Thinking of Grandma

It has been a year since Grandma/mom left us, but she is with us everyday in our hearts and memories.

The Reluctant Volleyball Player

Although volleyball is not high on Emma's list of fun activities, she was persuaded to play to fill 2 8th grade teams. The bright pink socks are a bonus. Here the girls took 3rd at a recent tournament.

what a visit!

...from the Jackson 5--Dennis, Deidre, Nate, Matt, and Johnny.

here are some of the things we did:

--multiple trips to Connies;

--played Mario Kart;

--went to Mall of America: highlights there included Legoland (for Matt), roller coasters (for Nate), and the American Girl Salon (for Terri, Deidre, and Emma).

--launched rockets

--played basketball, tennis, golf (five holes before weather struck for doug, den, and ben), and mini-golf

--the Minnesota Science Museum (lowlight there was the Curse of the Mummy show)

--ben's band's show (which 'rocked the p**p out of Johnny)

--celebrated john's 6th birthday

--getting served, played, and denied.

but most of all it was great fun just to hang out and spend time together. thanks everyone!!!

Destination Imagination Global Finals

Ben's Como Park High School Destination Imagination team "Spilled Salsa" had a great week at Global Finals held in Knoxville, Tennessee. After the 16 hour drive down, they were excited to dive right into the festivities. First night, a spectacular opening ceremonies welcoming teams from 28 countries. We sat by both China and Turkey who were very excited to be there. Kids also walked around the U of Tenn and World's Fairground site where the DI competition and activities were held.

(pictures above, kids relaxing following instant challenge and happy after performance, and pic of opening ceremony)

The second day, the kids worked on the finishing touches for their Duct Tape Ball costumes and worked on their performance a bit. They also viewed performances by other teams and did some pin trading with other participants. (pictures below, duct tape ball, pin trading, sight seeing in Knoxville)

Duct Tape Ball was held that night, and the team really did it up with their costumes. Medora and her sister's all-duct tape dresses raised breast cancer awareness. Lizzy was a duct tape Lady Gaga. Hannah made a beautiful dress from duct tape and plastic wrap. Ben and Michael wore duct tape vests, and Ben embellished his costume with duct tape facial hair and a duct tape priest collar. The event was amazing, as you can see from the picture, the crowd was huge and lively, and enjoyed the band. The following days the kids had their Instant Challenge and performance, both of which went very well. The event came to an end with more spectacular events, including closing ceremonies complete with fireworks and after parties. The drive home was long, but gave the kids time to reflect on an amazing experience, catch up on school work, and sing along to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."

Heading to Globals!

Ben and his Como Park High School Destination Imagination team "Spilled Salsa" have advanced to Globals! Global Finals will take place in Knoxville, Tennessee from May 25-May 28 at the University of Tennessee. Teams from around the world will compete. Destination Imagination is a creative problem-solving competition, which requires brainstorming, creative thinking, collaboration and teamwork. The global competition seems like a spectacular event. Opening ceremonies are run in a way similar to the Olympics--with teams coming in waving flags and wearing team costumes. The picture here is of last year's ceremony with Columbia followed by England. For those teams from the US, I think they will come in as state delegations--Ben's team will come in with those representing Minnesota. Travel arrangements have not yet been settled, but it looks like Terri will travel with the team. To see more about it go to:

http://www.globalfinals.org/

a weekend of competitions

2 big competitions this past weekend for the family--the state tournament for Destination Imagination for Ben, and the Stick-it-to-Cancer Hockey Tournament for Terri. Both went well.

Ben's DI team did a series of performances and presentations for "Project Outreach" in the Senior High Division. They did over 150 hours of community service in the months leading up to the event. The pictures you see are their dramatic representations of their work. Ben was the voice of the teacher and played musical rifts in the background. His Star-Spangled Banner (performed when the flag you see above was raised) was one of the top moments of the day. The team didn't win but scored several high marks and have now submitted their scores and materials for consideration for an at-large spot to "Globals" (which would be in Knoxville TN later in May if they get chosen.)

