What can I say, letting out frustration on Monday helped me I think.  I also got scolded by my friends.  So lesson of the week, even though I ran over 11 miles last weekend…I may not necessary see the results for a few days.  It is true. I just have to remember that.

So what did we do this week?  Well on Sunday morning I ran 3 miles (after doing the 10K on Saturday). Sunday afternoon we babysat Evelyn for a few hours while Greg and Celeste went to the play Wicked.  We took Evelyn to Edinbourgh Park, an indoor playground. It was cool. Afterwards when they came home we went out for dinner.  I was so stuffed I dragged Eric out on a 2 mile walk. 

The rest of the week was pretty boring. Monday I biked 4 miles on a stationary bike…I know shocking! I got sick of riding it after 10 minutes and moved to the elliptical.  I’m a little annoyed…there are 5 TVs in the workout room and to hear the sound you have to tune your radio to a certain frequency.  Well my radio player only works for one TV and it is set to Spanish!  You know how hard it is to listen to Two and a Half Men in Spanish.  ARGH! 

Tuesday was a volleyball doubleheader again. This time we had 5 players!  Woo Hoo! We won some games too. We have a new player that joined us this week.  It worked out great and she is planning on joining team.  Yippy!

Wednesday morning is my “official” weigh in day and I was down 11.8 pounds…I’m rounding that up to 12 pounds. YAY ME!  One problem with being so big is that 12 pounds doesn’t really feel any different.  Think about this. I lost 80 pounds in 2008.  The smallest size I wore was 18.  Well I was bad and went off the no fat diet (that I was only on because of gallbladder problems) and gained 40 pounds back after surgery.  I know, shame on me.  Anyways…40 pounds later and I’m only one size larger…20.  So for me, I had to lose 40 pounds to get down one size…it sucks.  After work I dragged Eric to swimming. I did 3/4 mile again.  I had to make it worthwhile since the pool was closed Friday.

Thursday is my off day…but I still have band practice so it really isn’t an off night.  We had elections for officers and section leaders and I am Low Brass section leader again.  Don’t get too excited… low brass people don’t want the extra responsibility so I basically have to do it.

Like I said early, the pool was closed Friday. :(  I had planned a bike ride to DQ for dinner and then biking home but it was too cold and rainy.  I didn’t make Eric suffer too much for his dinner…I just made him go workout at the community center. I biked on the stationary bike…AGAIN!  I did about 7.75 miles in 35 minutes. After we went up to Eden Prairie to some shopping and dinner.

Saturday has turned into my long run day. Swirl woke me up a little before 8 and pulled my butt out of bed and went for a run. It was 36 degrees and sprinkling.  The old me would have been forget this, I’m going to get donuts.  But nope, I went out in the cold and wet morning and ran 5.5 miles.  My time was 30 seconds faster than last week’s pace. Also, I ran the entire mile 3.  Mile 1 and 2 I did the run/walk shuffle but mile 3 was all running.  For mile 4 and 5, I went back to the run/walk shuffle. But I did mostly running so that is progress. 

After the run, Eric and I went to Wisconsin for the weekend. We meet Mike and mom at the bar for some pizza.  I did some things around the house for mom and we went to LaCrosse to do some shopping.  We finally got to Ed Sullivan’s for dinner.  It has been years since I last ate there. It was delicious. 

Today I went for another 3 mile run…man there are hills in Arcadia…I’m not used to hills.  It was a tough run and it was colder than yesterday’s run…it was so cold our car had frost on it and I could see my breath…but I did it. On the way home we went through Owatonna (because it is so on our way?!) to be with Abbie for the closing ceremony of her TEC Retreat…we were her pseudo parents as DJ had to work.  It was…interesting…Hugging and swaying…I’m not much of a hugger or swayer…or singing those Pop Christian songs…give me Amazing Grace or How Great Thou Art PLEASE!

Here is training update:
Something really shocking is going on here. So far in the month of October I have run/walk shuffled almost 28 miles and it is only the 20th.  I have a chance to make this month the most miles run. I’m only 7 miles away.  August 2012 I did 35.66.  But that was a lot of short 2 mile runs/walks for the “Get Fit Challenge” at work. (But in September 2012 I only did 6 miles)

Mileage:

Week 5  Swim = .75 miles   Bike = 11.75 miles  Run/Elliptical = 12.5 miles   Total =  25 miles

Well this weekend was the annual Corn Maze weekend.  Every year for as far as I can remember my family has come up for the Sever’s Corn Maze.  It is tradition.  So this year Mom, Mike, Nancy, Danielle, Brady, Eric and I went through the maze (well not mom), we saw a skunk, a possum, a woodchuck, a fox and Jared Allen in the animal show.  Seriously…we saw Jared Allen!  We fed goats in the petting zoo area and jumped around in shelled corn. Again I have corn all over the house.

