baby monkey

Nolan Sheck showing off his Halloween costume, too cute.
I found this little wagon at a rumage sale for like 50 cents.
A mini wagon for a mini monkey, how cute is he?!
I love mini things :)

Amanda, Roni (and baby) and me.
Amanda left for DC this morning :(
I had to say goodbye for three years, so sad.

Weekend in Duluth

Tim keeps saying that it's been so long since I've posted, so I've been trying to catch up this week. This past weekend, I was up in Duluth with some girlfriends and it was great. We didn't do a whole lot, but that was much needed I think. Played a lot of Bohnanza, but I don't think I won any games. We did decided to have a Bohnanza Extrazaganza before we leave though :) Great fun!! Well, the weather was nice, company was great, food was tasty and warm and we stopped at Tobies for donuts.....twice! Yum, yum, a great weekend. Thanks ladies.

Camping once last time

We wanted to go camping once last time before we leave and
we were priviledged to go with our friends from Columbus
Avenue! And Marmar of course :) So we picked a weekend in late
Sept. and headed for Frontenac State Park, one of our fave spots.
Even though it rained for 5 hours on Sat, we enjoyed a few
rousing games of Bohnanza, the greatest game ever.
We had a yummy lunch in Red Wing and did some sweet
hiking. The food was great and the company was better.
It was a terrific way to end our camping season!

Yup. It was Tim and 5 ladies. I don't think he was TOO
tramatized...maybe just a little :P

more New York

i thought this was so funny! safety first!

we went to this place called the Cloisters, which was
a museum, but much of it was brought over from
different monasteries throughout Europe. very cool.

ok, now we have finally posted all the New York photos. whew.

Football and other stuff

I (Tim) guess I am spoiled when it comes to football. The Broncos have had one losing season in the last twelve. They make the playoffs more often than not and enjoy one of the best home field advantages in the league. Just two seasons back the Broncos were just one game short of the Super Bowl. I am certainly not used to seeing my favorite team destroyed in Denver while looking inept in every phase of the game. If they lose on Sunday night to the Pittsburgh Steelers then their season is pretty much over. I was hoping for better in the last season I will experience before moving to Africa. Maybe that means they will win the Super Bowl while I am over there. That wouldn’t be so bad.

Our support has been coming in faster lately. Not including our church’s support, we are at 50%. We are excited for the momentum but also thinking about how much we have left to do. Busy days are ahead. We feel so blessed and are not worried.

I bought the Transformers on DVD, but have not had time to watch it yet. There was a bonus DVD called Beginnings that was included. Heidi and I did watch that one. It is only 19 minutes long and super lame. I am pumped to watch the best movie of 2007 again. Mmmm. Large robots destroying each other. Mmmm.

Heidi sure did look cute when I left for work this morning.

Running Renaissance

Since we moved across the river, Heidi and I have had to find new places to go running. We no longer have the Greenway and all the colorful characters we used to see every morning. The first morning that we ran together we found a small park that includes a lake with a path around it. Imagine a miniature Lake Calhoun, without the crowds, runners dressed to kill, and ugly dogs. The path around the lake is only about two thirds of a mile, but still nice. We have taken to running to the park together then I will run around it three times while Heidi runs around it twice, and we will run home together. It takes about 30 minutes, so it works out great. When I run alone, I have been checking out a section of the Gateway Trail that runs nearby.

With the cooler weather coming on and a change of scenery, I have been enjoying running more lately than I have in a long time. I hate running in the heat and welcome the colder weather. That is a sure sign that I am becoming a Minnesotan. This morning it was about 44 degrees, so I ran in shorts, a long sleeve shirt over my t-shirt, and thin gloves. It was perfect and I felt great. Running before work was never attractive to me before, but I like it a whole lot now. In fact, I prefer it. Soon though, I will have to drag myself out of bed when it is still dark out and below zero. We’ll see how much I like it then.

Heidi has been doing well with running lately. Be sure to encourage her to keep it up!

Tim's summer movie review

If you read this blog, you know that I like movies. I like to review movies because I like to state my opinion, but I also want people to enjoy things that I enjoy and I want to warn people about soul-destroying films that become moments in life you cannot have back. After a summer of movies, I thought I would give you my opinion of what I saw. As a bonus I will include DVDs I watched, too. My only evaluation of a film is how much it entertained me.

The Great:
Transformers was easily the most entertaining movie of the summer. Nothing else comes close.
The Bourne Ultimatum was great. The action gripped me the entire film.
3:10 to Yuma is a Western. I love westerns and this was well made.
Blades of Glory was dumb, but really, really funny.
The Prestige was fantastic. I did not figure out the ending beforehand, but everyone I have talked with about the movie did.

The Okay:
Spider Man 3 was nothing compared to parts 1 and 2, but still decent.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was a solid film, but not as good as the previous installments.
The Pursuit of Happyness was interesting, but nothing special.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was okay, but too long and nowhere close to being as good as the first 2 movies.
Wild Hogs was better than I expected, but I did not expect much.
The Last King of Scotland was interesting, but it could have been more. I am bothered that an African story is not told from an African’s point of view.
Blood Diamond is an African story that follows an African and featured some great acting.

The Bad:
Because I Said So is a clichéd and poorly made movie.
The Transporter is old, but I watched this summer. It’s really dumb.
Disturbia wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t good, either.
Casino Royale did not entertain me much. That surprised me a little since I heard it was good, but found it kind of boring.

I probably left some off. Please post your comments on the best and worst movies of the summer.