M.S. Walk 2016

Team Kenneya 2016

I am proud to say that Team Kenneya had another successful M.S. Walk this year! Our team was smaller this year as many friends were out of town, but we had the happy addition of Ray and Marcia Brown (Christy's parents, Luella's grandparents), Luella and dear friend Eric.  We enjoyed the pre-walk controlled chaos and camaraderie, then the motivating drum brigade leading the walk. 

At the beginning of the walk, team Kenneya was about $500 short of our $2,000 goal, so I started a Facebook campaign to hit that mark!  I posted real-time photos of our walk progress and asked for pledges along the way. With a final pledge from my sister-in-law Shelly, we hit our goal! 

A huge thank you to all of you: my friends, family and supporters, for making the 2016 M.S. Walk a success!

Finish Line!

Marshall/Cathedral Night Out

Marshall/Cathedral Night Out

A few months ago I received a newsletter from my high school, Marshall (Duluth, MN) and the newsletter contained a request for volunteers to host a "Marshall/Cathedral Night Out" in any city throughout the United States. This sounded fun to me, so I volunteered for Portland, Oregon!

I chose East Burn Restaurant as our venue because I've hosted gatherings there before and the owner and the event manager are very accommodating.  Once we were booked, Marshall School sent out the invitations via email and regular mail and handled follow-ups.  The first response I received was from a man named Bob, class of 1947.  Bob had left our high school (called Cathedral back then) as a sophomore to enlist in the military and fight in World War II.  During his time away he received his GED, but upon his return he wanted to go back to high school.  The monsignor at the time decided instead to give him an honorary diploma, class of 1947.  I was amazed, and honored to have this gentleman attend the gathering.  Several more folks responded and I was happy that my turnout would be better than expected.

Eight alumni and two partners attended Marshall/Cathedral Night Out, ranging from Class of 1947 to Class of 1993.  Joe from the class of 1970 brought some publications and yearbooks along for everyone to peruse.  Unfortunately the venue was louder than normal as a Democratic Debate was in process and East Burn is known as a "Bernie Bar", but we had a nice spot reserved in the downstairs bar and could hear each other well enough.  We had a couple classmates from the class of 1969 and a couple of classmates from the class of 1970 and they had fun catching up with each other.  

Overall the evening was a great success and it was wonderful to meet other alumni from Marshall/Cathedral High School in Duluth, MN.  It was fun to look back and talk about our time there, enjoy a fun night out, make new connections and talk about the future.

A special thanks to Marshall School as well for picking up the tab for the evening, which was a nice surprise for all.

Reminiscing

Joe (Class of '70) and his wife Nancy

Joe brought memorabilia

Portland in Bloom, Play Dates and Sleepovers

My Loves!

We have kept quite busy so far this April, enjoying some sunshine and the beauty of Portland in full bloom.  We have a lilac tree we share with our neighbor which smells so lovely, I had to bring some in to enjoy.  We spent lots of time with friends during the month, especially the little ones! Luella's school had a babysitting fundraiser which I decided would be fun even though Steve had a Blazer's Basketball game that night. I met up with Christy and Andy, we dropped of Luella and Maddy at Lu's school with the babysitters, and then Christy, Andy and I went out for dinner at Bang Bang.  After that we headed to Daynia and Brett's new place for just a bit then it was time to pick up the girls. Maddy's face was painted like the brightest pink kitty I've ever seen and I swear it was semi-permanent because it took quite a few washings for her normal pallor to emerge.


Maddy and Steve had April 8 off because ChildRoots was closed for parent/teacher conferences.  They met up with Christy and Lu at the zoo and had a great time! That afternoon I met with Maddy's teacher, Amber, and chatted about Maddy. It was a good meeting!

Maddy had a play date with her ChildRoots friend Karina, and we picked up Karina and took the girls to Kung Fu Panda 3.  The girls loved the movie, then we went to a park for some play time. Fun day!  We had two sleepovers- Althea and Luella - a week apart. We love having Maddy's little buddies over, and so does Maddy!

I also went out for Emily's birthday, Maddy and I did some spring decorating, and Maddy had her first experience in a Disney store...which was like taking her to a magical wonderland.  She got some Frozen characters and a new nightgown out of the experience.

Marnie's evening out with Christy and Andy

Maddy's semi-permanent face paint

New Nightgown

Recreating the Ladybug Scene (see below)

Ladybug Scene at Grandmom & Granddad's

THREE Thumbs Up!

Goofball Maddy

Maddy and Lu at the Zoo

Maddy and Karina play date - Kung Fu Panda 3

Playing at the park post movie

Swinging fun

Althea and Maddy...Bubbles!