Jared Allen!

 After the corn maze Mike, Mom, Nancy, Eric and I went to Eden Prairie for lunch and Costco. Bradley went to Maplewood to buy a car and Danielle stayed home to study. Long story but the car doesn’t run but Bradley will fix it. After Costco, we picked up Danielle and went down to Jim’s Apple Orchard for candy, fudge, and apples.  Eric bought me this:

It is cool. 

Last night for dinner, we meet Greg, Celeste, and Evelyn at RubyTuesdays.  The meal was delicious.  I ate so much crap last night I gained a pound…and that was even with a 5 mile run/walk/shuffle yesterday morning.  Yep…I did over 5 miles…5.2 miles to be exact. It felt great but that didn’t help me keep the pounds off.  Darn.

Today Mike and Bradley went to Maplewood with a trailer to pick up the car Bradley bought and drove it down to Mankato.  The rest of us went shopping/hair cut in Eden Prairie.  Of course we played plenty of cards!

Now they have all left.

Well, well, well.  Yesterday was the One Last Tri triathlon in White Bear Lake.  It was a very early morning as it is almost an hour away from home.  We got there with time to spare.  We ditched the bike in the transition area and walked around the lake. The water was freezing and the outside temp was around 60 degrees. I really feel for Carrie. She didn’t have a wetsuit. She wasn’t the only one but she was definitely in the minority.  They started the long course swimmers first and then the short course.  I had to hurry back to the bike area to get ready for the ride.  By the time I got back to the transition area, some of the long course participants were already on the bike.  That is crazy fast!  Carrie came in just over 13 minutes and we exchanged the timing clip and off I went on my ride.

I was really nervous that I wouldn’t finish or I’d be really slow.  It started out sort of flat but the first hill was a beast.  And it really was hilly and the first 9 miles was mostly up.

It really sucked and I wasn’t prepared.  I was cursing myself for not training more during that first 9 miles. The road was not the best but that is no excuse.  I only passed two people…one was fixing something on the bike and the other was changing a flat.  I was passed by a bunch of people.  When the long course bikers caught up to me at my mile marker 8 (their mile 24) it was a bit discouraging.  Oh and the 68 year old guy that passed me too.  I was on my bike just over an hour.  I got back to dismount area and ran into the transition area on wobbly legs. I gave Eric the timing chip and he was off on his run.  Carrie took some pictures of me with my bike, the missed getting me on it. 

We had some bananas and water and went over to the finish line.  Eric shocked me when he crossed the finish line 31 minutes later. 

He was saying he wasn’t going to make it and he would be dragging his ass over the finish line.  He is such a liar!  So here is our picture after we finished.  We survived!  Our times weren’t the fastest but we did it and we weren’t last! :)  Our overall time was 1:52…I’d like it noted that I did most of the 1:52! LOL! 

Survival of the Unfittest

After the race we headed to Caribou Coffee for some warm drinks…I was so cold!

We got home and left right away for Mankato for a picnic with DJ and kids.  We stopped at Emma Krumbees for raspberry picking.  Overall it was a good day…I’m a little sore now.

What a weekend.   Let see where to begin. Well our 10th Anniversary came and went.  Not much happened. We both worked. After work Eric went to class while I cleaned the car and went grocery shopping. Very romantic, eh? Saturday was much the same. I made Monster cookies (and broke another spatula), cleaned the house and picked up a few things at Costco and Eric had class.  

After Eric’s class, we drove down to Mankato and meet my family. We went out for dinner. I had an awesome steak!  It was delicious.  And of course Mike and Mom and to tell them we were celebrating our 10th anniversary so we got a cake and champagne. It was also Bradley’s birthday so he also got cake…but no champagne for him.

After dinner we went swimming at the hotel. When we got sick of that, we played Dirty Clubs…a card game that would never end.  I think Mike ended up winning. Bradley had over 40 points (not good!). Eric and Bradley finished off a bottle of champagne. They were definitely “feeling” it. 

