The summer and fall went by so quickly. We visited Chicago and Mom and Dad several times, spent lots of time at the lake, and had a wonderful birthday weekend with the whole family for Don's 65th. Watched several Mankato Royal baseball games. Brennan plays for them at third base and Griffin was their ball boy. Laura and her family and David and his family got to some games too so we enjoyed several opportunities for time together.
Got reacquainted with some old friends - Father Joe Wagner ( now Msgr!) from Lennox who retired from the Air Force and is the pastor at Risen Savior in Brandon, SD. and Susan Mattingly Evans and her husband, Damian, who stopped and had lunch with us in Chanhassen. We hadn't seen each other in 43 years and amazingly we picked up right where we left off - great friends and we hadn't changed a bit! Saw cousins, Moe and Rita Berk and Marian and Rich Schouten while visiting the folks in IL - had been at least 30 years since we saw them last! And met my cousin, Betty Lesh Miller and her husband, Ben, finding lots of common ground for that visit. How wonderful to reconnect with such great people from our past - we vowed not to let so much time pass before we seen them all again!
Don's twin, Ron and his wife Katy, took a short trip with us to Williamsburg, VA in the late summer. None of us had been in that area before and we really enjoyed the scenery and especially the tangible sense of history in the area. We toured Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, the Yorktown battlefield and two wonderful plantations, Shirley and Berkely.
We worked at the PGA Championship at Chaska's Hazeltine National Golf Course - volunteering for the Chaska PD. The weather was great and getting to see Phil, Tiger, Sergio and many others up close was terrific.
We had a good trip in mid-October back to AZ - stopping for a visit with Kaye and Coleen Norton and Phyllis Ketcham in Shenandoah. Then we drove west of Denver to Silverthorne, CO and spent a couple of days with Bev and Paul Blankinship. They have built a lovely home there and our friends, Doug and Carolyn Barinsky, met us there. The six of us had a good time touring and visiting. We drove to Arizona through the Rockies and south through Mesa Verde National Park. the Four Corners area and over the Mogollon Rim into Phoenix - went from snow in the Rockies to 90 degrees plus in the Valley of the Sun! Had a good month in AZ - played golf, Don drove in the Halloween golf cart parade (and won Most Creative) and enjoyed time with our neighbors and friends in Solera. We are looking forward to several months there after the holidays.
First, though we are excited to spend Thanksgiving with David, Karin and the girls. They will be in Norway for Christmas this year. Corbetts and Conleys will be sharing Christmas with us. We can't wait - love those holidays. Got cooking, baking, Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping and decorating to do. Luckily I have the original Santa elf (Don) to help. Should be fun.
Got reacquainted with some old friends - Father Joe Wagner ( now Msgr!) from Lennox who retired from the Air Force and is the pastor at Risen Savior in Brandon, SD. and Susan Mattingly Evans and her husband, Damian, who stopped and had lunch with us in Chanhassen. We hadn't seen each other in 43 years and amazingly we picked up right where we left off - great friends and we hadn't changed a bit! Saw cousins, Moe and Rita Berk and Marian and Rich Schouten while visiting the folks in IL - had been at least 30 years since we saw them last! And met my cousin, Betty Lesh Miller and her husband, Ben, finding lots of common ground for that visit. How wonderful to reconnect with such great people from our past - we vowed not to let so much time pass before we seen them all again!
Don's twin, Ron and his wife Katy, took a short trip with us to Williamsburg, VA in the late summer. None of us had been in that area before and we really enjoyed the scenery and especially the tangible sense of history in the area. We toured Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, the Yorktown battlefield and two wonderful plantations, Shirley and Berkely.
We worked at the PGA Championship at Chaska's Hazeltine National Golf Course - volunteering for the Chaska PD. The weather was great and getting to see Phil, Tiger, Sergio and many others up close was terrific.
We had a good trip in mid-October back to AZ - stopping for a visit with Kaye and Coleen Norton and Phyllis Ketcham in Shenandoah. Then we drove west of Denver to Silverthorne, CO and spent a couple of days with Bev and Paul Blankinship. They have built a lovely home there and our friends, Doug and Carolyn Barinsky, met us there. The six of us had a good time touring and visiting. We drove to Arizona through the Rockies and south through Mesa Verde National Park. the Four Corners area and over the Mogollon Rim into Phoenix - went from snow in the Rockies to 90 degrees plus in the Valley of the Sun! Had a good month in AZ - played golf, Don drove in the Halloween golf cart parade (and won Most Creative) and enjoyed time with our neighbors and friends in Solera. We are looking forward to several months there after the holidays.
First, though we are excited to spend Thanksgiving with David, Karin and the girls. They will be in Norway for Christmas this year. Corbetts and Conleys will be sharing Christmas with us. We can't wait - love those holidays. Got cooking, baking, Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping and decorating to do. Luckily I have the original Santa elf (Don) to help. Should be fun.
