Road Trip: Day 6

Today we had the sad task of bidding Sandy farewell and embarking on the next leg of our journey. We arose at 5:30 A.M. (4:30 our time!) to pack the vehicle, have some cereal for brekkie, and say our "thank you"s and "goodbye"s (and for me to take photos of every room of Sandy's house--it's a Moberg thing). Sandy was a great hostess, and we all had a terrific time with her. No surprise: tears on the driveway and in the van as we backed out, waved farewell, and drove away.

Sandy peeks into the van to say goodbye to the ladies while I finish snapping pics of Sandy's home. Let the waterworks begin!

We bought gas, aired up the tires, got some frou-frou coffees, and then left Omaha for Ames, IA for a brief visit with our friends Mary Jo (my former boss) and Lucinda (her daughter). We got there around 10:00 A.M., and immediately the girls were thick as thieves, hugging and talking and playing and getting into their swimming suits. We went to the outdoor swimming pool in Mary Jo and Lucinda's complex, and the girls swam while the adults visited. Later Mary Jo made us a delicious dinner of chili dogs (using a spicy meat recipe that she remembered Suzanna's having really liked), sweet corn on the cob (it was Iowa, after all!), pita chips and hummus (Susan paid close attention to the recipe), and homemade cinnamon ice cream with fresh strawberries and cantaloupe. It was great to see Mary Jo again, and the girls loved the opportunity to reconnect with Lucinda, too. (More waterworks when we had to say goodbye . . .)

Lucinda (on the pink raft) and the girls frolic in the pool.

We told Mary Jo and Lucinda about the girls' recent trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop, and they shared that they had done a similar thing recently, only with dolls. Here are all the ladies with their own creations!

Mary Jo and I (not in that order)

While snapping the pics above, Susan discovered that we had gone through another memory card for our digital camera! So, having already filled a 512 MB card and a 1 GB card in the past few days, we headed to Target and bought another 1 GB card, which we hope will last us the remainder of this trip! I was recently in Ames for a conference and was impressed by the campus, so I gave Susan and the girls a driving tour of Iowa State University to show them the layout, the impressive buildings, and some locations of note (Mary Jo's office, the library, the horse corral amongst the classroom buildings!, etc.). Then we were back on the road by midafternoon for St. Paul, MN and a destination there that had us all very excited!

At about 6:00 P.M., we arrived at the Science Museum of Minnesota to see its current Star Wars exhibit. This spring we introduced our girls to the world of Star Wars by watching all six movies with them, so when Susan found out about this exhibit at the Science Museum, she knew it would be a treat for us all. The building itself is incredible: about a decade old, something like six stories (or more? I don't even know), overlooking the Mississippi River, both permanent and termporary exhibits, an IMAX theater, and science-related surprises on every floor, including a staircase that plays music as pedestrians walk up or down it--a different musical note for each tread of the stairs!

Views of the Mississippi River from the Science Museum of Minnesota.

We started with an IMAX movie: Special Effects: Anything Can Happen. The giant domed screen lowered slowly in front of us like the visor of a helmet, an effect almost as cool as the movie itself! Afterward we entered the Star Wars exhibit, whose tagline is "Where Science Meets Imagination." Thus, not only were there many models of spaceships and aliens and costumes from the movies, but there were also informative videos and interactive educational displays intended to show the differences between the science and the fiction in the science fiction of the movies.

We saw a movie on robots (what the robots in the movies can do vs. what today's robots are capable of) and rode a Millennium Falcon simulator (and learned about the reaches of our own universe and the identified universes beyond ours); we built our own robots (teaching us how to let a robot's function determine its construction--inspired by R2-D2) and magnetic levitation trains (teaching us how modern high-speed train engineers use magnetism to propel trains--inspired by the levitation of Luke Skywalker's landspeeder); and we played a game in which we chose robotic enhancements for ourselves (teaching us to consider the possible positive and negative impact of integrating technology into the human body, ranging from pacemakers to memory-enhancing computer chips in the brain--inspired by the part-human, part-machinery character Darth Vader). Perhaps needless to say, there were many photo opps for the photo-happy Mobergs, some of which follow:

The girls are mimicking the poses of the Stormtroopers behind them. Notice that Suzanna and Hillary are holding imaginary lightsabers. Daddy's so proud!

Inspired by Luke's landspeeder, this feature gives riders a chance to operate a hovercraft and feel what it's like to travel on a burst of air. Here's Suzanna trying to maneuver around the circular arena. Her face shows that it wasn't easy to negotiate that thing and its rear-blowing fan (which provided the thrust forward).

Faithful readers already know that I am often told that I resemble Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi (thus one of my nicknames: Obi-Wan Kevmobi). Here I pose with my own mimed lightsaber in front of Ewan's Obi-Wan costume.

The museum closed at 11:30 P.M., and we were there to the bitter end, checking out the educational exhibits on health, human anatomy, and dinosaurs. What a great place! We could have spent hours and hours more there had they been willing to stay open for us!

Hillary examined my eyes at this station in the human anatomy exhibit.

Remember the girls' pose with an animatronic triceratops at the Omaha Children's Museum? Here they are with the real McCoy!

