Prom, Rugby, Dances and more.....

Dear Lerhol Family and Friends,

Another week under Sondre’s belt here in the US, and another week of great memories for him to take back to Norway. We know you all are excited to have him home in about 5 weeks…but we will miss him.

Minnetonka Rugby…another big win!

Minnetonka played Minneapolis Southwest, which is my high school a la mater (with some kids from Washburn too) and beat them by 30+ points.  The Southwest kids never gave up, even when they were way behind.  While I wanted Minnetonka to win, I do have a soft spot in my heart for Southwest.   When I went to high school there, they were known as the Southwest Indians, but had to change their name to the Southwest Lakers several years ago.   It was a gesture of respect for the American Indians to not disrespect their culture by using it as a team name or team mascot. There are still some colleges and professional teams here in the US, that are in the process of changing their name and mascot to something else.  In my heart though, they will always be the Indians and I never saw it as disrespectful and more of an honor.  J 

As I have said before, Rugby is a physically demanding sport and as a “mother”, I mostly worry about the boys getting hurt. However, what is really cool is that even with how competitive Rugby is, the players are beyond polite to each other, work as a team and are respectful to the officials. 

My favorite part, is after the game (I think I have mentioned this in a previous blog) is that the tradition is for the home team to serve dinner and eat with their opponents.  After the last game, which was on May17th, (Norwegian Independence and Constitution Day), there was a kid on the Southwest team that had a Norwegian Flag wrapped around his leg, so Sondre talked to him and it turned out he and another player were both Norwegian exchange students at Southwest.   They easily started chatting to each other in Norwegian and everyone really enjoyed watching and listening to them.   One of the boys lives not far from Fagernes, but the other one lives more on the coast. 

Excuse me...but I am after the ball.

Ouch.

This jersey is way cooler than the ones they have today.  See below.

Minnetonka rolls out the “BLUE” carpet for Prom

Well, as suspected, Sondre looked very handsome in his black Calvin Klein tuxedo and his date Kate was absolutely stunning in her BCBG gown.  I might be partial, but I think they were the best-looking couple there. (which I am sure every other parent is saying the same thing about their children.)

 The tradition for prom at Minnetonka is that the parents and all of the kids meet in one place to take pictures.  Sondre and his friends invited us to this beautiful home on Lake Minnetonka and took pictures at this wonderful park across from them.  It was just a stunning place for pictures and we had a great time meeting all of the parents and kids.  As usual, Sondre has an entourage of family with him.  Alex, Courtney, Ryan, Amelia, Max, Scott and I were all there to see him off on his Prom adventure.   

After pictures, they all got on the bus and went out to dinner, then to the dance and then the boys and girls split up and each went to a house for a post party and sleep over.  “Fun-times” were had by all. 

Pinning on his boutonniere (flower for his coat) 

Walking to where the pictures were taken

Sondre and Kate (she is an accomplished ballerina)

All the girls

...and their dates

Kates' Grandma is Norwegian and she wanted a picture taken with this shirt.  Cute.

Tough Mudder

Today, Alex participated in an event for wounded warriors called "Tough Mudder".  It is this insane obstacle course, where they run, crawl through mud pits, ice water, climb over a wall and other crazy things.  The purpose of the event is to raise money for wounded warriors and like the military the motto is leave no one behind.  It is not about winning, it is about finishing.  Strangers were reaching out and helping people over and through the obstacles.  It was such a good cause and to see people reaching out and helping others was a really powerful experience.  

Alex and his buddies finished, but not without some really challenging situations that pushed them to their limits.  Billy is doing the same race in Virginia in September.  You have to be a crazy-mudder to do it, but it is for a great cause. 

Look at these insane pictures.



Before the race

Amelia’s First Dance recital:

Adorable is an understatement to describe her first dance recital.  She was all dressed up like a princess and knew all of the dances and songs, but she barely moved a muscle.  It was hilarious.  I hope that this is the first of many, but we hope she dances in the next ones.

Grace’s Confirmation:

Today our niece and goddaughter, Grace Moore (my sister Anne’s daughter) makes her confirmation.  We are excited to watch her continue her religious journey.  She is a very special girl to Scott and me.  I was in the delivery room when she was born so I have literally known her since the moment she was born. 

 We were honored a number of years ago when we were asked to be her Godparents.  Her future is incredibly bright, she is wicked- smart, has a strong moral compass, confidence and a wonderful sparkle in your eye.  She is beautiful in every way.  The mantra that we girls have in our family is: “She believed she could, so she did” and this fits her to a tee.     

Grace is a wonderful figure skater and this is her before a competition. (She is on the left in the yellow)

AFS

Today Sondre has an all-day meeting today with all of the other AFS students to prepare to return to their home country.  His biggest concern is that he has so much stuff to bring back.  We will keep you posted on what he learns to day.  Scott and I will not be able to go to the meeting, but we are sure Sondre can give us all of the information we need.  After all, we have returned one exchange student to Norway (Tore Herberg Gloppen) already without any issues and in one-piece. 

Graduations:

We have had a big month of graduations in our family.  Alex (in our last blog) from Winona State, plus  Meghan Mayer got her masters in teaching from Mankato State and Jill McCauley Carlson got her undergraduate from the University of Hawaii (there are worse places to go to college) J

Jill after getting her diploma (with her husband Blake---our nephew)

Meghan...now with a masters in teaching.  She is getting married in August to Ben Becker; one of Billy's life long friends.   

Sondre’s graduation is in a few weeks. 

Have a wonderful day all.

Lots of Love,

Alix and Scott