Christmas 2010

Santa was very good to us this year - our best gift was being able to spend Christmas with Mike, Jessica, Benjamin and Lucy! After a harrowing drive to Rochester, we spent the day opening gifts, munching on forbidden treats, hugging and squeezing a certain young lady and playing on the new Wii! It was so relaxing that we "forgot" to eat early as planned! The whole family was excited to open up the Wii and get going - what fun! I know they will enjoy that for years to come!
Poor Lucy had a nasty head cold - but even feeling crummy, she was a delight - all smiles, no crankiness, she pretty much sat there and watch us make fools of ourselves! Benjamin got to work learning magic tricks with his new magic set and even entertained us with a delightful magic show on Sunday...
After watching the Bears win, we packed our sleigh and sadly headed home - good news is that we have some babysitting scheduled soon!

Breakfast with Santa 2010

We had a wonderful weekend with the Schmitts - we packed in as much as we possibly could! Dinner at the Narrows, chopped down our Christmas tree, our annual breakfast with Santa at Macys and even a little shopping!

Lucy's Baptism Weekend

Family came from far and near to help the Schmitt's celebrate the baptism of Lucy Jane on Sunday. Great Grandma Anne came in from Florida on Thursday and we had a whirlwind weekend! Thursday night we went to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater for dinner and a show, the play was "All Shook Up" a cute play that included a bunch of Elvis songs. On Friday Mom and I went to Mystic Lake for the gambling, her birthday mojo sure was working and we both came home with some money! Saturday, we joined the Schmitt's at a local park as Mike and Benjamin ran a Halloween 5K - yes, Benjamin ran a 5K! Then we were granted custody of Benjamin for the day, taking him to the Halloween party at the MN zoo.
Sunday we all gathered at the Schmitt's church for Lucy's baptism. She looked so sweet in Jessica's christening gown and took it like a trooper! The Murphy's and Coopers (including Erin, Kelsy and Makenna) along with the Schmitt family had a wonderful brunch at Jessica and Mikes.


Today, mom heads to Chicago for a few days and I go back to work for some R&R.

Lucy Jane Schmitt

Introducing the newest member of our family! Lucy arrived in 10/01/10 at 11:00am, weighing 5 lbs 4 oz 19 1/4 inches long. She's tiny but mighty! Everyone is doing just great! And it looks like Benjamin is taking to being a big brother quite nicely...for now!

House of Bounce

We had the privilege of spending some time with Benjamin on Saturday, lunch at Mickey D's and then a few hours at the House of Bounce in Rochester - it's a place with a bunch of those inflatable bouncing houses - Grandpa bounced until he was bounced out! It was a lot of fun, we really enjoy spending time with him, he's much wiser than his 5 years!

Anatomy of a Basement

As most of you know, our basement was unfinished when we bought our beautiful home. Well, after over 2 years, we finally have walls and a ceiling! Here are some pics of the progress - we are hoping to be done before the holidays!

Introducing Makenna

Not only did we get a new car - we now have a beautiful new great niece - Makenna Ryan - she weighed in at 9.7lbs - baby, Erin, Dennis, Kelsey and Austin all doing great!

Get your motor running....

We are literally on the road again - after a scary and tragic (for the car, not us) event - we were lucky to have a found a beautiful replacement for the Porsche baby. A ocean blue Boxster with 45K miles in almost perfect condition! Only drawback is that it's a 5 speed and Chris doesn't know how to drive one - good news is that Ed is the designated driver until she learns! We spent the past weekend getting to know one another and we think it's going to be a good fit!

Da Coach

We braved the crowds and a rainy Saturday and headed to Surdyks (a very well known wine shop in Minneapolis) to see Da Coach! Mike Ditka was there selling his wine and cigars - we were able to get him to sign the bottles of wine as well as our 1985 and 1986 Chicago Bears media guides - what a thrill and it was great to hang out with some true blue Bears fans!

Imagine how Grandma feels!

Benjamin and I had quite the weekend together - this how he made the trip back home...drool and all!

Thank heavens for little girls...

It looks like the family will be evening up a bit - the newest Schmitt is a little girl! No name yet but all are doing well! Going to be a long summer waiting to meet her!

While our money didn't make it back from Vegas, we still had a great time!

After getting Mary from the airport, we set out on our adventure! Our 1st stop was Yumi Suchi, they have the best all you can eat sushi in town...I don't think sushi is on Mary's usual menu, she was a trooper and had some rolls and plum wine. After that we ventured out in search of the elusive jackpot...and ran into some surprises...like Rich and Nancy! Mary found out they had a trip to Vegas scheduled for the same time and she arranged for them to surprise us and surprised we were! We were able to share a nice breakfast together at Margaritaville before parting ways. While downtown, we ran into one of our Survivor heroes, Rupert, he was hanging around with some friends and was gracious in taking a pic with us but unfortunately, was unable to discuss the current season since it is still airing. On Thursday, we took Mary to Battistas Hole in the Wall for a wonderful Italian dinner, she also was able to meet Gordie, the 98 yr old accordion player that must have played for the original Rat Pack, "I'm on fire tonight!" is his catch phrase! On Friday, we caught "Fab Four Live" a terrific show with a fantastic Beatles cover band!

We never did find that jackpot but had a great time!

Spring has sprung - again!

After a long, cold, snowy winter the warm breezes of spring are here and we are ready for fishing! But first, Vegas Baby - Ed, Mary and I are headed to Vegas next week - yep, Lucy, Fred and Ethel are back together and taking their act on the road! I will update with details later, but remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!
Here is the official declaration of Ice Out on Lake Minnetonka for 2010!

Surprise - Surprise!

The whole family gathered at Bob Chinn's on Saturday to help Mary celebrate her 60th birthday! There were some special guest stars for the weekend - Mom, Mark and Debbie flew in from Florida and Steve from LA! We tried to surprise her but she knew we'd be there, after all, there was free food and drink! How nice it was to have everyone together for a happy occasion...we were treated to a fabulous dinner and then we all regathered at the Cooper house for some cake and hanging out. Sunday some of us made a deposit at Hollywood Casino and then watched the Superbowl at Terry & Clarice's. Check out more pics on flicker!

We took advantage of some warmer weather to take Benjamin out on the lake to try out his new ice skates - he did pretty good for the 1st time! Can't say the same for Jessica, she was a little nervous when we drove her out to the middle of the lake!

On Ice!

Jingle all the way!

It does seem like we went over the river and through the woods this year! After dodging a winter storm here in Minnesota, we flew to Chicago for Christmas, we visited a few favorite local venues in Chicago and then enjoyed a nice quiet evening at the Coopers sharing their Christmas Eve traditional dinner of Chinese takeout. Christmas morning, after picking up mom at the airport, we trekked to the Murphy's for the family holiday dinner. They totally outdid themselves with dinner serving turkey, beef tenderloin and all the trimmings. Unfortunately, a few of our favorite people were missing this year, the Bayolas stayed in Hawaii with Aunt Arlene joining them, but we did have the company of Kelly & Mike!




Then on New Years Eve, we drove to the Schmitts for our Christmas celebration. I was a little under the weather with a nasty cold, but was able to go along with Ed and Benjamin to see the "Princess and the Frog" while Mom and Dad went on a date. New Years Day we opened tons of gifts and then spent the rest of the day just goofing around, watching movies, eating, playing games, eating and just chilling. It was the most relaxed Christmas in a long time!

Now it's back to reality and winter - today it's going to be a high of -6!