Terri's team (see below) won their first two games and advanced to the championship game of their C3 bracket on Sunday. They didn't win (the milwaukee team they faced seemed to have a few ringers) but it was clearly their best weekend of the season and a great way to finish up the year! And all of Terri's clinics and skating paid off with a big assist in the game winning goal of the second contest.

signs of spring

--first outdoor softball practice (emma and doug), 4/8

--first golf of the season (doug and terri), 4/9

--first tennis of the season (doug, terri, ben, emma, and hannah), 4/10

...and today (sunday, 4/10), terri turns 45! we celebrated with fun, fancy family dinner last night at restaurant called Faces. highlight: two different chocolate cake desserts, on the house!

coming up:

--terri's spring league hockey and fundraiser tourney

--ben's DI (destination imagination) state tournament

the march toward spring

temps in the 40s for the past few days and rain the past 24 hours have significantly reduced the amount of snow left on the ground, and heightened our hopes for spring. this week ben enters his spring break, with doug and emma going back to the usual grind.

big march madness weekend for us--had different groups over for viewing (and eating) parties on both friday and saturday, and doug and emma went over to the target center on friday to watch some of the girls state high school tournament. not sure who is winning the family pool, but here are each of our final picks: emma--Notre Dame; ben--ohio state; doug--ohio state; terri--ucla. no, just kidding for T; she really picked duke, doing with her head rather than her heart, in nana's lingo.

with being on sabbatical, spring break not quite as big a deal for terri as others of us. big news for her for the week involved a paper she just had appear in the journal for marriage and the family this week. the journal and university put out press releases and it turns out that the piece is getting some nice media attention. she did interviews with newsweek, men's health, and the AP (among other places). the transcript of one such interview can be found below:

http://www.minnpost.com/healthblog/2011/03/17/26691/young_adults_help_from_parents_doesnt_mean_theyre_slackers_u_of_m_study_finds

there are other write-ups about the study on websites of time and us news as well.

all of us also went to a play called "Song of Extinction" at the Guthrie this afternoon. it was poignant mediation on science and life, that followed the life of a high school cello player whose mom was dying of cancer and his high school biology teacher, a refugee immigrant from cambodia.

spring break bus-i-ness

doug and emma are officially now on spring break. this, after being first in line (with terri) for the season opening of conny's this morning! indeed, the full extent of emma's spring break plans seems to involve trips to cone everyday. ben's first shift is weds night--though sounds like he plans on stopping in today after school as well.

we actually got started saturday night with some bowling. crazy thing about that was that in the first game we all (terri, emma and doug--ben was watching a movie with friends) all got exactly 100.

lots of challenging world news all around us--protests in the middle east, the tragedy in japan (terri's brother chris, just back from search-and-rescue in new zealand, could be called over), and now some on a more personal, local front: sam gerteis, the son of our friends joe and nicole (one year younger than emma), was discovered to have a brain tumor this weekend. he had 6 hours emergency surgery yesterday and appears to be doing well. his is in the ICU at children's in st. paul (doug visited last night). all our prayers are with them.

Good Times

hockey wrap up and other news

sunday proved to be the last day of official hockey games for the season. terri's team played its final game in the evening, losing a close game 3-1 to the top team in the league. actually a pretty good game--with the rest of us (doug, ben, emma and terri's dad charlie) there to cheer the goal diggers on. terri ends her season with 3 goals and an assist, and the top goalie rating in the league from the one game she had to play in the net when their regular goalie couldn't make it and she got a 4 save shutout.

emma's team lost a heart-breaker 1-0 sunday afternoon in the game that would've sent them to the regional tournament. it was a really well played game, following three other games in the previous 2 days. two of those were overtime thrillers, both of which the johnson como girls won with sudden death goals (one in a 3rd OT, the other in a second). while we were disappointed that they lost, it was actually kind of a relief not to have another overtime game.

of course, as one season ends another begins: softball tryouts for emma were saturday (between hockey games).

also on saturday ben's new band "call for none" had another rehearsal. excitement starting to build for their first show, the first saturday in april. they've found a drummer, at least for this show, and still looking for a singer but we think they sound good enough that they could get by without. it seems like they prefer that to have the guitarist allan's mom sing, though she has said she's available.

we've also had a great time with terri's dad visiting. the highlight has been a card game called 31 which he brought back from philadelphia. it's been fun--especially for ben who has won most of petty pots we've played for.

fine finishes

two season finales for emma in the last few days, with one more to go. one was basketball today: the girls followed up their big upset from last friday with a one point loss in a game that would've put them in the semi-finals. was a tight game that went down to the final seconds--they hit two three-pointers in the last two minutes to take back the lead after having held it for most of the game. emma had a really great game, her best of the year--anchoring us in the middle of our 3-2 zone and scoring 6 points on three outside shots in a row during our second half comeback. a very fine finish to a surprisingly inspiring season as suggested by the post-game photo that is included here.