We are headed tomorrow to the Wisconsin lake home of Susan's aunt and uncle who live in Mendota Heights, MN. They offered to let us spend tonight at their home in The Cities so that we wouldn't have to drive into the wee hours of the morning, and we happily accepted! First we found our way from the Science Museum to their house, and then we drove around to look for someplace nearby to eat (we still hadn't had supper, and it was nearing midnight). No luck. So we went back to their house, where Susan raided their kitchen and made us tuna melts on bagels and heated vegetable soup for our meal. Gotta get to bed -- it's gonna be another early morning tomorrow!

P.S. Read my sister's version of today!

Iowa Road Trip

This might be the only Iowa-related song I know. It's "Iowa Stubborn" from The Music Man, performed here by Chaffey High School of Ontario, CA (see more here):



Fun, huh? Okay, that is related to the topic of this post only in that the word "Iowa" appears in both.

I just got back from Ames, IA, where I presented at a regional conference of the National Academic Advising Association. Mary Jo, my former boss from Dickinson State University--who is now at Iowa State University (in Ames)--and I presented a panel with one DSU colleague on training university students to serve as peer advisors for freshmen and transfers, and we presented a second panel with another DSU colleague on bringing together a university's academic affairs and student affairs division in a joint academic advising effort during students' First-Year Experience.

Unlike all other conferences the past couple years that I've attended and presented at, for which I've flown, this one we got to and fro by driving. It was a long drive: about 11 hours, including brief stops to buy refreshments and meals or use the restroom. We had nice accommodations in Ames, though. The hotel where we stayed is run by ISU (and students in its Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management program) and has a conference center where most of the conference events were held. The opening and closing events of the conference were held on campus in the Gerdin Business Building, which is a nice, relatively new facility. Monday evening a few of us returned to campus for a guided tour by two students, who walked us around the lovely campus and told us brief histories of several of the buildings. With a student body of around 25,000, you can imagine that it's a large and sprawling campus.

Everybody whom I met at the conference was so genuinely friendly and down-to-earth, and all the conference sessions were worthwhile--and our presentations were well received, too. I reconnected with a gentleman who was a classmate of mine in a graduate course on educational foundations several years ago, and I made new friends with colleagues at other ND institutions of higher education. Also important was the chance to spend time with Mary Jo and her daughter, Lucinda. They made us (the DSU contingent) a delicious breakfast Sunday and joined us for supper Monday and breakfast Tuesday at The Café, a misleadingly simply named restaurant with a French theme and incredibly delicious food. (Without Mary Jo, my colleagues and I had a great meal Sunday night at Legends in the Campustown section of Ames.)

Seeing them, having a chance to visit and to vent about the stressful goings-on at work, and successfully delivering (and now being done with!) both presentations has restored my mental health somewhat. And being back now in the House of Blonde Beauties certainly helps, too!

Transitions

Transition #1:

Autumn has come to Dickinson, wrapped itself around our trees, tugged off the leaves, and sprinkled them across our lawns. Some of the neighbors are fastidious about ridding their lawns of leaves: mowing grass that hasn't grown in weeks just so that they can suck up and bag the leaves lying on the surface; firing up their leaf blowers to take turns blowing leaves into one another's yards on alternating days; bending over (as I saw today while walking home from work) to pick up individual leaves from their driveways, even as hordes more blow in behind to replace those picked up.

Me? If I don't like the leaves that have blown onto our driveway or front lawn today, all I have to do is wait until tomorrow when the wind will have carried them off elsewhere. It's a pretty natural process, this cycle of life, this transition of the seasons: leaves will fall in the autumn and blanket the ground before the snow comes; in the spring the snow will melt, and the leaves will serve as mulch for gardens and lawns; and any excess leaves remaining will dry up and disappear with the first mowing of the lawn. Why freak out about leaves? Why not simply enjoy them?

That's what Hillary and Suzanna did today while Suzanna waited for her turn to practice her piano lesson (and while Abigail was inside practicing hers). Suzanna came in to get the camera, and here are some of her pics:

Transition #2:

Faithful readers will recall that my boss and her daughter, who have become good family friends, are moving on to Iowa. Well, the moving trucks arrived and packed up their possessions today, and this evening they stopped by for some quick, final hugs goodbye. The girls were all weeping on the front step as we stood and waved them off for their journey out of town. At least they were able to smile for a photo first:


Transition #3:

Faithful readers will recall that Susan's grandma, Laura, is moving from her house (where she and Susan's grandpa, E.J., lived for 23 years) to an apartment connected to the nursing home where her husband now lives. Some of their kids--including Susan's dad, Roger, and a few of his sisters and their husbands--helped her to pack and move today. This evening we hosted some of the group at our house for supper. Laura, Roger, and Laura's youngest daughter, Candy, and her husband, Stu, came over for baked chicken cordon bleu, mashed potatoes and creamy mushroom gravy, steamed broccoli, fruit bowls, and ice cream and monster cookies for dessert.

Afterwards there was coffee, a tour of the house for Stu (Candy has been here before), visiting, and entertainment by the girls (piano solos, vocal performances, and general silliness and showing off).

Susan, Candy, Laura, and Stu in back; Abigail, Hillary, and Suzanna in front

Several Days of "Goodbye"

Today was my boss's last day of work at Dickinson State University. She was offered a great job at Iowa State University, a position that represents a promotion in salary, responsibility, and reputation. It's a good move for her, but the "goodbye" process has been sad nevertheless.

