Lynn and that French toast (with Lake Superior oatmeal stout beer syrup), At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe, Duluth, Minnesota

When I saw Atmosphere’s tweet tonight about the first ever winter show at Red Rocks in Colorado, I was hoping I could figure out a way for kid one and I to go. Google Maps says it’s a 14 hour drive from home and I have relatives that live in Denver now, so that part should hopefully work. Just needed to confirm it was an all-ages show (yes) and if seats were reserved (nope – general admission). When I saw there was a cheaper pre-sale price before the general public on sale tomorrow, I pulled the trigger.

This trip will be a birthday present for both of us. I haven’t had a vacation in almost three years, so I couldn’t be more excited. We’ll also get some bonding time during the MINI road trip through Iowa and Nebraska, along with a day of skiing at an area to be determined (Beaver Creek?).

Kick. Ass.

Kid two winter band concert, Deerwood Elementary, Eagan, Minnesota

Kid two sings the national anthem with Da Capo choir before the Eagan/Wayzata basketball game, Eagan High School

Kid One Christmas Comic, created using the Halftone iPhone app

Always in my heart – I love you too, Sasha

Evelyn J. Smith obituary, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Sunday, November 27, 2011

Kid one and two, Minnesota History Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota

The 2011 Kingsbury Christmas Tree, Eagan, Minnesota

Kid one at the 1968 Exhibit, Minnesota History Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Kid two enjoying the unseasonably warm Movember, Eagan, Minnesota

Enjoying the first major snowfall of the season, Eagan, Minnesota

Alice in Wonderland, Deerwood Elementary 5th Grade Play, Eagan, Minnesota

Hipster Filter, Bryant-Lake Bowl, Minneapolis, Minnesota

http://www.gunflint.com/cabins/cabin6.htm

Today’s Halloween is a bit sad for me, as it’s the first time since either of my kids were born that I haven’t been at home for Halloween night. Kid one isn’t even going out door-to-door this year (although there is still a Zombie Kardashian costume involved).

I also missed out on the Monster Half, the big Halloween party at Fortune Bay on Saturday night and a few other things I would have liked to be a part of. I did get to help kid two host her big party on Friday night, though, and last night we carved pumpkins (above).

The local Head Start program is bringing over a group of kids to the resort in the morning for trick-or-treating, which should be fun. Aside from that, Halloween night will be treadmill time in the exercise room (October will be a 100+ mile month), followed by the 5-0.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Lunch with Brian and Patti, Barbette, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Kid One Before the Atmosphere Concert, University of Minnesota Homecoming, TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Brian and Patti Kingsbury, Eagan, Minnesota

When I was growing up, most people would consider me one of the shy, introverted ones who kept to themselves and didn’t say much. In junior high school, I surprised a lot of people by speaking in front of a big crowd for an honor society induction ceremony. In high school, I had a close group of friends that I interacted with, but it wasn’t until I started my career that I really opened up socially.

Today, social interaction is a crucial piece of who I am and those interactions directly influence my level of happiness. The past two years have had a lot of ups and downs and I’ve spent a great deal of time and effort trying to improve various relationships (with mixed success). I always wondered why this was such a big deal to me, but I’ve learned science helps to explain. In the October 2011 issue of National Geographic, the cover story The New Science of the Teenage Brain cites:

…no species is more intricately and deeply social than humans are. This supremely human characteristic makes peer relations not a sideshow but the main show. Some brain-scan studies, in fact, suggest that our brains react to peer exclusion much as they respond to threats to physical health or food supply. At a neural level, in other words, we perceive social rejection as a threat to existence.

The recent PBS series This Emotional Life also came to the same conclusion:

It is the quality of our relationships — with friends, family and the larger community — that ultimately defines our happiness.

So there you have it…

Our last remaining cockatiel, Flavio, passed away tonight at the age of 20. That’s a pretty full life for an average cockatiel, but Flavio was no average bird. Loved dearly by our family, he will be greatly missed.

Flavio was preceded in death by his father, Kenneth Ruprecht Chinken, mother George, brothers Beaker and Whitey and sister, Norm.

Born in a Madison apartment during my senior year of college, Flavio traveled with us to apartments in St. Paul and Eagan, followed by the townhouse and finally Oakbrooke, where a short funeral service was performed tonight on the path to the pond.

CK writes:
You were one funny, sassy bird, Flavio. Thank you for bringing so much joy to our lives.