Sunday after breakfast we went to Flandrau State Park in New Ulm.  This is one of my favorite parks because it has a nice sand bottom pool. We try to visit at least once a year. It was the perfect day for it…hot and humid!  We had a picnic lunch and then went swimming for an hour or so.  After swimming we gathered around the picnic tables and played some lawn games.  After everything was packed up and we were ready to leave…Bradley popped the question!  Danielle demanded a soppy story first and then said, “I suppose.” Yep, Danielle is engaged! I couldn’t be happier for them.   I’m very disappointed in myself.  No picture of the ring…I’m not a very good photographer…I should have been all over this.

Well the last two post have been wedding related.  Hmmm...

The next one will be travel related...we leave for our vacation in 32 hours and 24 minutes... 

:-)

What a whirlwind weekend!  I don’t even know where to begin.

Thursday after work we met my mom at our house and drove to Mitchell. Nothing to exciting that day.

Friday morning we left Mitchell and headed for Rapid City.  It poured most of the way there but those die-hard bikers were still out there!  We stopped at a Kadoka gas station and there were 50 bikes under the gas canopy.  Crazy!  We eventually got to Rapid City and the first thing we did after stopping at the parents’ house is go to Red Lobster with Gary, Tracie, Gerald and Abbie.  It was good.  After that I went with niece, Judy, Ethan and Abbie to Albert’s Ensemble performance at orchestra camp. It was interesting. Some of the small ensembles were good, others hurt my ears.  Albert’s group wasn’t bad. We eventually checked into our room at Terra Sancta Retreat Center.  It was a very nice place. I would stay there again. That evening a group of us went mini golfing…there was close to 20 of us. Eric and I were paired up with Libby, Maggie and Maggie’s boyfriend, Cody.  It made for a long evening.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the retreat center and then family pictures. It wasn’t too bad.  Some melt downs but with a family this large that is bound to happen.  The photographer is a family friend and he has done this before with this family so this was nothing new for him. Here is the best photo my mom could get (click to enlarge):

Immediately following the pictures was the Anniversary Mass.  After that we had lunch…tacos…there was a nice video with lots of pictures of the family.  Elaine looks like Judy did on her wedding day. It is amazing.  We relaxed a bit and then mom and I took Allista for some food and to get a card.  Allista was having a bad day so we thought it would be good to take her along. She didn’t eat the tacos so we bought her and her brother, Joseph (who slept through lunch) some Culvers. Joseph was sharing his hamburger with me. He is a funny kid.  We made our way to the house to help get ready for the potluck picnic.  There was a large spread and it was a very nice picnic.   Some drama but overall it was a nice time. Only a few of us helped to clean up and it was way past 9:30 before we were done getting everything into the house and fridge.  We stayed there until 10:30.  We didn’t get a chance to go to Dan’s after party.

Sunday morning we went to Mass at the Cathedral. 9 of 14 kids were there.  That is quite amazing. The funniest conversation of the day was 9 year old Gerald talking to his mom.  

Tracie: Gerald, we have to go to church.
Gerald: I'm not going, we went yesterday.
Tracie: You have to go.
Gerald: Fine, I'll go but I'm not praying.

Afterwards was Samuil’s baptism. That was probably the largest crowd for a baptism in the family!  I took Eric back to the retreat center so he could work on his paper. I swapped my Mom for Allista.  Mom went with Gary, Tracie and family to paddle boats and Dairy Queen. I took Allista tubing in Hisega with Ade, DJ, Tim, Abbie, Beth, Ethan, Judy and Albert.  We only had a few tubes so we had to take turns. I, of course, popped my tube.  We also went swimming in the deep hole of the creek and jumped off rocks…granted it really wasn’t much of jump off, maybe a foot. But it was fun but the water was freezing!  For dinner Mom and I escaped the insanity of the house and went to Arby’s.  I’m sure glad we did.  We spent the rest of the evening at the house. Eric and DJ were hammering out his paper and I just listened to stories.

Yesterday morning we made the long trip back.  We had breakfast with DJ’s family, Ade, and Elaine. We stopped at the house and were on our way home by 11am.  We pulled into our house a little before 9pm.  Eric spent the rest of the night getting his homework done.   There was so much more I could say but this is a brief summary of the 50th Anniversary Weekend.