Last Friday at our house, we hosted in her honor a farewell party to which we invited the employees in our unit and their families (little kids included). Susan made manicotti and garlic bread and created a beautiful and tasty chocolate dessert whose ingredients included brownies, cookies, candy bars, and imitation whipped cream-like product. We also supplied beverages. Everybody who came brought food items to share, so we had quite the smorgasbord. The kids had a blast playing, and the adults enjoyed eating, talking, joking, and reminiscing.

We had previously taken advantage of a day that our boss was out of the office to pose for photos that another coworker then manipulated on the computer and had an on-line company turn into a full-sized poster for us to present to her. It features each of us posing as an office-related superhero (each one an in-joke to those of us who work together) under the caption "ASC Heroes" (ASC is our unit on campus, and Heroes is an NBC television program that our boss likes). She was genuinely surprised when we presented it to her at the party. It is definitely a unique present, and she won't be able to forget us so long as she keeps the poster!

Yesterday we hosted in the ASC an all-campus lunch that served as an opportunity for people to stop by and wish her well. Susan made an electric roasterful of dee-licious baked beans for me to contribute to the lunch, and my coworkers completed the spread with barbecued meat, buns, soup, chips and crackers, fruit, vegetables, punch, coffee, and cake. It was sad to watch people bid her farewell and to be reminded that we were one day closer to her departure.

And today was D-day. Every time she popped into my office to talk today, it occurred to me that it was the last day that would happen. She has been an excellent supervisor and mentor over the past year, and I'm very grateful to her for all that she has done for me. At the end of the day, we all gathered in our work room, stood around awkwardly for a while, and then exchanged tearful hugs. Even though she won't be back in the office again, I expect to see her again at least once this week before she leaves town. Nevertheless, it seemed quite "final" to walk to her office window and see her cleared-off desk and empty shelves.

"Goodbye" sucks.

There's my sister Sandy on the left (visiting from Omaha, NE for the weekend), observing the mania of the crowd of kids and coworkers in our kitchen.

All the kids in the house Friday night were girls, and the entertainment of the night was playing "dress up." Here Hillary models the outfit and makeup that the older girls put her in and sent her upstairs to show us adults.

Doesn't she make a good clown? (Why, yes, those are Halloween socks on her arms.)

There's a little Moberg beneath that clown makeup.

Here, my boss (in the white) has just opened our "remember us" gift: the poster below.

Even if you can't make out the text or all the details of the pictures, can you at least tell that it looks very professional?

Li'l' Sis in Da House

My little (but older) sister Sandy stopped by Dickinson on Friday to spend the weekend with us before departing for her own home in Omaha, NE. (She had just spent the week with my Dad on his farm outside McGregor, ND in honor of his 70th birthday, as faithful readers will recall.) When she had called earlier to ask about coming to see us, we didn't tell her that we had already planned to host an office party at our house the night that she intended to arrive in Dickinson. Instead, we told her to come in time to join us for supper. She was a wee bit surprised to pull into our driveway only to find it full of vehicles. When she came in the house and discovered it full of strangers (to her, at least), she started to note details about her own personal hygiene: whether she had taken a shower that morning, whether she had food in her teeth from her on-the-road snacking, etc. The gang all welcomed her, however, and she ate well from the potluck spread that everyone had contributed, visited easily with these people whom she didn't even know, and enjoyed, I think, hearing from my coworkers stories about my work life--stories to which she normally wouldn't be privy!

We enjoyed a relaxing weekend, and I think Sandy had a good time playing with the girls and visiting with us. On Saturday Sandy and I giggled as we played piano duets and looked through photos. She joined us for "family Sunday school" Sunday morning, sitting in the church basement at a table with us and the girls and joining in the Bible lesson and the craft projects that Sunday school leaders had planned for all the families in attendance. (Family Sunday school is the first Sunday of each month; other Sundays, the kids alone attend Sunday school classes while the parents drink coffee or read the newspaper or sleep in, depending on the household, I suppose.) We went to church after Sunday school and then out to lunch at Sanford's, where our delicious meal included an appetizer of fried green tomatoes. (Good recommendation, Sandy.)

Yesterday afternoon Sandy helped Susan make baked beans for me to take to a work function tomorrow. In the evening she joined Susan, the girls, and me in a game of Apples to Apples, which proved to be an entertaining way to wrap up the day. This morning we said our goodbyes and went to work and school, leaving Sandy behind to shower, pack, and head off at her own pace. It was great to have her around for a few days and to catch up on what's been going on in her life recently. We look forward to visiting her in Omaha sometime soon to see her new house and to play with her kitties.

P.S. Here is Sandy's version!

Dragging the Daughters to DSU

Susan, the inspiring and industrious parochial school librarian (those complimentary adjectives belong to Susan, by the way, not to "parochial school"), volunteered to run a book fair this month at her school during which students, parents, and community members could purchase books for themselves, for the school library, or for a particular classroom (for teachers who submit a "wish list"). She contacted Scholastic Book Fairs, who supplied her with the inventory. Volunteers from the community helped her set it up and have been helping with sales the past week.

