Drag me behind a boat

Its off to the cabin this weekend! I'll start it off with a little golf with the Bro, Dad and Uncle. I always enjoy golf at my parents cabin. The course is very nice and always a challenge, especially when Uncle Dave leads the charge and challenge of drinking at least a 6 pack before the first 9 holes are done. :-)
Then it will be back to the cabin to hang out with the fam and head off to the Stones Throw once Kelsey arrives (poor wifey has to work on Friday!!). After that I'm sure we'll get into a game of dominoes or something like that, which is always fun!
Saturday will bring an early rise both with our dog and the little niece and nephew. I will be taking full advantage of this though because we now have a new boat and a wake board! I'm making Brian get out of bed (or if Dad is up) and getting on that boat as soon as i can to get on the wakeboard. I did a little practice run last week at Kelsey's parents cabin, and while I got up OK, as soon as I climbed back into the boat, my triceps, deltoids and hamstrings really started to flame up. Something tells me I'm going to be one hurting kid after wakeboarding and the tubing challenge that Brian has accepted. We'll need my dad for that one for sure.
The fun part will be seeing Trevor's reactions. I remember being raised on this very same lake and I always enjoyed the water sports. It might not be his cup of tea, but knowing his crazy uncles, he might just want to partake in it after we show him how much fun it is. Either that, or we'll just hang out at the Rhino beach and go swimming with some rafts and play some games there. Remember kids, don't go in the lake farther than your knees! Kids have drowed there! WEAR A LIFE JACKET!! Otherwise Auntie Barb will make you sit up on the beach. (Video evidence is availaable).

I'm sure I'll have a better entry once the weekend is done, if i can lift my fingers to type. :-) Should be a great weekend!

HO K PEACE OUT!

Over 1/3 of my life

Well hell. I just had a realization. Back in 1999 I started a form of "employment" that would change my life forever. I listed to some advice a good friend gave me and decided to try to stand on top of a log floating in a duck-pond. From that moment on, my life would forever be changed. I began training to be a "lumberjack" when i was 17. I turn 27 next sunday. That's ten years. Ten frieking years of my life (some more involved than others) have had lumberjack events that provided stories, memories, and experiences that will be with me for the rest of my life. I've done this a number of times but I continue to remind myself how unique this stuff is, and how lucky I am to say that I got to take part in a number of different things. Lets go over some of the key things my lumberjack career has contained:

Highlight - appearing on ESPN for my 15 seconds of "fame"

Lowlight - failing on ESPN for my 15 seconds of shame

Best Memory (G-rated) - Being called a "heavyweight" when rolling with Dan. ( I can honestly say that was the beggining of the end for me. I weighed a svelt 195 lbs and was still "skinny Kevin" yet still viewed as a heavyweight. Now look at me!)

Worst Memory - Driving to Texas in a rainstorm somewhere in Kansas. The trailer and truck went into a fishtail-like swing and I haven't been able to peacfully sleep in a moving vehicle since.

Best skill gained (lumberjack variety) - being able to stay on a log in the water.. that's cool enough for me

Best skill gained (non-lumberjack variety) - I'd say either my ability to perform under pressure, because i"ve already failed on ESPN and nothing is worse than that! - or being a well versed traveller.

Favorite place that i've competed - Other than Hayward because of the History, it would have to be West Virginia. That's where Nate and I really became good friends.

Least favorite place that i've competed - Anywhere in Ohio.

The one thing I wish i could take back - throwing up in the RV during my sleep. To this day I STILL can't figure out how it happened.

Biggest thing I wish I could still do - Make as much money lumberjacking as I do with my "stupid desk job" as the true lumberjacks call it.

All this is due to the fact that I'm going to help out the Fischers once again and compete in a lumberjack show in Iowa. Nothing special for them, but for me its revisiting a life I will always remember. I mean, I've been doing it for 1/3 of my life! That's amazing! I know some people have been doing it for their ENTIRE lives, but this is me we're talking about.. its just crazy! It seems like yesterday I was bringing home a bag of lumberjack laundry (aweful stuff) to get cleaned before we headed out to our next site! What the hell happened? I am old. :-)

Oh well.. time for one more go-around this weekend. I'll be singing the Craig and Terry Lumberjack songs, wearing flannel, running with chainsaws and enjoying another fair. Looking forward to it!

HO-K Peace out!!

A new season

Well, with four weddings out of the way this year, I can finally say that wedding season has reached the "All-star break." We're not quite half-way with the wedding season or the summer, but it certainly feels like we've been to a lot of weddings. They have all been fantastic and Kelsey, myself, and all our friends definitely have memories at each one. The good news is that we don't have to keep spending our money on wedding gifts, figuring out what we have and what we need to return where, or store someplace in our ever shrinking storage space within our house. Nope, no more of that, for now at least. Now its time to move on to the other season during the summer... CABIN SEASON!!

We're off to Balsam Lake this weekend for a bit of relaxing with Kelsey's parents. I'm looking forward to this weekend because I get to go swimming and such, which is really how I kick off summer. It isn't summer till I hit that water! Frank went out and got a Sea-Doo Jet ski for the lake this year and we couldn't be more excited for it. We now have access to the two best modes of transportation around Balsam Lake. The pontoon for tooling around and getting some sun while stopping off at the bars for beer and cheese curds, as well as the Jet ski for all the fun and excitement you need on a sunny day. Luckily for us the weather looks like it might hold out for a decent weekend at the cabin. Better than last weekend anyway. :-)

We will be heading down to Lake Arbutus at the end of the month for this old man's Birthday. There is also a new toy there waiting for us as well. Dad got a new boat, and since he likes making deals, the salesman threw in the only water toy that we were missing, a wakeboard! I've done the tubing, and kneeboarding throughout my youth, and just don't have the strength to do it anymore, and waterskiing isn't that entertaining to me. Wakeboarding seems right up my alley to provide a few bruises for the Monday meetings at work. Needless to say I'm just happy the lake is up this year and that we have a chance to get out on the lake for some water sports, swimming and of course drinking. :-) It should be fun to take Trevor on the boat as well. We'll show him how much fun the toys can be and before you know it, he'll be out there carrying on the "King of the tube" title that I succesfully held until I gained enough weight to throw myself off. Maybe Brian and I need to make another title match to see if my 200+ lbs will knock his skinny butt off the tube while going 30 mph. I just hope I don't pop the tube when we hit the waves. :-)

Well, we just gotta get through one last friday shift of work and then we're Cabin bound! Get the beers cold, and enjoy your weekend!

HO K PEACE OUT!