SK writes:
You always sung with me, even when I was off-key. We watched movies together, just you and me. But today I guess you thought it was time to leave your family on Earth, and fly to the one up above. Even though you’re gone now, I know you’re happy and you will stay with me for years to come. I love you Flavio, may you rest in peace.

MK writes:
We will forever and always love you Flavio! You will always be in our hearts! You were the BEST bird ANY person in the whole world could have, Flavio, you were EXTRAORDINARY! I will miss you with all my heart! I remember before you left, we used to sing Mockingbird together. R.I.P I <3 you!

Colleen and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary earlier this week at the lovely Meritage restaurant in downtown St. Paul. I realized after we were seated that the courthouse where we eloped in front of Judge Joseph Salland was just a few blocks away. That day in 1991 included a quick trip to the airport after the ceremony and a visit to Disneyland for our honeymoon.

Dinner at Meritage was truly an event. Chef Russell Klein greeted us with happy anniversary wishes and two complimentary glasses of champagne. Service from the entire staff was exceptional all night.

We started off with two items from the amusements section of the menu: Billi Bi saffron mussel soup and confit pig tongue with sweet and sour squash. These were served with fresh sourdough bread and we each ordered cocktails – Colleen had Jameson and Ginger, while I tried something called a Nor’easter (vodka, cranberry and spice).

For the next course, Colleen tried the “selection of locally grown lettuces” with radishes, carrots and dijon vinaigrette, while I had the chicken soup with matzo balls. Both were very good.

Our main course selections were very hearty. Colleen ordered the cassoulet in the style of Toulouse, which consisted of ragout of pork, duck confit, garlic sausage and tarbais beans. I ordered the steak frites with bearnaise sauce, which came with a large, perfectly cooked New York strip steak.

For dessert, we ordered small ice cream treats from Izzy’s – hers was a scoop of pomegranate sorbet, while mine was a salty caramel ice cream pop (which really was on a stick).

Great place, great evening.

A few weeks ago, the Star Tribune had a story that listed Zagat’s latest top 10 list of the best restaurants in the Twin Cities. Here is the list (by ranking):

• La Belle Vie
• 112 Eatery
• Vincent
• Restaurant Alma
• Bar La Grassa
• Meritage
• Lucia’s Restaurant
• Manny’s Steakhouse
• Heartland Restaurant
• Oceanaire Seafood Room

Six more to go…

Colleen and I eloped 18 years ago today at the courthouse in downtown St. Paul (more pictures here).

We are planning to celebrate tonight with our first ever visit to Mancini’s for dinner, then maybe a movie at the Uptown theater. This is also the 23rd anniversary of our first date – a screening of the classic movie Three Amigos at the old Har Mar theaters.

Yesterday my grandfather Donald Smith celebrated his 90th birthday at the Lexington restaurant in St. Paul with most of our immediate family. It was great visiting with everyone and the food and service were superb. I had a sirloin steak, while Colleen had the walleye almondine, which she said was one of the best she’s ever had.

My uncle gave a speech talking about his dad and it’s really amazing all of the things he’s been in his life: husband, father, citizen, patriot, bomber pilot, prisoner of war, grandfather, bank president, board member, St. Paul Winter Carnival leader, volunteer, great-grandfather, caregiver and retiree.

Cheers, Mr. Smith!

A week ago we packed up the family in the car and headed north to Duluth to visit the water park at the Edgewater hotel. It was just a quick overnight trip on a school night, so the place wasn’t very busy. That was a good thing, since it’s smaller than the Mall of America water park (or any of the Wisconsin Dells spots). Still, it was a very nice place and the kids had a great time.

We stopped at Tobies on the way up and had dinner Sunday night at the Duluth branch of Hell’s Kitchen.

I had this (with chicken):

Baked Penne Pasta tossed in a creamy garlic sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese, oven baked til golden. Includes French bread & whipped butter. $10.25 Add vegetables $1.25, Italian sausage $1.75, grilled chicken $2.25, chopped shrimp $4

Nice food, cool atmosphere and great service, but a little pricey.

On Monday, we visited the original Grandma’s in Canal Park for lunch before heading back home. The Godfather sandwich there is still one of my all-time favorites.

The confirmation cards arrived in the mail today for the 2009 Monster Dash events in Minneapolis. This year the races will actually be on Halloween morning – the half marathon I’m running starts at 8:30AM, followed by the 5K that Colleen and the kids are doing at 10:30AM. The plan is for me to finish in under two hours and join them for the 5K.

