Weekend Forecast

MLPS...MOA...WOA...REI...800-Hockey store...I'm sure I'll make Steph and the kids hit my favorite music/drum store and a photography store too.

If you knew where we are going by the first 4 acronyms you probably lived in Minneapolis at some point...or you go there way too often.

Truth be told we are going to make good on a promise to Maxim.  He has worked his tail off to keep his reading skills where they should be.  All summer he would put down what he was doing to work on his reading.

We promised him a trip to LegoLand at the Mall of America if he stayed diligent.  He did.  We are following up on our end of the deal.  He hasn't been there since he was 1 week old!  He has seen pictures. 

The worst thing is...I got on the MOA website and it shows that LegoLand is under a renovation.  He was heartbroke.  There is a store open, but it's not the same.  We will have to go after Christmas sometime too.

Maxim is a very hard working kid and this will be a weekend all about FUN...MAXIM-STYLE.  Legos, Star Wars and the Waterpark of America.  His favorite things.

Maxim Called The Shot

After a busy weekend of LakeHaus Productions work, Sunday afternoon was one to enjoy with the boys...well, the boy, as Brecken took a long overdue nap.  Since playing football with at least teams of 2 vs. 2 is way more fun than 1 vs. 1 Maxim and I decided to forgo our usual football game with Steph and Brecken on Sunday afternoon for a little pheasant hunt.

My pheasant hunting has been lacking this year, due to a busy LHP schedule and an injured English Pointer.  Lilly was working like a rockstar on my first pheasant hunt of the year, and 45 minutes later I was headed to the vet to get her stitched up. 

So on our hunt on Sunday, I decided to leave Lilly in the kennel and take my 16 year old blind and deaf German Shorthair Pointer (kind of like if Brett Farve were a pointing dog) across the road to hunt the public ground on the NE corner of the lake.  I have not seen as many people hunting it and we heard birds so I knew we should get at least one out of the walk.

We got geared up and headed across the road to go "look for bad guys".  Maxim took along his fake side by side shotgun that Grandpa Roger bought him and it was a good tool for me to teach him firearm safety.  So we started hunting.  Basically we just followed Annie's lead.  Then it happened, she locked down on a bird and pointed rock solid.  The nose still works.  A hen got nervous and flushed out, then the rooster came out...it flew to our right and Maxim said, "aren't you gonna shoot it dad?"  One shot, one dead bird.

He carried it the rest of the day in his hunting vest...and proceeded talked about Star Wars The Clone Wars the rest of the 2 hours we were out.  So we pretended we were Clone Troopers on planet Dakota looking for bad guys.

Last funny part of the night...about a half mile from home another dog joined us.  Lilly broke through the kennel fence and must have heard me using the whistle to control Annie and found us.  She didn't look too hurt.

So we had a bird to clean and a kennel fence to fix when we got home.

Goosing It.

A couple of photos from our fun goose hunt. I know pheasant hunting in South Dakota is king right now, but the geese are a blast. (pun intended)

We thought we were not going to see a goose and then about 20 minutes before we had to stop shooting, the first group came in, then the 2nd group...and by the time we were limited it was only about 15 minutes after we had started shooting on the first group.

My father-in-law and his buddy from Ohio are the guys in the middle and Joe on the left is my buddy from work, I have to call him "Guide Joe" now.

Mike and Roger might be the only 2 out of state hunters to leave South Dakota and brag about the waterfowl hunting as opposed to the pheasant hunting.

Give Me 7 Minutes

As a person who has produced videos for a living, this one is pretty amazing.

Remember it is one shot through the entire thing.

Ninjas.

There was a day when my cousins and I spent a lot of money buying "ninja-type" throwing stars out of martial arts magazines, and making nunchucks out of broken hockey sticks and old dog chains.

We would train to be ninjas, pretending to be able to jump amazing distances, and wield swords like the guys we saw in the movies.  Ninjas rocked back in 1980-something, and they still do today.

