December 31 2008

And a happy new year.

December 07 The Nord clan spent last Christmas in the frigid throws of Michigan with Liz’s lovely sister Ann and her Gallant clan, Eric and little Jackson. Eric spent weeks preparing the ice for the kids first ever “lake skate”. It’s been a while since I’ve skated on anything that could crack out from beneath my feet, so after a few ominous sounds we headed over to the indoor rink. After years of shunning video games I was cruelly brought back in via the gnarly grip of guitar hero.

February The lovely Liz and I spend our 10th anniversary in what we hoped to be our future home Ft. Collins Colorado. We scouted homes, we checked out the local vibe, and we hiked the trails. Luckily for Liz, I know how to fight mountain lions, I coached her as she led the way though winding trails in the foothills. The bears should have been sleeping. We choose granola!

March Liz traveled to Philly sans kids and hubby. She prayed at the alter of Balboa and came home with the world's coolest shower curtain. I wondered at what age will the kids start saving up for their first spring break in florida. *shudders*

April Gas prices are heading up, we pull all the bikes down and start riding more.
All three Nord kids participated in their first Tae Kwon Do tournament. Charlie was the ninja of the family sweeping his age/rank group to a gold finish. Cecilia also fought valiantly taking silver. Christian however was put in with a ringer I tell you, he was 10 ft tall and had adamantium claws sticking out of his knuckles. Christian fought courageously all the way to the end, but alas his opponent was just too much.
Cecilia swam in her first swim meet with the Kansas City Blazers. She has latched onto swimming and prefers it above all other activities.

May School will be letting out soon and we have our first birthday of the year. We make our annual trip up to Uncle Jon and Aunt Sophie’s lakeside oasis in Green Lake, MN. This was Liz’s first trip up to the lake and she loved it! I finally got to show the fam what KC style BBQ was all about. Not that I’m tootin’ my own horn but there were no leftovers. Once all the little ones were fast asleep — dreaming of the witch in the boat-house — us adults were outside singing sea shanties. We learned on this trip that five people in the Honda Accord is a bit cramped as two of those people are over six feet tall. This growth puts mama Liz in the back with the little ones and me with a co-pilot who doesn’t co or pilot. We vow that this is the last road trip that Liz sits in the back seat.

June Charlie has started racing the local BMX circuit — he loves both the sport and the extreme style that goes with it. The parents at the track are finally a group that I can relate with. It’s like soccer moms of bizarro world.
We start looking for a new ride for an upcoming family trip. Sadly the ultra hippy vehicle, the Subaru Outback, will not fit our crew any better than the Accord. We have let Colorado down.

July We trade in the Accord for a Honda Pilot. Understand this: gas is over $4 a gallon and we are buying a SUV. We believe we have a bargaining chip. Liz has no mercy on the car dealer, they got a Honda Accord with a cracked bumper and years of kids stains in the back and we walk out with the exact terms we wanted. Crazy.
We load up for our super road trip to grandmas in Ohio. We take our time cutting across the Midwest, a night and afternoon spent in St. Louis, and camping in Indiana before arriving at Grandma’s. I learned that my nasal passages are no match for farm life. We went to the official funeral service for Hilda in New Castle, Pennsylvania, then spent the rest of the day with the East Coast faction of the Nolte clan, cornholing and drinking in the sun. Then it’s off to Pittsburgh for a day where we visited the Carnegie museum with the newly upgraded dinosaur exhibits. Before losing a day in the museum we tried to eat the world's largest basket of fries before braving the world's dirties toilet. We failed at both. We wrapped up our trip with a back yard zoo tour courtesy of Grandma Spillman’s personal driver, Gary. Christian almost had a throw down with an ostrich, personally, I would of run. Before we could leave, Grandma Spillman wanted to show us how she beat Neal Pert at drum off 2000.

August Did we ever mention it gets really hot in Missouri come August? It does.

September The kids are back in school and ready to take on the world. The school asked me to taut my bbq skills, I was so proud to be asked, they must of heard about my mad grill skills. Sadly they just wanted me to cook a couple hundred hotdogs. They had a master and they gave me hotdogs! Charlie is back in hockey, he has yet to score a goal but it’s not for lack of effort.

October I learned that you can be bored in Vegas if you don’t drink the kool-aid. We started to change our office arrangements. Having our office slowly spread itself into each room upstairs had finally taken it’s toll. We sacrificed the play dungeon and cleared out the basement. Thankfully we hired someone else to do it otherwise it would still be in progress. We make a nice space for ourselves and created another space for art of any sort to grow and flourish. For halloween Cecilia and Charlie both went as themselves, me, I was DarthWheat

November The year is wrapping up. Cecilia swam in a swim-a-thon, she cranked out 2 hours of swimming, sure that's pretty damn cool, but she did it with a cold! Miss Liz turned a grand old 40 and being the kinda guy I am I actually plan a birthday party for her. It’s a first, and something she definitely wasn’t expecting from me. The party was a success, people just started streaming into the house with well wishes for the birthday girl. On a sidenote SMRC plays what could be the first of many reunion shows.
Liz and I both lose our free time to facebook, discovering people we haven’t talked to in over 20 years.
This year we traveled up to Ashland, WI to celebrate Thanksgiving at my sisters house. We enjoyed our little vacation at the a pirate themed hotel, with the hoppinest pool in November. The food was most excellent and the fellowship even better. Cecilia and Charlie relished their time with their cousins, and were pleased to add another name to their family line.

It’s now December, actually it's the last day of December. The crew is sitting around the house, spending New Years Eve together. Open house New Years Day, we're making all the good luck mojo food that we know to help make a prosperous 2009. We wish you a happy new year and success in everything you do.