So far, Catch the Titan "Title" Wave (titan = her school's mascot) has been a great success with hundreds of dollars of sales and numerous books added to the library's holdings. (Heck, considering that this is the first such event at the school ever--or at least in the past several years--selling only one book would have been a success.) It has required Susan to report early to work throughout the fair, though, in order to be available for students arriving to school. She scheduled it to coincide with parent/teacher conferences to take advantage of the presence of parents, who could then be persuaded to buy books for their kids. She also chose to staff the sales table during this weekend's volleyball tournament, nabbing many customers from out of town, too.

This all meant that the girls and I were on our own last evening and all day today. After school yesterday, I brought the girls back to campus for a community service "dinner auction" being sponsored by the Campus Activities Board. The Student Center ballroom was set up with tables for dining, and around the perimeter were serving tables, each staffed by members of a different campus organization. Each student organization had made a particular meal to serve a certain number of people (ranging from five to 15). Attendees first toured the tables to see which menus seemed most appealing. Then an auctioneer went around the room and sold the meals to the highest bidders. Many went for $60 or $70 per plate, with the winning bidders buying three or four plates at a time! By the end of the bidding, the remaining plates were selling for $5 to $10 each, and every available meal was sold.

I sat at a table with a half-dozen of my coworkers, and all our children sat together at an adjacent table. I was out-bid on a number of the menus, and I over-bought when I did get the winning bid. We all shared our plates at our table anyway, so we all got to sample some of everything in the smorgasbord that covered our table after we all had bought way more food than we could possibly eat. The idea was to make sure that every meal was bought so that the organizations' work wouldn't be for naught and so that the maximum amount of money could be collected (all donations went to local charities). Here's what we ate (and what we took home a lot of):

• corned beef, cabbage, Irish stew, soda bread, lettuce salad, and choice of baked potato or a fried potato patty like a latke, with brownies for dessert [I bought five plates from this organization]
• stuffed mini-pumpkins (with a hamburger and rice mixture), pumpkin bisque, pumpkin cheescake, and spiced apple cider
• Jamaican jerk chicken, rice and beans, fruit and lettuce salad, tropical fruit juice, and a chocolate and coconut tart
• grilled sirloin steak, baked beans, and chocolate cheesecake bars
• taco bar: nacho chips covered with--or taco shells stuffed with--lettuce, hamburger, tomato, shredded cheese, tomato, black olives, etc., with brownies for dessert
• buffalo stroganoff, green beans with ham, and biscuits with mixed fruit topping [I bought two plates from this organization]

Dining Services had also made available hot dogs and hamburgers and potato chips for anybody who was outbid and left meal-less. At the end of the night, there were still many dogs and burgers left over (and headed for the garbage anyway), so we took home several of those, too. Our fridge is now overstuffed with delicious food that Susan will get to sample for supper tonight.

This afternoon Dickinson State University's football team is playing South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Prior to the game, there was a free chili feed and pep rally held at King Pavilion on campus, so the girls and I (once again Susan-less) walked back to campus before noon and enjoyed delicious chili with chopped onions and shredded cheddar cheese, crackers, corn bread, and lemonade. A student wearing the Buster Blue Hawk costume (blue hawk = DSU's mascot, and Buster is an oversized version who joins the cheerleaders at games) was at the chili feed, so the girls and I posed with him for a photo, which will be mailed to us free of charge. Soon after we finished eating, the marching band made its way across campus to the pavilion. The cheerleaders joined them and did choreographed routines to several songs as a pep rally before people headed over to Whitney Stadium for the game.

The girls opted out of attending the game afterwards (Suzanna: "I don't get football. I don't understand the rules"), so instead we walked home, made a brownie-vanilla ice cream sundae, and walked it to Susan as a treat in the middle of her long day of book-selling. Tonight, she will get to sample some of what the girls and I enjoyed from our weekend walks to DSU.

A New (Academic) Year Dawns, Part II

The new semester at Dickinson State University began on Monday (August 20) at 3:00 P.M. The unit in which I work, the Academic Success Center, is responsible for orientation and registration of incoming students, something we did all day and all night both Sunday (for freshmen) and Monday (for transfer students). We spent all day and night Saturday and all day every day last week and most days the rest of the summer preparing for these students' arrival (in addition to hosting three other such sessions in June for the remainder of this fall's incoming students). Will you take my word for it when I say that it was a lot of work, both in preparation and execution, and that I was tired out, both physically and mentally, by the end of the day Monday?

Will you trust me also when I say that nothing slowed down for us Tuesday, Wednesday, yesterday, or today? A number of international students and late-deciding domestic students came to campus each day needing help signing up for classes and were sent to us for assistance. I also had meetings to attend, classes to prepare and teach, and faculty and staff across campus requesting my help and advice each day, too. One evening at home, Hillary got into her pajamas and wanted to cuddle on Susan and my bed before getting tucked into her own bed for the night. Hillary and I leaned against the pillows propped against the headboard to talk and snuggle . . . and I promptly fell asleep. Another night I lay on the living room floor to finish reading a magazine . . . and fell asleep underneath the lit floor lamp.

My point (and I do have one): it's been an exhausting week or so! Please comment with your expressions of sincere sympathy.

