It's that time of year again, Diana's favorite season: Christmas! She has been busy decorating the house and got most of the decorations up soon after Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to a nice break from work for a week and a half around Christmas, and we are both looking forward to a nice Christmas at home this year.
The stocking are hung for Me, Diana, and Cassie
Diana is so creative!
We got a small tabletop tree again this year!
I took care of the lights
We are having a great start to the snow season with two nice snow storms already!
We took advantage of the early snowfall and went out cross country skiing today in fresh powder. Hopefully this is a sign of how this winter will be.
On the Sunday of Veteran's Day Weekend Diana and I went up to Green Bay to go to a Packer's game with our friends Greg and Erin. Erin's parent's live about half a mile from Lambeau Field so it was great to "tailgate" there and then walk to the game. It was a beautiful November day and not too cold with a noon start time. The outcome wasn't great since the Packer's lost, but it was a fun game and we hope to get up for more games.
The last project we wanted to tackle outside was the backyard. The terrain sloped to our neighbor making several feet of the yard unusable. The yard also lacked any kind of privacy as we could look right in our neighbors windows when sitting on our deck. We briefly contemplated doing the work ourselves, but with our busy schedules and the amount of work required, we got a few quotes and got the work started.
Unsightly backyard. Overgrown and unusable.
And no privacy.
I was coordinating the work with the contractors while working out of town, so it was difficult to check up on the work. I set up our webcam to look out the back window so I could make sure nothing was going wrong. It took their crew several days to complete the retaining wall to level the yard. But when it was complete, we had so much more usable space in the back.
View from the webcam of the work in progress.
The completed wall!
After the wall was complete, we seeded the new soil and then the fence was installed. Now we have a lot more space and privacy, and Cassie loves being left back there... sometimes for hours. I think all of our outdoor projects are complete! for now...
Cassie enjoying the new yard!
Of course the company we used was called Badger Fence. Go Bucky!
At the end of September, Diana and I traveled back to NY to compete in the Ragnar Relay in the Adirondacks. We have done other Ragnars in the Midwest, and this race covered 196 miles from Saratoga Springs to Lake Placid. We had a good group of return Ragnar friends with Nick and Michelle from Madison, WI and Nikki and Joe now living in Seattle, WA. We completed the team with 3 first timers: Erin from Madison, WI, my brother Phil, and high school friend Matt. Unfortunately we were not able to recruit enough people for a 12-person team and only had 9. That meant we would all have to run a little extra to make up for the missing runners.
We all got into NY and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Mitsche's the night before the race. The Mitsche's were also nice enough to volunteer for the race at one of the exchanges in Saratoga, Thanks! Race morning we headed up to Saratoga in our 15 passenger van and started at 9:30 under cloudy skies and comfortable temperatures. As many teams dress up for these races, our team had a party theme... although due to everyone living apart our team ended up with an odd conglomeration of outfits including neon party gear, fleece onesies from target, some mohawks, flannel, and even a coonskin cap (see all pictures below).
It was a challenging but fun night and day of running, but the fall foliage up north was beautiful and the night runs under the stars were awesome. We finished with sore bodies just under 30 hours and placed 88th out of 200ish teams. Not too bad for a bunch consisting of non-runners and runners who didn't train for the race. Following the race we were greeted with a great early thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes at my parent's house. The hospitality from both sets of parents was great and we can't thank you all enough.
It will be tough as friends continue to move around the country, but we will see when and where the next Ragnar will be!
Brothers ready to run! and Phil sporting the mohawk!
Me mid run just after nighttime hours began so the vest and headlamp were required.
The south shore of Lake George. We ran up the west side of Lake George... and then Lake Champlain.
When not in the van, we did group exercises in our party glasses.
Our nighttime attire for the cold nights.
Diana waiting to start her night leg. Our team is easy to pick out with those glasses.
Diana finishing her last leg in style. 80's party neon style.
Enjoying the fall foliage!
The finish in Lake Placid!
The party van! The messy, smelly party van.
All legs complete! With some great teamwork and last minute changes throughout the night, we put together a great race.
This past weekend we spent the Labor Day holiday up in Door County at the Mitsche's new property on Sturgeon Bay. It was nice to relax with good company and to escape work and the city for a few days. The crew at the house was Diana, Cassie, and myself, Matt and Kim from Dallas, and Jim and Gwen. We enjoyed swimming, floating, sailing, croquet, boggle, settlers of Catan, star gazing, campfires, good food, and great views. The weather was beautiful on Saturday and Sunday; Labor Day Monday brought with it the unofficial end of summer with 50 degree weather and high winds (great for sailing!). We had a great visiting with everyone and hope to get up to the bay again sometime this fall. Here are some pictures from the weekend!
