already and hard to imagine what it will be like in even 20 more years. There was a pretty sweet officer outside the entrance to see the documents, who you could tell enjoys his job. Very boisterous! We then made our way up the old post office tower to see the city from a different angle.

The last item on our agenda that day was to walk the Mall. It's a pretty long walk all the way around and depending on where you end up... not enough places to eat. We made down and around the tidal basin to where the Thomas Jefferson Memorial stands to outside the Lincoln Memorial and decided we both were hungry and should pick up where we left off on another day. So we left, but were unsuccessful in finding dinner for about another 30 min. Let's just say that the first 6 miles of our day were Great!