Since Sarah and Rachel inherited the "tradition gene" from me, it was no surprise that our trip to Atlanta this year included another Black Friday extravaganza. This year I was privy to all the fun.

First, of course, was our stop at Taco Mac's where the girls obviously got their first carbonation and caffeination for the night.

While I must admit it was fun (and there were some really good deals), I prefer to spend my hard-earned money without working so hard.

Rachel gave me the first scare last week when we were visting Eric and Angela.

Even though I may have been little afraid to let my girls go out on their own, the streets of Warsaw were safe on Halloween thanks to Charlie's Angels. Charle himself even showed up for the night......and it looks like he really enjoys his job.

Although they didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have, at least my favorite Angel and Gangster/Rapper/??? made it home safe and sound with enough loot to keep me happy.

This however, is my favorite costume of the year . . .

At the vet he weighed in at a whopping 1.5 pounds and I am certain that he has doubled in size since we adopted him last week.
Next, we stopped by the Y and then the school where he attracted a crowd like a celebrity. He is quickly winning Daisy's heart and every other man, woman and child that he sees. At school, he was passed between no less than 40 hands and never stopped purring.

We finally got home at 6 o'clock. I had several bags to carry in from the car, so I loaded up my arms and tossed Duke in my canvas tote to carry him into the house. Several minutes later when I returned with the rest of my things, this is what I found.

I quickly snapped the photo and then dashed off to Sarah's volleyball game. When I came back home at 9, he was STILL THERE and still pretty groggy.

"By the way . . . I brought home a stray kitten today. No one else would take it, so I threw it in the back of my Jeep and before I got home, he was sleeping in my lap. Isn't he cute?"

That was Steve!!!

When I discovered the "cute" little kitten was infested with fleas, Steve even ventured out to Wal-Mart at 8pm to get supplies. The kitten, of course was instantly quarantined into a box in the garage. But when Steve returned, the kitten was no where to be found. Steve searched and searched but went to bed forlorn.

Several hours later, the girls and I repeated the search and traced a pathetic meow to an open cabinet in the garage.

After a late-night pedicure, flea treatment, shampoo, fluff and massage, we tucked the little kitty into a box with a heating pad and finally went to bed.

Since sleeping beauty Steve missed all the fun, he walked into work the next morning and had to confess to everyone that he had lost the kitten :)

Daisy, of course, has been growling and hissing at this intruder since it first stepped on her turf. She runs away when it gallops her direction, but she keeps sneaking back to watch what it's doing. She seems to find the kitty annoying but irrestistable.

We think it's a boy, so the girls chose the name . . .

Although this is how Rachel began her 13th birthday (with the traditional birthday cinnamon roll and always at least one small package to open), she actually began her celebration weeks ago when Tracy & Nate were here.

Tracy primed her well:

I had also done a little priming four years ago when Sarah turned 13, so the expectations had been building for four years that Rachel would also get to skip school for a mother-daughter shopping spree. (Fortunately, Rachel has LOTS of shoes to help deal with the stress of anticipation.)

So............when I delivered lunch to the girls on Thursday like I usually do, BOTH were stunned, surprised and speechless when I told Rachel to pack up her things to leave. The expected still came unexpected!

We made it to Chicago in time to do a little shopping before Rachel's birthday dinner of coconut shrimp and lobster followed by "Wicked."

After a good night's sleep and a Carmel Macchiato from Starbuck's, Rachel shopped 'til she dropped while I got shopper's elbow from carrying packages and swooshing my credit card all day long.

Bubby, you better start getting ready for Sweet 16 . . . you have a lot to live up to!

Nate is obviously a very tolerant young gentleman. Not only did he endure that drive from Atlanta, but then 5 days of Indiana rain and gloom, sleeping in his teenage little sister-in-law's room, sharing the bathroom with three blondes and NOT having access to cable or satellite TV. He even watched one of Sarah's volleyball matches, two chick flicks and sat around the table with twenty of us to share an early Thanksgiving of togetherness even though there was no after-dinner football game as a reward his patience and perserverence. Whew!

Obviously, this guy is in love..........and as the photo attests, marriage looks good on both of them.

Nate even spent an afternoon shopping with the in-laws and Tracy.
(In Nate's own words: Happy wife..........Happy life.)
How refreshing to know there are still a few good men left: intelligent, charming and cute!

Thankfully there was also Rock Band and indoor go-cart racing! (He even got to watch a little college football that came through on our rabbit ears.)

A lot to be thankful for . . . .

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.

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...........

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.)

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!)

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:

Jeffery is hooked too and made his debut with the Lake City Skiers this week!

Deja vu

When Rachel joined the Lake City Skiers four years ago, Sarah watched the first few shows with a scowl on her face. At first she didn't even want to go to the "stupid ski shows." Then the transformation began: she "grudgingly" started going to the shows and started to laugh and smile. She knew all the dance routines in just a few weeks and before summer's end, Sarah was proud and excited to be a Lake City Skier.

In 2006, they recruited me. In 2007, they recruited Steve and now we have the other half of the family eating, breathing and sleeping LCS style: Samantha and Jeff are skiing. Penny helps Steve in the LCS pick-up boat and Rick helps wherever he is needed.

Gramma and Grampa remain loyal fans . . . so it really is all in the family.