ND with Chef GG

Amy's trip to ND was a quick one.  She and Melissa did the race (see prior post) first thing on Saturday morning and then headed straight to the lake for 23 hours of fun.  We got there mid-day Saturday and spent the afternoon "On the Pontoon"! (anyone else have that song going through their head now?)  Brady and Melissa were great hosts and even allowed orange chips to be enjoyed on their clean and light colored boat.

Oh, Yeah!  This Is Living!!

 We even had a Dance Off between Melissa and Brooklyn.  It was a tough call - they both have got some great moves!

Then, it was time for an Awesome pheasant stir fry meal by Brady and then time to relax over a few games of chance.  We were joined by Melissa & Jason, Barb & Eric, Nick & Chelsea, Chick, Bjorn and of course the Mattson/Woodard crew.  Was a great night, but I found out that as a general note - if Brooklyn sits in your lap ... you Will lose your money.  Theory tested by Amy and Bjorn = Proven!

Father's day was on Sunday and although Amy was sad she wasn't with Kris to help him celebrate; she knew he was having a good day too!  And - Amy can't remember the last time that she spent Father's Day with her Dad!  Not sure of a better way to spend it then out on the water!  It was a little windy, but otherwise a beautiful drive around the lake.

Wow - Is that Kasey?  - NOPE! Cousin Brody!
(They could be Twins!)

After our boat ride, we spent the rest of the day on land just enjoying watching the kids ham it up and of course sneaking in a few cuddles too.

 

Father's Day means having your kids attached to you ALL DAY!

 

Time went by too fast at the lake, but it was only 23 hours (yes; I can take That Many Pictures in 23 hours).  We were excited to head to Fargo though for a wonderful Father's Day Dinner with GG!  Dad made an Amazing whisky chicken recipe and we got lots of laughs as Grandma told stories about when she was younger.

 

Grandmas Never get enough Kisses!

After dinner; we retreated to the deck (a rarity this time of year due to mosquitoes, but they hadn't hit peak season yet).  Many stories were shared again and someone had to show off that they got new "bumpers" (as Dad calls them). 

Can you guess who has the new "Bumpers"?

Look! Mom and I bought shoes just like Melissa's fancy ones!

Time to go home! Who's driving!?!

 Wow; 3/4 of the way through the weekend and I haven't even mentioned why I referred to Chef GG!  Grandma makes THE BEST (I am Not Exagerating here... THE BEST!) desserts ever.  Some of my favorites include Carrot Bars, Cherry Bars, Special K Bars and of course Sugar Dipped Raisin Cookies!  Grandma gave me the recipe to her carrot bars years ago and I am pretty decent at them.  Now, it was time to learn how to make the cookies!  Sure, she could just give me the recipe, but there are always tips/tricks that may not make it on the card.  Best way to learn is from the Master!

Cooking the Rasins

Like This, Grandma??

YUM! ~ PERFECTION!

Mom with some added notes of tricks/tips on her recipe

After my lesson, we were able to head for a 'kid free' sushi lunch at one of our favorite spots (Kobe's).  Grandma even joined us for her First Sushi Experience!  I love that she is so daring to try new things!!

Another perk of the trip was that Brooklyn played soccer on Monday nights.  Amy enjoyed cheering for her and even got to watch Brooklyn make a couple of goals!

So Proud of my Little Soccer Gal!

It was a super quick and jam packed trip and Amy tried not to get sad when she had to leave 3 tiny days after her arrival.  The only thing that helped was that she promised she would return in 9 short weeks with two little boys in tow.  Can't wait for my next trip out!



Hard Charge Obstacle Course

Amy recently planned a quick trip home to visit the family.  I stress that it was a whirl wind weekend.  She flew in at 9:30pm on a Friday and was flying home at 9am on a Tuesday.  That left three tiny days to push in a whole lot of fun.  Amy and Melissa enjoy doing races together recently, so we checked what race was available and found out it was the Hard Charge Obstacle Course.  If you remember, Amy recently did an obstacle course and as it didn't' kill her ~ she felt another was a breeze (She Was Wrong, but more on that later)!

Melissa hooked Amy up with some sweet pink socks, a bandanna headband and of course black eye to make us look tough.  We brought mom along with us as our photographer. She was so worried how she would be able to find us.  We said; no problem - just look for our Sweet socks, Bright colored T-shirts and bandannas.  You will see why this was a funny concept later.  Here we are all cute just minutes before the big race.

