Spirited Hillary

Faithful reader, you may recall that the winter swim team season (which ended for the girls early last month) wraps up with a banquet for the team: a tasty pasta bar at the Elks Lodge followed by distribution of awards.  Susan is out of town for a workshop in Bismarck, so I was alone with the girls . . . who were not alone because they each went off to sit at tables with friends on the team.  I took photos of them as they received their plaques, certificates, awards, ribbons from past meets, etc., but they're all blurry because each girl went up, shook hands, accepted the award, spun around, and returned to her seat pretty quickly.  But we have the awards themselves as physical evidence that tonight occurred!  And a special surprise: Hillary won a "spirit award" for her age group, apparently for being a tireless cheerleader for her teammates at every meet.  Congratulations, little girl!

"SC" stands for "short course."  The winter season (November through March) is for short-course events held in 25-yard pools; the summer season (May through August) is for long-course events held in 50-meter pools.

Last Laps (For Now)

Well, we just returned from the final swim meet of the season.  Similar to last week, I shuttled the girls to the swimming pool while Susan did her Sunday school director duties at church, after which she joined us, too.  Again she worked at the concessions stand; and this time, I served as a timer (meet organizers hadn't arranged in advance for timers and looked desperate, and the Lutheran guilt was strong within me).  Therefore, I didn't get to pay too close attention to the girls' times in their own events (I had to keep my eyes on Lane 8); but now that the meet has ended, we know that no Moberg qualified for the state meet this year (as Hillary did last year).  However, they had a good time swimming and staying fit all winter and befriending swimmers on their own team and from other towns, so I'd say it was another success swim season (with the end-of-the-season team banquet still to come).

Youth Quaker

After church at 8:00 A.M., I had to shuttle Abigail and Hillary off to the West River Community Center for a swim meet while Susan stayed behind to carry out her duties as Sunday school director.  She joined us later to work in the concessions stand all day while I stayed in the swimming pool area and kept track of the girls' times in the events booklet.

And where was Suzanna during all this, you may wonder?  Well, I'll tell you:

Food Service Memories

It was another lo-o-ong Saturday for our family, thanks to a swim meet in Mandan, ND.  We left in the wee hours of the morning in order to arrive in time for pre-meet warmups, and we returned home late after spending some time shopping.  Thus, no Scandinavian Saturday supper this week.

However, we did have a great meal, thanks to a mid-afternoon stop at the Ground Round.  Susan's brother Jerrett stopped by the pool to watch each of the girls swim this morning, and he joined us for a late dinner/early supper once the meet had ended.  We chose the Ground Round partly because it's located near some of the stores where we intended to shop but also because we haven't eaten at one of their restaurants in a long time, and we have fond memories of it.  Susan and I both worked at the Ground Round in Grand Forks during our university years, and I loved my coworkers and have many funny stories from our interactions at work.

So I was predisposed to be in a good mood walking into the Bismarck location today and enjoyed the whole meal: the salty popcorn and cold beer, the overloaded burger, the visit with Jerrett, the friendly service . . . a great dining experience overall.  (The shopping afterwards wore me out, though, and the long drive home was very sleepy . . .)

Aunt Shirley at Gramma Sharon's

No Scandinavian Saturday supper this weekend.  Instead, we drove to Williston, ND for the girls' swim meet there.  We had an uneventful drive there early this morning, taking I-94 to Belfield, then Hwy 85 north through Fairfield, Grassy Butte, Watford City, Arnegard, and Alexander.  I point that out because, on the way back, we took a different route with far fewer towns along the way: we took Hwy 68 south of Alexander and then turned off on Hwy 16 through the Little Missouri National Grassland, encountering no towns or cities until we reached Beach back on the Interstate, which we traveled east back to Dickinson.  Hwy 16 was a beautiful drive: very little traffic, scenic terrain, deer along the roadside . . . all with the added benefit of the sense of exploration that comes when taking an unfamiliar path.