P.S. It has been a fun week, too, in that (1) I've met literally hundreds of new people, both students and their family members alike; (2) I've enjoyed collaborating with colleagues across campus on the various projects required to make orientation a success; and (3) I've liked getting to know better the new staff who just recently (i.e., last week) joined our unit and who showed great stamina, initiative, and personable instincts as they navigated the orientation program for new students without themselves knowing much yet about the university.

P.P.S. Read this.

Great Birthday

Although I spent my birthday yesterday at work, all in all it was a great day.

Thanks to my on-line presence, throughout the day I received electronic birthday greetings from a cousin (Rachelle K.), four Mobergs I don't know (Chris, Chris, Marcus, and Lars Henrik), two former coworkers (Wendy S.-P., Leif O.), two current coworkers (Steph S., Heather M.), four dear friends (Erin A., Darin K., Mishka K., Ruth T.), and a slug of former students (Cody B., Julie B., Kristina B., Nick B., Sara B., Seth B., Cory C., John D., Aaron E., Tony F., Ashley H., Matt H., Rikki H., Adam K., Herb K., Megan K., Mitch M., Nick M., Robert M., Dan N., Heidi P., Jeremy R., Brianna S., Eric S., Savannah S., Eric V., Haley V., Laura V., Luke V., Paul V., Heidi Z.).

That's in addition to e-mailed greetings from my two sisters (plus an "adult" e-card from Sandy) and e-cards from my wife (here and here and here and here) and three daughters (from Suzanna, from Abigail, and from Hillary) that kept me preoccupied all day long.

And at work, I received birthday wishes from the library staff as I passed through on my way to my office (how did they know? they didn't confess). Everybody I work with said "Happy birthday!" individually, but I also got a card from one of our student paraprofessionals on which she had put a photo of Mark-Paul Gosselaar (who played Zach on TV's Saved by the Bell) with the caption, "Those were the days" (the student paraprofessionals think I remind them of Zach). One of the library workers and a professor of choral music joined my coworkers in singing me "Happy Birthday" (the day before, my coworkers had sung to me "Old People," a silly-lyric version of the song "Short People"). I also got a "Happy birthday!" from the chair of the nursing department.

My coworker Josh gave me a framed photo of himself for my birthday (ha!); below his face, he wrote, "I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow"--a line from a funny moment in the movie Top Secret that I once said to him instead of "goodbye," and which was so random to him that he still thinks it's the most hilarious thing I've ever said (so far, that is). He and everybody else in our unit took me out for dinner at noon at Applebee's, where I ordered off the Weight Watchers menu but then unhesitatingly ate the complimentary chocolate sundae that our server brought me for dessert.

My family took me out for supper at Sanford's, where I had a burger with bleu cheese and Buffalo sauce on it, served with onion rings. Yes, it did nothing for my weight watching (other than to help me watch the weight go back on), but it was health food compared to the complimentary birthday dessert I was served afterwards: a plate-sized chocolate chip cookie topped with three large scoops of vanilla ice cream--one covered with strawberries and strawberry sauce, the next with chocolate chips and chocolate syrup, and the third with butterscotch chips and butterscotch syrup, and all of it decorated with canned faux whipped cream and sprinkles. Susan and the girls helped me, but I consumed the majority of the dessert myself. (I'm sore afraid of stepping on the scale today.)

When we got home, it was time for gift opening. Each of my daughters had made me fancy birthday cards, some requiring multiple unfoldings, some with poetry, and each requiring some oral interpretation/performance on their part. Susan made me a lovely card, too, with a sweet, sincere message inside. The gifts included a fire pit (and logs) for our back yard, a grilling mitt and grilling baskets (to hold fish or vegetables that might otherwise slip through the grate of the grill itself), two dress shirts with matching ties, and a CD of the soundtrack to the movie Hairspray (which we plan to see tomorrow night on Abigail's birthday). Dad and Beverly gave me a lovely card, too, as well as an assortment of seven ties that I can wear with my dress shirts for work (in the card, Beverly wrote that this is a "tied-up" birthday--ha!). I got greetings cards, too, from both my sisters and from my in-laws Jerrett & Cheryl and Arron.

We sang some songs at the piano for a while, and then changed into our pajamas. We spent the rest of the night checking out the extras on the Hairspray DVD/CD set, listening to the songs from the sountrack, and dancing around the office (yes, we truly did dance around the office, all five of us). It was so great to spend the day with coworkers and family who care about me and to hear from so many others who feel the same. Thank you, everybody! I had a great birthday.

P.S. My coworker/friend Steph told me that more people have birthdays in August than in any other month. Whaddya make of that, faithful readers?

The ridiculously bad-for-you, sinfully delicious birthday dessert from Sanford's

Me unwrapping the fire pit

My girlies and I on the veranda

Modeling my new grilling mitt

A bouquet of ties from Dad and Beverly

Family music time at the piano

Birthday smooch from Suzanna

Birthday smooch from Abigail

Birthday smooch from Hillary . . .

. . . and another . . .

. . . and another . . .

. . . and another . . .

. . . and another! What a smoochy child. What a lucky dad!

Hot Stuff on Stage

Missoula Children's Theatre, Inc., came to town, and the girls participated all week. There were auditions on Monday, rehearsals at various times of the day Tuesday through Friday, three free workshops throughout the week--all leading to dress rehearsal and a matinée today plus an evening performance to wrap things up tonight.