I'm writing now because heaven only knows when I'll have time again.  Our life is crazy right now.  With long hours at work, horrible commutes, concerts the next few nights, Eric’s final paper, Ade visiting, the roadtrip to South Dakota...just to name a few things going on.

This weekend was very fun-filled.  After working until 6:30 on Friday, Eric picked me up at the bus station and we went grocery shopping.  We picked up quite a few items on Adrian’s list. Ade, Fa and the kids made lists of things they want Ade to bring back to Brazil.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups was a popular item on the list.

Saturday my family came up for our church’s annual Julifest.  But first we had to go to Costco…a tradition when my family comes up.  After that we had lunch at Pizza Ranch and went to the horse races at Canterbury Downs.  My Aunt Bev has never been and boy did she have fun.  Eric was telling her everything she needed to know.  I don’t really think Eric is much of an expert when it comes to horse racing, we having won millions yet, but he plays the par t well.  We stuck around for a few races. It was fun! 

After that Greg, Celeste, and Evelyn joined us for the Polka Mass on the church lawn. It was such a pleasant night, actually a tad bit cold…YES COLD!  July 27^th and the high was barely 60 degrees. A weird thing that happened during the Polka Mass was a car hit the train just blocks away.  The train was stopped for almost 2 hours.  It was a really long train and blocked streets through the entire city of Shakopee. After the Polka Mass we headed for the tents for dinner, Mom had her German Potato Salad!  We also spent some money on the adult games and of course BINGO!  Danielle and I even danced some polkas…my calf muscles still hurt!  And I dragged Mom out for a two-step. She did well considering she had knee surgery not that long ago.  DJ, Beth and Ethan even came to the festival for food and Bingo.

Sunday the family went to my cousins’ house in Columbia Heights. We played cards and had a cook out. It was a fun time.

Yesterday was Eric’s birthday.  After work we went to Centennial Lakes to play mini golf and then went out for dinner. It was a nice evening.  After Eric finished his homework, we went to Mystic Lake Casino…at 9pm last night.  It was such an odd thing for us to do!  We walked out 45 minutes later with $6.05 more than we walked in with.  I won over $22 on one spin!  It was so exciting for me…not so much for Eric.  He didn’t win.

So stupid ol’ MnDOT decided that it was a good idea to close one side of the big Bloomington Ferry Bridge across the Minnesota River and divert traffic to the other bridge.  So they took 6 lanes of traffic and condensed it to 2...single lane across one bridge.  It is a nightmare. The backups are miles long.  So we decided to take the other river crossing on MN 101, you know the one that usually floods and is not very popular. Well yesterday it was very popular, so popular that at 7pm it was backed up 8 miles to Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie. We sat in the traffic for about 20 minutes and decided to find another route.  Well this morning it took us 25 minutes to get out of Shakopee. It is insane!

Ok breathe...

Tonight and tomorrow night I have concerts in Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. Hopefully we can figure out a faster way to get home so I can get to my concert on time otherwise I have to hitch a ride with my former boss. 

So not only that, but I have to pack for this upcoming weekend. We leave Thursday night for Rapid City, a 10 hour drive.  Eric’s parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage this weekend so almost the entire family will be there.  Well at least 14 of the 15 kids.  One is not coming because her feelings were hurt when everybody was mean to her.  But the rest of us will have a good time!

It has seemed like a lot longer than a week since I last wrote.  It has been a week of sadness.  My Aunt Grace finally succumbed to cancer and passed away Tuesday. Although she is no longer suffering there is a sense of extreme sadness. As for my mom’s sisters, I was the closest to Grace and her kids.  This past weekend, I got to reconnect with most of Grace’s kids and grandkids and it was great.  It also meant I had to put up with being called Kimmy. Being the youngest of the cousins, I guess I will be picked on. Saturday we went down for the visitation. Afterwards we went to my cousin, Paula’s house for dinner.  The table was all cousins just talking. It was so nice.  And shockingly no cards were played. That is just weird. It is also strange that in a few short years it went from 6 sick sisters to just 3.  Bev, Alice and Mom are left to keep the family together.  The funeral and burial were yesterday afternoon followed by lunch. It was a sad weekend but also a great weekend to see family.  It is really unfortunate that weddings and now funerals are really the only time we see family.  On a funny note, in the Lutheran church they always read the obituary during the service.  As the pastor was reading the obit and got to the family members, I thought of Eric’s parents.  Man their family section of the obit will be long with 64 immediate family members (currently). Good thing they don’t read the obit during a Catholic funeral Mass, we would be there a while.   Anyways, that was a moment that I had a little chuckle.

