Scooter sighting!

Or at least, one of his distant relatives.

I don't think I posted this before - it's from a visit Michelle and I made to Itasca some time ago.

Old Pictures

I'm going to try and post some pictures to my blog. Can you believe it?

It's the Most Vomit-Filled Day, of the Year!

But we don't need to talk about that. Instead, here are some pictures of Kelson's birthday party at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Gary's house. It was an army theme. Kelson put on Grandpa Gary's old army jacket.



Now that is one cute little soldier!



Kelson is excited about his army cake.



Yes, sir!

Lego Tournament

We had the Lego tournament last Saturday. It was an incredibly hectic weekend, mixing together the tournament, a funeral, a birthday party and a snowstorm.

Anyway, here is Koleman's team with the three coaches.



Koleman missed most of the early part of the tournament, but was able to run the robot in the head to head competition. Here he and Luke get ready.



Koleman wills the robot to knock down the panel of the solar powered satellite!



They won that round, (which was technically the second round, since their first opponent was a team called "Bye" who didn't show up) and advanced to the semifinals. This time Koleman had Maddie with him.



It was a good news / bad news run. They scored the most points that the team had gotten all day, but the other team had a great performance, so they didn't get to the championship round.

On the whole, they did great. For a bunch of fourth grade first timers, they made a very good showing. The top three (out of 15) teams advanced to state, and Koleman's team finished 5th, about a quarter of one percent away from third place.

Yikes!

Parents, teach your children proper foot care, or this might happen to them:



Although, on the bright side, if your child has pins like these in their foot, if they are being naughty you can yank one of them out and teach them a lesson.

Lego Open House

On Saturday we had an open house for three First Lego League teams (two in St. Peter and one in Mankato). The open house was a great success, especially for my team, since they have never felt the pressure of actual competition. Lots was learned. Here is Koleman watching the robot go and retrieve oil barrels from an oil platform.



Now it's time to change the program.



The real tournament is on Saturday, and we're getting very excited! Since people have claimed that I don't tell people anything, I am officially announcing that the tournament will be held at the Benjamin E Mays Magnet school in St. Paul (Yahoo! Yellow pages map). From 9:30 till 5:00. In the gym. Open to the public.

Thanksgiving, Part II

Cousin Greta (bad influence that she is) tought our kids how to use straws to make farting noises. Here Milena demonstrates the wrong way to go about doing this.



Eli, naturally, mastered it quickly.



Now, this is a cute picture, but the angle makes it seem like my nose is crooked. I'm not sure what's up with that.



And this is how Michelle looks at me pretty much all the time.

Thanksgiving!

Did you know it was Thanksgiving last week? No, really, it was! Here is Charlie before he started chucking pickles.



And Greta is cute!



Kids table.



Grandpa gets his hair styled.

What kind of operation is Macy's running?

Last weekend, before viewing the Lion King, we went to look at Macy's to see their animatronic holiday extravaganza - The Nutcracker.

It was pretty g... whoa! What's up with that soldier? Is that necessary?



Oh, c'mon! Everybody knows what it means when a woman tells you that she has "three little puppet friends inside her dress." This is certainly not appropriate!



I don't even want to address this picture. She's just a young girl! It's not right!



In other words, the kids loved it, but I was mortified.

People and Puppies

Just some people and puppies.



Nothing special.

The Pictures that Disney doesn't want You to See

Last night we were given an early Christmas present by Grandma and Grandpa Doll - tickets to The Lion King musical at the Orpheum! The show was great, but while I was clicking a few pictures I was told that I wasn't able to take pictures. Apparently Disney has copyrighted the production, and no photographs are allowed. I was told to delete any pictures that I took, and I said that I would.

I lied.

So, here are the pictures of Disney's copyrighted material. First, they own all rights to my family. I can no longer make money off of their images.



This picture actually does show a little bit of the set. So I can understand why they wouldn't want me to have this picture. It's TOP SECRET!



Apparently they even have a copyright on the chandelier at the Orpheum. That's power.



And the ceiling. Don't forget the Orpheum ceiling. I think Walt diagrammed the designs himself.



So there you have it. I will keep this post up as long as I can. But I will acknowledge that I am no match for the Disney legal staff.

It was nice knowing all of you.

Pumpkins!

We did carve pumpkins for Halloween. Really. I have proof.

Milena's pumpkin had a huge smile.



Eli's pumpkin had scary teeth.



Kelson's pumkin had lots of holes.



Koleman's pumpkin had ears.

Leaf Sucker!

The fine people who are in charge of the fine city of St. Peter are kind enough to send a giant leaf sucker/muncher/crusher thing around the city to collect people's leaves. Why is this worthy of a blog post? Two reasons. First of all, Eli, Milena and Koleman were gone at school when the Sucker went by, and they really, really wanted to see it. So I can show them this post.



Secondly, these pictures were taken from inside the house, and Michelle made the windows so darn clean that there wasn't a bit of interference. That's talent.