the other finale was last saturday and it was probably even more surprising and exciting: emma's science bowl team tied for 7th in the state! they went 2-3 in the play-in rounds (including a last question loss to the eventual 4th place team) but scored enough points to make it into a three way tie-breaker for the final slot in the afternoon's brackets. even without their best player (an 8th grader who went home for lunch) they won and though they lost twice in the double-elimination they were competitive in both games. emma was especially strong on math questions that required quick-buzz-ins and had a lot of fun hanging out at an event where nerds got to act like jocks.

the final, upcoming finale? hockey of course. emma's team has their second round playoff game (they had a bye the first round) tomorrow night at 6. it is a double-elimination tournament so they'll play again on saturday no matter what so this one will take a few more days before it is really over. But we've got our finger's crossed that emma's roll of great finishes will continue.

the mid-winter week in review

so much to catch up on:

--biggest news on the sporting front--and its not hockey: the mmsa 7th grade girls pulled off a big upset in the first round of the CAA tournament yesterday defeating previously unbeaten (and #2 seed) st. peter clavier 25-16! as usual, our tough 2-1-2 gave the other guys fits, and finally the tough regular season schedule we played payed dividends. emma didn't have any points (her friend emily, who ben has been helping coach all year, was again dominant with 16) but she was crucial in making our entry passes and refused to let the other teams big girls get position down on the block. next game: weds, the 23rd at 4 against Nativity, a team we lost to earlier in the year but not by much. we're going to practice hard, tweak our defense and hopefully be ready.

--hockey news: emma's playoffs start next thurs, the 24th; terri has final regular season games tomorrow night (19th) and the 27th.

--ben got straight A's for the second trimester and as a reward got to have a pizza lunch with counselors yesterday at school. he says he ate 6 pieces and almost got sick.

--emma got great grades too but no pizza party; today she is competing on MMSA's science bowl team over at St. Thomas University.

--visit coming. terri's dad will be coming to see some hockey and spend the week with us starting next thursday.

--ben's new band "Call for None" apparently has signed on to play a show in early april; they'll be the opening act at a club in oakdale called "SOS;"

--since ben went with us to emma's tournament last weekend, he didn't get to go to the dance and couldn't be named duke. the honor went instead to vladimir

--and in more somber news: terri's grandfather passed away this past week in philadelphia. he was a remarkable 101 years old and died in his sleep, 14 days after his birthday.

--and, in finally, our wacky winter weather: 50 degree days midweek, now in the single digits with forecasts for 6-10 inches of snow over the weekend.

Three Time Champs

For the third weekend in a row, the St. Paul Johnson-Como Devils skated home with a tournament championship. Our favorite player, #8 (see photos), still can't believe how it turned out and how tough city girls can be.

This one was up in Cloquet just south of Duluth. It didn't have quite the drama of last weekend (hard to top 2 overtimes and 3 shootouts on superbowl sunday) but the competition was probably better and beating the rich kids from Edina, one of the most famous programs in the state, in the final game (4-3) was sweet.

The 10 team tournament featured 4 of the top 10 ranked teams in the state, not including our girls. Of course, with winning three tournaments in the past three weeks and beating at least five ranked teams in the process, we're thinking that they might finally get some state wide recognition themselves.

This week, they get a bit of a break in preparation for the final season playoffs that begin next week. Hopes are high that the team will do well in that competition though it is one of the toughest districts in the state (including the #1 seed Edina team from yesterday). But no matter what the last three weeks have been magical, even if Emma still can't quite believe it.

super sunday in review...and the duke derby

sure it was the superbowl and we had a really fun superbowl party at the house with a nacho bar and a bunch of friends (ben's como park high crowd and some of our adult friends) but that wasn't what made yesterday really super for us. it was the fact that for the second weekend in a row emma's johnson-como devils hockey team won a tournament championship! and they did it in unbelievably dramatic, exciting fashion. the game went to two overtimes and three shootouts, and wasn't decided until the last shot of the evening, almost two hours after the game was scheduled to start.

week ahead includes more of emma's sports: bball at 4, hockey at 7 (both the final games of the regular season schedules) and then a tournament up in Cloquet, Minnesota (past Duluth).

and for ben, the big thing will be to see voting results for como park royalty for the winter dance. turns out our guy was nominated for "Duke" of the sophomore class! some stiff competition for the spot (including one of his football buddies and a kid on the bball team) but his running mate (for Dutchess, we guess) is an Asian girl and the consensus seems to be that if the Asian vote comes out they might have a chance. the only catch is that ben will actually have to go to the dance to find out (you have to be there to win, in fact), something he has refused to do so far as high schooler. who really stands to win in this could be his friend hannah, who we think wants to go to dances but hasn't been asked yet so far...