I must honestly say that I didn't really catch much of the plot. The grade school gymnasium upon whose stage (you all recall stages built into the ends of rectangular gymnasia in schools, right?) the troupe performed the play was so hot and devoid of air flow that I felt I might pass out. I got up and stood in the back throughout the entire show, swaying back and forth to keep myself alert and fanning myself continously with my program. There was something about a vain stepmother, an innocent beauty sent into the forest, seven peculiar midgets, and a simple-minded woodsman who inadvertently saves the day. The script seemed appropriate for children and had a few laughs for adult audience members, too; but let's face it: no one was there having been drawn by the prospect of encountering excellent theatrical literature. We were all there to watch our children, grandchildren, neighbors' children, etc., put on stinky animal costumes and sweat under the stage lights for over an hour.

Truly they all did very well, especially considering the limited time they had to put together the production. The speaking roles went to older children, and kids our children's ages played forest creatures. Suzanna was a bluebird, and Abigail and Hillary were bats.

They weren't on stage much, but they were committed and energetic when they were on stage--especially Hillary, who really got into the facial grimace and intimidating stance when the bats were supposed to be scary. This was in stark contrast to her audition earlier in the week when she hid her face and feigned bashfulness when asked to state her name. Our daughter shy? Right.

The girls enjoyed the experience but were perfectly happy to turn in their animal costumes. They were not amused by the expectation that, between scenes, they and the other children sit perfectly still backstage side by side in their hot costumes in the stifling, still air of the "theater" (gym with stage at end). "Dad, there weren't even any fans!" That's because the noise would have distracted from our ability to hear the kids speaking on stage. However, I should think it's no easier to hear from the audience when one is in a heat-stroke-induced coma. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

When Life Gives You Lemonade, Make a Lemonade Stand

Today's guest blogger is Abigail:

We had a lemonade stand today. It was at the corner of our block. We made a sign and everything. We had to have a refill because Hillary, my younger sister, spilled it. It was pink lemonade, and we had ten cups. We had change, and the lemonade was 50¢. One guy gave us one dollar, and he wanted one glass of lemonade, and he said, "Hold the change." We had a mini-table with an umbrella and mini-chairs. Every time a car went by, we shouted, "Lemonade for 50¢! Buy it while it's cold!" We got our first customer; that was the guy with the dollar. He was a student-driver; the sign was on the back of the car. The people at the lemonade stand were the three sisters--Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary--and our friends Lucinda and Brooke. We were in our swimming suits the whole time. We made $5.35!

Our First House Party!

We've always liked hosting guests at our house. Years ago, we had weekly get-togethers (referred to simply as "Friday nights") with our theatre friends at one or another couple's house, and we were happy to have ours included in the rotation. Those nights started as cast parties for various plays but soon became weekly staples in our social lives, whether or not a play was going on. In more recent years, we were in the rotation of host sites for "game nights" when several couples friends with children would converge at someone's house, where all the kids would play together while all the adults would enjoy adult beverages and adult games together. Those get-togethers included more elaborate outings, too, such as the cooking game Stir Crazy, our own Amazing Race, and a Christmas luau.

Fast-forward several months to a new house in a new city in a different state. Three people who work in my unit (at the university) are leaving--two to different units on campus and one to a different state for her husband's job. Susan and I hosted my coworkers at our house for a "thank you, farewell, and good luck" party for those folks. We had 32 people (15 of them under the age of 10) here for supper--and, God bless this home, we had plenty of room for everyone. It helped that the weather cooperated. The kids played in the back yard, in the front yard, on the driveway, in the garage, in the neighbors' yards with the neighbor kids--they kept themselves occupied. The adults gathered around the island in the kitchen (where all Midwestern get-togethers tend to wind up, anyway) and in the living room and out on the veranda.

It was a potluck, so everybody brought something. I tried to smoke everybody off the place by grilling hot dogs and hamburgers--patties with such high fat content that the flames were leaping like nobody's business (but, oh, how moist they were!), and the smoke was a-billowin'. We bought about 15 12-packs of about a dozen kinds of pop and filled a 90-can-capacity cooler out on the veranda. We also supplied hamburger fixin's, potato chips, and disposable plates, cups, flatware, and napkins. Items that others brought included crockpots of Mexican beans and rice, Midwestern baked beans and hamburger, and spicy meatballs in a cream sauce; macaroni salad, watermelon, herb bread and cheese dip, pudding salad, and pizza casserole; and, for dessert, pistachio salad, pineapple upside-down cake, and vanilla bean ice cream. There was so much food left over that everybody in our unit is planning to spend our lunch hour tomorrow walking to the Moberg house (for exercise), eating leftovers, and then walking back to campus!

We have had our neighbors over "of an evening" for beverages and dessert on the veranda, and a university colleague and her husband and their daughter have been here a couple times for supper. We also have a few more couples who will bring their kids over and join us for supper in the next few weeks, once we coordinate our schedules. We've also had family over for supper on several holidays and other occasions. However, this was our first time hosting a large group of people in our new home, and we were happy to have the room to do it. Thank you, New House!