The race was approximately 4.5 miles long and had 29 obstacles.  As Amy had done an obstacle run before, she was not worried.  What she wasn't aware of was that ND is full of a bunch of tough, crazy people who like to punish themselves with overly tough obstacles.  There were multiple half walls to throw your body over, plenty of muddy ditches, cargo nets, A-walls to climb over, dark tunnels, the back scratcher wires to crawl under, trip wires to jog through and of course plenty of mud hills.  A few of the obstacles were new to Amy (and were some of her favorites).  There was the "Drag Racer"; where we grabbed a tire and ran around the go-cart race track.  There was "Stormin' the Desert" where you army crawl in sand under a very small fence under a covered area.  We entered this together and at one point, Melissa lifted the flap to ask if Amy was OK.  Have to laugh now, but not funny at the time.  The "Jalopy Justice" where we ran up and over three separate cars.  The vertical vengeance; which was a wall at a 75 degree angle with only a rope to pull to get over it.  Not going to lie ~ this was Tough!  Amy had some help and then assisted additional help to her sweet and loving sister.  Such fun obstacles and Amy loved the friendly Midwestern camaraderie during the race!  Everyone was in this race to help all the finishers through the course.

Unfortunately, since the race was over 4 miles long; our photographer was only able to capture a few of the obstacles at the end.  This was the 29th obstacle and included 5 activities in the one obstacle called the "Abusement Park".  This included diving under a metal fence through the mud, pushing through and jumping through some tires, thrusting yourself over an 8 foot wall, rock climbing up to a fireman's pole and sliding down over 24 feet, only to run a few more feet to the finish line.  Whew, I am tired just telling you about it!

Melissa "busting" her way through the tires!

Melissa Thrusting herself over the 8 ft wall
(ps: AMY is on the other side giving her a LIFT!)

Yes, this is Amy TRYING to Thrust Herself over the wall...
(Notice Melissa giggling as she runs away)

Synchronized leg lifts ~ the next Olympic event?!?

Amy's Quote of the day:  "Seriously? Another Obstacle??!?!"

"FINE!  Let's Do This Thing!"



Whoa!  This is Pretty High Up!  You Sure About This?

We Will Finish This Thing... You Know WHY?!?!?!
We are Mattson's Damn It!

Nothing will Stop These Girls! We Definitely EARNED IT!

Yep, these sisters had an incredible time facing obstacles together and crushing them!  It was an incredibly tough race, but Amy was SO glad she was able to share it with her sister.  Oh, by the way ~ check out those Sweet Socks, Bright Colored T-shirts and Bandannas.... yup; they are a Little Muddy.  We were glad our photographer even recognized us! 

Gma Pat's 25th Birthday!

Is it Kasey's B-day?? ... No ....

Is it Karsten's B-day?? ... Nope...

It's Gma Pat's B-day!

We threw a little shin-dig at the Cannode Mansion for Pat's Birthday!  We can't remember the last time they were actually in town for one of their birthdays!  We mentioned to Kasey in the morning that it was Gma Pat's b-day and  he instantly said "Well, then we need Cake!  OH!  And Balloons!"  Kasey and Karsten picked out the balloons together.  They felt Gma would like either Hello Kitty or all the best Superheros on one balloon.  Good Choice Boys!  Most of us like to 'decorate' with balloons ~ not the boys.  They want to chase, bounce and beat people on the head with them.  Yup; boys are sure different than girls!

Hey, Grandma ~ Can I hit you on the head with this balloon?

Naw; Let's get Grandpa instead!

We started out with a sunny happy hour and a wonderful meal (Amy made Saucy Pork Chops!).  Then of course CAKE!  Well; cheesecake to be exact.

These are the Family Moments to Treasure!

Let's All Sing Together! "Happy Birthday to you!... Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday Dear Gma Pat!...Happy Birthday to You!"

Gma, we can help if you need help blowing out those candles!

Lets' try that again!  Happy Birthday!!!

Kasey's Birth Mother

Kasey's Birth Mother, Mallory, reached out to us and wanted to know if we were interested in Skyping with her.  Hmm... How Excited Were We?.... ECSTATIC!  Kasey loves to Skype, but his mood is always hit or miss as to if he wants to skype when we have someone ready on the other side of the computer.  We have now done TWO wonderfully, eventful skypes and wanted to share them with you.  No pictures, but we felt these were important moments to include in Kasey's 'baby book'.

Our first Skype was back on November 11th and it warmed our souls.  After our big family weekend of friends, swimming and football... we sat down to the computer with Kasey; took a deep breath and hoped Kasey would be in the mood to chat.  Mallory answered our call and Kasey just looked at her intrigued.  We have pictures of her, but they were all from before Kasey was born or from the hospital.  It took a bit of warming up, but while Kasey got comfortable; the adults chatted to catch up a bit on each of our lives.  We let her know all about how Kasey is doing in school, how much he loves his little brother and of course he wanted to talk about his big weekend of swimming with his friends.

