The Jungbauer Family Website

Last Splash

The Lake City Skiers closed their season today. The last show is always filled with a little bit more fun and frolic than usual. Today was no exception.

Throughout the season, the supporting cast is sometimes under-appreciated. The pick-up boat crew, for example, works hard, but hopefully is barely noticed -- either because the skiers have very few falls or because the pick-up crew is so smooth and swift when they do have to pick up a fallen skier . . . . . or because they spend almost the entire show washed up on the beach with a dead engine.

So seemed to be the fate of veteran pick-up boat drivers Betsy and Juergen Voss more times than not. This left the other pick-up boat with Steve and Penny, stealing the show and all the skis.

To officially recognize Betsy and Juergen's hard work, dedication and perserverence, Steve bought them new twin rig motors so they would never be beached again . . . . . . and he presented the Golden Plug Award to the 2008 show director Jakim Wilson for the time he sank Betsy and Juergen's pick-up boat by forgetting (???) to put in the drain plug!

Steve also did a little pre-show entertainment by showing off his pick-up boat doubling as a tow boat for a jumper! The landing was soft and successful. The next challenge will be to pull barefooters and pyramids!

But the real tow boat drivers with the real twin rigs got the last splash.

All the boats quietly circled together before the start of the last show . . . . . and then Penny opened fire!

Captain Randy warned Steve and Penny not to taunt his twins . . .

. . . but it was too late! Captain Kevin's twins attacked from the back and his tidal wave into Steve and Penny's boat quickly declared him victorious!

Better start scheming for next year now as Lake City Studios presents: James Bomb and the evil Dr. Bombuster.

Portland

When I suggested going to Portland for the wedding of my partner's daughter, my husband lovingly agreed:"As you wish." I knew he really wasn't excited about going to Portland, much less a wedding, but we both needed an excuse to get away for the weekend.

Little did he know that Portland was just a sprint away from the home of NIKE, an hour from the ocean, an hour from the mountains and just minutes from sidewalk cafes, waterfalls, rivers, gorges, glaciers, fine dining, Fifth Avenue shopping,and of course, extraordinary people watching. Steve was even impressed with the coffee :)

We couldn't do it all, but we sure tried. (We'll be back.)

The wedding was elegant, simple yet sophisticated and just a whole lotta fun.

We especially enjoyed the company of Peter and Virginia from Austria. (Virginia is my partner's sister.) At the reception, they treated everyone to a Vienna waltz. Now we need to brush up on the waltz as well as the opera.......Peter and Virginia insist on taking all their guests to the opera in Vienna and you can be assured that we have every intention of being their guests!!!

Until then, something seems to be calling us back home...........

7-11

Yes, I did it again. I totally embarrassed my children by walking them into school and taking their pictures on the first day of school. (And Steve was with me too!)

So in case you're worried that these girls don't get much attention........Trust me. Neither Rachel or Sarah were alone at their lockers for very long. (It just took Rachel longer to learn her combo.)

Totally engaged

Today we celebrated Eric and Angela's engagment by gathering together both families and some of the wedding party for a wonderfully relaxing, enjoyable and perfect day at the lake.

We rented a tent, so of course, the weather was absolutely divine. And since we had the tent, I decided to make good use of it and throw a 50th birthday party for my friend Lynnette, the night before. Eric and Angela joined us Friday night, so they were able to enjoy both festivities . . . and the guitarist, Charlie, who added the crowning touch!

Nine months from today, Eric and Angela will officially tie the knot. At the engagement party, we guaranteed that Angela was our for keeps (I think we love her almost as much as Eric does) by making her put her permanent imprint on our Bubby-built cornhole boards! (Obviously, ALL our kids had to put their prints on!)

Robin Hood, Prince of Skis

The Lake City Skiers made their debut in the Division I Show Ski National Championships this weekend. After years of competing (and dominating) in the Division II level, our back-to-back D-II National titles in 2006 and 2007 launched us into a whole new tier of competition.

So . . . . while most of you were watching the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics, the Lake City Skiers were busy preparing for our "opening ceremonies" on Lake Wazeecha with 13 other teams. For the LCS members that have been faithfully building the team for over 20 years (and dreaming of competing with the "big dawgs" in D-I), it was clearly an olympic moment even though we were in Wisconsin instead of Bejing.

As the tournament logo implies, the flooding this year caused a lot of havoc at many ski sites and caused both D-I and D-II national tournaments to change locations. (LCS hosted D-II last weekend.)

Lake Wazeecha is interesting because of it's red sand "stadium" seating.

(Sorry I don't really have any photos from the tournament, but I was kinda busy.)

The entire tournament was webcast and is still available for viewing for a limited time at www.webcast-tv.com/sports/events/showskiusnationals2008 (Unfortunately, you won't even see much of our signature barefoot pyramid slingshot because the camera man cut out too soon, but you can always catch the clip at www.lakecityskiers.org)

The Lake City Skiers finished in 10th place. (We could have easily placed 7th based on our usual scores and performances, but we admittedly had a few jitters and glitches.

(Pardon me while I whine for a minute.)

Our signature act, the barefoot slingshot pyramid, was only scored as an 8 out of 25 by one judge. Though many have tried, we are the only team in any division that can do the slingshot. (That was just one of several scoring inconsistancies.) Our sound board died less than a week before Nationals so our sound guy made his debut on a new sound board during our D-I debut performance. Hence, our typically award-winning sound was less than stellar. I didn't even get to barefoot because my boat driver got cut off after my dock flyer.

Enough whining! We still put on an entertaining prime-time show and put Lake City on the map.

Here are a few glimpses from our home shows: