Another bash comes and ........goes

Once again we had another successful Memorial Weekend Bash. After a week long battle to get the house ready, we pull if off the best we could and welcomed our first guest of the weekend........Wayde and Shelley. We hadn't seen them in quite some time, so we spent the early part of the evening getting caught up on family news. Klaus and Ann parked the trailer at Northland resort, came down to say they hadn't eaten and we all went off to Pokegoma for a late dinner. After a wonderful fish fry, cheeseburger, sirloin steak and multiple beer tastings, we head back to the house for a huge bon fire and bed time for the girls.

We started our Saturday with our annual Belgium Waffle Brunch and as breakfast came to a close, we welcomed our next guest........Nancy. After dishes were done, Wayde, Shelley, Klaus and Ann did the healthy thing and went for a bike ride and bar hopped along the way. While they were biking, we needed to run up to Rice Lake to get a couple of items and get back to the house to meet the rest of incoming guests. Sheldon arrived around 3:30 pm and by 4:00 pm the rain started to roll in and along with the rain came John & Andi driving Buford (Buford is South St Paul's retired ambulance) with the lights & sirens a blaring. Once they stopped out popped the last of our guests.......Bri and Michael. After Buford and the trailer were settled in for the weekend, we prepared for dinner. This year Joel & I thought we would try something different........an good ole East Coast shrimp & crab boil. Yum Yum is all I can say......there wasn't much left over, so we are assuming everyone LOVED it! I can say we will be doing more of these this summer. After dinner and dishes.......the after party started. Pretty much the same, bon fire, laughter and John's homemade Apple Crumble.....................which was Lil Andi's demise!

Sunday morning brunch went well and after dishes we all decided to sit under the the tent for a game of Mexican dominoes and cocktails. By late afternoon it was time to start getting ready for the party. Soon after 5:00 pm guests started arriving for the food, fun and dancing.......
Big John and Lil Andi started the music festivities by requesting all couples submit their wedding songs. Joel's brother, John and Joanne danced to "their" anniversary song....I'm All our of Love by Air Supply.
It didn't take long for the shots to start coming out with vengeance and all the brave soles started to sing their best. Bri, Breeanna, Jonathan, Kyle and Michael tried their hand at it, but it was decided quickly that they were not American Idol material, but maybe they would be a hit on the American Idol reject show.......LOL.

After hitting the liquid courage that was being served in the 3 gallon drink dispenser.......Joel, Sheldon, Klaus and Wayde decided to try there hand at "Mustang Sally" which normally is sung by Mike Kensy, who was unable to attend as he was vacationing in Florida. Lets just say........dam we missed you Mike!





Then once the Doctor arrived for the ceremony, Jonathan and his girlfriend , Breeanna....aka Chickie sang a duet which was very cute.





We were able to get a picture of Pam with hubby Jim before she decided to hit the liquid courage hard and heavy. As the evening progressed, she got enough courage.....with the help of the liquid courage dispenser to sing "Pretty Woman" with her backup singer Mike. After her performance her self proclaimed new title was "I'm a Superstar!" Well, just to give an update........"Superstar" didn't make it out of bed until Monday evening at 6:30 pm after spending most of the early morning on the bathroom floor!

The the best announcement of the evening........after being single for over 5 years, Sheldon brought a date for the occasion. May I introduce.................







Polly the Pole..........and they lived happily ever after!








Monday was spent taking the tent down and cleaning our mess up. Friends and family left for the reality of the real world! With the exception of our niece, Courtney.........who extended her vacation until Wednesday when she will go back to the cities with her Uncle Joel.

See you all next year for the 5th annual Memorial Weekend Bash!

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Joel, Amy and Jonathan

Thanks Sheldon & Michael...........

Sheldon and Michael Dickinson came to Joel's rescue on Saturday to help get the trees out of the lake and rebuild the docks. Without their help, we would still be trying to clean up after the horrendous storm that hit us. We were bless with wonderful friends, but not wonderful weather. Big Joe was able to come home to do his 34 hour reset, so we had another hand. Saturday was raining, cold and windy......but that didn't stop our boys from doing the job at hand. Poor Joel was in the water so long that he eventually lost feeling in his legs & feet! It was a long day, but they got 'er done.

While the guys were working in the yard, using the chain saw and talking amongst themselves...........there was an Amber alert issued! Momma deer lost her baby fawn. She was attempting to get fawn to cross the road, but a car come and scared momma back into the woods. Prior to her running into the woods, she talked "deer" to fawn and must have told fawn to stay put. Fawn then ran to our neighbors porch to wait for momma to come back. So, of course had to take advantage of the photo opportunity before momma came back. It took less than an hour before momma came back to get the fawn and they both ran off back into the woods.