The field for the half and the 10 mile race is full, so parking will be interesting. The forecast looks good, though. More later…

Just in time for the first (and second!) Minnesota snow storms in October, I purchased new tires for the MINI. The car now has almost 75,000 miles on it and the tires on the front were actually still the originals. I bought two new ones a few years ago and rotated the old rear tires to the front. This time, I picked four new Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grids (size 195/55R-16). Discount Tire in Apple Valley installed them for me quickly and smoothly for around $500.

Saturday also turned out to be new phone day. Colleen decided she was done paying T-mobile $50 a month for her pink Razr and wanted to upgrade. We went to the Mall of America and visited both the Apple Store and the AT&T corporate store, the latter of which was able to convert my account to a family plan. Colleen switched to a white 16GB iPhone 3GS, while I upgraded from a first generation iPhone to a black 32GB iPhone 3GS.

So now kid one has an iPod Touch, kid two gets my old iPhone (sans phone service) and we both have current iPhones. Everybody’s happy!

Today we got everyone out of the house for the Twin Cities Marathon Family Day events at the state capitol grounds. The weather wasn’t great (cold and rainy), but more than 5,000 other brave souls turned out for the 10K (new this year), 5K, Diana Pierce Family Mile, Half Mile, Toddler Trot and Diaper Dash.

Colleen walked the 5K with a group from Allina and finished in 59:02 (19:00 pace). The 5K was won by Mathew Chesang in 15:30 (5:00), while Meghan Armstrong took the women’s 5K title with a time of 16:45 (5:24). There were 1,989 finishers (850 men and 1,139 women), with an average time of 35:04.

Here are a few other results from people we knew in the 5K:

• Chris Hlusak, 20:45 (6:41)
• Trevor Huinker, 30:00 (9:40)
• Rebecca Schutz, 34:57 (11:15)
• Sarah Hlusak, 57:51 (18:37)

The inaugural 10K was won by Evgeny Beletskiy in 33:49 (5:27). Ariella Gottfried was the first women to cross the finish line with a time of 36:32 (5:53). There were 1,215 finishers (458 men and 757 women) and the average time was 59:50.

We also had a few friends in the 10K:

• Jake Schutz, 53:15 (8:35)
• Amy Schmidt, 1:07:09 (10:49)

Our kids both decided to run in the one mile race this year and we all had the opportunity to meet Diana Pierce before the race. Deerwood had a smaller crowd this year, but it was great to see everyone.

I stopped in at the expo two more times today – once to get an event poster signed by the artist and later in the day with my neighbor Gina (who will be running her first marathon with me tomorrow). It’s amazing how much free junk you get at those things – even more when you bring kids along.

Pictures from today have been uploaded to Facebook and the private section of the 7MM photo gallery – email me if you need access to either.

Pasta dinner tonight, then off to the Metrodome (er, “Mall of America Park”) in the morning for the 28th running of the Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America…

Last weekend was my favorite annual tradition – two days at the Great Minnesota Get-Together in Falcon Heights. This was the 40th year in a row for me and was the most crowded visit yet (although I guess it was not a record).

We had tickets to the Saturday night grandstand show, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock, so we decided to get there in the early afternoon. Our usual secret route to the parking lot across from the coliseum was totally backed up, but we did get a spot. Lines at all of the food booths were 10-15 deep and the streets were jammed with people.

The concert itself was entertaining. “Fake Skynyrd” was OK, the people watching was great and Kid Rock was an awesome performer. After the show, we watched the nightly dance party at the corn booth, then said hi to our friend Art, who performs every day at the Cafe Caribe stage.

Sunday was the 25th annual Milk Run 5K, which kid one and I ran together in 34:34. We saw a few neighbors out running too and my mother-in-law stopped in at the finish. It always amazes me how many people we run into at the fair each year.

The kids used up their Kidway tickets in record time and we hit most of the buildings and food stands we planned on, then left around 3PM. I spent a lot of money and ate a lot of food, but didn’t seem to gain too much weight this time. The stomach did need a few days to recover from the grease onslaught, though.

It was almost a month ago, but I never got around to writing a post here about Colleen’s 40th birthday trip to Los Angeles. Some of the pictures have been up on Facebook for a while and now there are a bunch in the 7MM photo gallery too.

