Shanty fest

When winter hits, frozen lakes and ponds become busy real estate in Minnesota.

Many cities hold winter festivals and ice fishing contests out on the lake. Dave and I attended one on a beautiful Saturday on Medicine Lake.

This festival is a two-month long event where art students from around the country come to built a themed shanty on the ice. They keep it open on weekends for the public to check out.

There were shantys made of bubble wrap and containers. I thought this festival was pretty neat, so I took lots of pictures. Here's Shanty rundown:

The energy shanty (clear plastic with red door above) had stationary bicycles that you could ride to generate enough energy to brew a pot of coffee.
There was a knitting shanty.

And a paper shanty--made of cardboard and paper tube. You could go inside to learn a paper craft, orgami.

This multicolored shanty is the News shanty, which featured news from around the globe.

This wooden shack with a round tin silo was the Sauna shanty. There was a working sauna in the tin part, which was nice and toasty. About 10 people could fit in there, and you started sweating quickly in the big coats.

Here's the bubble wrap shanty.

This is the exhibition shanty that showcased fur and exploration around the globe.

The Dance Shanty had a boombox and dance floor.

My favorite shanty was the Confession Shanty, which invited people to come inside and write down their confessions, then staple them to the outside of the building. It was a riot reading what people wrote... everything from "I hit a red squirrel with a 2 x 4" to "I wish I had more free time away from my kids" to "fill-in-the-blank people make me nervous."

Confession shanty from outside:

One group had a series of Shantys with a game theme. Each shanty looked like a die, and each had a board game inside. Groups would get in the shanty to play different games. (He's drilling a hole in the ice here. It's about 3-feet thick)

There was a theatre shanty that did a 10-minute show every 20 minutes. I'm sure there was only a 10 person crowd in there at a time.

The submarine shanty looked like a big sub coming out of the ice. Ironically, you had to stay outside of this shanty.

Several hippie cars were out on the ice. "Art on Wheels" This one was a car covered with plates.

This car was covered with grass. We went in the hippie shack behind them. I'm fairly certain there was a bong somewhere in there. We got out pretty quickly.

Some we didn't post: A 3-story shanty, a big shanty made of shipping containers, a moveable shanty that made loops around the whole place, a food shant.... I could really see a big Mardi Gras Shanty out here...

Oliver!

This is Oliver, who was born on Dave's birthday.

He is the new son of one of the award-winning photographers at my station, and I swear the photog makes this same face when we bring him a script change. Just kidding, Ben!

I think it's interesting Ben was posting pictures to Facebook of his pregnant wife in the nursery only hours before the labor started.

The family is tired, but happy. We are happy for them.

Highlights of the Schwartz family visit

It's been extremely busy lately. Maybe that's because we've had a warm snap.



The snow melted in our backyard, but it couldn't seep into the frozen ground. So, we have Dave's dream--a nice-sized ice rink that he and Jake used until it cracked. We got another snowstorm that covered it up, but when it thaws I will post pictures.



Yes, the Schwartz family visited recently, and while it was a subdued visit due to terrible cold, it was a good one.



We didn't do shopping, but we still did food. The group picture is from our visit to Murray's Steakhouse, which is considered to be a Minneapolis landmark that echos the 40s and 50s when people went out all dressed up for an evening of dinner and drinks. The food was amazing, and I don't think the ambiance has changed much inside, either. We sang a muted Happy Birthday to Dave while we enjoyed an excellent chocolate cake. Somehow, it just didn't feel right to sing and clap like they do at the chain places.



The Schwartz's went out to see A Prairie Home Companion and Dave and Jake visited the Science Museum and went to the movies. I stayed on the couch, blew my nose, and watched several movies in honor of Black History Month. So besides the extra calories, we all got something somewhat educational out of the trip.

Staci comes to visit!

Staci said it was just Kismet that our schedules actually aligned for a last-minute dinner, drinks, and driving tour in the Twin Cities. Pledge sister Staci made a quick trip to coincide with her boyfriend's business trip. It was her first trip to the Minneapolis Metro area, so Dave and I wanted to get them out of the Mall of America tourist trap. We went to Edina at the ritzy 50th and France shoppes to eat at Salut Bar Americain, which we all agreed had the best french fries we've ever tasted. You know how cotton candy melts in your mouth? The fries, or pommes frites, do the same thing. Yum. Salut is a casual french place that puts a spin on French favorites. I definitely recommend it--the wall had an interesting quote by Hannibal Lector: "I like the French. They taste like chicken."

Not sure about that, but you couldn't beat the food and the company. The only thing that was missing was our other Pledge sister--Karlyn :) Come back soon, Staci!

On the Red Carpet

They like the Oscars up here in Minnesota. I was involved in 3 Oscar pools, and invited to one Oscar party.

So, we got to walk the red carpet this year...right over to a friend's Oscar party. Great company, great food, and a great event. This crowd of folks takes the Academy Awards seriously, and one person predicted more than 16 out of the 24 categories awarded. That's pretty impressive.

I couldn't resist enclosing a few pictures of the decorations: Dave on the red carpet carrying food, and the spread on the ballot table.

Sidenote: If I'd gone "Slumdog" all the way, I'd come up much better than my 7/24 prediction.

Babymania continues

The lesson here... post one baby and you gotta post 'em all. We found out good news that fellow Syracuse Alum and Phoenix broadcasting extraordinaire Jana and her husband Frank are expecting a little one soon. Jana did get to go home to Maui recently to be with her family before the life changing date... and here's a picture of Jana and her grandparents and her beautiful home state. In the past week, I've been sent a video of a baby, 4-D pictures of a baby, and an MP3 of a baby's heart. I have to wonder...what's next?

Welcome Canton Clifton Cotton

A special Congratulations to our friends Clif and Terri on the arrival of their son Canton Clifton Cotton. We got to meet up with Clif and Terri in Dallas when we visited home last week, and it was great to visit with them. We worked with Clif while in Shreveport, and got to know the two of them very well. Clif is one of Dave's favorite golfing buddies, and one of the people he misses the most from Shreveport. The Cottons made our wedding video, and Clif made this great video of Canton. We had to share.

Canton will be cheering for the Sooners in no time, we're sure!