Monday, Jonathan finished up his last final and is officially done with school for the summer. Now he will be able to start working more hours and put money back into savings.......yea, right! lol

In case nobody realizes it.......but the 4th annual Memorial Weekend Bash is just over a week away. RSVP's are coming in, but there are still a couple of the regulars out there that haven't sent them in. If you plan on coming and are needing accommodations in the house, please let us know as we will be assigning people to beds in the next week.

Hope to see you all here

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Joel, Amy and Jonathan

One step forward.....Two step back

We have been making headway on getting ready for the party and then in an instant.............more work that needs to be done.

Yesterday morning started as any other ordinary Monday morning. Joel off to the cities at 4 am, me & puppies up at 7 am and Jonathan off to school. Each morning when I get up, I love to look out over the lake from our bedroom window. It is the most peaceful and beautiful sight. This Monday morning was a little different as I looked to the south and there was just a small horizon of sunlight and to the north it was pitch black. I knew we were in for a doosie of a storm. It took a matter of no time before the storm was upon us with huge down pours, thunder, lightning and quarter sized hail. It stormed for a couple hours, then the wind direction changed and the skies started to lighten up a bit. Once the wind changed......it blew and blew and blew some more. Huge tree branches fell on top of the house which sounded as they were coming through the roof. I keep going outside to make sure things were okie dokie. After several hours of the blowing, I called Joel to see if he could look on his weather monitor at work to see how much longer me & the puppies had to go through this crap! As we were talking, I was standing at the door looking out over the lake. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.......white caps on the lake that had to be 3-4 foot tall. They were coming one after another, pulverizing the boat. They hit the boat....one after another and a couple of times went over the boat. I told Joel I thought the dock was slowly moving, so I ran upstairs to get a bird's eye view from the master bedroom. As I approached the window, I got there just in time to see the boat tilt to one side. As the boat was literally balancing one one pontoon, the 24' of dock crumbled and became plywood in an instant. The boat was now being tossed in the waves while attached to one section of the dock. Joel was on his way to Hinckly for work, so as I reported what was happening he immediately turned around to start heading home. He told me to call Steve, Jim, Jonathan or Gary to see if anybody could come & help me secure the boat. I tried everyone I could thing of.......everyone was unavailable. So here I am watching out the door as our boat and dock smash against the rock and there is nothing I can do. I worry that the boat is going to continue going down the shoreline taking my neighbors docks and boats with mine. As I watch this horrifying scene unfold........all of a sudden one of the trees breaks off and falls into the water. As it couldn't get any worse........when it fell, it landed on our other dock (Big Joe's/Pam & Steve's dock) and smashed it to pieces. Prior to this I was crying.......now I flat out balling and frickin out! I watch as the boat and docks get caught up on the tree, but seems to hold them there instead of damaging my neighbors dock. Within about an hour the lake grows calm and I wait for people to respond to my distress call.

Now what we have left is a hell of a mess to get cleaned up before the party........so if anybody out there reading this has nothing to do this weekend, we could sure use the help in clean up, tree removal and dock repair! Give us a call if you are able to help.....even if it is for the day! Every little bit will help.



Now some good news to report......Big Joe has gotten a real job. He left C R England and was hired on by K & S Carriers out of Greenwood, WI. Joel, Grandma Waage and I took him down there Saturday morning. He loaded up his truck and off into the wide blue yonders! He delivered his first solo load yesterday morning in Hummelstown, PA with no incidents! Even though his terminal is only 80 miles from the house, he will stay out until the party. So now we will have one more thing to celebrate. The list is getting longer.

Well, I must go now and continue working on the storm clean up........

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Joel, Amy and Jonathan

The countdown to 4th Annual Memorial weekend has started!

Invitations sent.......check
Dance floor ready.....check
Music secured.......check

Well, ok we are the first to admit we have a ways to go before we start welcoming guests for the season, but we guarantee it will all be done before the party. It is hard to believe that this is going to be the 4th annual Memorial Weekend Bash.........

Over the years we have created so many meomories and know that his year will be no different. I hope that you will join us in welcoming the summer season at the party, Sunday, May 29th starting at 6:00 pm. This year, we will be doing things a little different. For cost reasons, we will be turning dinner into a potluck. We will supply the friend chicken and ask our guests to bring something to pass such as a salad, side dish, dessert and bring your own beverage of choice. Return for our listening and dancing pleasures is Big John & Lil Andi.

For those of you whom are wanting to come for the weekend, we have limited spots at the house, room in the yard for a small pop up/small camper/tent, Northland Resort literally right down the street has cabin rentals & camper sites and hotels/motels in town........just give us a call.

Hope to see or hear from you all soon

Check Back Often.......Check Back Soon

Joel, Amy and Jonathan