Batman!

Christmas 2008 001
Originally uploaded by beatlebugs2001

A Batman Christmas

Batman and his parents joined us for a wonderful Christmas this year - yes, Benjamin was disguised as Batman for the holiday (Santa gift). After a fabulous meal that included Jessica's homemade pierogi, which would have made Grandma Andrews proud, we settled down to open the overwhelming pile of gifts! Everyone was extremely generous - Benjamin was thrilled with all of it! I'm not sure which was his best gift, the Batman mask and cape or the camera! He was actually overheard telling the camera that he "loved it" - yes, he's an unusual little boy. Next we will be celebrating New Year Eve with Benjamin - probably on London time! Happy New Year to all - health and happiness in 2009!

It takes a village....to catch a fish!

Each weekend, small villages pop up on Lake Minnetonka - this one was noteworthy, notice the satellite dish - wouldn't want to miss the Vikings game!

Busy Weekend

We had what we like to call a "Schmitt Weekend" - not only were we able to spend some quality time with the Schmitts, we were as busy as all get out! We took Benjamin to Hidden Pond tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. It's a little lopsided but has tons of character!

On Sunday we went to Macy's to have breakfast with the "BIG GUY" - Benjamin was totally aglow with excitement at seeing Santa! He told him he had been good and gave him his list. After that we decorated our new tree and watched the Bears win...

But before that, we were fortunate enough to be able to spend Thanksgiving with Mom down in Florida (she is doing fabulous and we couldn't be more pleased and blessed). We had a wonderful dinner with Mark, Debbie, and several special guest stars.

We are looking forward to spending the holidays in our new home and getting used to the Minnesota winters!

Reason to be Thankful.....

The Big 3-0!

Everyone had a groovey time at Jessica's 30th birthday celebration - we are convinced she knew about it all along but was a good sport and pretended to be surprised! Guess that degree in performing arts really paid off! Family and friends came from far and wide to help her celebrate...

Now if someone can tell us where the 30 yrs went?

We hate to continually talk about the weather but besides fishing, it's the big deal up here. We had a touch of winter weather on Sunday - temps around 35, blustery and some white stuff blowing around! We spent the day snuggled up reading the newspaper, watching football, an old movie and making some comfort food, beef stew - yum! The way the waves were up, maybe we should have invested in surfboards and not a boat!! Check out the get up Ed wore to walk across the road to get the newspaper - what a Berwynite!

The calendar says it's October but...

it's been in the upper 70's all weekend! We spent some time enjoying the warmer weather - did some fishing off the pier at the end of the road - caught some smaller ones. The Schmitts have been busy, Mikes brother Dan wed his Katie last weekend, Benjamin - always the life of the party - crashed into a table at the church and dented his cheek! This great weather can't last forever - it will be back to reality next week!

Summer Fun

Lot's has happened since the our last entry. We spent a lot of time on the boat fishing and having fun, we welcomed the Schmitt family for a BBQ, our good friends Carol & Judy joined us for Labor Day weekend, adorable Kelsey turned one, Chris added another candle to the birthday cake and the fall colors have started! Soon it will be winter and we will be hibernating in our beautiful home!

Even bigger!

This is turning out to be some sort of a competition - hard to believe a Murphy would be competitive! The Schmitts hung out last Monday and joined us for some fishing after work - look what I found! Who's going to be next??

The Bassmaster!

The Brookfield Murphy's graced us with their presence this weekend - we spent all day Saturday on Lake Minnetonka cruising and fishing on our "new" boat - Terry was the big winner pulling in 3 nice size bass! The rest of us had to settle with smaller pan fish and having to listen to his boasting! We had a blast! Look forward to their return this fall for muskie season -

Das Boot

We have added a new member to the Andrews crew - we picked up a very used Bayliner boat to cruise Lake Minnetonka = we took her for her maiden voyage this evening to enjoy the beautiful sunset!

Fishpalooza

We had the pleasure of spending some time on Lake Minnetonka with our good friend/guide/realtor/Renaissance man Mike Buenting this morning - boy were the fish biting!

grandparents sox fans -
parents twins fans -
Benjamin one confused kid!

Visitors!

We finally had our first visitors from Chicago (and beyond)! Mom, Aunt Arlene, Mary & Roland came for the weekend. They spent the night in Rochester at Chez Schmitt before driving up to Mound. The Schmitt’s were soon to follow. We hung around the house on Saturday, ate BBQ’d ribs, played games, sort of watched fireworks and just enjoyed each other’s company. It was so nice to be able to show off the new house and share our wonderful new lake lifestyle!
Sunday, the Schmitt’s had to leave us to be the godparents for their new nephew. But we had a great time, we rented a pontoon and enjoyed a sunny day on the lake sightseeing and fishing. Nothing huge was caught but a good time was had by all!
We are pleasantly exhausted but would do it again in a heartbeat!

Ed was also able to finally share all his guitars with Benjamin - it's a shame the kid is so shy!

Happy Birthday!

So much has happened since our last entry - but I guess the most fun was Benjamin's
3rd birthday! This years theme was Barnum & Bailey's Circus! The house was decorated with balloons and clowns. Jessica created a fabulous cake, made with a special eggless recipe (for Benjamin's allergies) with wonderful circus decorations. The kids enjoyed playing games almost as much as the adults enjoyed watching them!

We've had some wonderful adventures in our new home. We've been enjoying the lake lifestyle, after dinner we often wander down to the lake for a little fishing and relaxing while watching the sunset. We also drove down to Rochester (in the middle of the week!) to watch Benjamin participate in the "All Comers Track Meet" - he won a 2nd place ribbon! It was great to be able to share the moment!

