Dear Lerhol Family and Friends,
Well…this is it. We just said good-bye to Sondre. After almost a year in Minnesota and….156 hamburgers, 70 gallons of milk, 10 jars of Nutella, 50 loaves of bread, 22,000 ounces of water,30 pounds of cheese, 40 pounds of turkey, 20 dozen eggs, 3 garage parties, one American wedding, an 80th birthday party, 30 boat rides on Lake Minnetonka, a week in Florida, 40 weeks of school,1 AP class and the B honor role,14 AFS meetings, 3 different high-school team sports (football, rugby and x-country skiing) and many achievements in those sports, prom and sweetheart dances, 180 pounds of luggage, tons of new friends and family and millions of memories to take back to Norway. Simply priceless!
In his last week in the US, Sondre spent a weekend at the Colehour family cabin on Lake Cormorant near Detroit Lakes Minnesota, with Scott and all his brothers, Dad, Mom and nephews, building a deck on the front of the cabin. They did a wonderful job and I think he has learned a new skill to bring back to Norway.
Here are a few pictures from the drive up to the cabin…a random herd of Buffalo on the side of the road and the big "Pelican" in Pelican Rapids (a small town on the way to the cabin) . He also was able to spend some time with his relatives....the extended Weiss clan. And...he went waterskiing for the first time with some of his friends too.
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| Since the kids he was with did not take any pictures of him skiing, Scott made one from the internet. |
Yesterday was the big graduation party for Christian, Kevin and Sondre on Christmas Lake; it was a spectacular day. As a side note, Christian is the son of one of my long-time best friends, Peggy Gallagher Roemhildt, and Kevin, is also the son of another one of my long-time best friends, Annie Joyce (I was in her wedding). Peggy, Annie and I went to Christ the King Grade School, Anthony Jr. High and Southwest High School together, so the memories run deep with us. We grew up in the same neighborhood and our parents were friends too.
The party was at Annie’s family cabin on Christmas Lake, which is in Excelsior MN, not far from Minnetonka High School. We used to go to this cabin all the time when we were little and have had many a fun time there as adults too. Back in the day, the cabin was actually part of the Radisson Inn Hotel chain and was built in 1906. After a fire destroyed the the main hotel in 1936, they sold off the smaller cabins to private families and Annie’s family bought one. It has been in their family since then. Pretty darn cool. The Radisson Inn was distinct from the other historic hotels at the time because it was not located on the much bigger Lake Minnetonka but instead on nearby Christmas Lake.
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This is a picture of the main hotel...the smaller cabins are not shown.
We had great weather, wonderful food and we estimated at least 200 people came to the open house. Many of Sondre’s local relatives came to the party to see him and wish him farewell. Including: Mike & Marilyn Carlson, Frank & Beulah Weiss, June and Ellie (Beulah’s sisters….I think) Deb, Vern & Kyle (Kelsie was on a mission trip), Michelle, Jill and Frankie (Frank was not able to make it), Mary & Loren Barber, and Phil & Dora Quanbeck.
Plus, my entire family (Mom, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, our children and grandkids), Scott’s mom, my cousin Trish & Russell, and our very good friends, Karli Wandling, Martha & Doug Miller, Tom & Ginny Paulson, Jim & Robin Stewart, Jim & Noonie Lieb and Mike Swartout too (Cyna, his wife, was out of town…btw she pronounces her name just like Synne does…she is and looks very Norwegian. Their daughter Marit Remen, was an exchange student in Norway a few years ago.)
There were tons of Christian, Kevin and Sondre's friends there too. Sondre was able to connect and say goodbye to so many great friends. Some for which, I believe he has forged lifelong friendships with. They had an amazing and wonderful turnout--it was very special for Sondre to have so many people come to the party.
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After the party, at Sondre’s request, we had our last family game night and had ribs and corn-on-the-cob for dinner. It was delicious and very fun too. My sister Katie, her husband Scott, Ben, their son and his darling girlfriend Angela (aka Ala) were there too.
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| Sondre, Ben, Meghan and Sam |
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| This is all of the stuff we displayed at the party showing all of Sondres memories and keepsakes. |
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| We rented a "jousting pit"....crazy idea but the kids got a kick out of it. |
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| The Weiss and Lerol clan |
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| Sondre chatting with a few people.... |
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| The view of the cabin from the dock |
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| The dock |
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| More relatives |
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| Friends.... |
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| Sondre and Amy (she was the homecoming queen) |
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| The gang |
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| Sondre and Kate (his prom date on the left).... |
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| The Barbers |
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| Sondre and his buddy..... |
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| Hanging out in the jousting pit |
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| Sondre and Amy chatting at the end of the party |
Our morning was rather somber, knowing that Sondre was leaving. He made breakfast for all of us and we enjoyed spending time telling stories. Saying goodbye was very hard, even though we know we get to see him in 8 weeks when we go to Norway. We have mixed emotions about his leaving us, but we also are happy for him to return to Norway. Alex and Sondre got very close and Alex was pretty emotional when we had to say goodbye. It was kind of cute to be honest.
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| The boys...my roomates. |
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| Who is Alex going to hang out with now? |
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| Giving Grandma Floss and Aunt Amy a hug. |
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| Our last picture... |
Sondre is an amazing young man. He is disciplined and focused…and in many ways mature beyond his years. He easily fit into our family and we are better for knowing him and the entire Lerhol family for that matter. We truly enjoyed our experience with him. When you host an exchange student, you build a lifelong relationship, so it is simply goodbye for now, not forever. Tore Herberg Gloppen (the original exchange student), is and always will be a member of our family. He now has a new little brother….who happens to be Norwegian too.
We look forward to our trip to Norway...and hope to find the Quinnild Family Farm (some have changed their spelling several times over the years and may spell it differently....Qvenild, Quenild, Quinnel and Kvenild. All these names are actually one and the same and are all in use today). This is my mother-in-laws maiden name...so if anyone in Norway has the ability to research where this farm is...it would be greatly appreciated.
I have enjoyed blogging about Sondre’s year here…as a way to keep Jon and Sigrun and the rest of the Lerhol family informed as to Sondre’s activities. Since last August, we have posted 32 different blogs, and people from 21 different countries have read the blog (US, Norway, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Hungary, Greece, Estonia, Sweden, Latvia, Canada, Denmark Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Australia, Netherlands, Poland, France, Venezuela, UK, So. Africa and Austria) and nearly 7,600 page views and 3,800 people visits. That is impressive for something intended to be for Sondre’s parents. J
Lots of Love,
Alix and Scott Colehour
Courtney and Ryan (Amelia and Max too)
Billy and Pam (Jackson too)
Alex (brother from a different mother)
PS...what would a blog be without pictures of our grandchildren
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| Amelia...with her newly pierced years |
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| Jackson taking a snooze. |
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| Maxwell...just hangin out a the graduation party.
A note from Sondre:
Now, I have 16 hours of waiting before the my plane leaves for Norway! I am now starting to get emotional thinking that I won the lottery by getting the best Host Family in the world! I now have double-up with parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpa, cousins! Just want to say thank you! :)
This has been been an awsome year, and was made possible because that I had awesome American friends and friends back in the motherland that helped me and supprted me through the entire year!
Thank you all! :)
Sondre
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