Even better than what we got to see on the drive home was whom we got to see while in Williston:

Icy Roads and Mardi Gras

Last night we all retired early so that we could arise early and get on the road for the girls' swim meet in Minot.  Warmups started at 10:00 A.M. Central time, which is 9:00 for us.  It's usually a good three-hour drive to Minot, so leaving at 6:00 A.M. would have gotten us there under normal driving conditions.  However, after a few days of above-freezing temperatures, things turned very cold very quickly last night, and I knew we'd want extra time so that we could drive slowly as needed.  I figured a 5:00 A.M. departure would be good, so I got up at 4:00 to check the road report.  The state transportation department's Web site offered a travel map on which all the state's highways were marked with red: no travel advised.  Ugh!

Today's "To Do" List

3:30 A.M. -- arise to check the weather report and highway report to see if it will be possible to travel to Bismarck, ND today for the girls' swim meet; travel was not advised through last night due to severe winter weather, but it seems that roads are being declared passable this morning . . . so get ready for the day

5:15 A.M. -- leave for Bismarck; discover that the roads are just fine: the driving lane is clear the entire way, the passing lane is mostly clear with some occasional snow accumulations, and plows are out clearing the drifts from the shoulders of the Interstate

6:45 A.M. (7:45 Central time) -- arrive at the BSC Aquatic and Wellness Center in time for Suzanna's warmup, which starts at 8:00 Central time (Abigail and Hillary's warmup and events are in the afternoon); discover that Suzanna is the only team member there and that her coach has not come, either; watch Susan's blood pressure rise as she texts and e-mails the other team members' parents (not coming because of the nonexistent "bad roads") and the coach ("There's a meet today?  If any other team members show up this afternoon, let me know, and I'll think about coming for the afternoon's events")

From Sickness to Seafood

Apologies, Kittens, for so many days without updates.  When we got home from our Christmas travels, my body decided to take its own version of a vacation by giving in to some germ that I had picked up along the way and shutting me down for several days.  Susan and the girls returned to work and school on Monday, and I laid low at the house and drank lots of hot Tang (the breakfast drink of astronauts).  But duty called; I had to report to work for a department meeting yesterday, and I had to work as a timer today for a home swim meet (in which the girls competed).  Since I was up-and-at-'em anyway, why not go ahead and make another Scandinavian Saturday supper?  Here come the mouth-watering photos and descriptions:

Christmas Road Trip: Day 5

Road Report
None; we stayed in Omaha today.

Notable Events
My sister Cathy's roommate Kathy took a little road trip of her own this holiday season, flying to her mom's home and them driving with her from WY to MO to spend Christmas with family there.  On their way back, they took a detour through Omaha in order to see us! We all met at a nearby truck stop for dinner just after noon, and we shared Christmas stories and spent some quality time together.  How nice of them to go out of their way to see us!

An Early Norwegian Christmas Meal

The past couple years, the girls have been involved in competitive swimming as a club sport, which has two seasons: a winter one and a summer one.  This fall, Suzanna was old enough to join the school's varsity swim team, too, whose season is in the fall.  So, Faithful Reader, although you've stopped reading about Suzanna's varsity swim meets due to the end of their autumn season, you're about to start reading about all three girls' club swim meets due to the start of their winter season.  Got that?!

Their first meet of this season was today in Mandan.  I stayed home to get some work done and prep for Scandinavian Saturday supper (more on that in a bit), but Susan kept me updated (via texts) after every event.  Each daughter improved on her best times from last season; and in a couple instances, they were pretty darned close to the qualifying times for competing in the state meet!  This is a great way to start the season.

For tonight's ethnic meal, I chose the recipes and bought the groceries and then enlisted Susan's assistance (she was my helper this week) once they were back from Mandan.  Here's what we made (thanks to recipes from Trina Hahnemann):

Drool and/or click to enlarge . . . and then proceed.

