Pool Party

We had a great time over at Maria's parents house on Saturday for a little pool party. They were gracious hosts, had tons of great food, and the afternoon was sunny and warm - perfect for an afternoon in the pool. Here we are playing volleyball in the shallow end.

 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

At tonight's Twins vs. Blue Jays game, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was lead by the 'Washington Senators' from the Damn Yankees production Norris is in this summer. (If you click on this picture of the Jumbotron, you can see Norris in the upper left)

Pete & Maria - 5th Anniversary

Pete & Maria - Riviera Docks, originally uploaded by onebigswede.

Maria and I just got back from a short vacation in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for our 5th anniversary. We had a great time eating out, going for a boat tour, and seeing the Yerkes Observatory on Lake Geneva. You can view our pictures here..

Saturday morning jaunt

After reading about the Mill City farmer's market in the paper this week, Joel and I decided to check it out. I was especially interested in the homemade mini doughnuts. We took the bus to the Metrodome stop and walked to the market. Unfortunately, it was extremely busy (guess other people read the newspaper) and many food vendors were either sold out or had very long lines, including the mini doughnut stand. Joel toured the Guthrie and its 'endless bridge' which he had not seen before. We then walked across the Stone Arch Bridge and found our way to the newly opened Water Power Park (accompanying picture is taken from there). Deciding it didn't make sense to backtrack to the Metrodome stop, we ended up walking all the way from St. Anthony Main to the University of Minnesota to catch a Como Avenue bus back home (we could have caught a connecting bus on University Avenue if Joel hadn't been in a Dunn Brothers buying iced coffee when it went by). But Joel did want to bike in the first place, so he gets credit for that.

Patio nears completion

On friday we had carpenter come out and build a set of stairs down from our sliding patio door. We now have a beautiful set of cedar stairs, a fire pit and a new patio set which makes the new patio almost complete. Only a couple of finishing touches (staining the stairs) and we'll be done!

 

Bahhston.

Hey Fam. I'm chillin' in Boston taking two international public health classes at Boston University. It's pretty sweet. This week we went on two field trips for one of my classes and we saw a lot of cool community based health initiatives. Plus the one we went to today has a tight charter school that they run that is just amazing. And the school invited us to attend their hip-hop opera that they are performing on Sunday, so a bunch of us are going to go. It's called "In Chains, We Lay This Rose" and it's "a hip hop chronicle of race, class, and prisons in the American Labor Movement." How cool is that?!? Plus we watched a cool documentary that Harvard made about this school. Oh, and the Irish Minister of Education has called it the best school in the nation and possibly the world. How cool!

Oh, and Maizie, I met two babies about your age today. They were twins and being brought in by their dad to the health clinic for their 6 month checkup today. They were adorable and stopped our tour for about 5 minutes while all the people oohed and ahhed. The dad seemed unsure of what to do with all the attention from us and all the nurses. Just thought you'd like to know, Maizie.
Here is my school:
Although I am not cool enough to be in that building (the School of Public Health) since that is only for the administration and what not.






Here is where I spend my time:


(The Medical Instruction Building)






Well, that's all for now. I'll tell you more about all my pinko commie adventures in public health. Just kidding. It's totally capitalist. In fact, for my less liberal family members you'll be glad to know, we worked on a model in class of how to promote market capitalist and career training into refugee camps. Yay!

Shakopee Sunset

We had a beautiful sunset last night down here in Shakopee - thought i'd share it with you.

Congrats on your graduation, Tom

Tom, Beckie and niece Maizie at his party

We built our new patio this weekend!

Patio, originally uploaded by onebigswede.

Starting on Friday we built a new patio on the back of our house. Three days later we are very sore and in pain, but we now have a patio! We can't wait to have you all out and share it with you all!

Maizie in May (Mai?)

I think I've added most dates correctly, except for Mark & Nancy's and John and Lynda's anniversaries (for which I only remember the month).

Joel, Liv, and I babysat Maizie last night while Matt and Janelle went out for their 5th anniversary. She was a lot of fun.

New Google Calendar

You'll notice that something has changed on the old anderson blog! I have posted a new google calendar app to the right so that we can all keep track of upcoming family events, birthdays, etc. I have given everyone with an account for this blog permissions to post to this calendar as well using the same email address as you use for the blog.

I have entered a few birthdays and events into the calendar, but if you could all fill in all of your own birthdays (as well as any upcoming events) I would appreciate it.

Hopefully you'll all find this useful.

May 20

Happy 86th birthday Mom!

Today May 20th marks the 86th anniversary of Mae Christine Anderson's(our mom or grandmother or mother in law, etc.) birth. Her sacrificial love for her family was such an important part of our growing up years and influenced who we are today. I wish she would have had a chance to know and enjoy four daughters in law and the grandchildren. Peace to her very special memory.

Double Celebration - May 18

A Very Happy Thirtieth Birthday to

Incredible Ingrid & Marvelous Mae.

I hope you had a wonderful day with double fun.

Nancy

End Of The Year

Hello Family-Pants! How are you? I am doing well. I have one final left (today at 5:05) and it's Russian, so I'm sure I'll do fine (but that's because they're nice graders, not because I'm some sort of super genius).
In even more awesome news (I know---how could there be more awesome news?!) I am probably a certified yoga/pilates (aka Powerflow as we say at the UW) instructor. I took my exam yesterday. The written part was medium hard, but I think I rocked it, and I know I rocked the practical exam because no one showed up to take my class (the two other people who were scheduled for my test exam spot). But I'm so awesome that I didn't even need people to take my class and taught an invisible classroom. I think I impressed the teacher as she said that I "definitely passed" that part and that pretty much provided I didn't fail the written part (which I don't think I did) I have a job in the fall as a yoga/powerflow instructor (hopefully more powerflow because that's more hardcore/awesome).
Well, that's my news. I'm coming home on Monday for a bit.
Good bye!
ps That picture my most recently finished cross stitch project. Not counting a bib for Maizie.

Peter's 31st Birthday Bash

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that we have sent each of you and evite to your email accounts for Peter's birthday party on Saturday, May 12th. Please make sure to view the invite and RSVP by this Thursday, May 10th. When you RSVP, please select an item to bring in the drop down box and type it in the comment box as well. There are only 7 items listed in the drop down box, so if there aren't any items left when you RSVP, please just type what you will be bringing in the comment box.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you there!

Someone stole the attention from the birthday girls...

Up, up, and away!

What could be better than a fine spring day to fly a kite?

R2D2!

As you may or may not know, the Post Office is celebrating 30 years of Star Wars with some interesting promotions.

One of them is the special R2D2 mailboxes - and there is one near my work, so here are a few pictures I took of the little droid today:

Happy Easter!