As for the rest of the week, I tried going for a bike ride on Monday.  The first attempt was on the road bike but the tires got “untrue” somehow and were wobble so back the garage I go.  Next I grab my Townie cruiser. I went down by the river…duh…lots of rain means the river has flooded down there and I had to drive through water and muddy. My tires were caked on and made it difficult to ride so I went home. I thought about taking the mountain bike next but the brakes are bad.  So I settled for crashing on the couch eating raspberries. At least I was eating healthy. :)

Tuesday was finally warm enough for some waterpark action at Valleyfair. Last year with the massive heat wave around this time we were going daily to cool off. This year it hasn’t gotten warm enough yet.  But it was finally almost 90. It was so much fun going down the slides, rafting tube ride, lazy river and wave pool.  We were there about 2 hours. 

Wednesday I took my road bike into the shop for a tune up and to fix the tires.  They won’t have it ready until tomorrow…a whole week! I really need to get training for the triathlon in 76 days…yikes!

Thursday was band practice and boy did we need that.  We start our concert season on July 4^th and we haven’t practice since May 30^th.  The Carnival musical really cut into our practice time. It was tough though. The musical was easy because even though it was over 2 hours long there were a lot of breaks with no music so my chops could rest.  But Thursday night was almost 2 hour solid of playing. My mouth really hurt.

Friday we suffered through 7 innings of Twins baseball.  And I mean suffer.  It was cold, rainy and windy.  But I’m thankfully for the windy because it meant we stayed dry as the rain was falling in front of us. We saw the grounds crew put the tarp on the field 3 times. The tried to start the game, the Twins went into the field and then another down pour came and a delay.  There really wasn’t much rain after that but the wind really picked up. It is crazy that at June 28^th baseball game we would be freezing with sweatshirts on!  We sat in the 2 Gingers bar to stay warm and ended up leaving after the 7^th inning (it was after 10pm already). The Twins were losing so bad that if they did stage a comeback it would have been a miracle. We drove past the new I-35W Bridge to get a picture of the rainbow bridge. It was so nice to get home and wrap up in a blanket.

I-35W Bridge

Saturday we did some shopping and Eric got a haircut and we made our way to Wisconsin.  Here is a picture I took of the 3 remaining sisters.  Grace will definitely be missed. :(

Alice, Karen and Bev - the Stai Sisters

Wow! June has been a busy month. With family visits, a trip to Washington DC and the Carnival musical, I really haven’t had time to write.  The musical is over now.  I’m kind of relieved. It was a fun thing to do but it was a huge time commitment.  We will see if I do it next year. I guess it really depends on which musical they choose.  Hopefully they do something fun next year.  Carnival was fun and it actually grew on me a bit by the end.  Some of the lines were very risqué.  Like the fox “puppet” telling Lily (the orphan girl) to follow his tall. The scene with the puppets was the best part of the musical. It had us cracking up laugh in the pit orchestra, even on the last night after hearing the same lines over 10 times.  The last two performances were difficult for me because I had to play both Trombone books.  It was a bit of a juggle as each book had different moving lines and deciding which line was important.  Also the sun was really hot the last two days. We faced the sun during the first hour and a half so it was a bit brutal.  It was nice that my family was able to see it last weekend and DJ got to see it last night. That really makes playing for the musical extra special.

Also this weekend…we finally got with the 21^st century and got a DVR.  It is so nice.  I love that I can stop and start a show I’m watching.  For example, on Saturday Ryan Doumit (Twin’s catcher) got a fast ball to the face. It was awesome to rewind it and watch it over and over again. Mostly because I can’t believe his reaction, he acted like it was no big deal.  Another awesome thing is I have an app on my iPad that allows me to change the channel on the TV.  So when Eric is watching a soccer game that I’m bored with and he has the remote, I can just change the channel from my iPad. I don’t think Eric likes that!  LOL!  But coolest thing is last night we could “record” the Sunday night shows that Eric was going to miss because he was going to the musical.  I have a feeling this will lead to more TV watching…probably not a good thing.