Parents Night

Suzanna's varsity swim team career continues.  At this point in the season, she (and we) are more or less used to the early-morning and after-school practices and the out-of-town meets, although balancing all that with doing homework and practicing piano and trombone and attending confirmation classes at church and eating meals and spending time with family and sleeping is still proving to be a tricky endeavor.  Nevertheless, tonight was Parents Night at the home swim meet in Williston (recall that Dickinson co-ops with Williston for varsity swimming, so Suzanna wears Williston Coyote apparel instead of Dickinson Midget clothes when swimming).  I had to teach all day as well as attend a meeting led by my chair, our dean, and our president this afternoon . . . so I couldn't be gone.  However, Susan took time off from work to drive Suzanna to the meet and be there as a parent.

Movers (and, as a Result, Shakers!)

I AM SO WORN OUT!  Today I helped Susan's dad, Roger, move out of his apartment in town and into a house in Richardton, ND.  It was a long, chilly day that ended (for me) with a hot bath, despite which I cannot feel parts of my body--and those parts that I can feel are in pain!

Milestone Swim Meet

Tonight's guest blogger is Suzanna, our seventh-grader who this fall started on the high school swim team.  (P.S. Faithful Reader, you should know that Dickinson co-ops with Williston for high school swimming.)

"I had my first high school swim meet today.  I got out of school at 10:30 A.M., and my friend Leah's mom had brought Subway sandwiches for us for dinner, and she gave us a ride to the West River Community Center.  Then we got into the van that took us to Williston.  It held our Dickinson coach, the eight girls on our swim team, and the driver, who was one of the swimmer's dad.  We left at 10:45 and got to Williston at 3:30 P.M. their time (we took a bathroom break along the way).

Back to School (and the Pool)

The school year has begun for everybody in our house.  I had start-of-the-year meetings to attend last week, and classes at the university started at the beginning of this week.  Susan had her teacher workshops Monday and Tuesday, and she started school today.  Our daughters got registered at their respective schools over the last couple weeks (remember?) and had open houses this past Monday and Tuesday in preparation for their own first day of school, which also was today.  We're getting back into our school-year routine . . . and I've got photos to prove it!

Swimming, Singing, and Dining

Three notable events today:

1. The girls had their final swim team practice for the summer season.
2. Our family joined our friend Monica for dinner.
3. Our family joined the swim team for supper at a new restaurant in town.

Dolphins with Awards

I forgot to mention that we attended an end-of-the-season banquet for the girls' swim team Monday evening at the Elks Lodge. We ate a delicious meal of crudités, salad, bread sticks and garlic toast, spaghetti, marinara sauce, al fredo sauce, chicken breasts, parmesan cheese, corn, and soda. After we had eaten, the coaches gave out various awards; our girls brought home participation plaques for the season and ribbons from the last swim meet of the season. Also, Suzanna and Abigail had their names drawn for door prizes and each got a T-shirt.

At the end of the evening, one of the coaches announced that he is stepping down in order to spend more time at his son's own extracurricular activities; and one of the high school-aged assistants reminded everybody that this is her last season helping, too, because she'll be moving away for university next year. The girls are sad to see each of them leave, but otherwise they felt that the banquet was an upbeat ending to a fun season.

Swimming, Shopping, Satiating, and Snoozing

We're back now from a long day in Bismarck. We got up at 4:30 A.M. (Mountain time) to get Hillary to the Bismarck State College Aquatic and Wellness Center in time for warmups before her event in the state swim meet ("2010 North Dakota USA Swimming Short Course Championships," that is). Recall that, back in January, she qualified to compete at state in the Girls 8 and Under 25-Yard Backstroke event. The qualifying time was 24.69 seconds, and she swam it in 24.00. Well, today she . . .

. . . warmed up . . .

. . . hung out with teammates and enjoyed a snack bag put together by some of the parents in our swim club . . .

. . . swam her event with a tummy full of those snacks . . .

. . . and swam more slowly than her original state-qualifying time in January!

Oh, well, there were many positives: (1) she had fun; (2) we enjoyed being there to cheer her on; (3) her Grandpa Gustafson and Uncle Jerrett both came to watch her swim; (4) we liked being able to see the impressive new swimming facility; and (5) her event was toward the start of the day, so we were outta there by about 10:00 A.M. (Central time), giving us most of the day to shop and to dine out.

