A Very White Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! It was a very white Christmas here in Woodbury, so we got to the slopes on the 23rd...

Christmas morning was filled with flying machines, monkeys and beautiful gifts from grandparents!

The family party at John and Karen's was lots of fun... Char and Marissa put on quite the show... and so did Mary and Very who were the lucky recipients of "the jacket!"

Carolers on Horseback!

It must be Christmas time in Stonemill Farms! We know that because the carolers on horseback from nearby Windy Ridge Ranch appeared in our neighborhood today. We were visited by at least 30 horses and their riders, and were wished a Merry Christmas in song on a cold winter's late afternoon!

Um... I't's Still Fall, Actually

Winter doesn't officially start for a few more weeks, but the Twin Cities just got hit with the biggest snowstorm since the Halloween blizzard of 1991. We had at least 18 inches in Woodbury, in less than 24 hours, and other areas got more. The Metrodome even caved in, cancelling the Vikings game for today.

Jack takes out the new snowblower - the GTS 4000, courtesty of our neighbors that moved to the South, and left it behind for us... thanks Corbetts!

Here's Libby... as you can see, she was mesmerized by the snowfall!

St. Olaf Christmas Concert!

It's not quite Christmas in Minnesota until you've been to the St. Olaf Christmas Concert! Gramps arranged for all of us, and Norma, to attend the popular choir concert at the college's beautiful campus in Northfield. Hundreds of student singers, accompanied by a huge orchestra, sang for two hours on this chilly day, warming us up to the season!

Libby got into the college spirit with some "Ole" wear from the campus store... The "Um Ya Ya" cheer of St. Olaf appears on her gloves. Luke, meanwhile, posed in front of the wind turbine that helps to power this "green" campus.

Jack Letters in Varsity Sports!

We are very proud of Jack - once again! Last night was the annual soccer banquet at Tinucci's Restaurant in Newport, at which the East Ridge High School soccer program recognized its stellar atheltes and scolars. Jack received 4 awards!

• Most Valuable Player - Junior Varsity Soccer

Varsity Letter - Soccer

"Hidden Hero" Award - from his teammates

Scholar's Award - for maintaining a 4.0 GPA while in a varsity sport

Jack was on the Junior Varsity team, officially - but was continuously called up to play in at least half of the Varsity games... his "Hidden Hero" award was recognition from the Varsity squad for all of his great saves as goalie during some pretty challenging games... great job, Jack - you can add the soccer letter to your academic letter!

Spooky Kids!

It's Halloween time around Stonemill Farms... and the kids are getting spookier than they usually are!

That would be Libby on the far right... some sort of vampire-lion-bad jacket thing. Who knows?

And here are Luke and his friends - the far left and right are stuffed, I think - Grayden the banana, Luke the Army sniper in his Ghillie Suit (look it up), and Jose the bandito, or something...

Fellowship at the U of M

I am privileged this year to be one of the Executive Leadership Fellows for the University of Minnesota's Center for Integrative Leadership - a joint effort of the Carlson School of Management and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. This is an exciting opportunity to bring to bear applied leadership experience in an academic environment. Each year, the program "...selects highly accomplised leaders from the public, private or nonprofit sectors to enhance the academic environment of the Center by sharing their professional expertise, through writing projects, original research, student consultation, faculty engagement, and teaching related to cross sector leadership." See this year's three Executive Leadership Fellows HERE...

Wisconsin Dells!

After six years in Minnesota, we finally made it to the Wisconsin Dells, the typical MEA weekend getaway! It was not too crowded, and we had lots fun in the water... including riding the really fast and infamous "toilet bowel" slide!

It was especially fun, because we went with our good friends and neighbors, the Varelas! We had a great time together, and we played games late into the night in our rooms... We even learned a new version of the traditional board game, Pictionary - La Pictionaria!

Here's Dad in a series of photos showing how NOT to get up on your knees on a boogie board...

WIPEOUT!!!

Despite some car troubles on the last night, everyone played hard, and got good and tired!

The ride home reminded us just how beautiful the Upper Midwest can be in the fall!

85 Degrees in October!

Wow - what a fall day in Minnesota! 85 degrees and sunny all day. We took yet another cruise up the St. Croix river - this time from St. Croix Bluffs all the way to Hudson... and we did it under 5 m.p.h. the whole way because the river is a no-wake zone - the heavy rains from a week ago have raised the river nearly 10 feet, and lots of shoreline property is flooded.

You can see the flooding in Hudson - our boat is "anchored" on the blacktop surface of the parking lot near the boat ramp - all of which is now underwater!

Hooray for Global Warming!

It hit 80 degrees today, in the middle of October in Minnesota. Good thing we didn't winterize the boat yet! Here we are on the beautiful St. Croix River - all of which is a no-wake zone because the rains from last week have brought the level up 6 t0 8 feet!