Let the games begin!

Hello Lerhol Family and Friends...

Sondre has just be in the US for two weeks and yet it feels like we have known him forever.  He sure has been a trooper...coming with us everywhere we go.  This last week has been busy just like the first week was. 
 

 Last Sunday he came to a baby shower/pool party with us for our very good friends son and daughter-in-law who are expecting their first baby at the end of September.  Sondre and Scott spent most of the day in the pool.  It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time.  I am pretty sure that he has never been to a baby shower before. 

 As a joke our husbands all wore matching swimming trunks.  L to R (Tom Paulson, Jim Stewart, Doug Miller, Scott Colehour and Jim Lieb)...our very best friends. 

 Ryan and Chelsey...soon to be parents.

 Sondre chatting with Jim Satterstrom...who is Swedish.

 This looks like a magazine cover....

Just hanging around the pool and chatting.

On Tuesday night we went out on the boat to celebrate Scott's 48th birthday...it was a beautiful night on Lake Minnetonka.  We ordered hamburgers from Sunsets and just floated around and relaxed. 

He certainly is starting to look like a Minnesotan with his Twins hat and Vikings jersey. 

On Thursday evening Minnetonka High School sponsored a Football Kick-off evening.  All of the football players, cheerleaders and danceline were there.   The football team played an intra-squad scrimmage and Sondre was in for several plays.  He is very strong and did not have any trouble blocking his opponents.

The new scoreboard on the field...pretty darn nice.

This is Skipper...the school mascot. 

The high school danceline...I wonder if there is a future girlfriend in this group.  They are all pretty cute. 

Sondre (98) and his new friend Christian (84)

 Ready....Set....Hut Hut

Sondre looking like a pro

 Good Catch...not sure who the player is but he looks good.

 Sondre (98) standing between number 18 and 36.   He is actually one of the biggest kids on the team.

 Post game Huddle

 Singing the school song to the fans at the end of the game.  Sondre does not know the words yet but he will soon.

 Throwing a tackle

Last night we went out on the boat again to celebrate our good friend Karli's birthday.  Karli and Scott have been friends since they both went to college at Iowa State.  Susie and Chris also joined us...as did Karli's kids Paige, Ryan and Christopher, and Susie and Chris's son Jeffrey.

From left to right:  Paige Wandling...making the face (17), Jeffrey Student (17), Christopher Wandling (11), Ryan Wandling (16), Sondre Lerhol (17).  Paige goes to Chanhassen High School, Jeffrey goes to Edina, Ryan goes to Eden Prairie and Sondre goes to Minnetonka...we will play them all in football this season.  That will be lots of fun. 

This morning Sondre has a football scrimmage versus a few other schools.  Minnetonka looked really good and I expect they will have a very good season this year.

This afternoon we are going to the Minnesota State Fair...lots of fun rides and great food.  We may have to take out a small business loan to feed Sondre at the Fair today:).  The weather is perfect for a day at the Fair.  We will blog on  the Fair experience next week. 

And on the seventh day we will rest :)

Lots of Love, The Colehours

To Sondre's Mom from his American Mom...

All Mom's worry...at least the ones I know...so I thought I would dedicate this one from "Mom to Mom". 

Sondre continues to be very busy and is getting settled in.  Football has really been consuming much of his time, but we have found some time to have some fun and to also go shopping for some new clothes and shoes before school starts.

Above is a picture of the "stash" that he purchased at the Alberville Outlet Mall on Friday night.  Outlet malls have all of the great stores but are much cheaper than normal.  These stores are stocked with merchandise that is extra inventory from their regular stores.   The retailers can sell the product at a reduced price and not have to really mark them down in their regular stores, so it is a good deal all around.  The other benefit of shopping in Minnesota is that we do not pay tax on items that are deemed necessary...like clothing and food...which makes his purchases even a better deal. We were pleased with his choices and how he chose to go to the Albertville Outlet Mall vs. the Mall of America, since it was more fiscally responsible to his budget than the Mall of America would have been.

Yesterday was a "Moms" meeting with all of the Minnetonka Football coaches.  The purpose of the meeting was to have the Moms meet the coaches and to also gain a better understanding of what the expectations are of "our" sons as members of the Minnetonka Football team.  I was very impressed with all of the coaches, especially the head coach Dave Nelson.  The lessons I took away from the session was that  they care about the boys as young men first (including their phyical safety playing a rough sport) and winning second.  He also shared with us that the equipment that the school provides for the boys to wear in games is the "best that money can buy".  In fact, he said, they wear the same brand of helmuts and shoulder pads that the Minnesota Vikings (professional team) and Minnesota Gophers (University of Minnesota college team) wear.  Also, they focus on technical capability, so they boys are smart about how the tackle...etc...That was very reassuring.  They also shared examples of some of the teams plays and how important it is to study the play book before and after practice.  That part seemed really complicated to me but they boys seem to get it.       

