First Place finish for Sondre!!!!

Dear Lerhol Family and Friends,

Guess who had a first place finish in the JV Nordic ski meet yesterday vs. Edina, Wayzata, Hopkins and Eden Prairie?  Yep, you guessed it SONDRE LERHOL.   Even in some pretty challenging snow conditions.  The snow was “slow” so I think this is when his size, great physical conditioning and strength really played in his favor.  Congratulations Sondre…your American family is very proud of you and I know your parents and siblings in Norway are too.  I am typing this at 6:30 am on Saturday morning and Sondre has already left the house for Nordic ski practice.  So much for teenagers sleeping in!  Not only is it early, it is REALLY cold out there too.

The Norwegian Machine

Today we (Scott, Sondre and me) are heading to Duluth, Minnesota for the weekend.  Duluth is a beautiful city in Northern Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior.   My sister Katie and her husband Scott (picture below) are joining us too.  This is where my Mom grew up the youngest of 6 children.

While we are there, we will be celebrating my Aunt Aileen’s (Leenzie) 90^th birthday.  Tonight we are having dinner at the Northland Country club with several relatives for a small celebration and tomorrow there is a birthday party at her apartment complex.  Should be fun! 

Historic Northland Country Club is one of the top 5 golf clubs in Minnesota.  It is perchred on bluffs over-looking Lake Superior and is just spectacular.  Minnesota is in the top 5 states of golf courses pre-capita…even ahead of South Carolina.  Which is amazing considering our climate.

The Aerial Lift Bridge is a major landmark in the port city of Duluth, Minnesota. The span is a vertical lift bridge, which is rather uncommon, but it began life as an extremely rare transporter bridge—the first of just two such bridges ever constructed in the United States.^[2] Originally built in 1905, the bridge was upgraded in 1929–30 to the current lifting design and continues to operate today. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 1973.

Sondre just finished his finals for his first full semester at Minnetonka High School.  We are waiting for his final grades, but we are very confident he did well and likely is on the B honor roll.  We will keep you all posted on the final grades.   As I have said before, I cannot imagine going to school where English is not your first language and do this well.

Next weekend Scott and I are each going on little “mini” vacations with our friends. Scott is going to Vail skiing with all of his “guy” friends (Doug MIller, Jim Lieb, Jim Stewart and Tom Paulson) and I am going to Arizona with all of my girlfriends (Martha Miller, Noonie Lieb, Ginny Paulson and Robin Stewart).  Martha and Doug Miller, have homes in both cities and are generously hosting all of us in the two cities.    

Martha has been my best friend since grade school…and I have more fun with her and these girls than anyone else.  We will do a lot of golfing, hiking and probably have a bottle of wine or two while we are together.  There may be a Spa event in our future too. 

 Martha and me

Sondre is going to stay with my sister Amy (picture below) and her family for the week-end while we are gone.  He has Nordic skiing, so it works our perfectly since they live in our neighborhood.  We are really lucky because he has made some very good friends on the team and they pick him up and drop him off for all of the Nordic ski events.  They are very good skiers and I bet they would LOVE to ski in Norway someday. 

The following weekend Billy, Pam and Jackson will be in town from Virginia.  This will be the first time we will see Billy in almost a year.  The Navy has very strict communication protocol, so Billy is not able to say exactly when the ship will pull into port in Virginia, but we think it will be sometime next week.   It is also the first time in many years that we will have all three of our kids in town at the same time.  Sondre has only met Billy once…many years ago in Norway when he was just a little boy.  We are looking forward to them getting to know each other.  More too come….

Since I almost always find a way to put in a picture of my two favorite 3 year olds, I could not resist putting this one in.  It is a classic…

Take Care and lots of love,

Alix and Scott

Jackson and Amelia playing dress-up.  She looks like a Disney Princess and he looks like Elton John at a concert in London.  HILARIOUS….this picture will come back to haunt him in his wedding video someday. 

Goodbye 2011....Hello 2012!

Dear Lerhol Family and Friends,  (long overdue post).

Wow…what a memorable couple of weeks for our “Nor-American” Christmas and New Year.  To be honest I am not even sure where to begin…it was action packed.   Torstein, Knut, Kristoffer and Hilde (from this point forward I will refer to them as “The Norwegians”) arrived in Minnesota on Tuesday 12/19 and stayed at the Swing’s (Deb, Vern, Kelsey and Kyle’s) house on the front-end of the trip and then moved over to HOTEL COLEHOUR on the back-end of their trip.  They were also able to see the Quanbeck-Barber family while they were here too.    

 For the blog…I guess I will touch on a few of the more notable events while they were here:

Christmas Night

As noted in my previous blog…we do Christmas BIG around here.  With Scott and my family combined we have nearly 50 people, so to say our Christmas celebration was EPIC this year is no exaggeration.  Fortunately, everyone “pitches in” and brings food and they also help with the set-up and clean-up too, so it really is enjoyable for us too.  We are additonally lucky that both of our families get along. :)

One of my very favorite things about getting older is watching the “next generation” of our family mature, get married and have kids of their own.  I am very proud of the young adults they have all become.  We missed Billy and Ben, but it was extra special to have my nephew Blake (2 time Iraq veteran) and his darling wife Jill (soon to be college graduate) in town from Hawaii.  (I know what you are thinking…what would make someone come to Minnesota from Hawaii in the winter…we like to think we  all have something to do with that.) 

