Christmas Jammies!

A new Christmas tradition was brainstormed by Cindy this year. Matching or color coordinated pajamas! 

Pictured are Pete, Cindy, Peter J, Brandi, & Brandon. 

Since Willow couldn't celebrate Christmas with us, we took a photo with her a couple days later.

10 Days until Christmas! Please donate!

Only 1o more days until Christmas. Please, stop by my virtual RED KETTLE and make a small donation to The Salvation Army. Thanks very much, and Merry Christmas!

PS...I posted a new link on my blog page. ;-)

Please help me help The Salvation Army!

Banner Ad for Red Kettle

Please help me by donating to The Salvation Army this season. The Salvation Army is my favorite charity. They offer help and hope to EVERYONE! From the victims of disaster, addiction and homelessness to youth, families and senior citizens. Thank you for your support!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing all family and friends a very happy Thanksgiving holiday! Missed being with the whole family this year! On a related note:  I'm trying to set up a FAMILY WEEKEND for February 2010 now. Stand by for further details.

Happy Halloween!

Wishing everyone a fun and safe Halloween! Been watching scary movies all month, and topped them off today with a trip to the theater to see "Paranormal Activity". Good movie, but certainly not the scariest movie I've ever seen. Good evening!

Willow and I carving pumpkins this year:

New Telescope!

I was bitten by the astronomy bug well over 30 years ago. My brother Eric got a refractor telescope for Christmas when we were kids. I'll never forget my first look at Saturn's rings through that scope! That scope was his prized possession...and he wasn't big on sharing. I used to sneak it outside when he wasn't around...and try my luck at finding planets.

A few years back...I finally got my own telescope. It was a Bushnell 4.5" reflector. I have used this trusty scope for many years...but decided I needed more. I sold that telescope, and moved up to a new Meade LightBridge 10" Dobsonian Deluxe. It will be delivered soon! 

Labor Day Weekend!

We had a great time at the lake over the Labor Day weekend. We were joined by Tammy & Marty, and had a relaxing time. We chilled by the lake at Polk County Park all day Sunday for a picnic and some Jet Skiing. The weather was nice, although a bit breezy. "The Sandbar" was packed, as it's the last weekend at the lake for many...and the celebration commenced.  Brandi and Brandon stopped in to say hello on their way through as well. A nice weekend to close out our summer, as we will probably winterize very soon.

Weekend at the lake

We had some visitors join us at Maple Lake last weekend! We hosted Dirk, Holly, and Jana Kienzle! Thanks so much for coming...we had a blast! Willow joined us as well, and had a great time with Uncle Dirk!

Random Pics from Summer Vacation 2009

Cindy and I spent a week at our "Larson-ritaville" retreat at Maple Lake to start off the vacay. We then headed down to Coon Rapids, MN to pick up our Grand daughter Willow. We took her to the zoo, fair, parade, and to a family pool for some swimming. We stayed at G G's house in Pine City, where Willow got to watch a deer (fawn) milling around the place. She loved seeing the farm animals and the rides at the PC Fair. She even talked me into going on the Carousel and Giant Slide with her. She had a great time at Jeremy & Jenny's too. She got to swim in their indoor swimming pool, and play with her cousins. It was a fun week.


A visit to G G's house. Here is Willow with her Great Grandma Larson. She really doesn't like her picture taken anymore....can you tell?

A visit to Jeremy & Jenny's in MN. Pictured are Samantha Lindman, Cindy Larson, Kaley Larson, Jeremy Lindman, and Jennifer Lindman.

Pine City Fair and Parade: Here is Willow and her cousin Lauren Steltz on the curb waiting for some candy.

A fashion show! Here's Willow, Lauren, and Ella putting on a dress-up show for us at G G's. (Great Grandmas)

Those smiles say it all....FUN! The girls had a great time together.

Here's Pete and Willow hangin' out in the upper loft at G G's place.

A visit to Como Park Zoo, here's Willow & Cindy watching the Orangatans.

