The obsession - attempting to recruit.

I received this e-mail from Vanessa (daycare) the other morning:

Cale to Ethan: "Do you want to know what teams I have helmets for?"

Ethan: "Sure."

Cale: "I have....... and, do you know what team I don't have? The Fighting Irish. They are the Fighting Irish, Ethan. Do you know the Fighting Irish?"

Watch out, Vanessa, he's going to try to get that farm boy addicted, too!

Our Football Star

I believe Cale was the Jacksonville Jaguars in this scene:

Of course, they won by 100 touchdowns!

Back on Campus

Inaugural game at TCF Bank Stadium

MN Golden Gophers 20
Air Force 13

The game was great - the atmosphere was Incredible!

Our boy is obsessed....

with FOOTBALL!

When he woke up this morning, he said:
Mom, 2 more days until...."Waitin' all day for Sunday night!"

He's been waiting patiently for his favorite song to come back on TV:


His next favorite song: The Star Spangled Banner

He learned all of the NFL teams from his football card collection and those darn helmets! Yes, our weak hearts caved for the sweet boy that "just wanted to learn all of the teams!"

He's spent countless HOURS looking at his football cards, and showing us his football cards, and asking us questions about his football cards, and asking to see Daddy's old football cards. He loves football, and we love him -- and I can't wait to show him this blog -- I can see him singing and dancing now! Any guesses to how many times we're going to watch that video?!

SuMmEr VaCaTiOn 2009!

We found a deal for a 3 night stay up North, at Chase on the Lake, that we couldn't pass up. One word: AWESOME!

First, we stopped at the MN Zoo with some old friends. Thanks for the fun, Stockdales & Charpentiers!

We arrived at our condotel on Sunday. The accomodations were well above our expectations, and this was the amazing view from our balcony.

While we were there, we enjoyed a morning out on the boat - although it was a bit chilly!

a lot of fishing - Ryan was a bit disappointed with the size, but we did catch quite a bit! Leech Lake is the 3rd largest lake in MN, so it's not real easy to go out on a boat and search for the best fishing spots.....without the fear of getting lost! We stuck pretty close to what we knew, and actually, Ryan's biggest catch was off the docks by the resort - of course, I didn't get a picture of that! Cale's favorite things were casting and throwing the fish back, but nothing is better than checking out Dad's tackle box - he could look in there for hours! I was constantly saying, be careful - those are SHARP!

In this picture, Cale is using Maren's Barbie fishing pole because he could cast that better. Towards the end of the trip, he was casting like a pro with his big SUPERman pole!

The kids had a blast on the beach...

...especially Maren - we made sure she wore her swimming suit after this!

We also enjoyed the indoor pool (the water was so warm!), city park & shops in Walker, and all of the beautiful scenery and wildlife. I especially enjoyed watching and listening to the Loons - a rare experience for this SE Minnesota girl! We hope we're lucky enough to return to Chase on the Lake next year -- and stay for a week!!