Date Night = Fun for Everyone in the Family

Thanks to my boss, Susan and I had a date! My boss (and friend) Mary Jo offered to come over and spend tonight with the girls so that Susan and I could go see Spider-Man 3. We invited Mary Jo and her daughter to join us for supper at our house first. Then we left them at the mercy of our children.

The line to the ticket counter at Cinema Three was long and snaked out the entryway to the Prairie Hills Mall (where the theater is located). As the clock ticked closer to 7:00 P.M. (show time for Spider-Man 3), we were nowhere near the front of the line yet. Mercifully, most of the people in front of us left when the ticket counter announced that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End had just sold out. We got into our theater late, but they were just beginning the previews, so we missed nothing.

Susan and I enjoyed the movie (more on that later here). We returned to a houseful of pretty ladies. They had had a fashion and dance show using the dress-up clothes and Suzanna's CD player. They had styled each other's hair and done one another's makeup and applied perfume and painted their fingernails and toenails. They had had popcorn and pop and watched the Disney channel. They were eager to show off their appearances and replicate their dances, and it got them all riled up again--just before we sent away our babysitting guests and tucked our own munchkins into bed!

Coming Off a Mile-High High

Faithful readers will recall that, just a couple weeks ago, I was in Orlando, FL to present at one national conference and attend another. Well, I just returned from Denver, CO, where I attended and presented at the National Tutoring Association (NTA) conference. Allow me to fill you in:

Fri., Apr. 13

I was supposed to leave Dickinson around 3:00 P.M., but mechanical difficulties with the airplane in Williston, ND required the airline to rebook me on the next flight around 4:30. From the Denver airport, I took the Super Shuttle to the Westin Tabor Center in downtown Denver. The hotel and its conference facilities are quite nice, and my 15th-floor room was huge with a king-sized bed, a chaise longue, and a large window looking out over Denver's downtown ("LoDo") toward the expansive mountains. I enjoyed a seafood supper at Willy G's on the corner of the block.

Sat., Apr. 14

I participated in a pre-conference session (on techniques for training tutors) all day. The Westin provided a tasty lunch: Philly chicken sandwiches. I walked to the Panda Express for an easy Chinese supper of orange chicken, chow mein, and an egg roll--yummmm.

Sun., Apr. 15

I bought the girls each a soft and cuddly teddy bear wearing a miniature T-shirt with the NTA logo on the front. This was day two of my pre-conference session, this one chock full of games and activities to do with tutors (and prospective ones) to "break the ice" and to make various points about tutoring while having fun and being active; I'll be able to make use of many of them, I think. That night I enjoyed hors d'oeuvres at the reception to kick off the conference. There was also a DJ, dancing, and karaoke! (I just ate and watched.)

Mon., Apr. 16

The conference proper began with a keynote address by Dr. Rita Smilkstein, who shared some fascinating brain research about how the human brain learns (the physiology behind the heretofore mysterious processes of learning and remembering). I attended sessions throughout the day and then for supper joined my boss and a friend of hers from her graduate school days (I met Derek at the pre-conference session and later introduced him to her as my friend, whereupon the two of them began to realize that they already knew each other). We ate an incredibly expensive meal at Ruth's Chris Steak House (just glance at the prices on their menu) followed by dessert at The Cheesecake Factory.

Tue., Apr. 17

The morning keynote speaker was Mario Williams, principal of George Washington High School in Denver. He had us thinking about color (of others' skin) and the judgments we make based upon that. The luncheon keynote was given by Willey Jolley, a motivational speaker. There were Western decorations up in the luncheon ballroom to remind everyone to get excited about next year's conference in Dallas. I took a few of the bandanas tied to the backs of the chairs and paired them with the bears to give the girls. I (and about a dozen others) had signed up for dinner with Dr. Smilkstein, and that evening we enjoyed interesting conversation over a delicious meal. In between meals (!), I attended more sessions throughout the day.

Wed., Apr. 18

I gave my presentation in the morning . . . despite the fact that the presenter before me just wouldn't leave the room! He had a laptop and LCD projector set up for his own use and didn't watch the clock to see that he was running over into my setup time. I needed the overhead projector, which he had taken down in order to put his LCD projector in place. He never did put the overhead projector back for me to use, so in order to start on time, I skipped it and forged ahead using the handouts that I provided my attendees. Once I began, he finally took note that he was no longer supposed to be in the room and at that point began to dismantle his equipment. He even answered a cell phone call while I was presenting! He did not leave the room until 20 minutes into my presentation. Despite all that, it went well and was well received by participants. I had a post-conference session to attend, and then I got a ride to the airport with Derek and flew back to Dickinson, arriving home a bit after 10:00 P.M.

Beautiful as was Denver and luxurious as was the Westin, it's good to be back home.

Robbin' in da 'Hood

Josh, one of the student employees in our division (at the university where I work), is in the cast of the play Robin Hood ("as retold by Cathryn Pisarski"), a children's theatre production intended to raise money for the University Players to attend theatre conferences. You may already be familiar with the tale: Robin is robbin' from the rich in the (neighbor)hood [sorry--I just had to explain the title of this post somehow] and redistributin' the wealth to the poor. Along the way, he meets and falls in love with Maid Marian, a noblewoman who is out of his league (caste-wise). Robin's nemesis is the greedy, heartless Sheriff of Nottingham . . . played in this production by Josh.