Nothing much on the agenda for this week, it is nice to have nothing to do.  It is a great way to end this busy month of June.

Praying for my Aunt Grace. 

It has been one busy week and weekend!  After we got back from DC, we had to get Eric’s first draft of his Chapters 1 and 2 of his thesis done and I started technical rehearsals for the musical Carnival!. I have had technical rehearsals every night this week from 6-9:30.  To say I’m exhausted is an understatement!   We didn’t get much sleep while on vacation. We were up late every night and never really had a chance to sleep in.  So I’m sleep deprived from vacation and add the 4 solid nights of not being home after work…I don’t how some people do it!  On top of that, I developed another f’ing cold. Where did this one come from?  The rainy day at Mount Vernon?  The plane?  The night we rehearsed in the rain?  I really don’t know but right now I’m very stuffed up. 

So the musical Carnival! It is a 1961 Broadway show about a wide-eyed orphan who comes to the Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris! There are puppeteers, magicians, jugglers and circus performers.  I have to say some of the script is funny but really it is an odd duck of a musical.  The music is fun. I downloaded the soundtrack so I could listen to it and make sure I’m playing it right.

This weekend Mom, Mike and Danielle came up. Friday night Danielle and I went to the Twins game. They lost…again! Saturday we went to Como Zoo and Conservatory. As always it was busy there. Here are a few pictures: 

After that and some shopping at IKEA we relax at home, waiting for Eric to get home from school.  I thought the musical was in jeopardy when a major storm came through but We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and then I made them go to my musical. I think they enjoyed it.  After hearing the musical for 5 times now, I can tell when the actors screw up.  It cracks me up too when I catch them. Eric took a few pictures for me:

Yesterday we went shopping to Costco and I made Monster Cookies for them. It was a good busy week.

Wow, my legs are tired today. We had a very busy weekend. Michael and Cassidy came up Thursday evening.  Friday morning, after we took Swirl to the vet, we started our first day of touring. We started out at the Sculpture Garden at the Walker art museum so they could see the famous Spoon and Cherry.  You have probably seen it; the NFL always show it whenever the Vikings are playing on national TV. 

After that we went downtown and had lunch and walked around Nicollet Mall. I took them to the downtown Target to show them the cart escalator. It is a crazy thing but I think it is cool and so did they. We buzzed by the Metrodome so Michael could see the Vikings home.  Next stop was the Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch bridge followed by the Minnehaha Waterfall. We hiked down to the bottom of the falls and even put our feet in the water.  It was a little cold.  Then the rain came. We ran under a tree but it wasn’t letting up so we darted up the stairs to the car.

We hit the Mall of America and Nickelodeon Universe. We did a lot of shopping, probably the most I have ever done at the MOA.  It was fun though. We also went on two rides.  It was a fun! After the Mall we headed across the street to IKEA so Michael could get his meatballs.  When they lived in Virginia, they would go to IKEA often and Michael devoured the meatballs.  We bought him some frozen one to take home with him.  (number of steps: 15,545)

Saturday I did a 15 mile bike ride in the morning. We went back downtown, first to the Gophers’ new stadium and shop and then Target Field for a Twins game.

The game was fine but the wind started to really blow and then the rain came. Twins won so that was good! We got a picture of them in the glove.  I love this sculpture!

In the evening, DJ, Abbie and Beth stopped by for dinner.  Abbie had a soccer tournament in Maple Grove.  (Her team was undefeated in pool play but lost the championship game on Sunday with 50 seconds left in overtime.) After they left, we made another trip to the Mall of America.  Man, Michael likes to shop!  (number of steps: 23,471)

Yesterday I went for almost a 4 mile run. My GPS watch stopped working and was stuck at 2.73 miles for a few minutes.  When it reconnected with the GPS I was at over 3 miles.  It was pretty amazing I went from 2.73 to like 3.14 in less than 5 seconds!  My fastest pace ever!  The only bad thing is it didn’t get all of my miles logged so it was off by 2 tenths of a mile. After that, we went to Valleyfair and rode a ton rides.  My face got sunburned, I'm so red! And it hurts.  I'm stupid, I didn't think about sun screen. It was cloudy and 60 degrees. Oh well, I'll probably be tan here soon.  After that we just chilled at home. (Number of steps: 18,167)

So what’s the deal with the “Number of steps?” Well we are doing the Get Out and Get Fit Program at work. We are supposed to get 10,000 steps a day. Well my average for the last 3 days was over 19,000. :)  As you can tell, my legs are tired.

