Beetlejuice the Musical

As an early birthday gift, V was able to go to Beetlejuice at the Orpheum with a friend from school.

Photo (and accompaniment) by R:

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Dismantling my parents' deck

Photo by my mom:

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Mermaid

R and V attended the Renaissance Festival last weekend, and R snapped this great shot:

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Camp Du Nord 2023

We made it back to Du Nord this year! When you go the last week of summer, it ends up being a short week, just Sunday-Thursday, which can be good and bad. We still made the most of it and had a good time.

This was our first year of staying down at Pine Pointe, which is about a mile from the main part of camp. We got a lot of steps in each day walking the "goat trail" that joins the two sections:

But it was worth it because our cabin, Wintergreen, had hot water and a bathroom!

Veronica's time with us was extra short this year. We handed her off to my parents on Tuesday morning, so they could drive her to the Cities for an audition call-back. Here she's giving me a peace out:

About to enjoy a raw s'more:

Omri really likes going to the camp. I can relate to his love of walking on rocks along the water:

Making an inkle weaving with his momma:

This year's colors "red and gold and purple too" were inspired by the song "The Princess Pat":

One night I tried carrying some leftover pie home on the goat trail, and Omri staged and photographed this recreation of my struggles:

The sauna-dip-repeat is always a highlight from the week:

The unfortunate part of having taken a week off earlier in the month (for Alaska) was that I had to work one day from Du Nord. At least Morning Glory lodge makes for a nice office:

Once in a while we'd paddle between Pine Pointe and Du Nord Village instead of walking.

Omri completed the Polar Bear Plunge (jumping in the water at 7:30 every morning) this year!

Counselors in the program on the final night:

Omri has a way of making some new buddies every year.

Here's the skit he performed with his age group (sorry if the audio is a little low):

Super blue moon on our last night:

I didn't have my tripod this year, so this is the best I could do for our family (minus V) shot with short notice, propping my camera up on a rock:

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9 candles for Omri

Well, I won't get into the details, but we ended up with an extra cake for Omri's birthday this year. It is a good problem to have, and it allowed me another attempt at getting a decent candle shot.

 

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Omri's 9th birthday

The little guy turned 9 and celebrated with his friends at Sky Zone!

Here he is mid flip:

Having some pizza afterwards with his BFF:

Ready to blow out some candles:

The whole gang:

Presents at home:

I didn't quite capture the excitement, but Omri was pretty thrilled to get a chemistry set:

He also got a motorized paper airplane kit. We'll have to get some more videos as we improve at launching the planes, but here's an early one:

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First day of 3rd and 7th

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Happy 9th birthday, Omri!

I'm so proud to be the dad of this hamburger-eating, Roblox-loving, shorts-wearing (8 months of the year), tennis-playing, super friendly guy.

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A stop at Ely Lake

We stopped at my parents' house for a night on our way up to Camp Du Nord. It was a nice evening on the lake, with a chill in the air signaling the end of summer.

Omri with my old bike. I loved that bike!

Cruising around on my brother's old scooter:

Pontoon boat ride with G&G:

Looking for loons?

Awwww...

Trying out the new hot tub the next morning:

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Legally Blonde

Veronica attended a two-week camp at Ashland Productions in August that culminated in three performances of Legally Blonde Jr. She played a law student named Enid. There is a pretty strict no-photo policy (by the theater during the show and by Veronica afterwards), so I don't have a lot to show for it. 

I do have a full video recording of the show, provided by the theater group, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to post that either. Here are a few stills from the video (V is in the lower right):

Dancing in the front/right:

I think you can find her in this one:

Her character is introducing herself here:

That's her with the perm in front:

Taking her bow:

Post-show on the deck:

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Minnesota State Fair 2023

We made it to the State Fair again this summer, although I missed the first half of the outing due to a work meeting.

 

I missed our annual cookie breakfast :-( and have limited photos from the day.

Luckily R did a great job of taking over for me. The rest of these photos were taken by her.

Cooling off:

Okay, this selfie is kind of fun. We are with Jill, a friend of my mother-in-law's who acted in Twin Peaks. She played a waitress in a few scenes, including this famous one. She is also married to a writer/producer of the show (Bob Engels) and is friends with none other than David Lynch! She gave me some exclusive info on what the director has (and has not) been working on.

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