Good News

David and Melissa announced their engagement during the Madison Ironman. ( Yes, Melissa did Ironman, not David!) They are planning a summer 2009 wedding in Colorado and we are looking forward to a great trip next year. In Madison we got to meet Melissa's parents who live in Montana and spent some time drinking some of Madison's great beers.

CONGRATULATIONS David and Melissa. We are proud of you and we wish you all the best. Love,
Mom and Dad

Large Visitor Spotted

This evening at 6:15pm I saw a large black bear in our yard. It had to be three feet high at the back and over five feet in length. Our neighbor mentioned he spotted a bear several weeks ago, but this is the first time we saw it close to the house. Mom saw the tracks in the yard so we took a picture. The paw prints measure eight (8) inches in length and over four (4) inches in diameter. Just what we needed during a house showing !!

Fourth of July 2008

Vince and Christie out did themselves again with great feast of crawdads, turkey, roast and ribs. The rest of us brought enough desserts and salads to feed an army. We enjoyed the lake, did a little fishing and caught up with each other. Dad was able to visit with us much better with his new cochlear implant.

Grandma's Marathon Duluth

A great time was had in Duluth during Grandma's Marathon. We were up early to watch the half marathon. Everyone was on the sidewalk ringing cowbells and cheering on the runners during the main event. We ended the day with a fire and roasted marshmallow samore's.

Andrew's Graduation Party

On June 1, we had an impromptu party for Andrew. The day could not have been better weather wise, 80 degrees under sunny skies. Besides those in the pictures, Steve and Jim came for a few hours in the afternoon. A good time was had by all. Camille and Andrew fixed a great luncheon of brats, beer, potatoe salad, Connie brought a good jello salad, and Michelle brought a good tasting watermelon. We ended the evening with root beer floats!

Andrew will be here until June 12, then back to Boulder, CO.

Jeeping in Colorado

Camille and I visited Jerry and Sandra Baumann for several days prior to heading home to Wisconsin. Jerry and Sandra live in Durango, CO. Jerry lived next door to me when I was growing up and worked at IBM prior to retiring several years ago. Jerry and Sandra love to go jeeping in the mountains, snow skiing, white water rafting, hiking, etc. Colorado is a good place for their hobbies. As you can see from the picture there is lots of snow in the upper elevations. This road is north of Silverton, CO and we were going to see an old mining town at the start of Anamis River. There are many deserted mines that 100 years ago were going strong. The temperature at 11000 feet was about 45 degrees. The snow is melting and the streams are really flowing. Spring should hit the area by mid-June!!

Andrew's Graduation

It's great fun to have all of us together. Andrew looked very handsome in his cap and gown. Colorado has two graduation ceremonies for their graduates. The Engineering Dept. has a smaller ceremony where each of the graduates is named as they walk across the stage and a large ceremony for the entire school with the keynote speaker. We attended both and went out and celebrated each one. It was great fun and the fun isn't over yet!!