Steph bought the boys the 1984 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and now our boys love to play ninja-time.  With Halloween costumes in the aisles of stores our kids end up getting a couple for the year.  Heck, we really don't even go trick-or-treating, they buy the suits to play dress up all year long.

This year they both got ninja suits, and it was a big "secret".  On Monday night, we got home from hockey and Maxim and Brecken wanted to quickly get in the house, I knew why.  So I wasted some time in the garage and then went inside the NINJA'S LAIR. 

The boys had Steph tied up in Kolby's room, and when I got in and turned on the lights they proceeded to beat me with plastic swords.  Brecken needs to learn to let up a bit when he is going to make contact with me.  He smacked me in the arm and IT HURT.  So I went down and they proceeded to jump on me and punch me until I said I was sorry and gave up.

So if you come to our house and the lights are off, enter with the knowledge that you are going to take a plastic sword to the arm.  AND YES...NINJA'S WEAR WHITE SOCKS.

Happy B-Day...you old drumstick thrower.

My sister had a birthday yesterday, I called her at 7:05 a.m. and sang happy birthday on her voicemail, then reminisced about dumb games her and I used to play in the back of the car when on road trips with our folks.  (Yeah, this was one of those annoying voice mails that goes on and on)

There are things about your childhood you just don't forget, like the backseat games, fighting with Sally every Sunday after church and playing my drums at the time when it would be most annoying to her..etc.

Growing up my drum set was in the basement in the family room, where we did most of our TV watching.  Steph has never had the experience of a drum set in the house until last week, she let me purchase my first set of acoustics since my old set was basically worn out and sold years before we were married.

I set up the new kit on Sunday, but haven't had a ton of time to tune it and play it so my level of annoyance has been minimal.  Each time I have played I always ask, "I wasn't too loud was I?"  Steph always says, "no, I liked it."  Maybe it isn't that loud in our house or maybe Steph is super deaf, but I keep having flashbacks of the "stick throwing incident of 1987" and I have been trying to not re-enact that event.

REWIND to 1987, I'm sure I was wearing a Nike shirt with my name on the back, had long hair and "Bermuda" shorts...the home speakers were blasting Bon Jovi, Quiet Riot, Stryper, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Whitesnake or something like that, and I was playing along on my drum set...LOUD AND PROUD.  (To this day I can't believe Penny never told me to be quiet) 

Sally would have been wearing something teal and purple with leg warmers and big hair, and she was sitting on the couch.  The unwritten rule was first one in the room gets honors to the remote (I actually broke a toe one time racing her to the remote), or if I'm playing first she would have to live with it.  But this day in 1987 I decided to break the rules, and play the drums while she was watching re-runs of Little House.  There must have been drum sticks laying all over the floor, and she grabbed one and said, "if you don't quit playing I'll chuck this at you!"  I kept playing, and she Nolan Ryan'd that thing straight at my melon.

I don't recall if it hit me, glanced off me or hit the drums first then hit me, but I called her bluff and she threw down the royal flush, and it hit me in the head.  I had just been told by a science teacher that if you get hit in the temple you could die instantly, and armed with that knowledge I proceeded to cry out this phrase that has lived on, "YOU, sniff, COULD, sniff, HAVE, sniff, HIT, sniff, ME, sniff, IN THE TEMPLE!"

Well, it didn't hit me in the temple, and I stopped playing long enough for her to see Laura win the spelling test and save Walnut Grove from a blizzard.  I have to think at some point Steph will walk into the room and chuck something at me in order for me to stop playing...just to make Sally happy.

To be honest I think it was that traumatic day that kept me from making big as a drum rock star.

T. Denny My Offer Stands....

So it looks like the T-pups ticked off the Hottest Team In Minneapolis by selling themselves....I mean part of their building to a familiar hospital brand around here.  It seems the Twins are mad at their neighbors for selling some advertising space on the side of their building that will dominate the sight line in right field.

Not real sure why Sanford would advertise in MLPS, maybe I don't understand their new business model, but I do know that almost every TV in eastern N.D & S.D. will be tuned in to watch the games if the Twins do well in the October Classic...so technically they would be speaking to their market.

