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!