Becky and Sean's wedding

Sean and Leah at the end of the night.
Kaitlyn taking a break from dancing.

Kaitlyn eating at the head table with Leah

Our family

The "Berg" family.

September 24th Becky and Sean got married at the Wabasha Street Caves along the Mississippi River in St. Paul. The day was gorgeous and the wedding was great. During the reception we had costumed (think gangster!) guides give tours throughout the caves. In the 1930's the cave was a hotspot for the gangsters and a speakeasy during prohibition. The history there is incredible.

Beer, Brats, and a Bachelorette!

September 18th we threw Becky a bachelorette party at Gasthof's german restaurant in NE Minneapolis. Each fall they have 4 weekends of Oktoberfest parties. We had a blast. There were about 15 people there for the party, most of us were in costume. At some point during the night we got our picture taken by the Star Tribune reporter that was covering the evening, the picture of our party showed up on page 3 of the paper the day of the wedding!

Brew at the Zoo

The crowd listening to Tim Mohoney on the plaza near the Grizzly bear exhibit.

Last weekend Becky, Sean, Rachel, Mark, Andy and I went to the second annual Brew at the Zoo at the Minnesota Zoo. 25 different breweries and beer vendors were there giving samples of over 100 beers. The evening included all the beer you could possibly want, a souvenier tasting glass, dinner, and live music by Tim Mahoney. We stayed at a hotel in Apple Valley and took their shuttle so we could enjoy the event to the max! We'll definately be going again next year. I've heard they do "wild about wine" too, with wine sampling, we might try that out this year.

Jeanne's wedding

Last week my family was in Hibbing for my cousin Jeanne's wedding. Mom, Kaitlyn and I went there a few days early to help with the flowers and decorating the wedding and reception site. The weather held out, first day without rain in a long time. The ceremony was at my aunt and uncle's house and the reception was at the Valentini's supper club in Chisolm. This was Kaitlyn's first wedding dance where she really could run around and have a good time. The kids had fun dancing.


My little monkey at the rehearsal

Someone was a little tired!

My cousin Kara and I after the ceremony

Jeanne and Chad at the rehearsal

The kids patiently waiting for the first dance to be over.

Jeanne's wedding Dance

Memorial Day/Andy's 30th Birthday

Kaitlyn hates her life jacket! She was pouting that she had to wear it.

New life jacket that fit a little better, Kaitlyn driving the pontoon with grandpa.

Dave, Leah, Lauren, Wyatt, Sarah and Kaitlyn on "sandy beach". Wyatt loves to take the boat to the sand bar across the lake. Notice the frightened look on Lauren's face, she had just fallen off the raft and tested her life jacket. She was screaming for a while until she realized she could stand up and the water didn't even go to her waist.

The new deck.

Last weekend we went to the cabin to celebrate Memorial Day and Andy's 30th birthday. Saturday was gorgeous and we spent the entire day on the water. Sunday was cold, cloudy, and just not nice at all. Andy's 30th birthday was on Monday. We left the cabin early to help move stuff from his grandma's townhome. After the moving was done we celebrated with him family at Lord Fletcher's on Lake Minnetonka.

Kailtyn's Very Own House!

Our latest house project is building Kaitlyn's playhouse in the front yard. It's taken over a month but we're almost finished. Andy started out by putting a paver patio in the corner of the yard. He had lots of help "leveling" the sand from Kaitlyn. He had to do that several times, every time he would walk away a cat or dog would walk through it and he'd need to start over. Andy put most of the house together while Kaitlyn and I were having a girl's weekend at the cabin. The pictures above are from the night we got home when she saw it for the first time. Now that the door is on she likes to lock us out and wave out the windows. We just need to put up one more shelf, a bench seat, the toy box and the mail box. Andy will be thrilled when this is done!

Riley's 4th Birthday

Swimming

Target Field

Today Rachel and I got to do one of the coolest things in our lives, we went to the second Twin's game ever at the new Target Field. The new outdoor stadium opened last night for the first exhibition game, Twins vs. Cardinals. The stadium is incredible. I wasn't sure I would like the outdoor stadium but it was great. Our seats were in the section right above the suites in the first row, between 3rd and home. We had an awesome view of the city directly in front of us. We took the bus to the game and got there early so we could explore everything the stadium has to offer. Fortunately we were seated right in the sun, probably won't be so great there in the middle of summer, fans were bundled up in hats and mittens in the sections in the shade while we sat in t-shirts soaking up the sun. I even had a chance to get sunburned, in April!

First Hair Cut

OK, I can't figure out how to flip it, this is the final hairstyle, pigtails!

We finally took Kaitlyn to get her hair cut over the weekend. Her hair was still short but we wanted to get it all trimmed so it looked better and was the same length. They only took off about 1/2 an inch but that was enough for me. She did great, no tears and no screaming. Kid's Hair does a really good job of keeping them entertained while getting their hair cut.

First Swimming Lesson 3-13-10

Kaitlyn had her first swimming lesson over the weekend. Since we spend so much time at the cabin and we live near the lake we think it's really important that she isn't afraid of the water (like her mom). She was really hesitant at first but by the end of class she was having a great time. She actually cried when we left. Her class meets every Saturday until the middle of May. I have a feeling she'll be trying to jump off the dock this summer.

Cancun

Rachel, Leah, and Lindsey before going out on our last night in Mexico.

This is a view from our balcony (on the 2nd floor). It was considered ocean view, you had to stand on the railing and look then you could see the ocean!

One of the many pools.

Getting ready to go on our catamaran cruise to Isla Mujeres

Feb 13-16 Rachel took me on a trip with American Family to Cancun. A friend of mine from college, Lindsey also made the trip, she works with Rachel at American Family. The three of us roomed and played together all weekend. We got there on Saturday and it was cold (for Mexico, not for us Minnesotans, the temps were in the mid 60s-70s all weekend) so we stayed around the hotel and relaxed. Sunday morning we got up early and went on a catamaran trip to Isla Mujeras, an island near Cancun. We did some snorkeling, went shopping downtown, had lunch at a yacht club and resort, then sailed back to Cancun in the afternoon. We had wonderful weather all day and the tan lines to prove it. Monday morning we left early for Puerto Morelas where we went on a snorkeling adventure on the Mayan Reef, the second largest reef in the world. We did two stops, the first was mainly looking at the incredible reef, the second was in much shallower water and we saw tons of fish. We got to see 3 huge stingrays, 2 baracudas, 2 see turtles, and many more. It was great snorkeling. Monday night we had dinner with the other insurance agents and their dates then went to show with latin dancers. It was a short trip but we had a lot of fun.

Lauren's 3rd Birthday Party at MOA

On Tuesday night we took Lauren, Wyatt, and Kaitlyn to the Mall of America amusement park to celebrate Lauren's third birthday. We let Kaitlyn ride on 4 rides for the first time, she was not a fan of any of them. When she was on the balloon ride and we could hear her yelling every time she went around. Her favorite "ride" of the night was sitting on a horse on of those machines you put a quarter in. After the park we went to the Cantina #1 for a great Mexican dinner. All of the kids were sleeping by the time we left the parking lot!