Recent Happenings May 2008

Well, Tom & I have had some interesting adventures lately. Mostly Tom... School's almost out for the summer, and we are both excited to have more time to spend together, travel, and work on cleaning projects around the house. Heidi's got marching band this summer, a conducting symposium in Duluth, and we have our trips to NYC and Norway/Spain. It should be busy, but lots of fun!

Two topics below: (1) Knee Injury and (2) Memorial Day Weekend...be sure to scroll down.

Knee Injury:

So the Friday before Memorial Day, Tom was subbing in PE at Coon Rapids HS and was playing football with the kids. He and a very tall (6' 4" ?) boy jumped up for the same ball. Tom came down with the catch, but the kid's foot landed on the inside of Tom's knee and pushed it out. Popping was heard by anyone nearby, and Tom has not walked on that leg since. The ambulance was called, and Tom is now dealing with the slow process of Work-Comp as he gets diagnosed and begins a plan for treatment/repair.

The results of the MRI...

Tom's MRI on Monday (6/2) showed a completely torn MCL and ACL, miniscus damage, and his femur shows a small fracture at the bottom tip. YUCK! No wonder he had so much bruising and swelling!!! Check out the pictures below...

Memorial Day Weekend at the Cabin 2008:

Tom and I, my parents (Dan & Nancy), and Sue & Drew (Heidi's brother) and their 2 dogs went to the cabin for the weekend. YES - Tom and I actually drove up to the cabin after he got out of the ER after injuring his knee! He decided it was better to be sitting around in a beautiful setting such as the cabin versus being bored at home. As you can see above, he spent some time on the boat and ended up getting a sever sunburn on his ankle just below his knee brace.

Besides the knee and the sunburn, we had a really nice weekend. I caught my first small mouth bass, and my first crappie. My dad and I both caught larger crappies that we decided to keep, clean, and eat. I watched my dad clean the fish, just to learn, but it was definitely too gross for me to do myself! Check out the pictures below from the weekend....

Sue, Arizona

Pearl, Tommy




Tommy (pre sunburn), Sue & Zoner

Sue's first worming, catching, and taking off a hook!

OOPS - we lost the anchor, Pearl LOVED fishing!

Pearl was so excited about Dad's crappie, she practically knocked him over as he tried to put the fish in the live-well. The picture on the right is the crappie I caught!

Norway & Spain 2008

We are going to Norway and Spain July 24 - August 6 this summer, 2008! We are going to Oslo, Norway to visit our friend Per, and his mom generously invited us to spend 1 week in her timeshare condo in Southern Spain in the resort town of Marbella on the Mediterranean Sea. We are REALLY excited to see two new countries as well as finally spend some time with Per in his home country.


Oslo, Norway:

Marbella, Spain:

Heidi in NYC with St Francis Band

Heidi recently went to NYC with her band from St Francis High School. She had a GREAT time and even got to meet Tracy Morgan! You can check out ALL of the pictures on the band's web site: www.rschooltoday.com/sfhs/band . Click on NYC Tour Pics in the lower left corner.

Soooo... how Heidi met Tracy Morgan:
She was at the end of her group as they were walking back to their bus at the end of their day. She stopped to take a picture of mounted policemen when someone nudged her and said, "That's a great picture to take of New York." She turned as she said "Yeah it is" and found herself talking to Tracy Morgan. She asked "Are you Tracy?" and he smiled and said "Yeah." She shook his hand and gave her name, said nice to meet you. She complimented him on his very funny recent appearance on Conan O'Brien, which he seemed appreciative she had watched and he very humbly said thank you very much. She then asked for a picture with him and snapped the picture herself. Pretty good picture for just snapping it off myself!!!

Weight 08

4-20-08

Tom & Heidi are both participating in a weight loss program started by some family and friends. Since January 6, Heidi has lost 20 pounds and Tommy has lost 18. Tom has lost 3 in around his waist, and Heidi has come down 2 pants sizes. We have both plateaued lately, but hope to start the downward trend again this next week.

Check back for more updates later...

Tom's New Position in Ramsey

Tom has recently become active in the government of the City of Ramsey as a member of the Environmental Policy Board. They just hosted an Evironmental Expo at the beautiful new Ramsey Municipal Center, which went quite well. They had many vendors who had booths with conservation ideas as well as classes to attend. The city also gave away some 6-8 foot trees as door prizes.

Check back for more news on this later...