The Six Days of Christmas

Christmas 2014 was a whirlwind of family, food, fun, freeways, far too many gifts for our two munchkins... and a little bit of fighting (see Exhibit C, from the Maxwell gift exchange, pictured above).

Happy Holidays!

The Backers 2014 holiday card, co-starring R, L & G for the first time since 2008.  Plus, an outtake reel from our photo shoot of the runner-up.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I celebrated my 30-somethingth with the traditional breakfast in bed with the little ones, and then a local brewery pub crawl with Linds (Sociable Cider Werks, Indeed, Dangerous Man and Surley's grand opening).

Blue Devils

E's fall hoops team at the Y... and a clip of her knocking down a 'J' under duress!

Fun to see the progress in a few short months.  Even more fun to see E taking a genuine interest in Dad's favorite sport.  Her scouting report reads... "Ferocious defender - great feet.  Strong crossover dribble when pressured and has a knack for finding open teammates. Must respect her jumpshot, but she requires a lot of time to get it off".

[L-R: Sam, Coach Ryan, Jack, Evie, Coach Doug (not pictured: Taylor, Kipton)]

Cooks in the Kitchen

Nana's annual Christmas cookie making day, with a new helper this year! 

Stage Fright / Stage Might

The stage does one of two things to people... 

For the one extreme, see Exhibit A (E and her Sunday School class singing at church).

For the other, see Exhibit B (S and her Preschool class singing at their Holiday concert).

Thanksgiving

Sure, the turkey and dressing were great... but, the camera only made it out for Black Friday shopping and sledding with the cousins at Thanksgiving 2014.

Snow Angel

Sometimes, Sawyer.  Sometimes.

Gopher Girls

Daddy Date Night at William's Arena to see the U of M women's basketball squad take on Southern University.  The Lady Gophers took down the Jaguars 107-62.  Other than seeing their faces on the jumbotron, E & S got to experience really everything you could ask for...hugs with Goldie, photo ops with cheerleaders, catching t-shirts, popcorn, ice cream, singing the rouser, sitting with the band and, or course, a home team 'W'.

Kindergarten & Preschool

School photos.  Fall 2014.  E (Kindergarten) & S (Preschool).

Tiny Dancer

SRB decided to take a season off of gymnastics, and try her hand, er toes, at ballet.  More a ball sports guy, myself, I must admit that a there's not a lot more adorable than a miniature ballerina  (especially on costume night).

Buckeyes

Back-to-back weeks at "the Bank", but this time traveling (and sitting) with the enemy.  A freezing but fun game of big plays and missed opportunities on both ends.  But, when all was said and done, OSU assumed the victory formation, up 31-24.

Welcome home, Floyd

 

The up-and-coming Minnesota Golden Gophers pummeled the Iowa Hawkeyes 51-14 at TCF Bank Stadium, the boys and I were there to see it live (rushing the field and escorting Floyd of Rosedale, the border battle's rivalry trophy, back to it's rightful owners!).

Goodbye, Fall

The girls enjoyed one final hike in the backyard before the state is covered in white... for the next 4-5 months! 

Happy Halloween!

No snow or sub-zero temps just yet... but Halloween 2014 was a brisk one for SuperGirl and her sidekicks Raccoon, Chick and Fairy Dog.  

Pumpkins @ Lucy's

Little Lucy hosted a pumpkin carving and painting / housewarming party at her new digs in Minnetonka, MN.  Uncle Joe's ghost design won carving competition, and the painting competition was a three way tie between E, S & L.

Burying the lede a bit here, actually...  Joe [my brother], Tisha, Lucy and #4 just moved to MN after 10 years in Chicago!  We're all SO excited.  :-)

Ballin'

E signed-up for (and enjoyed!) fall hoops at a her elementary school.  It was pretty adorable watching her and the other Junior Jammers patiently stumble their way through basketball 101... "triple threat", pivoting, "goosenecks", crossovers and "snapping" chest passes.   

Up next: YMCA Saturday morning co-ed hoops, coached by dear old Dad.

SRB's 4th

Our little Rose turned four on 10/13/14!

So cliche, by my does time fly!  It's been so fun watching S morph into a "big kid" over the past year.  She THRIVES when creating (give that girl access to a junk drawer, tape and glue, and watch her go!), loves the "stage" (singing, storytelling, dancing), is wiry strong and wicked fast... and still has her trademark silly-spunk and "spiciness".

S celebrated her big milestone with our breakfast in bed treatment tradition (you can see that even when showered with presents, she's still quite the 'grumpy bird' in the morning!), and with an afternoon at the Minnetonka Apple Orchard with her BFFs.

Vertical Endeavors

Nevermind the girl climbing higher and faster to my right.

Miss Fisher's Field Trip

E's kindergarten class had a field trip to Apple Jack Orchards to learn about the Apples & the Bees, and taste test a variety of and ciders (and Dad got to chaperone - we'll see how long this is something that E appreciates!). 

EuroTrip

A recent work "opportunity" (more on this later) had me in Europe for a week at the end of September.  While the trip was far more business than pleasure, I was able to bookend the trip with a with a couple days of fun with one of my GMI/CSOM faves Anna, who is currently on an ex-pat assignment in Switzerland, and her husband Adam.

On the front end, I spent a day blindly touring Lausanne (where A & A live), running alongside Lake Geneva and the unfortunately foggy Swiss Alps and exploring the waterfront marketplace... eventually meeting up and catching up with my "hosts" over a dinner of local mussels and wine.  [Pics 1-3 above are of my Switzerland leg.]

Then, long story short, I knocked out my work stuff (again, more on this later), and closed the trip out with 36 hours of vacation in Berlin.

In Berlin, the Estlunds rejoined me and we packed in as much sightseeing and adventure as humanly possible in 24 hours.  Sightseeing-wise, we hit up the Berlin Wall's East Side Gallery, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Reichstag.  Adventure-wise, we hoofed the Mitte region, popping in and out of funky bars (like a Cuban-themed joint with sand floors), speakeasies and various outdoor Oktoberfest celebrations.  Oh, and somewhere in there we booked an hour to play Europe's hottest new "escape game", the EXIT Room (and "won", by literally tearing apart an office [pic 9 above] for clues and ultimately saving the world from a crippling cyberhack in 51:58!).  [Pics 4-11 above are of my Germany leg.]

A HUGE thanks to Anna and Adam for their hospitality, helping me navigate (French) Switzerland and meeting up in Berlin for sightseeing and German beer-drinking.  So fun!

(And, thanks to LMB for holding down the fort when I was gone!  I think we're officially "even" for that Africa trip of yours that I haven't let you live down for the past three years!)