Faculty

Last evening, I had a great surprise when I got done teaching classes Monday evening.  My family was waiting to surprise me in the parking garage.  They had just finished their high school soccer game.  Not just any soccer game, but their conference tournament.  The game was on the near north side, so stopping by IUPUI was on their way home.   

After the first half, the opponents were up 1 to 0. In the second half one of their team mates scored a goal, tying the game at 1-1.  The game ended normal play in a tie.  They then went into a 7 minute overtime -- no goals.  Another 7 minute overtime -- NO GOALS.  Finally a shoot-out.  In the shoot-out each coach picks 5 players to shoot against the goalie of the opposing team.  Both of my boys were selected for our team.  The pressure was clearly on.  In the shoot-out the opposing team made 4 of their 5 goals.  Our team made 5 of their 5 goals. 

The victory was made even sweeter, by the fact that this is the first time in 9 years our team beat this school in soccer.  This is also the first time Lutheran High School has been part of a conference.  Lutheran is a high school of about 250 total students.  Prior to this Lutheran played many games with a random set of opponents, but never as part of a conference.  So the soccer team has the proud distinction of being the first team at Lutheran High School to win a conference tournament.

Even neater for me is that fact that they wanted to share this accomplishment with me immediately after their game.  We had an awesome night hearing the boys recount their stories of the game and having supper at 11 pm at the Steak and Shake near our house.

Congratulations to the Lutheran High Soccer team which put in a tremendous team effort to win the first Conference title in Lutheran High School History.

Katy Trail (July 31, 2009)

The Katy Trail is a rails-to-trail bike trail that extends 225 miles from Clinton, MO to St. Charles, MO (just outside St. Louis).  My daughter and I have been talking about a long bike ride for a couple of years, but with our usual busy weekends and many other travels, it is hard to find an extended weekend.  We decided to make a one day trip.  Our original plan was to travel from McKittrick to St. Charles (about 61 miles for the day).  We ended up completing McKittrick to Weldon Springs (about 45 miles).

As we drove, I was a bit nervous about the goal of riding bikes 60 miles, given I had only completed a couple of 10 miles rides around Indy and had done a couple of 5k runs.  Also, knowing that central Missouri is known for its rolling mountains, I wondered how many hills we may need to complete on our trip.  Railroads never have more than a 6% grade, so I knew none of the hills would be too steep, but had no idea on how many hills to expect.

We left Indy on Thursday night after my daughter finished work and drove to Hermann, MO, (about 2 miles from McKittrick) arriving around midnight.  Hermann is a neat German town known for its wineries, architecture, and bed and breakfasts.  Knowing the day was not expected to get to hot, we woke around 8 and started on the trail around 9 am.  The weather was great, sunny and only around 80 degrees for a high. 

My two boys, my daughter and I started the trail.  My wife decided to visit antique shops instead of biking with us.  Our first stop was Treloar, about 16 miles from our start.  The trail is made of pea gravel and was much flatter than I had envisioned.  Much of the trail runs along the Missouri River, so there are few hills.  Much of the trail has trees along the sides providing good shade to keep us cool as we biked.  Treloar is a small town of about 80 people.  We called my wife to meet her at the next stop for lunch in Marthasville, a town of about 800 (23 miles from the start).  We ate a nice lunch at one of the local restaurants and relaxed.  My daughter and I went on for the rest of the bike ride.  In Augusta, we stopped by a local brewery and in Matson, we stopped at a local winery (Montelle Winery), where I picked up a case of wine to remember the trip.  The winery was built on a hill with a beautiful view of the valley and vineyards below.  It was great area to take in the views and enjoy the beauty of the rolling mountains of Missouri.  Fortunately, my wife met us with the van to take our treasure home.   From there my daughter and I travelled to Weldon Springs.  At Weldon Springs we decided to call it a day and join the family for supper. 

We went to St Louis to have supper with my sister-in-law, nephew and niece.  My nephew is with the army and his next stop will be Germany.  My niece received an offer to teach English in Moscow and is making her final decision about this new adventure.  We spent the rest of the weekend with family eating and catching up.  It was a great weekend.

45 miles was a bit of a stretch for me.  My legs were very soar, but as I write this on Sunday, I would say I am pretty well recovered.  We'll be ready for our next bike ride.  I hope that we can finish the Katy trail next year.  The beautiful woods, hills, river, wineries and quaint little towns provided great scenery.  Maybe the next trip, we can take more than a day and travel from McKittrick west toward Clinton.