I love long weekends, but coming back to work is tough. I don’t want to get out of bed, I want to sleep some more.  Why do they have to go by so fast?  ARGH!

This weekend was busy.  Saturday I went to the local Laundromat to wash my oversized comforters. Interesting experience…interesting clientele…but I won’t go into that.  I also donated a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. I had a clean out.  After that we went out to lunch with Greg and Celeste and did some shopping. I got a nice frame for my new painting for $10 at Michael’s. It was in a bin outside, originally priced at $60.  So I got a good deal! The afternoon we spent shopping for things for the house and of course a visit to Kohl’s. I’m addicted to that store. But I got $20 in Kohl’s cash that I need to use soon! We finished the night with a walk.

Sunday was Eric’s running test for soccer in Eden Prairie. He passed! It was a very windy, cold morning which is typical for his test. Every year it is cold, windy.  This year it didn’t snow so that is good. I few years ago it was snowing. After his test we hurried down Hwy. 35 in Wisconsin to Arcadia for the Broiler-Dairy Days Parade.  It was cold and wet.  It rained for most of the parade. Mike was in the parade pulling some of the mini tractors that were pulling in the evening.  I was disappointed there were only 3 bands.  The Arcadia HS, Arcadia MS and the Winona HS.  The middle school band looked better and sounded better then the high school band.  Very sad!

Mike in the parade

After the parade we headed up to the Pavilion for some charcoal chicken.  Yum!  Since Mike was the organizer of the tractor pull we got a front seat spot in the car. It was so nice to be able to sit in the car where it was warm and a sound buffer for the really loud tractors.  It was a good afternoon.  After the tractor pull was done we stopped for a pizza and went to Mom’s place. The day of being outside really made us tired, we went to bed before 10pm!

Yesterday we went to Red Lobster for lunch and then over to Grace’s house. It was her 80^th birthday.  We stayed for a while. I was able to beat the level she was stuck on in Candy Crush.  Actually I did so well she was number one of all her friends.  Eric had to share it and put, “I’m better than Kim.” Nice!  The drive home was very chaotic. There was a lot of traffic and it rained most of the way and people were driving stupid.  I was so glad to finally get home.  It was good weekend.  Now I have the week ahead to look forward to.  And only 3 days of work. :)

The one thing I can say after this weekend is this: I'm sick of driving, I'm sick of food, and I'm sick of boring graduation speeches.  This weekend was really a whirl wind.  We got to see a lot of family.

Friday night we went to Bradley’s parents’ house for Danielle’s graduation party. It was really a nice time. The family is really nice and the food was delicious. I brought Monster Cookies in MSU colors. I’m so smart.  (I saved the left over M&Ms for Viking Monster cookies in September.) We were there for over 4 hours and, as Eric pointed out, we didn’t play cards…SAY WHAT?  Saturday morning we gathered at MSU campus for Danielle’s graduation.  Bradley has the “in” so he got us down to the first floor of the bleachers, right where Danielle walked in and out. Awesome! The ceremony was 2 hours long. Eric, Bradley and I entertained ourselves by making fun of the thesis titles.  Like the one about the Sexual Satisfaction after a Bone Marrow Transplant. Really?  You actually wrote a thesis about this?  Another one was something about the strong Mothers in Modern Family and Parenthood.  Again…you watched TV for your thesis.  Great.  I’m not sure why but there were 3 speeches at Danielle’s graduation.  The first guy was Nepal and according to a good source cheated on his Math tests. Hum…The second girl was Hmong and the third was from South Africa…apparently no American’s were good enough.  Oh Well.  After the ceremony we went to Olive Garden for lunch and then we were on our way to Nebraska.  That 5 hour drive after eating a big meal was brutal.

Once we got to Nebraska we headed over the Chris and Leilani’s house for Morgan’s Birthday Party.  The whole Nebraska crowd was there and Eric’s parents. We had Lasagna and garlic bread. Yum! Leilani also made a watermelon cake. It was frosted like a watermelon and tasted like a watermelon. I had a bite of Eric’s…that was enough for me. I guess I don’t like watermelon flavoring either.