And, boy oh boy, did we do both! We spent a lot of time at several stores having the girls try on clothes (Easter dresses, dresses for church, shoes to match Easter dresses and dresses for church, etc.), but there were a few other fun little purchases, too. At the Kirkwood Mall, we bought a couple of stadium chairs at Scheels Outfitters so that Susan and I can sit in the bleachers at swim meets with a little portable cushion beneath our butts and a little back rest behind us.

While Susan took Suzanna and Abigail to one clothes store, Hillary and I stopped at Stabo Scandinavian Imports and bought a cookbook, a Swedish pancake mix, some Swedish spice mixes, a rømmegrøt mix ["sour cream porridge"], a couple bottles of a Swedish "winter soft drink" to sample, some Swedish lingonberry and cloudberry preserves, and some Finnish hand lotion. Even though we weren't home to make Scandinavian Saturday supper this evening, we definitely had that theme on our minds as we purchased all these items!

Oh, and we also tried on a Viking hat, complete with Aryan braids sewn into it!

At the Gateway Fashion Mall, we browsed an antiques shop called Not Too Shabby and bought a set of etched vintage glassware that matches some wine glasses that my sister has from our mom.

Pretty, huh?

Susan and I also stopped in Vintner's Cellar Winery to take advantage of their special: buy two bottles, get one bottle of dessert wine free. We purchased Bee Blush (a rosé flavored with honey and raspberries from ND) and Dakota Delight (a white zinfandel made with rhubarb and strawberries from ND) and were given a bottle of white chocolate port.

We were hungry for our late dinner at Red Lobster but not yet very hungry for our late supper at Texas Roadhouse, where we decided just to share a few appetizers amongst the five of us--and that was plenty. As wonderful as the food was at each restaurant, equally wonderful was the opportunity to sit down and rest our aching backs and feet. Shopping can be tiring! It's not surprising that the ride home was so very quiet . . . and sleepy . . .

Dolphins and Donuts

This was an unusual Sunday for us in that we skipped church! Well, Susan didn't; as Sunday school director, she had to report for work as usual. But the girls had a swim meet in town today as part of the Dickinson Dolphin Swim Team (the last meet before the state swim meet in Bismarck March 19-21), so I took them there (to the West River Community Center), and Susan joined us when she was done at church. I brought school work to do while I waited during pre-meet warmups and between events, and I got quite a bit done. The girls had a fine day, but we think that none of them qualified for state in any of today's events--although Hillary had already qualified for state in the 25-yard backstroke back in January (remember?), so we know we'll be attending state for her.

We didn't stick around to see the final results posted because we had another event to get to: a birthday party for our family's friend Monica. She has an apartment in an assisted living complex, and she reserved the dining room for a party today to celebrate the March birthdays of her neighbors and herself. There were lots of people there! Susan brought her grandma Laura over from the nursing home where she resides (which is attached to Monica's apartment building). Susan's aunt Kathy helps Monica with errands and has become a good friend, too, so Kathy came with some of her family: husband Pat; daughter Tina and grandson Kylan; and son Todd and daughter-in-law Trista and grandson Trae.

Abigail, Suzanna, and Hillary surround their great-grandmother Laura

There were balloons and snack mix on each table, and Susan and the girls helped to pass out cookies and donuts and to pour coffee and punch. After Monica said a few words of welcome, the girls sang a Norwegian table prayer, and then I accompanied them as they sang the song "He Is Good." Monica asked me to play some more, so I provided background music on the piano while people visited and ate. After most of the guests had gone, we gave Monica her birthday present: a scarf that Susan knitted for her. It was a very pleasant afternoon event.

Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary sing the religious song "He Is Good" by memory as I play the piano behind them.

Susan had the girls find out from Monica her favorite color, and then she bought some pink yarn and knitted this scarf for Monica . . . over the course of four days! Yep, Susan's quite the knitter now (remember when/how she began this hobby?).

Abigail, Suzanna, and Hillary with their "foster grandma" Monica!

