Lisa's 25th College Reunion '12

Both Randy and I graduated from Westminster College in 1987.  Our 25th reunion was this past week end.  Randy won the coin toss and got to stay home with the kids!  ;)

I hopped on a couple planes and landed in Pgh. Friday night, rented a little SUV and headed to my brother in laws house for the evening. 

I got to play a little corn hole with my nieces after a killer steak dinner!

They even made s'mores for me!

Saturday, I got back in my rental and headed north to Westminster.  I knew I was getting close when I had to slow to a trot ....

My friends were waiting for me!!

We were told to take a number that was our age and then line up for the photo!

We look the same as we did the day we graduated!

Here, Tom (Foreigner shirt) welcomes us to the new Student Union building, formally known at The Tub.

The Orb remains.

A face lift for Orr Auditorium.

New housing consisting of townhouse style living!

(L to R) Tom, Jake, Cathy, Christy, Alexa, Lisa, Heidi, Karen, Rose

The only difference between us now and us then, is the need for reading glasses.  Seen here, we are trying to determine what is good on the menu.

Here I am with Old Main.  Shortly after this photo was taken we all came to find out that if our children attend WC, we get a $6K discount, per alumni!!!  Guess where Acacia and Chris will be headed!!!

Sunday we had brunch at "Eat n Park".  I always wondered why it was not called "Park n Eat" but who am I to ask ...?  Here we added Christy's Mom to the mix!

A short pit stop in Detroit and home to Madison.

Mock swim meet '12

Chris is now on the swim team.  The team did a mock swim meet with silly events the kids and families could join in.  Chris and Randy signed up for the t-shirt relay.  Each team member had to swim a lap with a t-shirt on and then transfer it to the next team member before they could start their lap.  There was a trick to swapping the shirt but not all the kids knew it and some did nothing to help.  But, it was still fun.

Chris and Randy are in lane 2.

BMX '12

In an attempt to get the kid out of the house and on their bikes, Randy found a BMX track that we thought they might enjoy.  I thought they might be intimidated by it so we made sure to bring a friend for each of them and found a local bike trail just in case.  As we pulled up to the track, they were all like .... OMG!!!  That looks totally cool!!

There were two other boys on the track and they turned out to be the same age as Acacia and her friend.  It turned out to be a good thing as they were able to give us some pretty useful tips.

This is Acacia's friend Carson on the mountain bike part of the track.  They did so much more down here but it was too difficult to video with all the trees!

This is Acacia doing the same section of the mountain trail.

The kids had such a great time here.  We expected to be here 15-30 minutes.  3 hours later we had to drag them off the course.  Randy and I did not get on our bikes at all.  We were hoping to ride on a trail after the track but since the kids liked the track so much we never left!

Although no one got serious injuries no one left without some impressive road rash!  Shoulders, knees, shins, elbows .... no body part was safe.  At one point I was helping one of the kids up from a wreck and when I asked where her bike was she looked around and said ... I am not sure .... maybe in a bush somewhere??

Check out this link to a video of the kids in the pump track and the toilet bowl!

Link to kids on BMX pump track

Taste of Madison and Eden's Edge '12

The Taste of Madison is our local food festival.  Tons of Madison restaurants come to the square and sell topas for a few bucks.  You spend the day walking around trying tons of different foods, desserts, beverages all while listening to any of three stages with live music.

 The kids ate ribs, pizza, chocolate covered strawberries, ice cream and killer fancy cup cakes!!

After the sugar, they were pretty crazy!

While we were in Nashville this summer we went to the Grand 'Ole Opry and saw several bands.  One was Eden's Edge.  As luck would have it, they came to The Taste of Madison over Labor Day week end.  Randy and I headed down to see them.  If you ever get the chance to see them, they are AWESOME!  The lead singer (Hanna) has an amazing voice!

It was a bit breezy for Hanna's dress and her mic kept malfunctioning on her so she had to sign into someone else' mic.  No, they were not trying to be sexy and have a girly kiss!  They sing the song Amen and Too Good to be True (diamonds on the soles of my shoes) ....

Mallards Baseball '12

Thanks to Chris' summer reading program, he was awarded a free ticket to a Mallards baseball game.  And, the day care the kids go to also had free tickets.  We took some of the kids friends and made a night of it.

It was a great game!  Lots of action and we won in the final inning!

The boys did a TON of dancing ....

Apparently, Braden did not like the call on the field as he came asked us if he could "cuss"!

Chris' next hair cut '12

While on vacation this summer, Auntie Valerie sent what I assume she thought was a photo Chris just might like to have shaved into his head, but that his parents (the more responsible and reasonable ones) would just have to say no to....

Well, we did not.  The picture was shared with many, and the overall reaction was such that we decided to let him get this hair cut.  

Then we had to decide what his school picture was going to be like.  They get their pictures taken before school starts so they will have their school ID badges when school starts.  When Chris does get things shaved into his head, they look super awesome and cool for about a week.  His hair grows so fast that after a week or so it just looks like a nice shaved head.  We had to make sure that school pictures were taken as close to the shaved date as possible.  Pictures are this Tuesday.  The hair cut was Saturday.

I was reading and relaxing in the hammock out back, when the sliding glass door goes flying open and Chris comes SCREAMING out!!  BEST HAIR CUT EVER!!!  He kept yelling that and running around the yard.  A neighbor was over and he was like OMG!!!  Within 15 minutes our doorbell rang like 5 times with other kids coming down to see it!  I have to put a little gel in it so the top part stand up right and he keeps touching it!!  It's really funny!  Acacia has a soccer game today close to Milwaukee.  Rather than bring Chris, he is staying with a friend and going to church.  They are Chinese and have not seen the haircut yet.  I wish I could see their faces when they see him AND then realize they have to bring him to church like that!! 

As per the normal reaction from Spenser (the barber), he glanced at the photo, tossed it aside and began shaving Chris' head bald.  Randy was with him and said he almost told him to stop as it did not appear he was going to leave enough hair for this to look "right".  But, he refrained and this is the outcome!