Summer Goodness

Summer to my family means fresh vegetables. Corn on the cob. More raspberries than you can dream. And last but not least, sun tea.



So I followed in my mother's footsteps and brewed me up a carafe.

What you need:
1 Carafe
Filtered Water
Honey
Mint
Basil (ask Addie, it's legit)
Black Tea
Green Mint Tea
Sun
A lazy afternoon

Talk about refreshing.

A Prairie Home Companion Weekend

My parents visited this past weekend for what turned out to be a very productive (notice the recent theme?), tasty, and fun weekend.

Productive: major yard work. It's never looked so good. I think my parents should open up a landscaping / garden consulting / sweet corn operation when they retire.

Tasty: good food. We ate at my favorite restaurant in the Cities, 128 Cafe. We also checked out Cafe Lurcat. Lurcat was just ok in my opinion. I got the feeling that they were trying too hard to be a high class establishment. And they seriously need to fix their acoustic issues. We weren't in the bar. And it's not a club -- it's a restaurant. Why am I shouting? You hear me Lurcat? No? That's right -- fix your acoustics. We finished the high-calorie weekend at Edina Creamery and Yum! (appropriately named if you ask me).

Fun: Everything was fun, but the topper was seeing Prairie Home Companion (click the link for audio clips and pictures from the show), with special guest Wilco. The show overall was great. Wilco was awesome.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, about halfway through it Garrison will read off various "greetings". They range from "Happy 90th birthday Francis", to "Congratulations Franky on getting your drivers license. Don't crash my car." Upon entering the theater, they provide you with scrap paper and pencil, and you have a minute to come up with a sentence that will hopefully be creative enough or sentimental enough to reach Garrison's hands.

In my haste, I believe I wrote, "Hello to [my parents], who after 30 years of marriage still sleep next to each other." We rushed to our seats, and upon sitting down I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I realized I had written down the wrong anniversary number. I considered running back downstairs to change it, but figured it would be nearly impossible to find my slip of paper amongst the hundreds of others. And besides, what are the chances that Garrison would read my note?

Funny how things work out.

About halfway through the greetings he read my message. My jaw dropped, and my parents looked at me in startled confusion, asking was that their name he just read over live radio to his millions of faithful listeners. Yep. Funny how things work out.

On a Mission From God

I've witnessed quite a few baptisms throughout my many years of church going, but they've never had a direct impact on me. This past weekend changed that when my adorable little niece was baptized back in Ames. Not only that, but I am officially her godfather now (Kjersten, don't ever cross the family).

After she had been blessed and the pastor was drawing the sign of the cross on her forehead, Kjersten opened her eyes up wide and looked straight up at the ceiling -- now I'm not suggesting that any supernatural thing happened, but I did find it to be quite the coincidence. It made me smile nonetheless.

Pictures to arrive a la Flickr shortly...

Pink Wins!

I'm officially an uncle. My sister's an aunt. My brother's a dad. My mom's a grandma. My dad's a grandpa. Talk about strange. The newest member of the family, Kjersten, is an adorable little 8lb 6oz girl. I can't imagine what she's experiencing and thinking right now.

Congrats Big Daddy!

Munch

Like Brad, I saw Google's doodle for the day and loved it:


It also reminded me of my family's trip to Norway a couple years ago. My mom and brother were visiting the Munch museum in Oslo when they were approached by a local journalist and asked if they would mind being interviewed. Apparently the journalist was curious to find out why Americans were visiting Norway, and what they thought of the country.

A day (or two?) later my parents were at the airport to fly home. They walked by a stack of newspapers and were surprised to see a picture of my mother and brother on the front page, staring back at them. There was a quote in the story by my brother; when asked what he liked least about Norway, he responded, "The price of beer".

Fabulous Fall

This weekend was a perfect example of why I love fall. Absolutely beautiful weather, trees ablaze in red, orange, and yellow, crisp mornings, and cool evenings. I wish I could have this for months and months.

My sister was in town, and we got the chance to mill about the farmer's market, complete with coffee and raspberry scone in honor of dad. We then spent the warm afternoon strolling along Cedar Lake, laughing at old family stories and chatting about the future. I'm so happy and grateful to have such a wonderful family. It's something that is implied, but rarely communicated, as many things in this world. I love you guys! (Brothers don't shake hands...brothers got to hug!)