Sondre Lerhol named Minnetonka High School Nordic ROOKIE of the YEAR!!!!

Dear Lerhol Family and Friends,

Hello from balmy Minnesota. It is going to be 80 degrees today in Minneapolis, which is unseasonably warm for this time of year.  Golf courses are open, people are wearing shorts and flip-flops and the lakes are a-buzz with activity.  We are hoping the ice is off the lakes soon…so we can get the boat out early.  However, we could still get a big snow storm…you never know.

Exciting news from Minnetonka…..

Sondre is the  Rookie of the YEAR!

How cool is that?  On Thursday evening Scott and I attended the 2012 Nordic Ski Banquet, where Sondre was named the rookie of the year.  We were so proud of him.  The coach had many very nice things to say about him and also recognized Sondre for coming in first in the conference.  I know that Sondre would have been great on the varsity team, but since he was considered a “direct placement” in our home (Sondre specifically asked to be placed with us since we knew Knut), he is not able to play varsity.  It is a high school league rule so that schools don’t recruit athletes to their schools just to advance their sports programs.  This was such a nice honor and recognition of Sondre’s hard work and commitment.  He set a goal at the beginning of the season and achieved it, which was to win the JV championship. We were so impressed with the kids on this team and how accomplished they are both athletically and scholastically.   Two of Sondre’s friends from this team are going on to West Point and the Naval Academy.  These are two of the most prestigious colleges in the United States.  Pretty impressive!!!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Last week we attended the Parent-Teacher conferences just to make sure we are staying connected to the school and to just check-in with Sondre’s teachers.  He is doing great.  We did learn an interesting tidbit, when we met with one of his teachers.  Apparently Human Geography is an AP class (Advance Placement).  AP courses are college-level courses that a student can take in high school. The courses are more rigorous than typical high school courses since they are, in fact, college courses and students can receive college credit for taking the courses.  To be honest, we did not know that Sondre was in an AP class, but good for him…he is clearly a smart kid.  It requires a lot of reading and is very conceptual in nature, but he is doing just fine…it just takes more time and discipline than his other classes do.  The teachers all commented on what a "nice young man he is".  So all is good on the school front!  We have let both the school and AFS know that Sondre will be going to Florida and missing school for a week.  We got the thumbs up from everyone.  Alex will be missing school too, so I suspect there will be a few hours of homework done on the beach.  J

March Madness (NCAA college basketball craze)

So in the USA, March is all about college basketball.  Everyone fills out a tournament bracket to see if they can select the ultimate winner.  At the end of this blog is a link you can click on to start your own bracket.  There are a lot of statistics that say that businesses lose a lot of productivity during this time of year because of the distraction this craze creates.  Sondre actually filled one out in his Sports Marketing class.  He chose Michigan State to win it all…listening to him talk to Scott about Basketball is a hoot…he is sounding more and more like an American sports fanatic all the time.  By the way, he barely has an accent anymore. 

Timberwolves game with the AFS program, Science Museum and Lion King

Sondre keeps busy!  He attended a Timberwolves game compliments of the AFS program, went to the Minnesota Science Museum to see an exhibit on real Pirates (we are members), saw a movie at the IMAX theatre “Under the Sea” and also we went to see the Lion King.  We know how to have fun!

More Norwegians to visit Hotel Colehour

Two of Sondre’s best friends (Erlend Belsheim and Simen Hestad) are coming to “Hotel Colehour” at the end of the month to visit Sondre.  Ten years ago this month is when we met Knut, Lars and Pål from Norway, when they came to visit Tore (the original exchange student).  We are looking forward to meeting them and having Sondre show them around Minneapolis.  I have a feeling the Mall of America will be on their list of things to do.  We will share pictures in our next blog.    

Norway here we come!

Pål is getting married on August 18^th in Norway and Scott and I have been invited.  We would not miss it for the world.  Since we are going over to Norway, we will get to meet Jon, Sigrun and Synne in person (we know Knut and Torstein already) and also visit our good friends Bjorg and Terje Gloppen too.  We just bought our plane tickets and fly into Oslo on Sunday August 12^th and hopefully we can go to Hamar to visit the Gloppen’s, then to Fagernes for an evening, then Vang to visit the Lerhol family farm and then to the wedding in Geiranger. 

After the wedding we are flying to Prague to meet Martha and Doug Miller for 4 days there. The year after high school, Martha and I (with our other good friend Richard Ofsthun) backpacked all over Europe but did not get to the Czech Republic.  We were there for 3 months and visited 13 different countries.  Now THAT was an experience, one I will never forget.  Our parents worried sick about us…not sure why since we never did anything “stupid” while we were there (well, we did sleep on a park bench in Stockholm one night because the Youth Hostel was closed, stayed at strangers houses that we met on the trains, and wandered around at night with all of our money in our pockets….man no wonder they worried.) FUN TIMES!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day from the O’Colehours!

I am half Irish, so today is a big day for we Irish folks.  My mom is 100% Irish (maiden name of Daugherty).  There is this huge St. Paddy’s Day parade in St. Paul today, to celebrate our heritage.  It is the 46th annual.  There will be no shortage of green beer and maybe a few people who have had one too many of them!  Scott and Sondre will be attending the parade, but I have other plans. 

 Two of my sisters, Anne and Katie, ran in Lucky 7K race today to commemorate this important day.   

Billy ran his first 1/2 marathon and had an impressive time of 1:56:54, not to shabby at all.  Now time to think about a full marathon!! Jackson is apparently checking out a cute 3 year old girl behind him because he surely is not interested in his Daddy's finish.  : 

I love the Irish blessing…so I will end with that today. 

May the road rise up to meet you. 

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sunshine warm upon your face,

the rain fall soft upon your fields, 

and until we meet again, 

may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Lots of Love from Minnesota

Alix and Scott