Floating with the crossword
Diana came to visit!
Matt out for a float
And Kim too!
Cassie just fetched her toy all weekend. When I didn't throw it she just swam around by herself.
Out in the Sunfish!
Teaching Matt how to sail
Putting the Sunfish to the test in 15 MPH wind and 4 ft waves. Lots of fun!
Relaxing in the hammocks
Cassie and Diana were especially tired from all of the excitement
Two weekends ago Diana and I traveled to Philadelphia for the wedding of Burke Wadsworth and Carolyn Kiss. Burke is a longtime friend from Delaware who asked me to be his best man; Burke also happened to be my Best Man three years ago. The wedding was held at Burke's high school, the Hill School, which is a boarding school that looks like an ivy league campus. We had a great time catching up with Delaware friends that we don't get to see very often. Here are a few pictures from the night.
Very nice ceremony in the Alumni Chapel
Giving the Toast!
I thought this picture summed up their personality pretty good. Always joking.
Enjoying the Reception
The Delaware Crew
Now, there was a bit of a surprise that nobody knew before the wedding, and that was that Burke and Carolyn actually got married last November down in Louisiana with a minister and their moms in attendance. This was the public celebration of their marriage, and they did a good job keeping it a secret.
Last weekend, Diana, Cassie, and I drove out to Michigan to support Phil who was racing in the Ausable River Canoe Marathon. Before I get too much further into this post, I want to acknowledge that we know it was kind of crazy to drive out on Saturday and back on Sunday... if we go next year we will make it a longer trip.
So onto the post, for those not familiar with the "Marathon" it is a long distance canoe race that covers 120 miles from Grayling to Oscoda, Michigan. The unique thing about the race, other than the long distance, is that it starts at 9 PM on Saturday and races through the night for 14-19 hours. The boats use flashlights mounted to their bows for paddling during the night. Phil was racing for the first time with his friend Gary, also from NY.
We arrived in Graying at around 3 PM and met up with the clan before going out to dinner. We were going help as the pit crew, or feeders, or bank runners, or whatever term you want to use. Basically we were going to follow the canoe throughout the night providing food, drink, and moral support. The events started with the introduction of the paddlers, where each team is introduced to the large crowd there to watch the start.
Paddler Introduction! Phil and Gary in Boat 81.
Following the introduction, it was time for them to get their canoe out of the "boat impound." All boats were inspected earlier in the day and were then locked in the local school gym until 8 PM.
Boat Impound
Then it was out to the starting line. Another unique aspect about this race is how it starts. Earlier in the week, all of the canoes competed in a short time trial to determine their starting position. They then line up on the street according to the time trial rank for a sprint to the river when the gun goes off.
Lined up at the start. Flashlight mounted to the bow.
The start was quite the sight with 77 boats sprinting down the street to the river.
After the start, so began the long night of driving, waiting, cheering, feeding, and repeating. Cassie had no clue what was going on all night, and Diana slept in the front seat as best she could from about midnight to 6 AM so she could drive on the way home. Most of the pit stop areas were packed with people and there were portable lights set up on the river. It is a crazy sight seeing a small light bobbing in the distance, then see the canoes come into the light with the cheering spectators, and then disappear into the dark again.
Portage over Mio Dam at ~2 AM.
Pit stop around 4:30 AM. Feeders in the water waiting for their canoes.
We learned that this is as big of an event for the spectators and support teams as it is for the paddlers competing.
As morning broke we were able to get some actual pictures of the team we were supporting. Out of the 77 that started, 12 teams dropped, and Phil and Gary finished 42nd and were the 2nd place rookie team where both paddlers were first timers.
Pit crew hard at work.
Running on the Portage
Paddling hard!
Still going strong
Strong into the finish
Across the line in just about 16.5 hours.
Happy to be done!
Phil and his pit crew!
And here is the Cassie picture. We couldn't keep her out of the river.
So following the race, our plan was to make the 4 hour drive to Muskegon, MI and catch the ferry directly to Milwaukee so we could just sit and relax. Well, half an hour from Muskegon Diana got a call saying the ferry was down for mechanical issues and wouldn't be running... and just like that our relaxing ride on the ferry turned into an additional 4.5 hours in the car. We were not thrilled, and it took a couple days to recover from the weekend. It was quite the experience, and we were glad we could support Phil in his race. They did great! And from the sounds of it, they will be doing it again next year.
