Last weekend was great! Our son Nick got married to Hannah. Our last child to get married, and the second one of our kids in 3 months. Whew! It was great weather as well. Hannah is from Spirit Lake, Iowa, and the wedding was in Okoboji! Beautiful area, especially this time of year. It was time to get our kids, and grandkids, as well as the rest of our families, back together again to celebrate.
The actual venue was in two barns…one for the marriage, and one for the reception. Very beautiful!
Of course, I got to spend some time dancing with my granddaughter Tessa as well.
Later, she was so tired, she fell asleep on my shoulder, and I got to hold her for an hour and take in all of the snuggles. Grandkid snuggles are priceless! I don’t just like grandkids, I love them! There is something about them that is just hard to describe. You love them with all of your heart, and in essence, it is like taking care of your kids, but now we have become smarter and wiser. We get a second chance of doing things we learned from our own kids as the first round. They melt my heart.
This wedding for me was a little different. I got to walk my girls down the aisle, waiting for their husband to be at the end. Nick walked Sarah and I down, and I got to watch the look on Nick’s face as Hannah and her dad walked down. That look on his face! It brought back memories when I was standing down at the end waiting for Sarah and her dad to walk down. That just seems like yesterday! 34 years later though…and what can I say…I thought I was in love the day I got married, and I was, but the love has grown so much more over the years that is does not even compare. I hope the same for my kids! There are always challenges. Always things to work out. But you work them out together. Now I get to sit back and wait for more grandkids to come!
Good luck to your future Hannah and Nick! We are always there for you, just like we are for Molly and Tanner, and Dan and Megan…and of course the grandkids, Tessa and Connor. The future is bright. Take care of yourself and stay healthy. We took the grandkids for a walk the morning of the wedding while everyone else was getting ready. It is never too early to get them moving! Keep moving everybody!
A week ago, Sarah and I went on vacation to the Black Hills and stayed in Hill City. The color changes were awesome. I met up with 2 of my brothers and sisters-in-law, and also spent a few days hiking with friends, Tom and Sue Beaudry. What a great week! The weather was great, and the scenery was even better. Here are some shots of activities!
Here are some with Tom and Sue! And of course, Charlie!
Here are some with my brother Ray and his wife Joni!
The colors were so beautiful! I spent a lot of time taking pictures on this trip. Of course, Sarah and I got a few runs in as well. I did some experimenting with us running through some of the tunnels for pictures.
There was never a dull moment. We hiked Crazy Horse, hit Spearfish Canyon, hiked numerous different trails. We tried to find the Northern Lights at Sylvan Lake, but no luck. In fact, we had better luck this week back at home at Jackson Park seeing them Thursday night! We even had some company out on the Mickelson Trail one day when we were running!
We had turkeys out every day at the cabin we were staying at, with as many as 13 at one time. I love spending a week out in the Hills each year, and the Fall is my favorite time. It never disappoints. I will be posting pictures on my Facebook page for a while, because there were just too many to only use a few. As you can tell, we were active every day. This is how you get to see different things. Move and explore. You never know what you are going to come across. Until next time…keep moving everybody!
Well, it was a great weekend! We had our two grandkids for the weekend, starting Friday night. Tessa turned one on Friday! Happy Birthday smiling girl! She has always been such a happy kid. The only time I have seen her really crabby is when she is hungry, and then look out!!! I think she takes after her Grandma Sarah, and Aunt Megan in this department! We had gotten together earlier in the month because Connor turned three, and we celebrated both of their birthdays with family then. Now, it was just Grandpa Dan and Grandma Sarah’s weekend!
We got started later in the evening Friday, but we started out with plenty of giggles and hugs! We were just getting geared up for the rest of the weekend.
After everybody was up, and ate breakfast, we took off for Jackson Park to hit the playground. We walked over there…or rode in the burley, or biked for Connor…or Connor was even giving piggyback rides…
…whatever it took to get there! Once we got there, we had a ball! Climbing, sliding, laughing…repeat…x 50!
Tessa, though, as the birthday girl, got the best ride out of anybody! Just kick back and enjoy the ride! Connor would get a burst of energy and then have a race on his bike and made Grandma run to try and keep up!
He was cruising on that bike, though!
It was a great weekend. One thing is for sure, our grandkids are going to know their grandparents, and we are definitely going to be having them moving. We can have fun, explore, get some exercise, and have a great way to spend some time together, and just play. This is why we stay in shape. This is why we want to take care of our health, and at least have a say in overall controlling our health as much as we can. Strive to Survive! Enjoy the ride along the way. Keep moving everybody!
Last week Sarah and I spent 4 days in Pierre competing at the 40th Annual South Dakota Senior Games. It is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Between the two of us, we competed in 17 events, which included biking, running, strength training contests, and jump rope. This week has been a little bit of a struggle trying to recover, but we now feel we are getting back to our usual self.
We started off Thursday afternoon with power lifting contests. This included, bench press, barbell curls, planks, pushups, wall sits and jump rope. We have been working this last year working on strength, and Sarah stepped out of her comfort zone on a few of these.
Friday morning was a 20k bike ride, about 12 1/2 miles. We both have to admit, we had not done as much bike riding as we would have liked. Some of the people in these races travel to all of the different states and just compete in these bike rides. They also had a 5k and 10k time trial, and we held off on this.
Saturday morning brought the 5k run, and Sunday the 10k run. Our legs were struggling on the runs from the bike ride on Friday!
All in all, Sarah had 7 events, and I had 10. We won 17 medals. 8 Gold medals, and 9 silver medals. Each category is based on our age group.
These were the medals before the last event. Tons of fun, and everyone cheers each other on. It gives us some new activity goals to work on each year.
Here is a picture of the statistics for the athletes participating this year. 435 total athletes and included 18 different states! They have bowling, pickleball, basketball, track events, walking, running, strength softball throw, and on and on! Something for everyone!
The next 2 years will now be in Huron, so we will be staying with Sarah’s parents during the games. We are already marking our calendars for early August next year. There are always new goals to achieve, and different ways to achieve them. You just have to remember to have fun along the way. There was a 92-year competing, and would put the majority of us to shame, especially when he can do 17 pullups! Pullups–one of the most difficult exercises to do! Way to show us all how it is done! Keep moving everybody!
What a great way to start off the weekend! We celebrated my grandson Connor’s Birthday (July 17, now age 3), and my granddaughter Tessa, (August 23, and will be one!) on Saturday. Great day, and a lot of fun! Nothing like watching your grandkids face light up with each present and celebrating with everyone there! He still loves tractors, but now is really into Dinosaurs!
My daughter Molly did a great job making the cake. “Three Rex” was on his T-shirt. Chocolate “lava” rocks, and mini dinosaurs. Awesome!
Tessa was just her usual smiling, laid back self, and taking it all in, crawling everywhere. She probably had more fun with the paper and the bags than what was in them!
Their other cousins were of course surrounding them helping them with the presents as well. And, of course, there is Tessa crawling in the middle of everything! Besides the awesome cake, my son-in-law Tanner made a burger menu that specialized a choice that featured each one of them in the family.
My choice for the day was the Connor Saurus Rex House Special! Bacon, cheese, absolutely no veggies! HA! It was great! They had as side dishes–chips, because our whole family loves chips, and Green Beans, because Molly has the best green beans in Tyler, MN! Fun! This is what makes birthday celebrations so fun. Unique ideas. Kids laughing and playing. Great food! Happy Birthday to both Connor and Tessa! You are loved more than you could possibly realize! Keep moving everybody!