Ed started his new job and after 2 days, seems to be content. If you have ever doubted the phrase "Minnesota Nice" - just ask us, we have been fortunate to meet many, many wonderful Minnesotans that have made us feel welcome!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

It's official - we are now residents of Minnesota! We moved into our new home on Tuesday, Ed accepted a job offer on Thursday and we will be celebrating all weekend! The closings and move went smoothly, the movers wrapped and packed all day on Saturday while we stayed out of their way at Grand Victoria Casino (we kept teasing that this moving stuff was killing us!) On Sunday, they loaded our stuff and off we went to MN- arriving on Sunday night at Chez Schmitt. Tuesday we took possession of our beautiful Lake Minnetonka home - and have loved ever minute of it so far!

I started at the Minneapolis office on Wednesday - warmly greeted by my new coworkers. Ed will be starting his new job on June 30th. In the meantime, we are looking forward to our 1st overnight guests, the Schmitts. While Jessica and Mike run a race on Saturday, we will goof off in Mound with Benjamin. Sunday, we have rented a pontoon and look forward to some fishing.

Our door is always open, all we ask is that you bring your fishing poles and a box of Chateau Dumplings!

Love,
Ed and Chris

Green Bay Half Marathon

We were privileged to join the Schmitts in Green Bay this weekend (yes, Green Bay) as Jessica ran the Half Marathon! On Saturday, we spent some quality time with Benjamin, doing the grandparents thing - we took him swimming at the hotel pool and even though his lips were a lovely shade of blue, he really enjoyed the water but did comment that it was too watery!

Sunday, Jessica, her brother in law Dan, his fiance Katie and Jennifer, Andy's fiance ran the half marathon! They all accomplished personal goals and we were proud of each and every one of them! The only dark spot was that the race finished in Lambeau Field - not to worry, Ed wore his Bears jersey to show his colors!

Maybe next year it will be the full 26.2 miles!

Been Awhile....

It's been a while since we added something to the blog - nothing exciting to report (at this time) but we have been as busy as one-armed jugglers in the circus! But stay tuned, there will be some BIG news shortly!

Our Bonding Weekend

While Jessica and Mike were in Hawaii, we had a wonderful opportunity to spend some quality time with Benjamin. I flew up to Minneapolis on Tuesday and was met by Grandma Cindy and Benjamin. Then the 2 of us drove down to Rochester to begin our adventure! We spent most of the time watching movies, especially Beauty and the Beast (2 times) and the Wizard of Oz. In between, we put together tons of puzzles and played several hands of "Go Fish" - Benjamin is a professional at both! Later, Grandpa was able to join us. We took Benjamin to the Lark Toy Store where he was able to ride the carousel and tried on every hat in the place! On Saturday. we went to the Mall of America where Grandpa and Benjamin tried their hand at some carnival games, even winning a stuffed Spongebob Squarepants! It was then off to the airport to pickup Mommy & Daddy, it was very touching to see Benjamin run to Mike and Jessica, literally jumping into Jessica's arms - wasn't a dry eye in the house! We really enjoyed our time together, Benjamin is one smart, charming little boy - Mommy and Daddy should be very proud!

Fun in the Sun

Having enough of the snow and cold, we packed our bags and boarded Royal Caribbeans "Jewel of the Seas" for 6 days of sun, food and relaxation! After spending the night in Fort Lauderdale (and losing our shirts at the infamous Hard Rock Casino) we sailed off to our first stop, Key West. We rented one of those electric cars and tooled all over the island, taking in the watering holes, shopping and Hemingway's house.

Back on ship, we met our wonderful tablemates, Joann and Pat, cousins from New Jersey celebrating their 50th birthdays - I was in heaven, 2 smart, witty, Irish ladies the same age as me! The conversation covered it all, funny to downright raunchy!

The next stop was Cozumel, we spent the day chilling at the beach and doing some shopping - just what we needed - to do next to nothing. That night was our 1st formal night, it's always fun to dress up and Ed looked wonderful in his tux -

Belize was a trip, all 4 of us (Joann and Pat included) braved the rain forest and went tubing down a river to some Mayan ruins. What a way to travel - just laying there like slugs. When the tubing was over, lunch was provided, since we were ravenous, we sucked down the food not knowing what we were eating, could have been the local favorite of Iguana for all we knew!

Meanwhile, back on the ship, we decided to recoup some of our losses in the casino, low and behold I hit the red, white and blue 7's on the Wheel of Fortune for a payout of $1600, this being international waters, no taxes were taken out! This almost covered our bar bill at the end if the cruise - ALMOST! A few smalled wins soon followed -

Our last port was Playa Del Carmen Mexico - we spent another relaxing day on a beautiful beach enjoying some pina coladas and trying not to think about going home.

It was a fabulous trip, capped by another day in Ft Lauderdale. But all good things must come to an end and we returned to cold Chicago looking forward to our next adventure!

Ed, Tom and Buddy Guy

Santa was in a "blue" mood this year and during a silent auction, won a "date" with a local radio station DJ, Tom Marker from WXRT - Tom is the host of the 'XRT show, Blues Breakers. Ed met Tom at Buddy Guys Legends, shared drinks and dinner, then Ed was taken to Buddys dressing room for a private meeting, can you imagine the conversation? Buddy regaled Ed with stories of Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck, etc. Ed was in Blues Heaven!

Rock Star