Having Fun at Work

We took a couple cars, smashed them up and lit them on fire.

It's a mock-car accident drill.

Here's a picture of me on the ground, taking care of an ejected patient in a field.

Using the Jaws of Life to extract a patient.

Willow's New Pics!

It was back to the portrait studio with Willow this week, and she was really good with it. We dressed her in a couple different outfits...including this fairy costume. The pics here are low res...but you get the idea.

Chickenfoot

New band! Sammy Hagar and some friends have formed a new band called Chickenfoot.


They sound like classic Sammy, and a little Van Halen-ish. Check them out:

http://www.chickenfoot.us

Camping Season Returns!

We've opened up Larson-ritaville for the summer camping season. We took Willow, and the dogs for an overnighter last weekend to de-winterize. While Cindy wasn't feeling good, she had some down time to relax and rejuvenate while I kept busy with chores.

One small problem from winter, the water filter housing froze and broke. The antifreeze must have gotten a little diluted, and I've changed over to a different filter housing that I can remove instead of winterize. Should be much easier now.

The weather is still quite cool here, but we are looking forward to a couple more trips in May.

Handpresso Wild DomePod

Handpresso is an authentic portable espresso maker. I currently have two in my coffee making arsenal...the newest being called the Handpresso DomePod. The first unit uses espresso pods, like those you can find at Starbucks. With the newest machine, you can use your own ground coffee.

The fine people from Handpresso in France were kind enough to send me both units to review. I reviewed the first on http://www.singleservecoffee.com/ last year. I've been putting the new version through it's paces, and will post a review soon.

The new Handpresso allowed me to use fresh home roasted espresso beans, and it was really good. The cost of these units has dropped from $150 down to about $100 each. You can take them anywhere, as long as you have access to hot water. The have a built in pump which allows you to pump up the pressure to 16 bar.

Update

The last couple weeks have been stressful, but we've been finding ways to unwind and forget about the rising river for awhile. Everything is still dry at our house...

Here are some fun things happening:

Here's a shot of Tara and Cindy at the annual Southgate Lounge Polish Party.

Mark, Darlene, Pete, & Cindy at The Down Under after the Drag Show....(don't ask!

This picture is what I like to call, "Two and a Half Men!" YIKES! Thanks to Tina Huderle for dragging us into her "underground fetish" world!

Hilo is doing very well in his new home...and growing fast!

New Puppy!

We have another addition to our brood of dogs....
We have a new German Shepherd Dog puppy, and we named him HILO. (get it, Kona & Hilo are cities we went to on The Big Island of Hawaii!) :-)

He is 8 weeks old, and adjusting to his new digs. Thanks to Crystal Wangler and family for the new puppy! We love him!

Here comes that darn river again!!!!

We are about a week or less away from the first crest of the flooded Red Rive of the North here in GF. There is a second predicted crest when the new snows melt. They are predicting 52'. In the devastating floods of 1997, the river reached 54.4'...so this is a biggie! (we all know predictions are always off!)

Crossing our fingers!
Here is a pic I took of a farm field on my way home from work:

Sunny Liston Tour in St. Thomas USVI

Every Little Thing...Gonna Be Alright.

Cruise Review!

I have wrote and posted my Emerald Princess cruise review on my Cruise Blog at:

http://cruise-aritaville.blogspot.com/

Click the link, read the review, and see some photos from our trip!
I wish we were back there right now! Enjoy!

Bon Voyage!

This weekend, we embark on a 10 day cruise on Emerald Princess. I will write a full review and post some pics upon return on my cruise blog, http://cruise-aritaville.blogspot.com/.

We booked a BF BALCONY GUARANTEE stateroom, and we were assigned a BC Balcony assignment on Aloha Deck.

Sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale with Tammy & Marty, Kent & Darlene, Cindy and I.

We will be visiting:
Antigua
Dominica
Barbados
St. Kitt's
St. Thomas
Princess Cays, Bahamas

Bon Voyage!