Victories on Ice

Johnson-Como Devils played hard and took first in this weekend's 12U tournament in New Richmond. The tournament started with a close match up with Western Wisconsin, a loss that followed a shoot out. But they were still able to make into the championship round by outscoring the other teams in total goals. Final game against Chippawa Falls was an easy victory for JC, winning 4-0. Emma had a great tournament including a penalty, a half dozen shots on net from the blue line, and an assist. (She is on the far left in the team shot.)










Terri's team, Goal Diggers, also experienced a rare victory this weekend. Here's a picture of Terri (#15) on the ice with her awesome teammate Jaime. She also drew her first penalty of the year, though she claimed it was a dive on the other team.

news and notes

emma's hockey team had two big wins against top ranked teams this weekend. one more game tonite (monday) to see if they can complete the trifecta. no hockey for terri this weekend (two games next) and basketball is a bye week for the MMSA 7th grade girls.

biggest news of the weekend is about ben and the new band he is trying to get going. they played at our house on saturday night. during the course of their jam session, they threw a circuit breaker in the basement and then came up to play in the living room where their reverberations contributed to the collapse of a whole set of shelves in the playroom. quite a mess. they think it'll be a great story for interviews when they become famous. doug thought they could name their new group in honor of the occasion: "top shelf circuit breakers." other nominations (all doug's which few others appear to think are cool) include: SPSS (st. paul super stars of sound), the como park sound machine, the text generation, and teenage music ninja stars.

doug started classes last week, and had two papers accepted for publication so things going well for him. he is giving a talk in the sociology department about his midnight basketball research tomorrow (tuesday). it is called "Race, Sports, and Neoliberalism: Lessons from Midnight Basketball." he is hoping it inspires him to finally finish the book manuscript this spring.

COLD!!!

Chilly night in Minnesota.

-10 and falling.

big sports weekend for the ladies

big sports weekend for the women in the house: emma had 3 bball games (in a tourney), a hockey game, and a little volunteer referring for little kids games on sat; terri two hockey games. all went pretty good. the bball team won one and lost two but played all close games and definitely overachieved. (behind by 3 to last years CAA champion, for example). emma played really well: she had to run the point as our regular point guard had the flu, and completely held her ground against the big girls down low on doug's newly implemented (and surprisingly successful) 2-1-2 zone defense. she wasn't so happy with the outcome of the hockey game, but a 2-1 loss to one of the top ranked teams in the state didn't seem too bad to us.

terri's big game was this afternoon, against the team just below them in the standings. it didn't look good at first--they got behind. but they founded a furious comeback in the last period, got within one goal, and pulled their goalie with under one minute left and scored a tying goal with 28 seconds left. final score: 4-4. rarely will you see such an exciting tie. we were all there in the stands, going crazy. for good measure, terri had an assist in the game on saturday night in a losing effort. she now has 5 points for the season (3 goals, two assists) and--more hillariously--is stilled listed as the top goalie in the league on the basis of her 4 save shutout earlier in the season.

news for ben and doug: the two of them went to the gophers game (W over Iowa) this afternoon. ben had a 3 hour jam session with a couple of new kids yesterday afternoon, and they are thinking of getting a new band going. "spring" classes start for doug tuesday. he is trying to finish up his syllabus tonite so his TA (who has been snowed in in Atlanta) can get it all printed out and ready.

not just parking lots anymore

went down to the minnesota license bureau this afternoon after school so ben could take his learner's permit test. after a brief wait, he whizzed through the test and passed with flying colors, only missing a couple of questions. so he's official now. watch out world (though would be better if the weather cooperated and the streets cleared up a bit).

first win of the year!

emma's basketball team, coached by doug, got their first win of the year last monday, 36-33. game went right down to the wire. emma had two points (on only two shots) but led the team in rebounding and assists. big bball week ahead: another league game on monday, then a tournament next weekend. also a hockey game or two.

other plans for the week include: ben taking his driver's permit test (tues) and continuing with football weight lifting, doug getting ready for new semester (classes start tues after MLK day), terri two hockey games on the weekend, and emma to the orthodontist (thurs). oh and also: finalizing and sending out our annual holiday letter, this year recast as a "year in preview."

out with the old, in with the cold

okay, so we stole that headline from the local paper but it is cold, brutally cold (2 degrees with wind and flurries). anyway, happy new year to all from minnesota! we spent the evening last night with our friends and neighborhoods the Johnsons and a bunch of como high kids. played some games, had lots to eat, and watched the ball drop. it was fun and, after a rather roll coaster 2010, we were definitely ready to toast in a new, more even keel year. along those lines, we finally have a first draft of our holiday letter. it is a 'year in preview' and should be in your mail boxes shortly.