Resilinator

S & Jack and E & I tackled Three Rivers Park's annual Resilinator, a buddy race designed to "test your physical strength, mental toughness, and teamwork" where pairs race through a 2.5 mile trail run of 18 different obstacles and challenges. 

The quote of the day came from uber-competitive Sawyer who, when spotting Evie and I stopping to hydrate, said, "I knew we'd beat them when they fell for that water station that you don't have to stop at."  

Tucker

Buster and the new neighbor dog Tucker have become quite the Odd Couple.  Tuck-Tuck will grit his teeth and bolt through his electric fence to come "knock" on our door, or sneak into the house though the garage at least once a week... and then catalyze a blur of chaos!

Golf date

Nana took S golfing, a new found sports interest for Sporty Spice, for her birthday at Braemar's par 3 course.  

Eau Claire

This year's MEA road trip was had us in Eau Claire, WI.  We knew very little about the area other than it checked all the boxes...drivable, outdoor fun, active indoor options for rainy days, at least a sliver of a food/adult beverage "scene", and a dog-friendly VRBO with room for our crew and the Kiesers.

Highlights include:

• Scavenger hunt hikes at Lowe's Creek & Putnam Park
• Crepes at The Nucleus
• Microbrews for the adults, and Bananagrams & tag for kids, at The Brewing Projekt
• Family hoops competition at the neighborhood courts (the moms schooled the kids, BTW)
• Ninja warrioring, waterparking, axe-throwing, laser-tagging and arcading at Chaos
• Cocktails for the adults, and Giant Jenga for the kids, at Chippewa River Distillery
• Bonfires & Reese Cup s'mores
• And, hours mindless, stress-free Judge Judy, College Football, games and conversation sprawled across couches and recliners to ease into and out of each day.

Minnetonka Orchards

Carmel apples, apple cider, apple fritter mini-donuts, chicken apple brats... and a dodging a couple thousand bees at Minnetonka Orchards with T, Lucy and Alex (who wasn't in the mood for a photo).

SRB's 9th

S celebrated her 9th doing what she does best... running, jumping, racing, climbing and horse-playing with her favorite people.

Happy birthday, kid.  We love you to pieces. 

Lawn girl

The intern did reasonably well for hardly being able to reach the pedals and barely weighing enough to keep the engine running.  Weekend landscaping relief may be just one summer away!

OEP at Lambeau

Linds' Old El Paso team once again sponsored an event at Green Bay's Viking/Packer tailgate, and once again I had coaching duties with E so had to defer my ticket to JoJo.  

One of these years!

Purple People

The whole gang wound up together at the Vikes/Raiders game.  MN won 34-14.

50th anniversary

New Ulm High School invited Nana to participate in this year's homecoming parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of her Queenship... and E & S got to play sidekick.

Hustle & Howl

E & S were all smiles at this year's (wet) Hustle & Howl, the annual Wayzata Elementary School "fun run" to raise money for playgrounds that the schools already have.  It's never made sense to me, but the kids love it and its always fun to cut out of work to see them in their element. 

BDO 2019

The gang added a few new wrinkles to Boys Day Out this year, including a pit stop at Target Field for Twins playoff baseball (a viewing party, that is, as the Twins were at NYY for game 2 of the ALDS), ping pong at WestMonroe, badminton at Royal Foundry and cornhole at the Herk.

The Gophs whooped Illinios 40-17 in a cool, rainy contest, but this day is never really about the game.

Flag football

Sawyer played flag football again this year and tore the field up with her buddies Cade and Charlie.

10U fall ball

E's squeezed in a quick season of travel/rec combo fall ball in-between the summer session and basketball, and stepped up her game at the plate and on the mound.  The "Ice" made it to the semis in their Tier 3 (of 11) State Tournament. 

Brewer baseball

Sawyer started kid-pitch baseball this fall, a very slow version of the sport with many, many, many balls and walks.  However, the progress these kids make in a season is always impressive, and strikes and hits picked up each game.  

Sawyer enjoyed pitching and catching, and was a solid player at each.  Her shining moment was when a former coach on the opposition said "back up, this girl can hit", but his defense did not, S belted a triple over their heads, and the coach lit them up while she grinned at third.  

Good sports

E's 10U Blue softball team received a sportsmanship award during the summer season which came with free team tickets and pre-game field access to a Twins game.

1st day of school

3rd and 5th!  Here we go again...

(13 of our street's 22 kids are now in elementary school, five in middle, two in HS and two in college)

D: What was your favorite thing from this summer?
E: Going to Duluth. 
S: State Fair. 

D: What about 5th/3rd grade are you most excited for?
E: Being in Ms. Lee's class and having Annika and Isabella in my class. 
S: Having Ms. Huot. 

D: Are you nervous about anything?
E: No.
S: No. 

D: Who's your best friend?
E: Isabella.
S: Jack. 

D:What's your favorite book?
E: I don't know. Are you seriously writing 'I'd don't know'. I like all books. 
S: I don't know. 

D: What's your favorite food? 
E:  Cheeseburgers. 
S: BBQ chicken wings. 

D:What's your favorite thing to play?
E: Basketball. 
S: Football. 

D: What's your favorite thing about yourself?
E: I don't know.  I'm good at sports?  
S: That I'm smart. 

D: What's one thing that you really want to do this year?
E: Make the A-team for basketball. 
S: Go somewhere fun for MEA or spring break. 

D: What do you want to be when you grow up?
E: Um.  I don't know.  Yeah, I don't really know.  
S: Professional football or basketball player.