Dorf wasn't the only friend we got to hang out with. Our old friends The Verbout's (brothers, Jeremy and Shaun) and their wives Steph and Shelly, Carl's brother Keith, and another friend, Ryan Swanson (Swany) were also around for the week's festivities. All these guys are like brothers-from-another-mother to Carl. They have all lived together, partied together, traveled together, played sports in High School and College together, watched everyone get married, and have babies. They have also been there for each other when things got tough. They have watched each other moved away, prayed for Jeremy through his deployments and dangerous missions over seas, and consoled each other through grief and losses. After over 10 years of friendship, these guys have stayed by each other and are still the best of friends. This is something that is not often found in life, and we celebrated that together this weekend.
The boys started their weekend early by hitting a Twins game on Wednesday afternoon. After the game, they hung out downtown and had a few beers to celebrate the win. The next night we headed out to Gasthof's in Northeast Minneapolis. This place is a traditional, old school, German restaurant and bar complete with accordion players, waitresses dressed in liederhosen, beer served in giant glass boots (Das Boot), snuff shot up your nose, and lots of singing and yelling "ziggy-zaggy-ziggy-zaggy-oiy-oiy-oiy!". I am sad to say that I didn't bring my camera that night (stupid), but I assure you we had a good time!
Friday, the guys golfed 18 holes, and then came back to our place for a BBQ and yard games. Swany is such a grill master that he is actually on a grilling team (bet you didn't know those existed)! He brought some of his home-made steak and pork rub and got down to business.
We were all introduced to a new yard game called KUB. It is an old Nordic game that involves 12 wooden batons, 12 blocks of wood, and a King Block placed in the middle of the field. Two teams battle it out to knock each other's blocks down and out of the game. Who knew such a simple concept would turn out to be so much fun! The name is kind of weird, so Swany later renamed the game Woodchuck, which I think fits it perfectly.
The Verbout brothers were unstoppable.
As many of you know, Jeremy is a F-15 pilot for the Air Force. He has an awesome job with a TON of responsibility. We also celebrated Jeremy's family coming back to the States. They have been stationed in London for the past 3 years, and since he has been promoted to Major and given a new assignment, they will be moving to Northern California on Monday! I could tell you about his new assignment, but then I would have to kill you . . .
Jeremy knows that Jocie wants to by a (commercial) pilot when she grows up, so he brought out part of his flight suit and helmet for her to try on. She was pretty impressed along with the rest of us.
It was pretty cool to think she was wearing the very suit he wears when he fights for our country. We are so very proud of him, and thank him for all the sacrifices he makes for us every day!
"Seal" is his call name.Even Ella had to try it on :)
Cheers to awesome friends!
After night fall, Carl built and fire and we sat around telling stories of the good old days. Our campfire was interrupted by a storm, but we didn't let that stop us. We just moved everything into the garage for a late night of food, fun and laughs (and some political talk . . . this shows our age a bit).
We can't wait until we get to do it all over again. Who knows, maybe next time it will be in California instead of Big Lake!!
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