Great Weather Weekend

We had a great weekend. We weren't traveling this weekend, the first weekend we have stayed home in nearly a month. We love to see family, but everywhere we go from up here is at least a 3 hour drive so a weekend at home was certainly relaxing.
We had visitors this weekend, our friends from Rochester, Aaron and Emily Peter. Aaron and I were college roommates and he works for the government and Emily is part of the Mayo family. Both love their jobs and we are glad they are back in MN after a 2 year stint in Little Rock, Arkansas. They have both been to Giants Ridge before. We skiied all day Saturday with only a break to watch the Gopher BB team lose to Michigan. Friday night we ate at the Lodge and then Aaron and I kicked the girls in Catch Phrase. They did beat us in Pictionary but anyone who knows me knows that I am terrible at that game. Pretty hard to be good at Pictionary when you can't draw, and I'm not even exaggerating. You should see my animals, it makes for great laughing at Jason whenever an animal comes up.
The weather was absolutely beautiful. Warm and sunny. We did lose quite a bit of snow with the warm weather of Thursday and Friday, probably lost 12 inches at least, leaving us 2 feet left. Now, I am seeing 8-15 inches forecast starting tonight through Tuesday night so maybe we'll recoup some lost snow.
Well, thanks to the Peters for visiting and we hope to see your new home in Rochester sometime soon.
On Sunday, the Peters went home around 11:00 a.m. after a great breakfast prepared by Nicole and Emily. Nicole and I decided to take a walk and watch a ski race called a Super G. You see them on TV all the time where you ski around those flags. This was neat to watch, and it was not because of the skin tight outfits. They really go fast, but as we learned skiing on Saturday it was icy on the hills after the "big thaw" Thurs/Friday then it froze back up on Saturday. So these guys would come flying down the hill and then stop hard at the bottom before going into the trees. Well, they wore all the snow down to the ice and many of them slid once they tried to stop. It was dangerous as heck but made for some good entertainment. We watched them for about an hour and then the race was over we decided to grab our skis and try it out. It was a great day to be outside in Northern MN.
We are glad our friends Jeb and Kaylan made it back safely from their trip to Aruba. We talked with each of them yesterday and it sounds like they had a great time. Can't wait to see the pictures, hopefully Jeb has his shirt on in some of them.
Have a good week everyone!

Looking Forward To The Weekend

Nicole and I have had a tough week. We were sick with either food poisoning or the flu on Monday, and then I had meetings on both Wednesday and Thursday, ending my string of seminars over the last month. Whew.
I am safely and happily back up north with my sweetie.
This weekend we have some college friends, Emily and Aaron Peter coming to stay with us. They should arrive around 3 p.m. today and will do some showshoeing while Nicole and I finish up with work. Tomorrow we'll hit the slopes and show them around the area. They actually lived in Duluth for a few years but never made it up this way. We are always excited to get visitors and this weekend is no exception.
I want to make one pointless clarification. There is a picture of my brother in law Ryan and I on the blog enjoying a glass of wine with Hattie from last weekend. My neighbors were ripping on me because my glass is nearly empty and Ryan's is full, saying that I have a drinking problem, etc. The point of clarification is that it was the good Dr's 2nd glass and my 1st glass, so take that.
I hope everyone is doing well and hope to see you soon!

Weekend In Detroit Lakes

We had a great weekend in Detroit Lakes, as always. We left Friday and arrived at 9:00 p.m. We turned in pretty early and on Saturday, Ryan and I left for the dentist's office. A quick update on my braces. My top teeth are in perfect alignment, they weren't bad to start with but they are straight now. The bottom is still where we have the issue and the issue is with one tooth in the middle of my bottom row. It hasn't moved since we put the braces on and that is likely because my bottom teeth are so crowded together that there isn't room for it to be pulled forward. Well, this weekend we got serious. If this idea by the good doctor doesn't work we are going to start pulling molars on the bottom to make space for this center bottom tooth to come forward. Ryan's idea was to "shave" the sides of 2 of my bottom teeth. The idea here is quite simple, we have to create space for that tooth to move forward. After 1.5 hours in the chair the work was done. My teeth are very sore, but I thought it was certainly worth a try before we start yanking perfectly healthy molars. I'm all about minimally invasive. Thanks to the good doctor for making my experience as pain free as possible. I am truly blessed to be in Ryan's good hands. Thanks bro.
All right, now to the fun we had. On Saturday afternoon we headed to Fargo, N.D. This is about 45 minutes west of DL and Nicole had never been to North Dakota before. Fargo is a great town to visit. They have everything you could ever think of just like most major cities. If you think we are in a recession, the people in Fargo don't know it. I have never seen someplace as busy as Fargo. It looked like Christmas with cars everywhere in every parking lot of every store. Crazy!
We shopped a bit in their historic downtown and then had a great dinner at a new place called The Silver Moon Supper Club. Em and I both had the New York Strip, Ryan had the halibut and Nicole went for the surf and turf (short ribs and lobster tail). The food and company was wonderful. So, you think we got a babysitter to go to this 5-star restaurant? Not when you have an angel baby named Hattie. She sat right with us as the piano seranaded her right to sleep. She talked for a while and the waiters and waitresses stopped by to comment on how cute she was, and even the owner "Monte" stopped by to introduce himself. That's how it rolls when you are with the Ritchie's. They are known all over DL and even as far as Fargo.
We returned home Saturday night to watch the Gopher hockey team beat UMD and take 3 out of 4 weekend points. We headed home early today to get back and do some skiing.
Thanks to the Ritchies for a great weekend, we always have fun with you guys!

4 1/2 month old Hattie Georgina with her auntie Coco and uncle Jason at Starbucks


Ryan and Jason babysitting Hattie while Emily and Nicole hit the downtown shops of Fargo. I think they solved the worlds problems over a glass of Cabernet. This was Monte's, a neat wine bar.

