Phoenix

I was in sunny, warm Phoenix for a reading conference for the past 5 days. I gladly left the snow and cold of Minnesota behind to bask in the sun and visit with a friend. Oh, and I did learn a few new things about reading at the conference.

Here are some pictures of the fun I had with Carrie, Chris, and Rocco. We hiked at Papago Park and took in the view of the sandstone buttes. We saw quite a few jackrabbits darting across the trails too.

If you look real close you can see two mountain bikers to the left of center in the picture below.

Carrie and I went to the Desert Botanical Garden after our hike and walked around for about 2 hours. There was a Chihuly: Nature of Glass exhibit there and one of his sculptures is what you can see behind us. I thought his work looked familiar and it turns out that some of his scultures are hanging in the Gonda Building at Mayo Clinic.

Thunder, Lightening, and Snow?

Yes, that's correct, it is snowing out and there's thunder and lightening as well. Bizarre! And, it's a snow day for me! Woo-Hoo!

Mayo has a photo contest every year. The winner has the honor of having their photograph as the cover of the phonebook. It sounds dumb, but they print something like 30,000 of these things and Ian will be famous if his picture is chosen. He is only allowed to enter 1 photograph. He has narrowed it down to 4 and needs your help deciding which one to submit. He says these are not his BEST photographs, but they are the best ones taken in Rochester, which is not known for being photogenic. Please vote!

Polar Bear Plunge

Ian was asked to be one of the dwarfs for a team from Mayo this past Saturday. Ian was "Grumpy" and is the farthest to the left. He said the water wasn't so bad because it was actually warmer than the air. They all climbed into a hot tub afterward. You can see the article and picture of them from the local paper: http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=385604

A slightly warmer Ian after spending some time in the hot tub. He said the water in there was dirtier than that in the pond.


Here's a shot of another group jumping. Check out the guy doing the belly flop on the left!

This is Ian's new commuter bike. His old commuter has served him well for many years but is starting to become dangerous. He has only one brake, which does not work when it gets wet. This bike was supposed to be a safer alternative to the other one but he keeps riding the old one because he doesn't want to get this one grimy on the winter roads!





Yesterday was a great day for nappy nap in the sun.

Polar Bear Plunge

On February 14th, a large hole will be cut into the ice of a lake in Rochester. The hole will be slightly larget than this one:

Ian will then jump into the water, much the same way as this guy:

He will catch as many fish as he can with his bare hands and teeth and then jump back out and go sit in a hot tub and drink beer for the rest of the day. The point is to raise money for Special Olympics. If you would like to sponsor him (he wants to raise at least $75), please click on this link:

http://specialolympicsminnesota.org/Polar_Plunge_App.php?regid=5927&step=pledge&action=showwebpage&event_id=4&team_id=875

We promise to post some pictures of the event. His team is called Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.