The kids spent the week in Grand Marais with my parents, so it was just Colleen and I on this one. We flew Sun Country to LAX, arriving late Monday night. The usually wonderful Emerald Aisle at National had only mini-vans available at that hour, so we spent the week driving around in this thing.

We stayed at the wonderful Belamar Hotel in Manhattan Beach the whole trip and had a great third-floor room with a balcony overlooking the pool. Even for a boutique hotel, their prices were very reasonable and the service was top-notch.

Each day of the trip started off with breakfast at the incomparable Uncle Bill’s Pancake House in Manhattan Beach. I’m pretty sure I could start the day there for the rest of my life and be happy about the decision. Make sure and try the potatoes stroganoff…

Tuesday was Hollywood day, which included stops at the Grove, the LA Farmer’s Market and an afternoon taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson show at CBS Television City. It was really interesting watching them tape the TV show, as everything happened out of sequence in a studio that seems much, much smaller in person. Jeff Foxworthy was the guest that day. We stopped for dinner at the Hollywood branch of Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, then drove by the Columbia Records building before driving down Sunset Boulevard through Beverly Hills and Bel Air on the way back to the hotel.

Wednesday was beach day. After breakfast at Uncle Bill’s, we walked along the Manhattan Beach pier and the Strand before driving down to Hermosa Beach. We did a little shopping and had lunch at the Good Stuff restaurant located across from the pier. We spent a little time in the hotel courtyard before driving down to the Redondo Beach pier for dinner at Kincaid’s Bayhouse.

We checked out of the hotel early on Thursday and had breakfast at the usual spot. From there, it was a relatively painless freeway commute to Anaheim for a day at Disneyland. My brother and his wife (who work for Disney in Florida) were kind enough to get us two tickets to the parks as a birthday gift for Colleen. The main park was open from 8AM – 9PM and we were a little worried about crowds when we found out it was both Laker’s Day and Grad Night. Everything turned out fine, though, and we got to do almost everything we planned on.

Colleen got a birthday button from City Hall when we first arrived and people wished her happy birthday all day long. We tried to get dinner reservations at the Blue Bayou, but they were booked. We ended up waiting for cancellations and did get in after waiting about an hour. That secretive Club 33 door tempted me the whole time we waited, so I asked for membership info at City Hall when we left.

We hit all of our favorite rides and popped over to the California Adventure side to go on the new(ish) Monsters, Inc. ride and the Tower of Terror. Other new things on the Disneyland side included the Finding Nemo submarine ride and new Mark VII monorails. There were some changes in It’s A Small World (that we didn’t much care for) and the Tiki Room was back to the original version (which we loved). We caught the fireworks, which started while we were on the Matterhorn, then drove back to the airport for a red-eye flight back home.

Welcome to 40, Colleen!

As we’ve done the past few years (could it really be 9?), the family packed up the car early on the Fourth of July and drove to my aunt and uncle’s cabin, which is located just outside of Luck, Wisconsin, on Bone Lake.

The crowd was a little smaller this year – our immediate family, mom and dad, grandpa Smith, my aunt and uncle and their daughter (who just got married last month). Add in three dogs, fireworks, lots of great food, jet ski rides and perfect weather and you get a very enjoyable holiday outing.

The lake had more boats on it this year (around eight) and the water levels were really low – I’d say maybe down a foot overall. The neighbors across the bay launched really loud mortar shells all day. That was fun at first, but the novelty quickly wore off. I’d love to hear one of those suckers go off in the city, though.

Traffic through Lindstrom, Taylors Falls and St. Croix Falls was decent and we stopped at Eichten’s Cheese shop, Rainmaker Fireworks and the Milltown Drive-In in Milltown, Wisconsin, on the way up.

The drive home was uneventful – no speed traps this year. We got home in time to set up a bonfire in the driveway, watch the Eagan fireworks and set off our own display that we purchased at Rainmaker.

Pictures are now up on Facebook and in the private section of the 7MM photo gallery (the password has changed – email or call me if you’d like it).

Last night we went to the 2009 edition of the Wild Select-A-Seat season ticket holder event and had a blast. I’ll write more on this over at Hockey in Minnesota soon, but I just wanted to link to the photos in the private section of the 7 Minute Miles photo gallery.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we took the family out to lunch at one of the Mall of America’s newest restaurants, Crave. This is the second location for Crave, which started in the Galleria. Our server said there is a third in the works for the west metro (likely Minnetonka).

