Libby in D.C.!

Chip went to D.C. in early December for work, and Libby came along to see her Grandparents!  It was a fun trip, with perfect weather, wonderful sights and most of all a chance to get family together.  We gathered at Maplewood for Mom's birthday on the 1st, and Jim's family brought an amazing dinner and cake.  We also got to see the "Capitol Steps" performance downtown, Storm Troopers on the National Mall, Ford's Theater, the Pentagon - including an astronaut (thanks, Jim!) - and the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington.

Fast Before the Feast!

We continued our Thanksgiving Day tradition of running the early morning"Fast Before the Feast" run in White Bear Lake!  Jack, Chip and Rachel did the 10K and everyone else did the 5K.  We followed up with a great brunch at the Gromek's and a wonderful dinner at the Sparks'.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Libby Letters in Academics!

Best Dog Ever!

Go Gophers!

We went to the University of Minnesota Gophers' football game on Saturday afternoon.  It was a beautiful, sunny day at this new stadium with a great view of downtown, but we weren't expecting much from our Gophers, as usual.  To our surprise they beat a ranked team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers - for the first time in 53 years, and convincingly so.  Way to go, Minnesota!

Defense Alliance on the Radio

Chip was interviewed on the Minnesota Military Radio Hour on Sunday morning.  The interview is the 2nd half of the program - so it begins at the 26-minute mark.  Click the link below to begin the playback.

Defense Alliance on the Radio

Luke Goes to State Soccer Tournament!

Congratulations to Luke!  His team finished the season 5-1 and qualified for the State Tournament this weekend in Rochester, Minnesota.  It was a beautiful, sunny and crisp fall day as the Woodbury Blue came in second!  Luke spent a lot of time in the goal - what even American's now call "Keeper" - and as a forward, too.  Way to go, Big Blue!

Houseboating at Voyageur's National Park!

After years of reading about renting a houseboat on Crane Lake, we finally did it!  The Varela's and Grayden Yoshida joined us, making it 11 people on a 54-foot houseboat.  We towed our 18-footer behind, and we ventured out into the Voyageur's National Park - the only park in the U.S. accessible only by boat...

 The weather cooperated, for the most part - bright, sunny days, highs in the upper 70s, and very little rain.  The wind, though, made for a challenging second day - especially docking our giant houseboat!  A sister boat hit rocks harder than we did in another bay, and sank in five feet of water!

The hot tub was only hot for the first day, for some reason - but the boys used it as a pool during the day!

The water temperature was perfect for tubing and skiing, which we did a lot of during the day!  We traveled for miles through Crane and Namakan Lakes - finally finding the perfect sand beach on day three - with a secluded, calm bay for lots of tubing.

 

Food was not a problem, to say the least - the houseboat people stocked plenty of meat and goodies - and the Varela's supplied excellent wine!  CC the dog came along, too, and she enjoyed lots of leftover food.

Having our own runabout along was handy for scouting out the best place to land our giant vessel - and to check out the many amazing sights in this park along the Canadian border.  Here, we're heading up Grassy Bay to see one of the largest sheer rock faces in Minnesota, at 125 feet.