Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Long, Long, Long Winter




It's been so long since I posted on my blog, I forgot which e-mail account to use to access my blog, and there are new passwords, Goggle accounts, no phone number to call for help ... arrgghh!  I finally figured it out all by myself!   Yay!  So ... here are some pictures to give you a taste of what the Caseys have been up to the last six months - just ONE from each event or we'd be here all day!



I had a chance to sing with the Augsburg Choir again in October.  We had a 100th birthday celebration honoring Dr. Sateren and 200 choir alumni showed up to sing songs he composed.  It was awesome, and I have a CD from the day - we sound just like we did back in the day!



 
Paul and I had a chance to go up to Lutsen in November for a few days.  We did some hiking up by Grand Marais.  You can see Canada from these falls!

 
We had the traditional Catlin Thanksgiving at Ted and Pat's and the Illinois connection were there , too, this year.  It is so much fun to have all the little kids together.  Teddy carves the turkey - another little kid!
 

 
We hosted the Casey Thanksgiving Game Night on Sunday - and of course, had to play some dominos in honor of Roger!

 
Jane, Jenna, Maddox, Charlie, Mabel, and I made Grandma Linburg's bread on a Saturday in December.  The kids all got to throw in handfuls of raisins - YUM!

 
Our Waterbrooke Children's Christmas Musical - The Night Shift Before Christmas - took up a lot of time in December.  I helped make the poodle skirts for our 50's themed diner - a falafel house in Bethlehem and also did the choreography for the songs.  The kids did a terrific job.
 
 
 
 
The Waterbrooke ladies had a cookie exchange the Monday before Christmas.  There were WAYYYY too many cookies for my diet, but boy, were they tasty!
 

 
Casey Christmas was at Mark and Karena's house.  Paul and Drew are twins separated at birth - all that musical talent in their little fingers!  Tyler and Samantha announced their engagement - o boy - a wedding in the family! Annie and Ryan have since announced baby # 3 - those little ones are such fun at family gatherings!

 
The Catlin's had their now traditional Chili Feed at Corey's on Christmas Day.  It is so relaxing - chili brunch, dominos, and a movie and whoever is in town is welcome.

 
Paul and I had a FANTASTIC vacation the last couple of weeks in January and the beginning of February - we missed one of the polar vortex weeks while we were gone - thankfully!  We went to San Diego, Palm springs, Sedona, Tucson, and Phoenix with our friends the Bykowskis.  It was incredible, all the things we saw and did in a short 17 days!  I took over 1,000 pictures!  This fountain is at Balboa Park in San Diego.


 This fountain is at the oldest mission in San Diego.  We had to take about 4 shots to get a good one of everybody using the monkey claw tripod sitting on Joan's walker!

 

 
Since getting back from the vacation to warmer climes, I have taken up snowshoeing!  Gotta do SOMETHING to make it through this winter!  Karen, Mary and I have explored the Arboratum and Baker Park Reserve so far.  If we keep getting more snow, we'll tackle more destinations, I'm sure!  Will it ever end?



I helped plan the Waterbrooke Youth Ski Trip and Retreat the weekend of March 14-16 at Welch Village.  I still love skiing, though I only get out about once a year.  We stayed at the Three Crosses Retreat Center in Cannon Falls and had a great time with the kids.
 
Well, that about does it.  Spring should arrive tomorrow.  Be prepared for the big melt off and the return of GOLF!  I'd better write down how I accessed the blog so next time I don't get so frustrated and stressed out - LOL! 
 
 Happy Spring, everyone!