We loved hearing about how she is settling down in Portland, how she still finds a way to enjoy some horseback riding and enjoyed seeing some of her art that was hung up on the wall. 

Eventually, Kasey started playing with some plastic spiders and wanted to show them off.  After he showed his spiders to her, Kasey's Birth Mother than reached into her backpack and pulled out a plastic, purple lobster that she had found on the street.  Kasey was enamored and giggled so loud.  After that, the ice was broken and we ended up chatting for almost an hour and a half!  Kasey told some stories, but mostly just giggled and showed off for her.  It was so neat to watch them interact with each other!

The next day, Amy picked up the boys from Daycare.  She asked what they did in school that day.  Kasey responded with "I told Ms Cyndi about Skype."  After Amy asked what he told his teacher about her... he responded with an excited "She has a Lobster!"

We also just skyped with her this past Saturday and again... Amazing!  I am constantly amazed by how quickly Kasey connects with her.  There is something to be said for a maternal connection.  Kasey is always hit or miss on Skype, but with Mallory ~ we are 100% successful so far!  We talked to Kasey throughout the past week about Skyping Mallory and how he was extra special cause he got to stay up later than his brother (Bonus!).

Just like last time, we sat down to the computer, took a deep breath and hoped for the best.  We were very pleased to see an incredibly excited Kasey!  He saw Mallory and squealed!  Many stories followed the next hour about his new scooter, how he likes swim class at school (Mon-Thurs each week), how he enjoys the boat and how it was his Gma's birthday.  Kasey then wanted to show off his Lighting McQueen and his Engine Turtle (aka: Ninja Turtle).  Mallory didn't miss a beat - she pulled out the coolest stuffed dinosaur ever; which Kasey is Totally into lately.  He even knew it was a T-Rex with those tiny arms!  Mallory also showed us a canvas she was working on for Kasey.  We have started to do a 'Art Exchange Program' between Kasey and Mallory.  Well; the first three artworks were lost in the mail, but now that we have that issue straightened out... we will be sending her something in the next week!  My Absolute Favorite part was when Kasey decided to make funny faces at Mallory.  I Soo Wish I had a camera, but will try to explain.  Just picture Kasey pulling his lips towards his ears and sticking out his tongue... Now picture an overly cooperating Mallory mimicking similar moves.  I was in stitches and Kasey didn't want to stop!

Kasey was all smiles ~ until it was time for us to say Goodbye.  Kasey isn't really good at Goodbyes so he got all kinds of pouty.  Hopefully, we can Skype with her again real soon!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend is code for "Family BBQs" and boy did we do that!  We started out the weekend having a BBQ at Curtis and Erika's home.  The food was excellent and the entertainment was even better.  Who wouldn't want to watch four kids with Light Sabers running around in the dark.  Really wish I had my camera for this one!  Oh well, you will just have to imagine it!

We also had a lovely BBQ on Saturday.  Yummy white fish grilled over a redwood fire.  Um - Delicious!  Karsten suckered Gma into pitching for him.

Keep your eye on the ball

This is where I heard Karsten tell Gma to stand like this while she pitches

"I'm number one, I'm number one"

After all that batting practice, it's time to play on the swing set.

Grandpa the firefighter putting out the fire

"No, Grandpa like this"

Of course Kasey couldn't miss out on putting out a fire.

Does it get any better than this.

Back in 2004, Carey and Kris attended the Indy 500 Race in Speedway, Indiana (near Indianapolis).  They were so spoiled ~ Carey's Dad hooked them up with a VIP police escort ride and a suite.  They even got to party next to Carlton (from Fresh Prince of Bel Air - yes, we are dating ourselves). Ever since then, the Ryersons continue to host the Indy party.  This is basically an excuse to hold a party in a garage, watch cars go in a circle, drink beer and smoke cigars.  Some of the pics turned out dark (grr), but you get the picture.  A lot of fun was had by all!

Jason, Kendall, Kris, Carey, Erika and Curtis

The kids even had a bouncy house!  Too Cool!!!

Julie cuddling with Karsten on their first date

The Cid crew!
Luke, Julie, Cale, Kasey, Anika and Karsten

Froistad, Amy and Curtis

Kendall, Stees, Carey, Edson and Kris

We also had a 2nd BBQ on Sunday at Jon Osmond's house, but again... I forgot my camera in the car.  I am getting pretty bad at this.

Monday, was a day on the water (no pictures... seeing a theme here? Sigh) and then a BBQ with the family at Chatfield.  A family meal is not complete without walking off our calories after dinner!

Karsten helping Uncle David walk the puppies

"Watch this Grandpa!"

"Hurry up Mommy and Grandma, we gotta catch Grandpa"

"I'm still number one"
Or as Daddy says... "The Best!"