Picture1, Picture2

For more information on the Katy Trail, visit www.katytrailstatepark.com

For information on Montelle Winery, visit http://www.montelle.com/

50^th Anniversary Celebration (July 18, 2009)

This week my parents celebrated their 50^th anniversary.  What a wonderful time!  It was great seeing friends and relatives come out to celebrate with our parents.  Below is a picture of our family.

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Most of the members of the wedding party were able to return to northern Wisconsin to celebrate their anniversary.  We held the celebration at the fellowship hall at the church were my parents attend, Trinity Lutheran.  We enjoyed fantastic weather and food, but most importantly friendships and stories of growing up. 

We shared pictures from the wedding, their honeymoon, and of our family growing up.  It brought back many fond memories that individuals shared with us and how my parents have been a positive influence not only in my brothers and my life, but also the lives of so many close friends.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

50^th Anniversary Cruise (July 2009)

For my parents 50^th anniversary my parents, my brothers, our wives and several of our other relatives went on a cruise to Alaska.  It was great to spend time with my parents and see such awesome sites. 

The weather was unseasonably warm.  Alaska with bright sunshine and temperatures in the 80s is not normal no matter what the time of the year.  We enjoyed each day and wondered at how blest we were to have such perfect weather for our trip.  The only cool damp weather was the couple of days at sea.

Our first stop was Glacier Bay.  The mountains and glaciers around the area are awe-inspiring.  Around 200 years ago the Glaciers advanced down the bay area and are now receding.  While in the bay, we watched and listened as a large piece of the glacier fell into the water.  The water from the melting ice running out of the glacier sounded like a thundering river. 

Picture1, Picture2, Video of glacier calving:

Our next stop was Juneau, where we went on a whale watching cruise.  We not only had perfect weather, but also saw amazing sites.  We first saw a mother and her calf, but the next group consisted of 22 whales doing cooperative feeding (also called bubble net feeding).  Our tour boat guide explained that he had only witnessed cooperative feeding 5 times.  On the cruise ship, one of the guides had stated that he had only seen cooperative feeding 3 times and he had been on many whale tours.  He had seen it the prior week, but cautioned that the odds of seeing it again were equivalent to winning the lottery.  We certainly won the lottery.  For 30 minutes we watched the whales surface 5 times with their heads coming out of the water.  In cooperative feeding, the whales swim in circles under the water.  They use their blow spouts to make bubbles, the fish see the bubbles and swim away as though they are swimming away from a bubble net.  Since the whales are swimming in a circle, the fish run into the bubbles on the other side and basically get trapped in the middle.  We then heard a call from the lead whale and shortly after hearing this call, the whales opened their mouths swam up through the middle area where a ball of fish are basically caught in this bubble net and we saw the mouths of the whales emerge from the water and close.  Whales can take in about 500 gallons of water and food each and consume 1 to 5 tons of fish and krill each day.  As you can see from the pictures and video, it was like a swarm of mouths emerging from the water.  Truly amazing!  Our whole family was on this trip and just amazed at the sites. 

Picture1, Picture2 Picture3, Video Mom&Calf and Bubble Net Feeding:

While in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka, we also visited several native American villages.  I enjoy the American Indian legends.  We heard the story of the Tlingit nation. Their people used to inhabit an area near the mouth of Glacier Bay.  Several hundred years ago the glacier advanced, whipping out their village building, but the people escaped and reestablished their homes along several close bays.  Today the area where the Tlingit village originally stood would be part of the deep waters that the glacier dug out in the bay. 

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We also visited Victoria, British Columbia, which is the capital of British Columbia.  There we took a horse carriage ride through the town.  We enjoyed hearing about the strong British influence in Victoria and seeing the picturesque neighborhoods of turn of the century homes.

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Our family has always loved traveling together.  When we were kids, our parents took us on two long camping trips out west and one out east.  We enjoy sharing the beautiful sites of the country.  These trips have always brought our family closer together as we worked together to organize trips, make meals, and play games. 

On our cruise, the meals were much simpler than those days of camping.  We enjoyed eating wonderfully prepared meals for our group each evening.  The food on the cruise was excellent; the only difficulty was that the food was always present.  Several people commented that the typical person on a cruise gains a pound a day, fortunately, with a little running in the mornings; I limited my gains to only 2 pounds. 

It was a fabulous time with family and especially with my parents.  Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary!  Thanks for all your wonderful loving guidance!