P.S. I met a most interesting woman, one of Monica's neighbors whose name I didn't get but with whom I visited at the end of the party. She complimented us on our musicianship and told me a bit about her career as a music teacher. We also talked about international travel and about Italian cuisine (she's full-blooded Italian and differentiates between "real" lasagne and "North Dakota" lasagne, which invariably includes cottage cheese instead of ricotta and no vegetables when it should include Swiss chard).

Driving the Dolphins Around

No Scandinavian Saturday supper tonight, either (remember last weekend?). The girls had a swim meet in Mandan today, so we ate in Bismarck instead. All three of our Dolphins improved their own records in nearly every event (Abigail even shaved off 26 seconds in one!), so it was a successful day. It was also a lo-o-o-ong day for Susan and me; Suzanna's events were in the morning, and Abigail and Hillary's were in the afternoon, so Susan and I sat in that hot, humid, muggy, stuffy pool area on those hard, backless metal bleachers all day long through a series of events featuring other children punctuated by the occasional one in which one of our daughters was racing. At the end of the day when it was time to leave, we were more than ready.

Suzanna ready to jump into the water

Abigail waiting for her heat to begin

Hillary in mid-leap

We took the girls to a late-afternoon screening of the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on the book by Rick Riordan, a book that Susan and our daughters all read and loved (they've read all the books in the series, in fact). Despite the presence in the theater of three ill-behaved young adults a couple rows behind us, our family enjoyed the movie . . . and, afterwards, the girls enjoyed enumerating the ways in which the characters and plot had been altered by the moviemakers.

Then we had an unsatisfactory supper at a buffet restaurant that shall remain anonymous but whose name rhymes with Bolden Morale (and whose Web site is here). Despite the restaurant staff's best efforts to deny us food (by not replacing items in a timely fashion when the last portion had been taken), we managed to eat our fill. It was a quiet and sleepy drive home, and that bed is a-callin' my name.

Wet and Windy in Williston

No Scandinavian Saturday supper tonight. The girls had a swim meet in Williston today, so we ate there instead. We left around 6:45 A.M. and drove through some drifting snow on the roads until Watford City, but we made our way to the E. J. Hagen Aquatic Center in Williston without incident. My aunt Lucille, who lives in Williston, spent the day with us at the meet, cheering on the girls and catching up on family news with us. My dad and stepmom drove to Williston for the meet, too. My dad's cousin Jay and his wife were there from Minot with their son Daniel, who was competing, too--and Jay cheered on our girls whenever they were racing (and, um, he's a very audible cheerer). So our daughters had lots of fans in the stands while they swam!

That's Abigail sitting on her grandma's lap. Beverly is sitting beside Dad, who is beside me, and Lucille is to my left.

It's not so easy to get good photos of the girls at a swim meet. We end up with a collection of photographs of diving blocks with blurs on them as a daughter leaps for the water, or of splashing water as she heads down the lanes. So, in lieu of pics of our children, here's a cool photo that Suzanna took of the lanes between events. (Orange and black are Williston's school colors.)

After the meet, we went with Lucille, Dad, and Beverly to Gramma Sharon's Family Restaurant for a mid-afternoon meal courtesy of Lucille. It was terrific to spend so much time with her today. She certainly didn't have to sit in the heat of the pool facility on the hard concrete bleachers with no back support for four hours to watch her great-nieces swim, but she did. She also didn't have to buy us supper, but she did that, too! And it was good to visit with her throughout the day. It had been a long time! We got some visiting in with Dad and Beverly, too. They brought early Valentine's Day gifts for the girls (red and white stuffed animals with long, floppy, super-soft ears), and we gave Beverly an early birthday gift (the real day is Tuesday).

The wind was bitterly cold in Williston today, and the weather was none too pleasant to drive through on the way home. The darker it got outside, the windier it got, and the drifting snow swirled in mesmerizing patterns across the road, making it difficult for me to focus. From Grassy Butte to Belfield, snow drifts were forming on the road, too, giving us a few jolts as we plowed through them in order to stay in our lane when meeting oncoming traffic. But we're home now, safe and sound. Time to hang up the wet swimming suits and get into comfy pajamas!