On a side note, (tongue-in-cheek here) the other Sioux Falls mecca/hospital Avera has purchased some signage as well...they picked up a billboard at Bloomington Jefferson High School's JV Football Complex...just to, once again, try to keep up with Sioux Valley/Sanford/T. Denny.

Keep reading...click on the link below if your name is T. Denny Sanford.

If you are wondering about the title of my post...click here...

Go Big. Go Blue. Go Jacks.

Bob and Penny took the kids this weekend so that Steph and I could spend over 10 hours in a car together...and we talked the entire time.  Wow, what a concept, to actually sit and just talk with your wife, with no screaming kids in the back of the car, or having to "yell" back at them to quiet down.

We went to Lincoln, Nebraska to watch South Dakota State University play the Huskers.  Steph's brother Jason hooooooked us up with Champions Club passes, which is like tailgating for lazy people, then we went in for the game.  Without recapping the entire game, I was very pleased...we got a standing ovation from the Husker fans, and walked off the field with a 17 to 3 loss.  A loss, but a lesson.

The other cool thing was I got to see Sally, Brad, Carson and Cassidy at the game.  Carson grew like 2 feet since the summer.

Here are some photos of the day...can you believe the photographer took no camera with?  So these are BlackBerry pictures.  As far as the the photos from on the field, let's just say I still have a lot of contacts out in the media world.

I Breathed Today...Then A Bridge Collapsed

My pace of life since July 7th has been breakneck.  Today I actually inhaled and exhaled 2 times without the phone ringing.  Then I got an e-mail that a bridge out by the house collapsed.  If you are familiar with the Foster Creek Bridge it is kind of the bridge that connects North Shore to the rest of the world without having to use gravel.

It is also serves as a backdrop for a lot of my LakeHaus Productions photo shoots, I can think of at least 5 off the top of my head where the bridge has come in handy.  Click here to see the bridge, and 2 kids.

So I guess I will not be running north in the mornings and will continue on my southern routes, unless I want to do a little early morning swimming too!

WEEKEND FORECAST:

SDSU @ Nebraska - Saturday 6pm   GO JACKS.
(Steph and I will be the people wearing BLUE in the sea of red)

KEN BLOCK....Gymkhana III

I love rally car driver Ken Block, he used to be Mr. Subaru and of course that's why I loved him...but as you can see in his newest movie he is rolling a Ford...actually he is abusing this little car.

This is visual candy.

Williams & Ree

It wasn't hard, but I talked these guys into singing Happy Birthday to the fair.



Grandpa Bob's Birthday Weekend

Grandpa Bob had a birthday today, and we celebrated all weekend long.  The boys and I got up early on Saturday and headed into Bales for some good old fashioned sale barn breakfasts.  Then we went out to dad's horses to help him set up for an event on Saturday night.

Of course the boys wanted to ride the horses so we kept them busy in the round pen for an hour or so.  It is fun to see them both loving to ride.  Brecken is of course a cowboy when he is on his horse, but Maxim chooses to be a Medieval Knight fighting off dragons and other bad knights.  He also some how worked Star Wars Clones into the mix on Saturday, but that wouldn't surprise me.  A tauntaun is a lot like a horse.

Sunday we grilled steaks at mom and dad's house and dad and I fell asleep watching football.  Sometimes I can't believe how different he and I are, and then somedays I catch myself doing the exact same things he did...that I thought were completely dumb.  Like getting up at 6 AM and running...now I am grumpy if I don't get my running in.

Thanks dad for being a dad, father, friend and role model...to me, my sister and my kids.

Sky Cam

For part of my LakeHaus Productions duties I got up in a helicopter and took some overhead shots of the fair.  Super fun and the fact that the chopper's door was off made it even better.

10 minutes after shooting this photo I was on the Freedom Stage introducing an act!  I was going at a breakneck pace this weekend, but I think Steph's job of supervising our booth was harder work!

VERY TEMPTING...

