Halloween

So for Halloween we got terrific tickets to see Garrison Keillor and "A Prairie Home Companion" live from the Bismarck Civic Center











The gangster boys with Fred Newman the sound effects guy- and their favorite part of the show.




If you've never seen "A Prairie Home Companion" I would highly recommend it. The music is usually great, the monologues are often extraordinary storytelling, and you get to see the "real" show and get a behind the scenes look at a live radio production.


Tami worked support for the show (giving rides between airport and hotel, hotel and show, errands to the grocery store, etc.) She also became friends with the show's Tour Manager, who let us sit backstage (on the Stage, actually) for the 2 hour Halloween party after the broadcast. We sat near the drummer and the "BOX" for the Hammond organ which you can see in the second picture above.






Hunter went as Governor Rod Blagojevich - the hair was pretty sweet - and I went as a fat guy in an orange shirt.
We had a really great time to the point where a 12 year-old said "This is the best Halloween ever!" despite no trick-or-treating sugar rush.

PreHalloween

The top picture is Hunter getting his individual 2nd place trophy after Fargo South defeated Century 1-0 at the State Soccer Tournament. It was a case where the Patriots let in a goal very early, and then outplayed the Spartans the rest of the way, but were unable to convert while having two goals waived because of offsides. Sad ending to a really terrific season. The second picture is his friend Jeffrey who played nearly every minute of their season at defensive/center mid as a freshman.He was also named to the All-WDA Tournament team, and should have made the State All-tournament team- he was a big part of the reason Century opponents only scored 11 goals in 20 games.He is a great player and will be the backbone of next year's team.

What a Cluster*#%& !!!

The State Soccer tournament was supposed to start in Jamestown today. However, they expected, and got, 3+ inches of slush/snow on the ground today so postponed it til Friday.

Well it became very clear that the fields would not be ready by Friday morning either, so today they moved the tournament to Fargo. The drawback is, I had to work in Jamestown today, come home and do a bunch of stuff before we could leave for Fargo. Instead, we're getting up at 5:00 A.M. Friday morning to drive to Fargo in time for the 9:00 A.M. kickoff. If they win they'll play again at 5, with the winner advancing to the Championship at 5:00 Saturday.

It will be played at the new Sid Cichy Field in south Fargo (next to the new Shanley High School) which has artificial turf, which normally si favors the defenses that there is even less scoring than usual.The team left tonight, I hope they remember to get some sleep.


Hunter won't like this picture, but long before you can be a soccer stud you've got to put in your time baking cookies with your MaMa.

A Mighty Cold Day for Futbol

We started the afternoon at 31 Fahrenheit (wind chill 17) at Cottonwood where Luke and Will played their final BSL Soccer game of the year and career. Certainly not the best team they've ever played on but they had fun. They are looking forward to playing middle school soccer for Horizon next year.







































Meanwhile, west of the Missouri, Mandan was hosting the WDA Championship Game between Century and St. Mary's. Century scored first on a St. Mary's own goal, and then put it away in the second half to win 4-0.

Hunter got in with 10:00 left, and had several good stops and passes. This picture is right after he hip-checked the player on the ground, and was, of course, whistled for the foul. St. Mary's failed to convert from just outside the eighteen, so no harm was done.








Hunter was happy to hear that Uncle Mike and Aunt Shelly braved the elements to watch his team (and him) win.

On to the State Tournament in Jamestown next week.

Windy day at Hawktree

We "won" 4 passes for Hawktree at the Dakota Junior golf auction, but the problem was they had to be used this year. Well, between work and soccer, etc. we were having trouble and didn't get out until today. Needless to say the winds gusting to 40 mph made for a difficult day on a difficult course. Luke and Will had never played it before. You'll hear the wind in the background on the video.



























All in all a really great day and a really great golf course.

6th grade soccer team

What I did on my summer vacation...

Once summer soccer was over the family and I took a little road trip south to Denver. We stayed with Holly and did some marvelous things. The first night (my 51st birthday) we went to a sold out Rockies game and watched the Cubs win 6-5. Had never been to Coors Field but it is very nice, concessions were a little cheaper than the Metrodome, and more beautiful weather you could not ask for. Here are a couple of candids of the field and the fans.








The next morning we got up and drove into the mountains. After a picnic at Echo Lake we took the scenic drive up Mt. Evans. I believe this is my first 14,000+ mountain, and the oxygen change was noticeable.





This is Summit Lake which is beautiful and damn cold.
































Here is Summit Lake from the peak, with the boys and I as props.












After that we braved the Sunday night traffic and drove into Morrison to Red Rocks for a concert. For my birthday Tami and the boys ordered tickets for The Kings of Leon, who are my new favorite band since I saw them open for U2.It was an incredibly rocking show enjoyed by all. They played for an hour and a half and performed very well. Amazing to see a rock band perform live and sound at least as good as they do on CD. I took this picture from Row 37 with my little Canon digital camera.







The next day we put Hunter on the plane back to Bismarck (High School soccer tryouts) and the rest of us did a little more touring. A popular stop was at the go-cart track.

























This is my Green Curry Beef at Thai Basil in Denver. Always great to go some place with real ethnic food. The Singha beers were 50 cents during happy hour, and this plate of food (too much!) was $8.50. Needless to say, I've spent much more than that for crappy food back home.


So despite the very long drive- down Friday, back Wednesday- it was a great trip, and pretty relaxing.

I am ever so far behind...

Spent the weekend before last with Luke and Will at a soccer tournament. The highlight was staying with my brother Pat and his wife at their home in Minnesota. I took this picture from the shore end of the dock with a Saturday night sunset.

The boys had great fun in the lake and playing with their cousins (Sue and Grandma were there, too).

The soccer didn't go so well, but the lake was a hit. Here are the kids on the shore and in the water:






















This last weekend I took the same two boys up to their other Grandma's farm, where they shot fireworks, I did some mowing and chainsaw work, shot most of the gophers but didn't get a crack at the squirrel who is digging up the flower bulbs from the big flower pots.



I just had to throw this one in. Luke and Will recently celebrated their 12th birthdays, so here is one from about 10 years ago. Trust me, they've changed.

The Weekend!

Here is a photo of the boys and Will's teacher Christie playing at Madison and Trevor's wedding in May. They were terrific, and many people said so. Difficult to get away from the Mormon missionary look at a formal wedding.


Off to the hinterlands east of Fargo for the weekend to stay at Pat and April's house in Minne-SO-ta. I'll be driving Luke and Will into Fargo Saturday and Sunday for U12 soccer. This is the first tournament of the year for them so they are very excited.

Meanwhile,Tami and Hunter are off to Sioux Falls, S.D. for Hunter's U15 Regional tournament. Their first game Saturday is against Michigan, which is apparently ranked 4th in the nation among U15 teams.The only team Hunter's ever faced at that level of play was when they lost to a team from Northern Ireland at last year's USA Cup in Blaine 4-1, thus becoming the only team to score a goal against them the entire week.

I'll try and file some reports as we go, with photos to follow once we get home.

Spring Recital

Wednesday afternoon we met at the music room at Trinity Lutheran Church (the one across the street from Grandma Knudson's house on third street) for a violin recital. Hunter has been taking lessons from Dr. Eric Lawson for not quite the last 2 years, and this was his first solo recital since the Riverbend Conservatory days. I apologize for the sound quality and handheld video, but thought some of you would like to hear him if it's been awhile. The song is almost fourteen minutes long and he was accompanied on piano by our friend Dr. Tom Porter of U Mary. This is "Concertino" by Oskar Rieding.