September

Sept 11-14th, 2008

Since Mark had an educational workshop to attend in Las Vegas starting the 15th, we decided to drive to see Adam and Karla for a few days. The dessert was still quite warm but we did get in one early desert hike on Friday morning. Then Adam took us to Big Bear Mt to do some mt. biking. It was probably my most challenging ride when we did the single track trails. Kathy, Manny and Shirley came over for dinner on Sunday. I flew back from Las Vegas on Monday.

On Friday, the 19th Mark drove to Geneva Lake, WI for a regatta. There wasn't much wind but he did manage to take first place! That was pretty exciting for him.

The last weekend of Sept took me to the north shore where I hiked for 3 days on the Superior Hiking Trail with some NorthStars. The colors on the north side of the ridge were splendid. We felt so lucky to have such great weather for our outing.
Mark stayed home to sail in the fall regatta on Lake Minnetonka. They had ten races in three days and he managed to take third place.

NorthShore2008

Michigan Bike Tour

Aug 2nd thru Aug 9th I toured with the MI Bicycle League on the west shoreline of MI (east coast of Lake MI) What a beautiful, organized ride it was. The sandy beaches and the aqua color of the waters reminded me of the Caribbean islands! We went swimming everyday. Most of the days were sunny, in the 70s. I rode to Mackinaw City with my friend Kathy St. Peters; from there we took a bus to the start of the ride in Spring Lake. I did forget to bring my camera so have very few pictures to show what an awesome ride it was.

MI bike tour

Washington DC with Mary Jo

On July 24th I made a last minute decision to fly out and see Mary Jo in DC. Her work trip to India was delayed from the 24th to the 31st so she felt it would be an ideal time for me to come out. The remodeling of her house was complete; just got to help put some finishing touches like hanging pictures, etc. Mary let me use her bike while she was working so toured some of the many bike trails. It is also a very efficient way to get quickly around the mall to see the many museums, monuments, etc. We took in a free jazz concert on the mall Friday evening; spent most of Saturday with cousin Kay, and even got to watch Mary Jo play in a soccer game. It was a very fun trip.

Washington DC Visit w Mary

4th of July week bike trip in WI

We camped two nights at a resort on Lake Chetac, near Birchwood, two nights on Namekagon Lake, near Cable, and two nights at Spearhead Point in the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest. Carmen, Mary B, Kathy, Mark and I were thrilled with the ideal weather we had and the quiet roads were found. We biked to and climbed Timm’s Hill which is the high point in WI (1,951 ft). Swimming everyday was also an added attraction

College Reunion (Dianes)

35th Year St. Scholastica Reunion (June 27th -29th): Sue Blake, Sue Stubbs, and Kathy Treb flew in from the west coast for this big event. We rented a house on Park Point for the weekend. Besides attending the events at the college, we also managed to quickly breeze through the art fair at the end of Park Point & also stopped by the rhubarb festival. We also had brunch with Donna and Jan Von Lehe on our way up to Duluth.

Scholastica

Diane traveled to OR with 11 of her biker friends. We drove south to Hwy 80, taking 2 1/2 days to drive to Lakeview in the south central part of the state. We stayed at a variety of places: lodges, cabins, a friend's home, motels--a few places had hot springs to relax in. The temps were much cooler than we had anticipated; the bike path around Diamond Lake was closed due to snow. It was still snowing when we arrived at Mt. Hood. The spring flowers were in full bloom and the rivers were roaring with spring run off. If you would like to few some photos of the trip, double click on the photo below.

Oregon Bike Trip 5/23-6/8/08

Fathers Day Weekend

Mary Jo, Adam, and Karla all came to Mpls for the weekend. Adam and Karla had a 10 year High School reunion. Adam and I sailed in the ADA regatta on Saturday. Diane, Hamid, and Mary Jo toured Mpls before joining us at the lake for a picnic.

Fathers Day 2008

Hamid

We have a new roomate. Hamid from Ethiopia is staying with us. Hamid is an immigrant to the US learning English and looking for a Nursing Assistant position. We are enjoying having him with us.

Sailing season is almost upon us!

Yes there is still ice on the lake, but the schedule is out and it is time to sign up for your spot on Liberty.

Let me know when you can join us for fun on Lake Minnetonka. As always I will give priority based on seniority. If you can't sail on Liberty you can still sail on another Sonar. Let me know and I will try to find you a spot.

Let me know if I made any errors on the schedule here.

Mark

Texas Hell Week biking with Parents and Friends

On March 14th Mark & I, with our two friends Kathy & Bonita, drove to Rogers, AR where we picked up Hazel and Bob and their RV and drove onto Fredericksburg, TX. We enjoyed the warmer spring temperatures, biking on the back roads of the TX Hill Country and hot tubbing upon our return to erase the pains of our first ride of the season.

TX Hell week 2008

Peace Forum, Concordia college, Moorhead 3/7/08

We attended the 20th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Concordia College with Mary Jo. She informed us of the event so we registered early. Good thing as the event sold out quickly.
The keynote speakers were Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace prize winner in '06, Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Dr Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University & the author of The End of Poverty. Mary Jo presented at one of the concurrent seminar sessions: "Assessing the Impact of Microlending: Challenges & Practice". We found the forum to be exciting, informational, & very inspiring. Lots of folks from the Microfinance Alliance group that Mary Jo started before she left MN were in attendance so was fun to reconnect with them also.

Ski trips

We really enjoyed this winter of '07/'08. Can't remember having this much snow since the winter of '97. Being able to walk over to the golf course after work and ski for an hr most evenings was relaxing and invigorating. Some of our out of town trips were to Telemark in Cable, WI with the Northstars and a four day trip to Camp duNord near Ely in January. In Feb we went on our annual ski trip with South Mpls friends to the Heartland Conference Ctr near Danbury, WI. Then on President's Day long weekend we went to several new (to us) x-c ski spots near Ladysmith, WI. Hate to put the skiis away, but with the arrival of daylight saving time, we are starting to think of biking!

DuNord2008

Washington DC

First, let me wish all our family and friends a heartfelt blessing of peace, good health, and joy during this holiday season. 2007 was definitely an awesome year of adventure and new beginnings for our family as you can see by the below entries. We were very fortunate to be able to visit with both of our children on opposite sides of our country for the last two holidays of the year. Being able to help Mary Jo get more settled in her 'new' brownstone home on 'D' St NE & celebrate Christmas with her and our 'Neel' cousins was very special for us. Mary Jo absolutely loves her new job with the Grameen Foundation. (Check out her blog for more details.)

Washington 2007 (Click to see more photos)