"Zut alors, I have missed one!!"

Whoops.. missed last week's entry. I guess that means I have a wrestling move coming my way. My guess is that I'm going to get it tomorrow during dinner. I'll be sure to put it on video for all to see. It's only fair.

This week was insane. Monday started off OK, but when I got home from golf league I arrived to find a tree-branch blocking my driveway. AWESOME! The branch was pretty sizable, at about 12" in diameter at its biggest point. Luckily Kelsey and I park our cars in the garage most of the time. We were both considering leaving ours out because we were just going to take the Saturn in to get the tires replaced, but luckily for us no car was hit. We proceeded to cut down the limb and hack it into manageable pieces for the time being. Of course, being as the nature of bad luck goes, I was off to Boston the next morning. We've had tree branches taking up a good chunk of our yard all week. I started the cleanup process yesterday, but will finish it today. The good news is that we will have PLENTY of bonfire wood. So we got that going for us.

To add to the fun, it hailed here pretty good on Friday morning. Our shingles shed their little pebbles onto our deck, and while our steps on the deck have little dimples now, no clear damage occurred. We might see if our insurance adjuster will come look at our roof, and if we have some sort of luck, we might just get a free roof out of this. I would say its worth a look.

This is our first weekend home in a couple of months with nothing scheduled. We have already caught up on a lot of house chores and are even having people over for dinner / bonfire if the weather holds. It seems to be shaping up to be a nice weekend. I better get going and enjoy it!

That's all for now.

HO K PEACE OUT!

Championship week

For the first time in my life I was able to play in a golf Pro-Am. This week marked the start of the 3M Championship at the TPC in Blaine. This week has been a summer favorite of mine for about 5 years now. Usually my dad lets the boys go to the draw party for him and Brian, Rich and I usually have a blast. They have events at the draw party like a long drive contest, casino games for tickets that you enter in a prize raffle, free food, free alcohol, and a few chances to see some of the big name golfers. The last two years Kelsey has come along for the ride and it has always been a blast. For the past 4 years either Rich or myself have walked away with some gift or prize, be it a driver, a handful of gift certificates for a free night stay at the Grand Casino in Hinkley, or whatever random stuff we grabbed.
This year was a little different. Dad decided to come with the boys (and girls) and see what all the fun was about. We all did the long drive contest but didn't fare so well this year. (Which turned out OK because the prizes weren't anything special) We did our typical casino games and took in a massive amounts of tickets. Kelsey and I put all of ours towards a weekend stay at the Westin Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, with a free meal at the Bank Restaurant. We ended up winning that and we are going to save it for a nice date night. Should be pretty fun!
The other big thing that happened that night was that my boss asked me to play in the second group that EMC obtained for the Pro-Am. I have been watching my dad play in Pro-Ams since I was in elementary school. I even got to caddy for him a few times. It was always a blast and I will never remember some of the memories I have from being at those events with him. So when I learned that I was going to be playing in my very first Pro-Am it was something I have been waiting to hear for some time. I was very excited.
The pro that was playing with us was Jim Colbert. Not many people know him by name, but a lot of people would recognize him because he is the golfer that wears the Calloway white bucket hat. When i was a sophmore in High School I bought the same bucket hat because I thought it was cool. I wore it all the time, and I still have it today. When I learned who we were playing with I made sure to bring it with me for the picture with the pro. I also had him sign the hat when we were done. The actual round of golf went pretty well. Our team tied for second and were only beat when my boss' group's pro made a birdie for them on the final hole to beat us by one. Irregardless of our score, the entire day was amazing. I got to play with Russ, Derek and Jason (co-workers and brother in law) and had a couple of good laughs and a few good shots to go along with it. At the end of the day I got a few gifts to help my golf game, a few memories that i'll save forever, and the satisfaction to play in my first Pro-Am. It really was fun.

