X-C Ski

With the fresh snowfall we received on Thursday I decided to take a vacation day today so I could get out and enjoy some cross-country skiing. There is a large regional park about 8 miles west of my house called Carver Park Reserve that has a large complex of long and nicely groomed ski trails. When I got there mid afternoon, the sky was the kind of clear blue you only get on days that are too cold to hold any moisture in the air. As I put on my ski's the temperature was 10 above with a strong breeze dropping the wind chill to around zero. Judging from the condition of the track only two other skiers had been there before me. The track was so clean and crisp it looked like something from the Olympics. The loop I did was 7.6 K over rolling hills and alternating between prairie and woods. The temperature varied greatly between sun, shade and wind so I ended up stopping several times to add or remove layers, but overall I was comfortable the whole time. I also stopped along the way to take a some pictures. I've posted a few of them here and will add more to the Family web site and to my Facebook account. It's going to be cold again today so hopefully the snow will be around a few more days so I can get out again.

The track was gorgeous!

Enjoying the light during Happy Hour

Caching with Uncle Fun

Geocaching is a sport I have enjoyed for over six years now. In early 2003 I introduced my brother Dave to it and he quickly became hooked. Since all the nieces and nephews consider him the fun uncle, his caching name became Uncle Fun. A truer name was never given. Dave and I always find a way to work Geocaching into every visit we have with each other. While he, Tracy and Jamie were in town for their son Cory's drumline competition at Irondale High School, we took the opportunity to get out this morning to cache.

We hit the road by 6:00 am and did the first two caches by the light of our headlamps. That early in the morning it was also a bit chilly with the air temp at -2 and a -15 wind chill. That is what we both enjoy most about this sport, you are challenged by many things including the level of difficulty in the hide itself, the time of day, the weather and your own state of mind. Some caches you walk up to with an almost Zen like focus and you know were it is long before you ever see it. Others you can spend 20 minutes searching for and it ends of being right in front of you.

The highlight of the day was finding a cache that was a puzzle cache called Our Solar System, in which you had to find 9 caches, one named for each of the planets. At each one that was a piece of the puzzle such as X=3. Once we did all 9, we (and when I say we, I mean Uncle Fun!) had to do the math to calculate the final coordinates for the 10th cache. We went stomping off to find this one, the GPS's leading us into a large frozen wetland. No way someone would hide something here. It dawned on Dave that maybe there was a flaw in his calculations. Once back at the car he found the error and re-did the math. Being one digit off had put us over a mile away from where we needed to be. Our error corrected we navigated to the correct spot and found the cache. But wait, there was no log book so we though it had been stolen. Got back to the car only to read the print out that said if there is no log book, you did not find the correct container! So off we went again, this time finding a secondary container that was in fact the final. Success! We had a great time and as always look forward to our next caching adventure.

Uncle Fun with the cache container at Our Solar System

Star of the North Dancesport Classic

Catie has been taking Ballroom Dance lessons since last March. At first she was learning basic moves and technique in formation classes. One of her goals was to be able to compete. So, in September the studio owner paired her with a male partner Catie's age, a boy named Aaron. Star of the North is a regional amateur competition that attracted dancers in from 5 surrounding states. Catie and Aaron competed in three latin dance catagories, Cha Cha, Rumba and Samba. The kids did a wonderful job in their first official competition. And more importantly, Catie had a great time. She is more hooked than ever on dance and is looking forward to the next competition.

Happy Valentines Day

Valentines day has always been a day marketed to us as the one time of year to show your spouse how much you care for him/her by purchasing drastically overpriced flowers and candy, fighting huge crowds to dine at a restaurant or see a movie at the theatre. As we started raising our children, Chris and came to the realization that all of the things that Valentines encourages us to pack into a single day are really actions that we wanted to make a part of our daily lives. Giving flowers through out the year, surprising each other with a night out for dinner and a movie and expressing our love and appreciation for each other in hundreds of small but meaningful ways helps us to keep the Valentines Day spirit throughout the year. Not to say we ignore the actual day, we just keep it more now key with a focus more on each other and our kids. Chris made a beautiful Ahi Tuna dinner with roasted potatoes and salad. Catie, Nik and I made heart shaped cookies and Chris and I enjoyed a movie on DVD. All of which were much more meaningful to us than fighting the crowds and stressing out. I hope you all had a chance to spend Valentines with those that are special in your life. I encourage you to keep the spirit of Valentines day alive throughout the year.

Our fabulous Valentines Day dinner

Our assortment of yummy cookies

Drumline Drama

We had a really fun weekend. Today my Godson Cory performed with the Whitnall High School Drum Line team at the Sauk Rapids Drumline competition. Dave, Tracy and Jamie spent the weekend visiting with us while in town to watch Cory. It was a nice treat to spent time with them.

Cory Performing with the Falcon Drumline

Cory, Nik and I after his performance

Nik and Cory

Cory, Chris and Catie at the Sauk Rapids competition