Sunday, September 25, 2016

Happy Birthday Tom!!


We celebrated Tom and his birthday a few times this weekend and it was super fun.

Friday was date night at the Crisis Nursery annual wine tasting with Leona, Bob, Sherra, Rich, Jeff and Karen.  Too much fun. Good friends, good food and good wine. Not to mention awesome auction items.  Our friends were really generous with the $ and it raised a ton of money for Crisis Nursery. Good thing because Tracy is not on the board:)

Saturday Wade, Caden and Wyatt came for dinner. Wade and Tom share a birthday and love of steak so ... steak it was.  There was good sausage and cheese, ceviche, yummy purple potatoes, steak 3 different ways (Garlic aioli, blue cheese and butter).  The salad was a bit of a flop (grapefruit, jicama ...) but brownies for dessert more than made up for it.   The kids had a blast playing ghosts in the graveyard and kick the can. The adults had fun looking at Wades pictures from his trip to china. 

Sunday was family day with presents and dinner out.  the goal was to ride bikes to dinner before winter descends on MN but - the weather was really wonky today. rain then clear then rain ... arghhh....  in any case, a fun family dinner and everything is better with presents.

Tom, THANK YOU for being you. For being chief cook, limo driver, household COO and best friend.  You go out of your way to help friends, the kids, kids friends parents, family and anyone that needs it.  You are funny, smart, generous and patient. Thank god the kids have you to balance me out:)

XXOO - cheers to another year of adventure!! WE LOVE YOU!!
TTJKBI 

The birthday boys

The grown ups with good wine 







the family in 2017 - + Ian, exchange student

Camping with family friends 

Meeting Lucy Kaplinsky - ahhhhh!!

 Chef TOm

Tom's parents and brother Brian

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Billys Big Day!

Billy had his Best. Taekwondo. Meet. EVER!!!  He seriously kicked some ass. Literally.

Yesterday was the tournament of champions. Its the last big event of the season and before everyone belt tests to get to a higher level. Billy tests for black belt on Oct 8 and based on how he did yesterday, he's ready!!

He competed in 3 events. Pomsea (patterns) Demo (team choreographed demonstration) and sparring.

1st up - Pomsea.  He was in perfect form (pun intended) and easily took the gold in his age/belt class.

Since this is tournament of champions, each age/belt class gold medal winner then competes against each other, divided into their respective belt class (age doesnt matter). There were 10 kids, Billy made the final 4, then he made the final 2. And, his competition for the tournament of champions trophy?!  His best friend, Ace.  They were amazing!! Perfectly insync, coordinated and looked amazing. I had no idea how the judges going to decide. It was so fun to watch.  In the end, Billy took home the trophy and according to his coach, when its that close, you look at feet placement and stability and Billy had that nailed.  The trophy is literally taller than he is.

2nd event - Demo.  The team was down a few people and were competing against teams that were loaded with black belts, but that didn't stop them. The did great, had fun and made us all proud.  They are an amazing group of kids.

3rd and final event - Sparring.  Keep in mind, as physical as this event is, basically you are trying to kick the other kid in the chest to get points, its also very strategic and you need to think and see your shots.  Billy over indexes on the thinking part and under indexes on the aggressive part. You can see him thinking and planning where to land a kick while the other kid just goes crazy kicking.  In his 1st round, he wasn't as aggressive as he needed to be and was behind. Then, in the 2nd round, he came back to tie!! Ties are nerve racking because then go into sudden death, 1st kick to land wins. This is NOT Billy's strong suit as he needs time to plan his strategy but, he did it!! Landed the 1st point and was on to the next competitor. In his next bout, he was warmed up, confident and ready to go. He fought hard and was in the best form I've ever seen him. Another Gold!!

His friends also took come golds and Grace also won tournament of champions for her belt color.

It was such a fun day and we love watching him do something he loves with people he loves.

XXOO we love you Billy and SLP TKD!!
Isaac, fought hard and took silver

The 3 amigos with 3 golds

The trophy!!

all the tournament of champion winners

The winners with their coach - Mr Lemon


1st place in sparring!!

Happy boy with 2 golds

BFF Grace - xoxo

Yep, they are real

LOVE these kids
 

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Labor Day Weekend Show - Camping with Cousi

It was our annual Labor Day Camping trip with Tammy, Jeff, Georgia, Joey and Herbie - aka "the cousins". As usual, we met 1/2 way and this year was Door County - seriously gorgeous!!

We had to take 2 cars for a few reasons ...
1) 2 adults, 4 kids and camping stuff doesn't all fit into 1 car
2) Jimmy got called up to play in the JV football game on Friday night, making it impossible to drive to Door County after the game

So, Tracy and 3 of the kids headed out of town at noon on Friday and Tom followed with Jimmy at 8pm that night, making it to Wausau before having to stop at a hotel

The kids (actually Billy and Ian) were a huge help in setting up camp and the cousins were excited to see us. (They had taken the ferry from Michigan and spent the day with Sue in Green Bay)

We went out for the most awesome dinner of pizza at The Wild Tomato.  The guys were flinging dough, the crust was amazing and they had a huge wood burning stove.  We also introduced Ian to deep fried cheese curds. He's a convert and potential addict.  On the way back to camp, the stars were amazing- we had to stop and watch them over the lake. we even saw 2 shooting stars and, needless to say, Ian's mind was blown. It really was an awesome sight, in all meanings of the word.