There were at least 100 Moms there and they happened to draw my name to win a prize.  When I went up to get my prize, Coach Nelson shared with the entire room that Sondre (or 'Dre as they call him...pronounced "DRAY") was from Norway and a wonderful kid who was working very hard to learn the game.  All of the Moms were smiling and excited to have the cultural diveristy on the team.  It was cool...I felt proud for you. It sounds like this Thursday evening is the official kick-off to the season and there is some type of ceremony. 

At the bottom of the blog is a link to a video clip from a news story that recently ran on the local TV station about Coach Nelson's regarding his ecent bout with cancer...he is a really amazing man.  Take a look

One other interesting bit of information is that one of the coaches may be a descendent of the "Lerol" family.  From what I understand somewhere along the line some of the Lerhol's stopped spelling the name with the "H" in it.  Sondre will have to do some more investigating on this one.

Yesterday Sondre got up early and offered to help Scott with the yard work.  He also cleaned his room (with out being told: I can count on one hand the number of times our own children did that :).....then we went to visit Deb, Vernon, Buelah and Frank for awhile too. (For those of you reading this and don't know who they are...those are relatives of the Lerhol's who live in the Twin Cities).  Right after that we went to a good old fashion "corn roast" hosted by one of my co-workers and then to a picnic at Upper Lake Harriet with friends.  Busy, busy day

This is Murphy, a Bernese Mountain dog, who was at the picnic with us.  He is a really pretty and nice dog.

Scott also snapped a picture of this frog on one of our hosta's.  I think it is really pretty.

. 
Today we learned that King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway are coming to Minnesota in October to re-dedicate the "Enger" tower in Duluth Minnesota (my Moms home town) that was a posthumous gift to the city from Norway native Bert Enger, who immigrated to Duluth and made his living selling furniture. Its opening in 1939 was attended by Crown Prince Olav and Princess Martha.  They also plan to return to Minneapolis and visit with Norwegian exchange students attending school in Minnesota.  How exciting is that?  We will make sure Sondre gets to go...even if he has to skip school :)


http://kstp.com/article/stories/S2073120.shtml  (About Coach Nelson)

Hope all is well in Norway...we are all doing very well here in Minnesota. 

American Football.....

Dear Lerhol Family and Friends,

Sondre has been very, very busy now that football has started.  In the US, football practices before the actual season starts are pretty intense...to say the least.  Beginning on Monday morning at 7am Sondre had to be on the field and ready to practice and he has practice almost every day for the next 3 weeks. The team spends time practicing football drills, have training meetings, working-out in the weight room and drink lots of water.  He does not get home until 6pm so it is a very long day.  The team and the coaches have been very welcoming to Sondre and are teaching him the game and the rules of the game.  They are very safe and cautious to make sure they boys do not get over-heated, etc... He is making new friends and in fact one of his new friends drives him home from practice every day since Scott and I are at work. 

He is in very good shape so he is doing just fine.  Last night though his muscles were so sore that he was walking around like an old man...Scott and I were laughing pretty hard at him. :)  He is so tired that he has been going to bed at 8:30 pm...so much for staying up late, watching movies and eating pizza like other teenagers.  He is an "eating machine" because he is working so hard...so Synne you don't have to worry about him getting fat while he is here! 

 This is a picture of the team on the field. Those stands will be full of people during the football season.

 He his #19...looks pretty cool standing there.  He is really getting the "hang" of the game.

 In this picture one of his team mates is giving him a few pointers.

 Ready...Set...Go

 He looks like a pro here...I think he caught the ball (see it in the upper frame)

This picture is just a shameless plug by a proud Grandma....Amelia above and Jackson below!

Let the adventure begin...

Dear Lerhol family and friends,

Well Sondre arrived...he had a very long journey but was happy to arrive.  We feel like we have been waiting for this day for a year and now it is here.  Scott and I met Sondre at the Hampton Inn Hotel to pick him up.  We met some of the other families that are also hosting AFS students and the AFS staff who has worked so hard to make all of this a reality for families in the US.  When we were going through the application process we were impressed with how thorough they were in making sure they found good homes for the students. So thank you to all. 

Here we are at the hotel...right after we saw him for the first time.  We brought him a sweatshirt from his new high school so he can wear his school colors with pride. 

Minnetonka here we come!

On our way home we went to Sondre's new high school to show him around.  He was a little overwhelmed at the size of the campus...but I think he will fit in rather well.  Sondre is very friendly and not very shy so it seems he will be rather popular.  Minnetonka High School has 2,800 students and Sondre's senior class has 689 students. 