The “Norwegians” spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with their family here in the US and then joined us after dinner on Christmas Day....just in time for the “post-holiday” celebration.  The “Norwegians” fit in just perfectly.  They joined us in playing some games, darts, pool and listening to some fun dance music.  Our garage was converted into a nightclub with flashing disco lights and a fog machine.  Everyone was having so much fun dancing and doing the limbo, singing, etc...

Go Sondre Go!

This is Scott doing his signature dance move! 

Everyone really enjoyed meeting the “Norwegian’s”.  I think Torstein particularly enjoyed chatting with my brother-in-law Brad (Scott’s brother) about politics and government and Ross (my sister Amy’s husband) just because Ross is really hilarious and border-line crazy.  It was a fun, fun day.

Friends “Family” Party at Fort Snelling State Park  

The day after Christmas we have an annual tradition to gather our friends and our children for a post-Christmas celebration.  This year, rather than having it at someone’s house, we decided to have it at Historic Fort Snelling.  Fort Snelling was built in the early 1820s and is a great place to learn about military history from before the Civil War through World War II, Minnesota's fur trade, slavery in the North, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, and much more! It is located at the intersection of two rivers:  the Minnesota and Mississippi River

 

 Normally we would go skiing or snow shoeing and enjoy the snow but this year we were only able to do some hiking since there really is no snow.  It was great fun to have all of the families get together…this tradition started when our kids were really  young and now our kids have young children.  Everyone brings food to share…the day was filled with a lot of laughter and conversation.  This year we were lucky to have the Miller’s, Stewart’s, Paulson’s, Lieb’s, Swartout’s, Hughes’, Sundquist/Joyce’s, Roemhildt’s and Mayer’s

 

Greg Newfield and Brooke Marie Miller’s Wedding

Oh goodness we had a good time at the wedding.  It was wonderful having the Norwegian’s with us.  Billy was supposed to be the best man but since he was still out on his deployment with the Navy his son Jackson and wife Pamela filled in beautifully for him.  I even had a speaking part and was able to share Billy’s wedding toast for the Bride and Groom on his behalf.

Having Torstein at the wedding was very special, since just this past summer Greg’s adorable “red-headed” nephew Ben died of SMA.  I think Ben’s Mom Nicole and his Grandma Sylvia were especially happy to meet Torstein and see what a special young man he is...living with SMA.  The Newfield’s are a very special family who have been part of our lives since Billy and Greg began their friendship many, many years ago.

Ben Newfield

The reception was a BLAST.  We all danced the night away.  I am not sure we ever got off the dance floor.  The music was fantastic.  The most memorable part of the dance was watching Torstein “dancing” in his “tripped out wheel chair”…he was the hit of the dance floor. 
Knut could be a dance instuctor ...he really  knows his way around the dance floor. 

 Torstein showing the Americans how to do it. 

Alex and Knut...how low can you go???

Minnesota Vikings Game

All of the boys (Scott, Ryan, Alex, Knut, Torstein, Kristoffer and Sondre ) went to the Vikings game all decked out in their matching Vikings jerseys.  Scott pulled a few strings and was able to get Knut, Sondre and Torstein on the field to watch the game.  The boys all had a great time in spite of the Vikings loss.  This was not our best season…so hopefully next year we can win a few more games. 

The boys on the field just before the game started. 

Yep...! 

Game Night

So much for the Norwegian’s having a disadvantage in games because of a language barrier.  Sondre came in first (he is kind of an American) and Torstein came in second.  Get ready for a rematch this summer boys when we are in Norway.  J

Shopping

What I do know  for sure is that the Norwegian’s left the local economy in better condition than before they arrived.  Honestly…they could teach Americans how to shop.  They took the Mall of America by storm. 


Back to normal

I was so happy I took time off from work while they were here visiting so that I did not miss anything.  They were a true pleasure to have at our house and look forward to seeing everyone this summer.

Life is getting back to normal again. Sondre is back to school and to back to Nordic ski training and meets.  Last weekend the entire ski team went to Northern Minnesota for ski meet with many other teams from around Minnesota.  Sondre came in 13^th place out of 90 skiers!!!  I think he had a great time with the kids on the team.

It is hard to believe that Sondre’s year in America is half over.  Time has gone by so fast.  We have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming months.  Some of Kristoffer’s friend’s will be in Minnesota for a ski jump championship and we are planning to cheer them on and hope to take them out to dinner. The ski jump is just a few blocks away from our good friend’s house (Jim and Noonie’s) so we can just walk over from their house to watch. 

Today we are helping Courtney and Ryan do some painting at their house getting ready for the arrival of their new baby in March.  I am traveling for work this week and will be in Salt Lake City, Utah visiting one of our Manufacturing Plants.  Speaking of work…while the boys were here Torstein fell in love with the Sleep Number bed in our guest room.  We have to figure out how to get him a bed in Norway.  J 

By the way...his Sleep Number is 65.

I hope everyone is well…I promise to be more diligent about doing a weekly blog.

Love,

The Colehours