Our family hosted my boss and her daughter for supper and then accompanied them to the play to see Josh on stage. He was quite funny and easily stood out among a cast mostly doing their best with mediocre material and some poor staging choices. In a very Monty Python-esque nod, the Sheriff and the other residents of the stone, castle-like structure (that differentiated those folks from Robin and his pals, who live and hide out in the forest) started the play by entering in a line from the back of the house, sort of skipping to mimic the galloping of horses whilst one of them clomped two coconut half-shells together rythmically. Josh spoke with an inflated, self-important, faux-classical, semi-British accent, portraying the kind of blunderbuss typical of Disney movie villains. His exaggerated black wig had the height and shape of Captain Hook's hair (Peter Pan) had he gone for a Jheri curl and then not washed his locks for a month. Josh's posture and movements supported his comic characterization of the Sheriff, and it fit in well not only with the plot's needs but also with the atmosphere of the play . . . and he appealed easily to the children in the audience.

I was reminded of Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein and his character's hump each time the Sheriff's assistant Rodrigo entered, severly hunched over and with a noticeable hump on his back. There was a cleverly done archery contest in which the contestants shot imaginary arrows at a target, said "thud" as a cue for the stagehand behind the bullseye, and watched as arrows were pushed out from the back side of the bullseye, looking very much as though they were real arrows that had been shot into the front side of it! There were many other smile-inducing moments, thanks to clever deliveries by the actors and funny bits and "stage business" added to the play.

The pacing of the show overall, however, was hampered--and, often, brought to a screeching halt--by the scene changes. They had built an enormous platform on wheels that, on one side, was a multi-level forest setting and, on the other side (when spun around), was a multi-level castle-like home for the Sheriff and his ilk. It could also be split into two double-sided units so that the forest side could be stage left while the stone side was stage right, visually dividing the stage into two locations at once. Ambitious . . . but ill-conceived and -executed.

Each rotation of the platform or separation-and-rearrangement of it required several moments for the lights to dim, stagehands to enter and release this latch and redo that latch and spin it around or break it apart or move it across stage, props and set pieces to be re-set, and the lights to come back up before the action could resume. Those seconds and minutes add up to an eternity in a show whose many scenes are each pretty short in and of themselves (the whole play, including scene changes, lasted only an hour), meaning the scene changes seemed to last as long as the brief scenes themselves. An audience of kids ought not to be left to wait in the dark multiple times during a children's theatre production. The action of the play should maintain its momentum, unimpeded by scene changes that, were there a less cumbersome set designed, could happen much more quickly and fluidly with hardly an interruption to the pacing of the plot.

(Judgmental much, Kevin?)

There were, however, no complaints from our girls. They have always been excellent audience members, attentive during the play and able afterwards to comment intelligently on it. They especially enjoyed that, following curtain call, the actors remained onstage and invited interested audience members to come up and visit them. The girls brought their programs and had each cast member provide an autograph. They also liked visiting Josh, of course, since they know him. It was, all in all, a fun way to spend a Friday night together as a family (with our friends, too).

Ethnic Christmas

Last night we attended an "office Christmas party" . . . but not at the office. One of my coworkers (Liz) and her husband (Ken), at their lovely home, hosted the employees in our unit at the university. We all brought our spouses and children, and Liz had her family room set up with Christmas crafts, puzzles, and videos to keep the children entertained while the adults visited.

It was potluck, and we all had decided in advance to bring ethnic appetizers, in part because my boss planned to bring homemade tamales, a family recipe. Susan and I searched the Internet for flavorful recipes that would represent Scandinavian cuisine as savory, not bland (like most of the Scandinavian-American recipes we're familiar with, which use no seasonings or spices bolder than salt, pepper, dried onion, or white sugar--or, if you're really feeling wild, a sprinkle of dried paprika for color on deviled eggs).

As it turns out, not every Scandinavian food needs to be a shade of white! We had a bit of trouble finding appetizer recipes, but we finally decided to bring a crockpot of meatballs (Norway), chunky herring spread on rye bread (Norway), bierkase spread on rye bread (Germany), and black currant vodka (Sweden). Others brought taco dip and tortilla chips, pork potstickers, chili, kolachy, Mexican wedding cakes, creamy garlic potatoes, jumbalaya and corn bread, cucumbers, Jell-O salad, a chocolate dessert, and munchies like Chex mix and nuts. There were hot apple cider, Bahama Mamas, egg nog, and a sherbet punch to drink, and one coworker brought homemade wine in two flavors: plum and gooseberry. It was a real smorgasbord (Scandinavia)!

It was very fun to interact with my coworkers in a social setting, to meet and visit with their spouses and kids, and to taste their cooking and baking! We even got a Christmas invitation out of the deal: we're heading back Christmas morning for crepes and lamb! (We'll bring fruit salad and mimosas to that get-together.) And Ken, a Baptist minister, read aloud a Christmas narrative that imagines the thoughts and conversations of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. Beautifully told, beautifully read, and quite emotional.

P.S. I spilled the crockpot of red-sauce-based meatballs in the van and spent a good portion of time once we got home scrubbing the carpet in the vehicle. Frowny face.