Same day reservations via Open Table were no problem and we were seated promptly in the very busy and very full room. Unfortunately, that’s when things went downhill:

• Our server forgot a water order (and was a little slow on refills).
• I ordered a chicken Caesar salad, described on the menu as “All-natural chicken, grilled romaine leaves, warm caesar dressing, and parmesan reggiano crisp, $12.95″ and was unlike any other Caesar salad I’ve ever had and didn’t taste like a Caesar at all.
• My order came out of the kitchen about 5 minutes after the other three.
• Kid two’s side dish of fruit was not brought out until we asked.

On the plus side, one manager did apologize right away for the lateness of the salad and a second (who was in a suit) asked for my opinion of the salad and described the unique method of preparation. He also offered to bring out more anchovies, which I decided against.

Another nice surprise was a presentation by our server at the end of the meal to my wife of a Mother’s Day gift consisting of a $20 spa certificate at Revamp Spa in Minneapolis and a $10 Crave gift certificate for a future visit.

The decor was also very nice and seemed like an upgrade over the previous tenant in that space, the California Cafe (which was no slouch). Lots of televisions in the crowded bar too, although I felt a little guilty watching Tiger play golf at the TPC while having Mother’s Day lunch.

We’ve had much better experiences at the Crave in the Galleria, so perhaps the new location just needs a little time to get things sorted out. Maybe we’ll try it again in a few weeks (and use that $10 certificate).

Congrats to my sister Lynn who graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Minneapolis/St. Paul yesterday. She earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in their Pâtisserie & Baking Program with high honors and is currently interning with Disney at the Contemporary Resort in Orlando.

The graduation program was held at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, a mega-church that totally freaked me out. The guy next to me said as we walked in, “this is just like the Metrodome.”

The graduation program said they had about 500 graduates this spring and the guest speaker was the executive chef from Murray’s in Minneapolis, John Van House. I told kid one (the new steak lover) that I’d take her there sometime for the silver butter knife steak (my all-time favorite), but their menu says it’s now $94! Might be a while kiddo…

The kids were off school today and this was the last weekend for farm babies at the Minnesota Zoo, so the neighbor and I took three of our combined four kids to the zoo (along with about 10 million other people).

I haven’t been there for a while, apparently, as I saw many new things this time. The new Russia’s Grizzly Coast exhibit was extremely well done and reminded me of the best stuff at Animal Kingdom and Sea World. I may just have to renew my expired membership…

A few photos from the day have been uploaded to the private section of the photo gallery (email me if you need the password).

Tonight we stopped in at the (semi) new restaurant in town – Bibo Restaurant and Wine Bar, located just off I-35E and Diffley in Eagan in the former Viva Italia spot. The new place is owned by the same person who runs the wonderful I Nonni and Buon Giorno Italia in Lilydale, so we had high hopes that the food would be an improvement over the previous restaurant. Plus we heard the chef was from Rome, so that’s got to be a good sign.

We ordered a mozzarella appetizer that was very unique – the cheese was served between two slices of bread (like a Monte Cristo), coated and pan fried. They tasted a lot like state fair cheese curds, actually, but with less cheese.

For the main course, my wife ordered the mostaccioli ala norcina with pork sausage, truffles, fennel and parmigiano, along with some red wine. I had pork saltimbocca with potatoes, which was served without the usual cheese layer, but came in a very nice sauce. I usually get chicken saltimbocca and wasn’t sure if this would be too much pork, but it was very good. At first I thought the portion sizes were a little on the small size (mine came with three, thin pieces of pork and about six small potato slices), but it seemed just right after we were done.

My mom had Lasagna, while my dad had the same thing as my wife. Kid one had salmon in white wine and butter sauce with herb-roasted potatoes and kid two had penne pasta with parmesan cheese. Soft drinks were by Pepsi and my only complaint the whole night was that they put in a ton of ice, which meant about 956 refills over the course of the evening. That would be fine if the server came back every few minutes, but she didn’t. It also seems like a waste to have to clean all of those extra glasses.

For desert, the kids had chocolate and vanilla gelato, while Colleen and I shared a chocolate torte with a scoop of vanilla gelato. She thought the wine and the desert were the best part of the meal and everyone liked the food. I was hoping they would re-model a little inside – I would have changed the table layout and removed the high dividers to open up the room more – but almost everything seemed the same as before.

