Merry Christmas and Happy 2014!

We enjoyed a nice Christmas at home this year. Mom and Dad Mitsche drove out from NY, David from Madison, and Michael from Iowa. We had a great time relaxing and had a very white Christmas with lots of early snow this year.

With Christmas came Christmas cookies, and as you can see from the pictures there were clearly two levels of cookies. One plate of good looking cookies made by Diana, and then a tray of cookies made by Diana but questionably decorated by the rest of us.

This plate didn't last very long

The three on top are probably the best

Diana sure knows how to host!

We got ourselves snowshoes for Christmas and were able to get out on the trails a few times already with all of the snow we've had. The second time out we took Cassie since she loves the snow. She still has to wear little dog shoes since her paws get cold.

Excited to be out in the snow!

Stopped for a nice picture with the sun

Leading the way

We went late in the day and had the sun setting through the trees the whole time.

Snowshoeing with Cassie

Shortly after the new year we were hit by the epic "polar vortex" that sent temperatures plummeting to record lows. As you can see in the picture, the high was -10... needless to say it was cold and now the rest of the winter will feel warm even in the 20s.

And now for some Cassie pictures!

Cassie loved sitting on her chair and staring at the Christmas tree ornaments.

Without fail, if you leave the door open when folding laundry, Cassie will sneak her way in there and search for socks.

Happy Holiday!

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.

Diana cruising along

Enjoying the outdoors!

Packer Game!

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.

Lambeau Field!

The crowd coming into the stadium

Group Picture in Front of the Stadium

View from our Seats

Half Time Sky Diving Stunt for Veteran's Day

Sky Diver Coming in for a Landing in the Stadium

New yard and fence

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!

Ragnar Relay 2013 - Adirondacks

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.

Labor Day 2013

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

Beautiful sunset on a great weekend!

Burke & Carolyn's Wedding

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.

Burke, Best "Man" Joey, and Maid of Honor "Boo"

Officially, but not publicly married