On the way home in Akeley we stopped and took a picture of Nicole and Paul Bunyan. The Tauer family lake cabin is nearby and as little kids they used to all 4 of them climb into Paul's hand for a picture.


Miss Hattie...she was a very good baby all weekend. She loves to smile and talk to you. I think she looks so cute when she sits in her little chair...she was watching her first video this morning--she loves the TV.

We hope everyone has a great week!

Off To DL For The Weekend

Nicole and I are heading to Detroit Lakes for the weekend. We have not seen our niece Hattie since Christmas and I also have to get my braces tightened. I think I am going to have Ryan remove all my crooked teeth this weekend and just be done with them. I'll have a few holes in my smile but at least the teeth I have left will be straight. These braces are the pits, especially with as much public speaking as I have been doing. The idiot in me always thinks the audience is staring at my braces, even though I know they are staring at my big nose, not my braces.

Anyway, hope everyone is recovering after the snowfall yesterday. We maybe had 3-4 inches up here, nothing too serious. All the skiers and snowmobilers are arriving for their weekend of fun.

We'll be back Sunday night and post some new pictures of Hattie Georgina with her favorite uncle.

P.S. This stock market is a drag!

WGC Accenture Match Play

Just an update on golf because I am bored today. My coworkers in the ciy all left for the day as they are scared of a little snow. Try living up north for a while, the last time I was in Hudson all our snow was gone and we still have 3 feet up here. Anyway, I am in a pool for this Accenture Match play, similar to an NCAA pool that you get into. Instead of 64 teams there are 64 players in this. It goes Wednesday-Sunday and in case you hadn't heard it on the news, Tiger Woods is back.
Tiger won yesterday 3 & 2 (George, this means he was up 3 holes with only 2 to play).
So, after 8 months off of competitive play, he birdies the 1st hole and eagles the
2nd hole. Right now I am ahead in our pool, but whenever my friend Jeb Wilson is involved one has to be nervous because he has a horseshoe up his arse!! I swear he wins every pool he ever enters, but maybe this time I'll prevail. My next door neighbor Brian is also in and he is done for as 3 of his final 4 are gone on the 1st day, and Tom Kingsley lost 3 of his final 4 also. So imagine your NCAA board and you pick your final 4 teams and you lose 3 the first game. Pretty tough to win right? It's down to Jeb and I for the money!
Wilson, have fun in Aruba, I hope you fry like a lobster! Send me a postcard!
I am heading up to the Lodge to watch some of the golf as it is on the Golf Channel and we don't get that at the townhome. 2 things the TV company up here has never heard of, the Golf Channel and High Definition. Other than that, this is a great area. We have Showtime for some reason, but no Golf Channel or High Def! Boy would that be a no-brainer trade. Who watches Showtime anyway, what am I going to watch, Boxing?

Tuesday Feb 24th

Today is my birthday! I am 31 years old. I was born in Mankato, MN at 2:02 in the PM. My lovely wife Nicole surprised me this morning with oatmeal pancakes and she even took the day off to stay home with me. We are going to Duluth this afternoon and evening for some shopping and dinner.

This afternoon our next door neighbor from Hudson, Dina Gagne, stopped by to visit us. Dina is an oncology pharmaceutical representative for Novartis and she calls on doctors and hospitals in Duluth and Virginia. She was kind enough to stop over with a birthday present for me (Dina, I am trying to lose weight), but the carameled apples she brought look unbelievable. Dr. Ritchie (dentist) I promise not to eat caramel or apples as they will certainly break my wires on my braces (wink, wink).

Nicole and I left for Duluth around 3 p.m. today and did some grocery shopping. We went to Bellisio's in Duluth for a glass of wine and then to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Duluth, Va Bene Berarducci's Caffe.

It was a great day and thanks to all who called and e-mailed and wrote on the blog for your wishes.

Check out these apples. There is a Strawberry cheesecake, Campfire Smore, Snicker, and a Vanilla Butter.

Dinner at Va Bene. In the daylight, the window behind us is clear blue as it sits over Lake Superior.

Weekend of Feb 21st

We spent the weekend in Springfield visiting our parents. I was in Hudson last week so Nicole and I drove seperately. It is a long drive from Virginia to Springfield by yourself and it is boring. My dad had a lot of visitors this weekend including my sister Shelly, her husband Tom and their 3 girls. My brother Ryan and his daughter Carlyn, Nicole and I, my cousins from Iowa drove up on Saturday, some of them driving 7 hours from Des Moines. Everyone wants to see my dad. People in town stop by all the time. There are more cookies and bars in our house than one should ever have. I ate at least 100 cookies over the weekend or as my wife tells me 10,000 calories. Hap's favorite thing to do is visit with all the guests and he doesn't want to rest at all when people are over, even though he needs to. On Sunday he slept in until 2 p.m. catching up from Saturday's activities. The only thing he said to my mom on Sunday morning was to wake me up in time for the golf, which began at 2 p.m. I talked to him last night after the golf was over (I know better than to bother him during) and he was happy that Phil Mickelson had held on to win, even though he trailed until he birdied 16 and 17 and parred 18 to win it. Steve Stricker put on a good show yesterday, but bogeyed 18 and Phil beat him by 1.
We had a great weekend visiting family, Nicole attended her cousin Elizabeth's baby shower, saw both sets of grandparents and we visited her family for a little while on Saturday night. George got 2 new TV's, a new 46 inch for the living room and a new 37 inch for the basement. Welcome to the world of High Def George, it's a beautiful place to be. Now George, trying watching golf on it, it is the best color you can possibly get. Might even make you want to play the game. :)
That's all for now....