This weekend is our wedding weekend. 3 weddings in two days! Once we get through these weddings, I have the SJU Alumni golf event. Yep... more golf! I don't think I've ever golfed this much in one summer. I don't think there is ever such a thing as too much golf, but if there was, this might be approaching it. I am very excited to play on monday though, Rich, Russ, Tim and I are ready to make a run at 1st place. We'll see how it goes.

That's all i got for now.

Ho K Peace out!

quick hits

Really quick before I have to run out to go to Kelsey's parents cabin...

I can still feel the pain in my entire body from tubing last weekend. Dad decided to try out his new boat's power and threw us off the tube.. at about... 42 miles per hour.. just a guess. I say this because I have never slid off a tube, and skipped on the top of the water as much as i did when I fell off the tube this weekend. I literally watched my dad look back, see that I was off the tube, and turn the boat around before i had finally slowed down enough to submerge beneath the waters surface. Ow...

Needless to say, by courtesy of a favorable judges ruling, Brian and I had to end our best of 3 match at a one-one tie to be decided at a later date. We simply could not take the beating anymore.

It was then we realized why dad was so mean.. he wanted to get up river to go to the Tiki-bar. I was in full compliance by the time we made it to shore that I threw the tubes on the beach, and Kelsey, Brian, Dad and I drove the boat up to what is becoming a nice summer spot on the lake.

There were some other fun things this last weekend. I made it up on the wakeboard OK and i've got that to look forward to when I return later this month, and a new deck that we helped build is also there for some nice laying out in the sun. Should be a great summer at the Trauscht Cabin.

The Biagi cabin is awaiting and it should also be a great time! I'm looking forward to more lake time and beer drinking with a side of cheese curds! Fun weekend 2 of 2 coming up!

HO K Peace out!

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!

The the fun times begin.

After the ceremony we got on our big limo-party bus loaded with champagne and beer. We set off to Pioneer Park to take some pictures and as we made our way down Hwy 36 we hit some traffic just as we approached Stillwater. This isn't uncommon and as we later learned that there was a couple of weddings and proms on the boats we should have figured we'd be sitting in traffic for about an hour. We were originally OK with this because we had beer and good music to keep us occupied. But then, the beer ran out. Luckily we got to the park and took some more amazing pictures and decided that it was about time we went somewhere where they had beer. Considering the reception had free beer we figured we might as well go there and start the festivities.

We got to the reception around 5:15 and started making our way through the crowd. We cut the cake for the photo-op and made our way even further through the crowd. The groomsmen and I got up to the bar for our first shot of the night. The LeBron bomb was something to behold, and all I can say about it is that I still had sugar on me later that night.

The dinner was very good, and the cake was amazing. Kelsey didn't get too much cake and is still very upset with that, but all in all I think the food portion went very well. The little hiccup in the night was Kelsey's grandma having some health issues, and all I can say is that thank goodness there were plenty of Nurse and medical personnel in attendance to make sure everything was OK. The photo booth was a big hit throughout the night, once it finally got there. :-) There are many photos throughout the night of drunken debauchery and all around good times. Kelsey and I will treasure the numerous pictures we have in a little guest book the attendant gave us at the end of the night. Apparently I threw up a few too many middle fingers (thanks Rich) in my pictures and I might have to edit them out before my nephew tells me I'm going to "Hellen"

The dance floor was packed all night and I was extremely grateful that everyone I talked to said how much fun they had. I think in essence that's what I wanted our wedding to be. We strived to make sure that the guests would have something to do, or that things would be easy for them so that they would have a good time. I think our hard work (mostly Kelsey's) paid off in the end. It seemed like a night to remember for everyone, and not just ourselves. I couldn't have been happier with the slide show, the speeches, the family that attended, and all the great things people had to say about our big day. It really was the greatest day of my life. :-)

Next post I'll get into the Honeymoon, minus the dirty details. I don't want to go to "Hellen" right?

HO K Peace out!!