The quality of the food is a definite upgrade from before and I’d like to go back again. Prices seemed a little high to me, but they weren’t any worse than what Viva Italia was charging for food that wasn’t as good. My parents paid, so I didn’t get to see the total, but I do know my dad wasn’t happy that they added an automatic 18% tip for our party of six.

Google doesn’t turn up any website address for them yet, but I thought it was funny there is another Bibo Wine Bar in Osoyoos, British Columbia. I had a hockey player roommate in college from Osoyoos – always thought that was a great name for a town.

My sister has joined my brother in Florida – both now work for the mouse on the Disney Plantation. Lynn is on a cooking internship, currently working as a pastry chef at the Contemporary Resort. I think that lasts through June or July.

Yesterday I got a package in the mail that contained an awesome birthday gift: a Pirates of the Caribbean hockey jersey. Thanks Lynn!

I will always be a real tree kind of guy, and I like to support local businesses and growers when we buy our Christmas tree each year. Getting a painted tree from Home Depot that maybe came from North Carolina isn’t my idea of a good deal. As they say, it costs money because it saves money – or something like that…

I’ve mentioned them here before, but Lilydale Garden Center has been my local favorite ever since we moved into this house eight years ago. The staff is great and they always have a good selection – all year long, really.

We’ve had smaller trees the past few years, so we decided to go big this year. This 10-foot Canaan Fir needed to be clipped on top in order to fit in our living room. I also need to head to Target to buy new lights – pretty sure I don’t have enough to cover a tree this big.

Best. Tree. Ever.

I swore I wouldn’t join Facebook – I already spend way too much time online between my job and my hobbies, I told myself. My wife became a member after she went back to grad school. Then a race I ran this fall posted pictures only viewable by Facebook members. On November 10th, I broke down and signed up.

As a web developer, Facebook seems really well done to me. I’m still not that familiar with all aspects of it (or some of the history), but it’s been a blast getting back in touch with a bunch of people I would have never connected with using just Twitter, LinkedIn and my blogs. Seems miles ahead of MySpace, too.

What amazes me the most about Facebook, though, is how much complexity there is beneath the surface. I can’t imagine how much time and thought went into programming this thing. I don’t know what it used to be like, but I find the performance and implementation of features to be very strong. Uploading and sharing photos, in particular, is stellar.

If you’ve been dragging your feet about joining Facebook, all I can say is jump in, the water’s fine…

Better late than never, right?

The weather here on Friday night was awesome by Minnesota standards and the kids had a great time. I think we had a little over 100 trick-or-treaters this year and it seemed like the street was teeming with people from dusk until about 8pm.

Pictures are now up in the private section of the photo gallery.

After nearly 17 years of not wearing a wedding ring, my wife decided this was the year she would give me one. I had a plain gold band when we got married, but that has long been too small for my finger and has resided in our safe all these years.

In general, I don’t like having anything on my hand or wrist, so I had some requests. I wanted to get something that was smaller, had smooth edges and would be compatible with my computer work and athletic hobbies. We needed a specialist.

Soren Priede is a wonderful custom jewelry designer from Saint Paul who has sold me items for Colleen in the past. We decided to work with him to custom design a new ring for me.

The process started in June with a request for all of the features mentioned above, plus a desire for a design that reflected the waves of the North Shore. The result, which we picked up yesterday, is pictured above.

I’ve very pleased and highly recommend Soren if you need custom jewelry.

Had a great time at the Minnesota State Fair again this year. The whole family went on the Sunday of the Milk Run and spent most of the day there. Colleen and I also went solo on Wednesday night to see Gnarls Barkley at the Grandstand. The concert was cut short because of rain, but it was fun anyway. And I can’t remember the last time I saw fireworks during a lightning storm.

As we were running to the parking lot in the rain, we decided to stop in at the beer garden to look for my friend and HSRA studio wizard Art Haynes. His band, Mojo Roots, has played the State Fair for the past few years and they totally tear it up every night. Check them out if you can.

We didn’t really try any new foods this year, but enjoyed all of the old favorites. One new twist was our discovery that the physical education teacher at Deerwood Elementary also helps run the corn roast booth. What a great gig!

I’m always sort of sad when the fair is over–it’s truly a Minnesota classic.

OK, so I’m like about 20 posts behind on all my sites right now, but I thought I’d write a quick one here just to let the Google crawlers know I’m still alive…

While visiting the north shore of Lake Superior this weekend, we ran into a high school (and college) friend of ours in Grand Marais. Twicks and his family were up for the weekend too and invited us to visit them at camp in Lutsen. Turns out his wife’s family has run the place for 40+ years.