Althea Sleepover

Fun with Stickers on Steve's forehead

Maddy and her bear "Pickles"

Emily and Melissa - out for Emily's birthday

Christy and me

Time to feed Fishstix

Luella's turn to sleep over

Mmmmm, breakfast!

Loud morning fun

Easter Trip to Minnesota - Part II: Twin Cities

Mike and Jan with the Grandkids

Saturday morning we headed to the Twin Cities, first stop Surly Brewing where we met up with a crew of friends.  It was great to see everyone that came out, including all the kiddos!  After that we headed to Jeff, Sara, Jana and Colin's home where we had fun decorating Easter eggs, pizza for dinner, followed by a massive cousins movie evening/sleepover.  It was great! Maddy was ecstatic - best sleepover ever! 

Sunday was Easter morning, so once the kiddos woke up, they set to work finding all the Easter eggs and baskets the Easter bunny left.  Lots of fun and good hunting by the kids.  We all went to Easter mass at a Lutheran church Jeff and Sara's family attend.  This went well, lots of songs and the children were called to the front at one point for the "children's sermon".  The pastor asked the children questions and received some pretty classic answers including: Jesus was a magician, and in answer to "is the ocean green", "yes if it's covered with algae".  Well said.  After mass we all headed back to Jeff and Sara's for a yummy Easter brunch.

After brunch we headed to Mike and Jan's home where we spent more time catching up, playing with Maddy and relaxing.  Monday Mike and Jan joined us for a visit to Sr. Eunice at her home in Corondolet Village.  It was nice to see her again, and she enjoyed our visit - especially seeing Maddy again.  I'm glad we were able to spend some time with her!  Not long after that it was time to head to the airport and make our way back to Portland.  All in all, another great Minnesota get-away.

Friends!  At Surly Brewing

Jon and Delaney

Maddy, Jana and Colin decorating Easter Eggs

Cousins Sleepover!

Look! An Egg!

Easter morning Egg hunt

Easter Brunch

Jana and Maddy - Buddies!

Faust Family Easter pic

Jeff, Sara, Jana and Colin

Ben, Shelly, Eli, Anton and Leah

Steve, Maddy, Marnie and Sister Eunice

Easter Trip to Minnesota - Part I: Up North

Minnesota White Easter

Since we hadn't been to Minnesota since last July we decided it was time for another trip, this time over Easter.  We took and early morning flight and arrived the Tuesday before Easter and Steve's dad picked us up from the airport. That evening we had dinner at the Pool and Yacht Club with Steve's parents and stayed at their house.  The next morning Steve, Maddy and I stopped at my Minneapolis U.S. Bank office so I could say hello to my co-workers (and they had a pot luck brunch for me!) before we headed up north to my parent's home.

We visited with my parents from Wednesday until Saturday morning and had a great time!  We packed in as much fun as possible, decorating Easter Cookies and eggs, making a family recipe together Pot Pie (depression era soup with large square homemade noodles, potatoes and salt pork), and Maddy and Granddad making blueberry Easter themed pancakes (just to name a few!).  We also headed to Bayfield on Thursday to spend time with GG (Grama Shirley) and the Johnson clan.  Steve and I had watched an episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" on Food network a few weeks earlier and had seen Delta Diner on the show - and I realized it was near where we used to have a cabin (between Duluth and Bayfield).  We took a small detour to look at the old cabin, then had brunch at Delta Diner - it was worth the stop! Fun atmosphere and good food!

Our visit in Bayfield was great, hanging out with GG at her home for awhile, then Jared (my cousin) and his daughter Jemma came over too.  My mom and I stopped at Anna (Jared's wife) newly remodeled spa as we had not seen it yet, then everyone gathered at the Pier Plaza for a late lunch.  It was nice to see everyone and sit down and have a chance to catch up.

It was a wonderful first leg of the trip!  Saturday morning we headed to the cities for the second part of our vacation.

Easter Cookie Art

Counting Bunnies in the House with Granddad

Breakfast at the Delta Diner

Coloring with GG

Me, Grandmom, GG, Maddy and Jemma

GG, Marnie and silly Maddy

Lunch at the Pier with the Johnsons

Windy Family Photo in Bayfield

Granddad, Grandmom and Maddy

GG (Grama Shirley) and Maddy

Easter Pancakes (bunny and chick)

Yummy Breakfast!

Helping Grandmom Decorate (Ladybug Family)

Getting the Newspaper with Granddad and Gerta

 

Decorating Eggs!

Reading with Grandmom