Minnetonka is very good at sports, especially Football, Hockey and Baseball.  He is very excited about that for sure. 

This is the baseball field....not sure he will play baseball but I bet he will watch many games next spring.

Here he is on the football field...he will be spending a lot of time on this field practicing and playing games. 

We were all hungry so we went to our favorite place to eat.  Sondre had prime rib for the first time.  He ate every bit of it.  We think he might eat a lot.  We took him to the grocery store so we could make sure we had the right kind of food for him and we realized he LOVES to eat.  He was pretty impressed with the food selection and brought home some great stuff to eat.  

When we got home there was an NFL football game on so Scott was teaching Sondre the rules, explaining all of the positions...it was really cute to watch.  I actually learned a lot by listening and I thought I knew all of the rules.  We are very big VIKINGS fans and expect that Sondre will be come a fan too.  We do not like the Green Bay Packers at all...they are our arch enemy. 

We had a very good first day...Sondre is a really wonderful young man.  He does not seem to be having any trouble adapting to his new living situation. 

Lots of Love from Minnesota.

Welcome to the USA.

Dear Lerhol Family and Friends:

We have decided to do a blog chronicling Sondre's year with us in Minnesota.  That way you all will feel part of his American adventure.  We will include pictures and stories of his many experiences while he is with us and then make book out of the blog for a keepsake when he returns to Norway. 

I thought I would start with a little background about us and our relationship with Norway.  So here goes....

How it all began:

Ten years ago this summer, Tore Herberg Gloppen arrived from Fagernes Norway as our Norwegian exchange student.  That experience changed our lives in so many ways...we loved him like he was our own and to this day he is part of our family.  We became very close to his parents, sister and his extended family.  Through Tore, we met his wonderful friends, including Knut (Lerhol), who we instantly loved.   Last summer Torstein and Sondre came to the US and we were so happy to meet them. Torstein made the most amazing impression on us as did Sondre.  Sondre was such a nice,  polite and handsome young man...so we asked him if he wanted to join us as an exchange student and now we are less than a week away from that being a reality.  We hope to meet his Mom and Dad and Synne in-person someday soon.  .   

Above is a picture of Billy (27) Courtney (30) and Tore (27) in Florida 4/11

Above is a picture of when we first met Sondre at Deb's house in Plymouth

This is our house in Minnetonka, Minnesota.  We have kept a Norwegian flag on the front of the house for 10 years.  Scott is actually Norwegian...but I am Irish.

I expect that Sondre will become quite the "Pool Shark" when he is here. 

(After his homework is done of course)

This is our waterfall...nothing like the waterfall on the Lerhol family farm in Norway...but we enjoy it.

Lots of fun nights around the firepit...summer, winter, fall and spring!

Our youngest (Alex) is a Quarterback at Winona State University and is a senior in college.   We are looking forward to watching many of his games this Fall and for him to graduate next year.  He can give Sondre some lessons in Football.  He is thinking about doing a semester abroad in New Zealand next Spring.

This is Pamela (Billy's wife) and Courtney (our daughter).  We are very fortunate they like each other.  Not all sisters-in-law do!

This is my mom (Grandma Floss) with three of her great grandchildren.  She is really still very active and just retired from her job this summer at 77 years old. 

This is Alex, Ryan (my son-in-law) at Billy and Pam's wedding.  Courtney is actually standing.  The boys are very tall and she is very short. 

Billy is in the Navy and this is the day he left for his deployment.  He will be gone almost 9 months...so saying good-bye to Pam and Jackson was really hard. 

This is Courtney, Ryan and Amelia.  They have been married for six years and Amela is 2 and 1/2 years old.

This is Billy, Pam and Jackson..  They have been married for 3 years and Jackson is 2/12 years old too.  They live in Virginia Beach Virginia. 

Scott and Amelia on her very first camping trip.  Amelia and Jackson call Scott "Cookie"

Amelia and me on the same camping trip.  Amelia and Jackson call me "Glamma".

Scott and I love the outdoors and staying active.  We love to travel and entertain too.  Our very favorite activity is boating on Lake Minnetonka.  Sondre will be able to learn to waterski (if he does not know how to already) and enjoy swimming during our hot summers.



This is a recent family reunion (in Duluth Minnesota) on my side of the family.  I have the most amazing extended family ever!

Sondre will be joining a big family...both Scott and I are from big families so holiday's around the Colehour house are a little crazy, active and fun.  .  

We will blog next week after Sondre arrives!  When he gets here we will get a tour of the High School and meet the football coach.  Football practice starts on Monday and he will be able to meet many new friends. 

Safe travels Sondre...we will see you on Friday at 4:30pm.  Get ready to start your new adventure. 

Love, Alix and Scott Colehour