It was great seeing them and we had a fun time swimming and touring the facilities.

More posts coming soon…

Kid one and kid two made a cake and sang happy birthday to the MINI Cooper today, which I took delivery on four years ago today. Mileage is now around 55,000 miles, but it’s been running great (knock on wood). Only one more year of payments, too.

Oh, and by the way, the answer to my most asked question: I average about 29 MPG, but could get closer to the rated 37 if I didn’t drive it so hard (but what fun is that?)…

Let’s Motor!

Got to cross item #8 off my Things to Do Before I Die list this past weekend:

Wade across the Mississippi headwaters with my kids.

We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota, staying in the wonderful Itasca Suites near Douglas Lodge. Worth every penny…

We spent some time hiking around the south end of the lake on Friday, visiting the Old Timer’s Cabin and the Clubhouse. We then went to the headwaters for the classic wade across the Mississippi before taking a trip around Wilderness Drive to visit the large white and red pines. For dinner Friday, we ate at the Douglas Lodge dining room, which serves a mean Lake Itasca walleye.

After sleeping in Saturday morning, we rented bikes and rode from the bike shop back to the headwaters area for lunch. Colleen and kid one headed back to the rental area to switch to kayaks, while kid two and I rode our tandem/trailer bike on the 16 mile loop around the lake. Way too many hills, but spectacularly beautiful scenery (on par with 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach).

The kids went swimming for an hour before we went back to the room, cleaned up and hit the road for Lake George, Minnesota. I love the diners in small towns in rural Minnesota–friendly staff, huge portions and low prices. Our total for dinner for four at the Lake George Cafe was under $23.

On Sunday morning, I woke up early to run, but was still too sore from the bike ride to get out the door. Everyone woke up and packed the car to beat the 11AM check-out time. After another quick visit to the Old Timer’s Cabin (and the gift shop), we hit highway 71 and headed south. We stopped in Wadena for another great, cheap lunch at Larry’s Family Pizza ($15) before dodging rain storms and hitting heavy Sunday traffic on I-94 back to the metro area.

Loved everything about this trip and hope to go back again soon. Highly recommended.

Pictures posted in both the private and travel galleries.

The family attended a Sunday afternoon performance of Oklahoma! this weekend that was produced by the Eagan Summer Community Theatre. Colleen couldn’t wait to finally hear the real Surrey with the Fringe on Top after all of those When Harry Met Sally references.

The production quality of this show was quite high and we enjoyed the lead actors: Ashley Lemaire as Laurey and Jared Oxborough as Curley. Douglas Castle was also great as Ali Hakim and the kids liked Honey Ribar as Ado Annie the most.

The worst part of the show by far was the audience – why can’t people shut up for two hours? Aside from that, it was nice to finally see the play that every Okie is duty-bound to watch at some point in their life. Ok-la-hom-a, OK!

Got back yesterday from several days worth of wedding activities for my wife’s cousin in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Our kids were in the wedding party and everything went great. A few pictures are up in the private section of the photo gallery.

Congrats to the newlyweds and thanks for including us in your celebration.

Yesterday my wife Colleen defended her capstone/thesis project at the University of Minnesota and found out afterward that she is now officially done with her masters program in health journalism.

I know firsthand how hard it is to work full-time and go to school–but I never had two kids to deal with too for my degree. Colleen worked extremely hard for this and we are very, very proud of her.

After all the signatures were obtained and the form dropped off with the graduate office (just in time for an official July 31 graduation date), we visited the shoe tree on the west bank before heading to Al’s Breakfast for a celebration lunch.

Congrats!

Michael Alvin Kingsbury and Karen Leslie Smith were married forty years ago today. We celebrated by inviting them over for some grilling, cake and ice cream.

Congrats Mom and Dad!

Last week we also stopped out to Canterbury Park for buck night (and to celebrate our friend Todd’s birthday).

I used to like horse racing a lot while I was in college. The Daily Racing Form has tons of stats and I had all sorts of techniques to try to beat the odds. Like all gambling, though, the only way to win is to become the house.

No big winners or losers among our bets – but then again, my bankroll was only about $10.

Kid two came along and loves watching the big animals up close. The night’s races run pretty late, though, so we left before the end.

Can’t beat $1 nachos and Mountain Dew though…