This sign is in front of our house, and is soooo very tempting, but my speedometer only goes to 150.

(The county is changing out the old signs, and I guess it would be too financially efficient to take the old ones down while you put up the new ones???)

A little busy lately.

I'm sorry the blog has suffered lately...if you want to know what I have been up to, just google my name, and then hit the "latest news" filter.

It has been a rough couple of weeks on the family...very nice to have nothing really scheduled this weekend.  Built some legos, played the drums with the band, ran big miles on Saturday, now I'm going to start kicking out a bunch of LakeHaus Productions work.

Fair week is next week, if you are around stop by the LakeHaus Productions booth in the "South Dakota Made" building.  The one where you can get milk and ice cream...south of the FFA Animal Nursery.

Born To Ride Sheep

Brecken entered the Mutton Bustin' at the Bull Bash in Mitchell tonight...he rode great for his first time out.  He scored a 74 and placed 4th.

Grandpa was smiling from ear to ear and Brecken walked back to our seats in front of thousands of people and he made sure every single one of them saw his trophy.

Monkey Man

Watch This....click here... crazy story about a guy from India that learned parkour/buildering/freerunning whatever you call it to escape poverty.

Dude Trip.

Maxim and I went on our first ever "dude trip"...just us two and nobody else.  We were going to head out to the Black Hills to climb and bounce around for a few days, but I was dumb and scheduled the trip on the same weekend as the opener for Sturgis...so while all the Harleys were headed west, we headed east to the Palisades...here is the trip in photos.

Our hike at 0-6-hundred...Maxim's idea, because he couldn't sleep...

Our shadows at 0-6-something

Maxim holding King Rock in the palm of his hand.

Me squishing Maxim's melon.

Because 1 Maxim just isn't enough, and 6 would be too many.

My favorite photo...Maxim packing in our climbing rope for the day, that was the first time he carried any gear on our climbing trips.

Getting started on a great route on Queen Rock.

(yes, he should have had his helmet on, but his dad forgot it in the garage...God protects better than a plastic brain bucket!)

Topping it out, one of 4 times in about 10 minutes!

HE LOVES TO SWING DURING THE RAPPEL.

THANKS FOR MAKING THIS TRIP POSSIBLE MOM!

Love, Maxim and Dad...

Happy Anniversary LHP...

LakeHaus Productions is now a year old...give or take a little bit.  Technically we had the tax id number earlier in 2009 than August, but last August is when it really took off and now it is going like a 4 year old hopped up on Red Bull.  (Wait I have one of those already, now we have 2?)

Steph and I talked about having a "One Year Anniversary Open "Haus" some weekend at our home, but we are so busy with LHP work that we don't have a free weekend until late September.

We have been blessed to say the least, we started this thing to maybe pick up a little extra cash now and then, and it has turned into a full-fledged photography, video, graphic design and Internet business, with side projects and a couple extremely large assignments that will last over 2 years.

So just in case we don't have that OpenHaus for LakeHaus...thank you to all who have made this thing possible...be it through baby sitting, helping clean up or giving us business ideas, you are all very much appreciated.

Also, we would like to welcome our first part time employee.  She went from model to "photography assistant/kid wrangler/model", and her name is Morgan K.  Morgan has been our go to baby sitter for a while and a week ago she helped us on a family photo shoot and she rocked it.  She holds the flash, the diffuser, fixes hair and clothes and makes kids smile...she will also be logging a lot of time at the State Fair at our booth in the South Dakota Marketplace (where you buy milk and shakes).

Cassidy Bay

My brother-in-law Brad and my neice Cassidy recently visited the Dominican Republic, which is the country where Brad was born.  He snapped this picture of Cassidy walking down the beach on afternoon and posted it to his blog.

Our entire family loves this shot, so I thought I would take the original and give it a little LakeHaus Productions editing flair.

On a final note: Cassidy is "the bees' knees"...she is growing up way to fast, and it makes her uncle feel a bit old.  She is so beautiful and has a beautiful soul to match....the total package, right?