Sunday morning we went to church, and then our traditional run to Starbucks with Juliette.  After that we ran around Papillion and eventually made it to the graduation with 15 minutes to spare. The family was split into two groups.  There were not enough seats so I sat at the top of the arena. I took a picture of the two groups.  In one, Eric’s dad was sleeping and Chris was playing on his phone. The other picture I took was Eric doing homework and Juliette playing on our iPad.  They were really paying attention. LOL!  I can’t say much I was playing on my phone too. A couple things about this ceremony: they only had one speaker…thank God! And the 1^st annual Teacher of the Year award went to…the Head Principal…HuH?  Can we say rigged? 

After the ceremony we took some pictures in the parking lot and then headed over the house for some pizza and veggies with the whole family.  It was a good day.

Yesterday was another day of driving.  We took Juliette to Starbucks, dropped her off at school and went on our way home. It was a good weekend. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

More pictures can be found here:

Danielle's Graduation Party Pictures click here

Danielle's Graduation Pictures click here

Adam's Graduation Pictures click here

Oh what a busy weekend lies ahead. It really all started last night with the making of monster cookies in MSU colors (ironically also Viking colors, hehehe).  I seemed to have put them away before they were completely cooled so some of them are a bit schmushed. Oops! But they taste damn good!

Tonight is the 40^th Anniversary Concert for Eden Prairie Community Band.  It is amazing that in 40 years we have only had 3 directors and all 3 are directing songs tonight. Cool!

Tomorrow is a half day at work and then we are traveling down to Mankato area for Danielle’s graduation party. (Woot Woot, Party!)  That is why I made the monster cookies. Bradley’s parents are hosting the party and Danielle said we would bring desserts because the Bisek family likes dessert. (So true!)

Saturday is Danielle’s actual graduation (at 9am, really?). After that we are driving down to Papillion, NE.

Sunday is Adam’s graduation from high school. (Yay Adam!)   I’m sure we are having a little party afterwards.

So as you can tell we are going to be quite busy this weekend. But I’m so excited!

Danielle, Mom and Dylan
at the Holidazzle Parade

As I wait for my website to publish pictures, I decided to reflect on this past weekend up to this point.  It has been a great weekend.  My family came up yesterday for the Holidazzle parade in downtown Minneapolis.  We went out for a great dinner first with Greg and Celeste.  After the parade we went back to the hotel and swam for a while and than played some cards and ate pizza in the room.    We played the card game "31."  I haven't played that game in like 10 years.  It was one of my grandma's favorite games.  I was the first one knocked out. :(

This morning, after church, we opened gifts.  We drew names this year.  Nancy had me and I got my glass and metal 9x9 square pans and a DVD.  Dylan had Eric's name and he got all three Revenge of the Nerds, a gift card to Kwik Trip and candy.  I had Nancy's Greg and Eric had my mom.  Mom really LOVES her gift.  Eric insisted  we get her a digital photo frame.  I loaded it with about 200 pictures.  So when she opened it, I plugged it in and let the slide show begin.  She was very happy...Eric is so smart!

Soon we will have lunch with Greg and Celeste and at 2pm is my Share the Warmth Concert.  I'm very happy that Mom, Mike, Danielle and Eric are coming to see me perform.  It has been a great weekend.  I love these happy times with family.

Happy December!
Mother Nature didn't waste anytime sending us the cold weather.  I read that it is suppose to be 4 degrees tomorrow morning.  Yes!  I love it.  Well not really but I tolerate it.  I was thinking about this the other day. The first couple weeks of cold weather, all I want to do is move south.  But after that I look forward to walking outside after work into the crispy, clear, cold air. Its so refreshing.  It also means that the ice rinks will be open soon and of course Christmas is around the corner.

Speaking of Christmas...I didn't realize there were so many Christmas movies/shows.  Every night its something different on the TV and they all seem to have same theme.  Evil Santas, Injured Santas, Comatose Santas, Drunk Santas  and Sappy Love Stories...blah, blah, blah how many Christmas movies can one take before they want to scream?  Oh, and Eric has to watch all of them.

Next weekend is my family Christmas.  They are all coming up here.  A weekend of fun and family. Holidazzle Parade, dinner, my concert, Very excited!

Only 17 days to Christmas but we will be opening presents before that.  All my presents are bought, wrapped and under the tree.  Eric still hasn't bought his presents yet.  Procrastinator!!!! 

16 days, 11 hours, 24 minutes until our vacation.  SO EXCITED!!!