Saturday we killed time at the camp ground; football, swimming and basic outdoorsy crap until Tom/Jimmy arrived around Noon. Then it was off to Gills Rock, Ellison Bay and Sister Bay. Sister Bay had a huge beach party happening and it was right across the street from Al Johnsons so we were able to check a number of Door County bucket list items off the list.  The kids swam, ate more deep fried cheese curds, bounced in a bouncy house and saw a grass roofed house with goats on it.  Then, ice cream at Wilsons.  Everyone managed to keep their hugmoungeous ice cream on their cones with the exception of Jimmy. Theres one in every crowd....

Dinner was less than impressive but we had a resurgence of the football game, watched more stars and a roaring camp fire so all was right in the world.

Sunday we headed south for Egg Harbor and the apple orchard. Sue drove up and met us for the afternoon. It was super fun to just hang out and relax.  The bucket list item of the day was a fish boil. Torch (guy running the fish boil) had quite the schpeal and it was really interesting plus the food was great.  We even watched the 2nd seating boil after we ate. Pretty impressive.  Since we had an early dinner, it was s'mores night and another 1st for Ian. He might think that Americans just eat their way through life. He'd be mostly right.

Sunday we packed up, said our good byes and headed home for school.  The kids were great on the ride, all showered and did homework without complaint and after countless loads of wash we were all safely tucked into bed for deep, long, good night sleeps.     At dinner when we asked their favorite part of the weekend ....

Billy - swimming and the stars
Kay - the cousins!! (especially Georgia!!)
Jimmy - the football games (JV and cousins)
Ian - the stars
Tom - hanging with family and the fish boil
Tracy - watching the cousins football game   

Until next year!! 

Torch explaining the intecracies of a fish boil


The fish!  fresh caught white fish - that day!


 a rapt audience


The final kerosene dump

the boil over!

Billy and Joey racing on the track at the apple orchard. The kids had a blast running around and eating free apple cider popsicles  

As the kids said "we were at the Big Apple"!!

The gang of kids and kids

Classic

post ice-cream hangovers

Sister Bay fest with a talking remote control coast guard mascot

the beach

Gills Rock - gorgeous

Jimmy

Happy Jimmy - with his new favorite hat that Jeff wouldn't let him keep - now all he wants is a faded blue, worn in Titlest golf cap.  Go figure.

Labor Day Weekend Show - Camping with Cousi

It was our annual Labor Day Camping trip with Tammy, Jeff, Georgia, Joey and Herbie - aka "the cousins". As usual, we met 1/2 way and this year was Door County - seriously gorgeous!!

We had to take 2 cars for a few reasons ...
1) 2 adults, 4 kids and camping stuff doesn't all fit into 1 car
2) Jimmy got called up to play in the JV football game on Friday night, making it impossible to drive to Door County after the game

So, Tracy and 3 of the kids headed out of town at noon on Friday and Tom followed with Jimmy at 8pm that night, making it to Wausau before having to stop at a hotel

The kids (actually Billy and Ian) were a huge help in setting up camp and the cousins were excited to see us. (They had taken the ferry from Michigan and spent the day with Sue in Green Bay)

We went out for the most awesome dinner of pizza at The Wild Tomato.  The guys were flinging dough, the crust was amazing and they had a huge wood burning stove.  We also introduced Ian to deep fried cheese curds. He's a convert and potential addict.  On the way back to camp, the stars were amazing- we had to stop and watch them over the lake. we even saw 2 shooting stars and, needless to say, Ian's mind was blown. It really was an awesome sight, in all meanings of the word.

Saturday we killed time at the camp ground; football, swimming and basic outdoorsy crap until Tom/Jimmy arrived around Noon. Then it was off to Gills Rock, Ellison Bay and Sister Bay. Sister Bay had a huge beach party happening and it was right across the street from Al Johnsons so we were able to check a number of Door County bucket list items off the list.  The kids swam, ate more deep fried cheese curds, bounced in a bouncy house and saw a grass roofed house with goats on it.  Then, ice cream at Wilsons.  Everyone managed to keep their hugmoungeous ice cream on their cones with the exception of Jimmy. Theres one in every crowd....

Dinner was less than impressive but we had a resurgence of the football game, watched more stars and a roaring camp fire so all was right in the world.

Sunday we headed south for Egg Harbor and the apple orchard. Sue drove up and met us for the afternoon. It was super fun to just hang out and relax.  The bucket list item of the day was a fish boil. Torch (guy running the fish boil) had quite the schpeal and it was really interesting plus the food was great.  We even watched the 2nd seating boil after we ate. Pretty impressive.  Since we had an early dinner, it was s'mores night and another 1st for Ian. He might think that Americans just eat their way through life. He'd be mostly right.

Sunday we packed up, said our good byes and headed home for school.  The kids were great on the ride, all showered and did homework without complaint and after countless loads of wash we were all safely tucked into bed for deep, long, good night sleeps.     At dinner when we asked their favorite part of the weekend ....

Billy - swimming and the stars
Kay - the cousins!! (especially Georgia!!)
Jimmy - the football games (JV and cousins)
Ian - the stars
Tom - hanging with family and the fish boil
Tracy - watching the cousins football game   

Until next year!! 

Torch explaining the intecracies of a fish boil


The fish!  fresh caught white fish - that day!


 a rapt audience


The final kerosene dump

the boil over!

Billy and Joey racing on the track at the apple orchard. The kids had a blast running around and eating free apple cider popsicles  

As the kids said "we were at the Big Apple"!!

The gang of kids and kids

Classic

post ice-cream hangovers

Sister Bay fest with a talking remote control coast guard mascot

the beach

Gills Rock - gorgeous

Jimmy

Happy Jimmy - with his new favorite hat that Jeff wouldn't let him keep - now all he wants is a faded blue, worn in Titlest golf cap.  Go figure.