Di celebrates her Birthday in New York

I had to go to New York for business. Because I had to go on Di's birthday, I took her with me.
While I was in meetings, Di spent the days shopping and going to the museum.
We celebrated her birthday at Rue 57 on 6th Avenue. They lit the tree in Rockefeller Center while we were there. We had drinks at the Paramount Hotel in Time Square and then went to see the tree.
On the way back to the hotel, Di got a chance to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at our house. 35 people showed up.
We got to meet Di's new nephew Ti from Casper Wyoming. Ti is Di's brother Doug's new son.
Everyone had a great time.That's Ti in the kitchen with Nicole.

Elle had a big day playing with all the kids that came. I think they wore her out!

Our nephew Joe comes to town

Our nephew Joe came to town to work on a bridge project for 3 weeks. He has been working in South Dakota for the last couple of years. The last time we saw him was during Sturgis week 2 years ago. He asked if he could stay with us for the first week he was here until he found a motel room. He ended up staying at are house for all but a few days during the second week he was here.
Gage and Elle really enjoyed having him around.
We went out for drinks on a Saturday night while he was here. Nicole and Joey didn't know when to say when!






Joey also helped me with some tree removal while he was here. It was nice to have the help.
He even gave Di some cooking tips while he was here!
It was really fun having him around.

Ron White

Di and I went to the Ron White show at Treasure Island Casino on Saturday September 6th. (no pictures because you can't take a camera into the casino's public areas) Diane gave me the tickets for Father's Day. He was great. I laughed so hard I cried for most of the show.
We checked in, ate at the Buffet, went to the show and then gambled till 1:30AM. Lost a little money but had a great time. The slot machines were tight. I had a good time playing blackjack in the high stakes room. Did win some in there but not enough to cover the earlier slot machine losses.
I recommend going to his show if you get a chance.

Two Harbors Trip 2008

Our adventure began on Friday August 29, 2008, we packed up the Harley (No small feet for Di, I packed 3 days worth of clothes in the back tour pack with room for shopping!). We took off out of the driveway and the bike killed! Once Dick got the bike started it revved up to 3000 RPM's and wouldn't idle down, good thing we have options. Dick pushed the bike back up into the garage and put the tour packs in the Porsche added some sandals and Capri's and off we went.

We took Highway 61 and at Askov, MN we went on to Minnesota 23 to Duluth, what a great drive. Two Harbors is about 20 miles north of Duluth. We stayed in a new addition at Superior Shores off of Burlington Road. Our room had a whirlpool tub and fireplace that was romantic and gorgeous. We had a view of the lake and how nice to fall asleep listening to the waves hit the shore each night.




Who's that sitting on the rocks?















We tried our hand at rock skipping, our grandson had had skipped 11 "skips" on a camp trip with his Grandma Liz this summer, I got 1 (OK, none) and Dick got 3. It was fun trying!


We took off on Saturday morning to Grand Marais MN 85 miles north of Two Harbors straight up Highway 61. Dick was a good sport and let me stop at shops along the way. Bought things for the kids and am looking forward to giving Gage and Elle their "Flying Monkey's", a flying stuffed monkey that screams when flying through the air, Nicole's going to hate me!


Our stops brought us
to Cross River Heritage Center with a path to a waterfall, beautiful!




Every chance I got to put my feet in the water I did, it was cold and felt like heaven!









Our neighbors Tony and Julia own a second home right out of Grand Marais and we were able to stop in and say Hi! What a beautiful spot they have.

The landscape is so incredible in this part of Minnesota. Lake Superior is so clear it is amazing to look down into the water and see all the rocks below.


Not to mention the flowers, breathtaking, everywhere.

Saturday night my girlfriend Di and husband Jay sailed into Two Harbors on their 55 foot boat so we were able to enjoy dinner with them. Sorry no picture! Di is launching a new product/business so Dick was able to talk shop about packaging. Sunday was another gorgeous day. We packed up and headed to Duluth and walked the docks. Di and Jay invited us for a sleep over on the boat but I was missing the grandkids so we headed home. What a perfect weekend with my guy! Already planning on coming back later this fall with the kids, can't wait!

One last thing to note. Pies and carmel rolls were at every restaurant and stop we practically made! The best pie is at Betty's right out of Two Harbors, I suggest the Banana Cream and Raspberry Rhubarb Crunch. As far as carmel rolls when we were at Cross River Heritage Center there is a pizza/sub/bakery right next door, the BEST carmel roll ever (!) was eaten there, ask them to warm it up, YUM!

Wisconsin Dells

We spent 3 days at the Wisconsin Dells with Nicole, Rich, Gage and Elle. We stayed at the Mount Olympus Resort and Theme Park. The weather was great. The kids really enjoyed the water and the rides. We all stayed in 1 room which wasn't the best way to go but it worked. Played miniature golf on Monday night and Gage got a hole-in-one on the last hole!

31 years together

On August 6th Di and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. I was in New York on the 4th and 5th so I had ample opportunity to pick her up a gift. I bought her a Versani bracelet and necklace. She bought me 2 Versani bracelets;)  Nicole, Rich, Gage and Elle came over with cards and a gift certificate to the Cloverleaf.  Diane and I went to Champs for dinner.  I asked Di if she wanted to try to make it another year!

Making Elle mad!

Fire Department retirement party

Last night there was a small party at the Cloverleaf Bar and Grill to celebrate my retirement from the fire department. I'd like to thanks all of those who attended and

send out a special thanks to Brad and Jen for organizing the party.

First time bloggers

At the ripe old age of 51, Di and I decided to try our hand at blogging. We have been married for almost 31 years, August 6th will be our anniversary. We live in the twin cities area of St.Paul/Minneapolis. We have 1 married daughter and 2 grandchildren.

Our lives to this point have better than we ever expected when we first got married. Over the years Di and I worked extremely hard to build a good life for our daughter and ourselves. Now we have the luxury of sharing "the good" life with our grand kids. 

We are not sure where this blog will go but hopefully we can share a little part of our lives with who ever cares to read our blog.

About Dick

            

                        I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. I  moved to St. Paul in 1975.

Shortly thereafter I started working in a folding carton plant. In 1978 I began selling folding cartons for that company and have been a sales person ever since.

A folding carton is a form of packaging made out of paperboard. Cereal boxes are the best example of a folding carton, everyone knows what a cereal box looks like. Most of the cartons I sell today are used in the cosmetic industry. My specialty is environmentally friendly packaging. I am a co-inventor of 2- 3M patents for recyclable CD ROM packages.

In 1980 I joined a suburban volunteer fire department and over the years I achieved the rank of Fire Chief. I recently retired from the fire department after serving for 28 years.

My other interest are riding our harley, collecting watches,  DIY work around the house, collecting tattoos, traveling and of course spending time with my family.