Star Wars and More Junebug! June 19, 2008

Last Saturday we saw the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum. It was a great time. It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun. We got to the Science Museum around noon and spent a few hours going through all of their various exhibits. It is a really great time – learning all kinds of things. Hands on museums are fantastic! We learned all about diseases, electricity, magnets, and even sound waves. One of Liza’s favorite parts was getting play a piano and actually see the sound waves that she was creating. You could look at the various chords and see which ones looked “pretty” and which ones didn’t.

We also went to the Omnitheater and saw a great movie all about special effects. That theater is an amazing time. It was so much fun to watch Michael look all around him at the curved screen and just be totally enthralled by it all. It was fantastic!

Of course, Tony’s favorite stop was the Star Wars exhibit. We were lucky to get in on the second day of the exhibit, and we had to wait until 4:30 in order to get in. However, it was well worth the wait. There were the actual models that had been used in the movies, costumes, and props. It was Star Wars geek heaven. We ALL had a good time. Mark had a lot of fun building his own landspeeder out of legos and using magnets to make it hover across a track. Michael had fun building his own R2D2, out of parts, and making it move. Diane probably most enjoyed the discussions of the very cold planets and where on Earth was comparable. Liza really enjoyed watching the mini-documentaries that were shown at each station. And Tony – well, Tony was in love with the whole thing. It was a really great afternoon.

After the Science Museum, we went downtown to eat at Grumpy’s, one of Tony’s favorite hang outs during his recording and practicing sessions. The food was fantastic – but for some reason our fake-chicken burgers were a major problem. They were out of the right fake patties, then took forever to see what else we wanted – we didn’t end up getting our food until we were ready to go. We had to leave suddenly, because a huge storm was headed directly for the route we’d be driving. So, we ate our fake sandwiches in the car. We didn’t hold it against Grumpy’s though, because we really enjoy their food and love the atmosphere. It was a one time fluke, we think!

We drove through the storm on our way back to  Howard Lake. It was a massive storm, and was incredibly windy. But, we got through it just fine and the rain had pretty much passed through by the time we got home. It was an adventure though!

David and Claire Jorgenson came over early on Sunday morning to chat for awhile with Mark and Diane. Shortly after noon, the Johnsons packe dup and headed back to Aberdeen. We, on the other hand, took a long, long nap!

It was great to have guests here. We hadn’t had anyone stay over at our house since we moved in, so it was fun to have family and extra dogs around for our first overnight guests. The house was crowded but really full of fun at the same time! It was excellent, and we hope that they come again soon!

The rest of this week has been pretty uneventful – except for Tuesday night. Tuesday, Junebug played at The Turf Club, which is on  University Ave in ST Paul. The show was fantastic and we all had a lot of fun. Lots of friends were there – Jamie and Todd, Renae and Tate, and of course the Junebug ladies were in attendance. The show was really well received too.  Keep your eyes out for more Junebug shows in the near future!

And check out our photo albums! There are lots more pictures to see!

Junebug And Family Visit! June 14, 2008

We had another occasion to celebrate this week. Junebug played their first show (aside from a battle of the bands) in Minneapolis, at the Uptown Bar. We’ve been looking forward for months to the time when Junebug began to play shows in the Minneapolis area, and after the battle of the bands last month, things finally seemed like they were going to come together. The album is finished and will be out in August – and the boys are really kicking it into high gear when it comes to booking shows. It is very exciting!

After we heard that Junebug had two shows planned – one on June 12th and one on June 17th – we told Liza’s family that they absolutely had to come for the first show. We decided that they could make a weekend of it – come down on Thursday, go to the show, and then spend the weekend in the cities. It took them quite a while to be sure that they actually could come down for the weekend, but they finally figured out that it would work.

Liza spent Tuesday and Wednesday catching up on work and making sure that the house was ready for company. We’ve actually not had any overnight guests here before, and Liza’s family hasn’t been here since the day we moved in, so they haven’t seen it all organized and lived-in. So, we were very excited for the weekend to be here!

On Thursday, Tony had to head in to town to meet the band at around 5. Liza’s parents and brother Michael arrived a little before 6. They also brought their three Klee Kai with them, so it has been a very full house.

Michael couldn’t get in to the Uptown Bar, so Liza, Mark and Diane took him to dinner in Howard Lake at Sunni’s Grill, and then set him up in the house for the evening. Liza left Willie and Daisy and Solo running loose in the house, and kenneled the rest of the dogs. After settling in with some chips, some oreos, lots of soda, and the Wii, as well as instructions on how to run the other television for TV watching, Diane, Mark, and Liza headed into the city for the show. Michael was a bit nervous being left on his own, but he knew that with Willie and Daisy loose in the house, he was safer than he’d be anywhere else.

The show at the Uptown was absolutely phenomenal. We can’t speak for the whole band, but we do know that Liza and her parents enjoyed the heck out of it. It was just so good to see Junebug back up there on stage where they belong, and to know that they’ve really got something that no one else has ever had before – something that makes them unique and allows them to stand out in the crowd. A lot of Junebug friends were in the audience, so there was a great dance crowd going on at the end of show – including Mark and Diane. Definite Johnson Family highlights included the song “Maybe I’m not the Stalker You’ve Been Looking For” dedicated to Diane – and Anthony saying “That’s going out to Mrs. Johnson cos we know she likes songs about stalkers” as well as Tony introducing it as “This song is dedicated to my mother in law – Maybe I’m Not the Stalker You’ve Been Looking For”.

The Kollmans and the Johnsons got back to Howard Lake, and a sleeping Michael, at about 1:30 AM. We all stayed up late talking because we had so much to talk about. We were pumped up from the show and, as always, had lots of gossip to talk about. You stick us and Mark and Diane in one place long enough, and we’ll cycle through discussions on just about anything.

We were all in bed by 3 AM – The Kollmans upstairs in Liza’s office on an air bed, with our three Klee Kai and Solo – Michael on an air mattress in Tony’s office with Libby, Rx and Ringo in the kennel in the porch, and Mark and Diane in our bedroom.  We had a very short night – as we were up and at it all by about 9 AM. We planned out our day and left Howard Lake around 10:30.

Today we spent all afternoon at the Minnesota Zoo. We had a fantastic time wandering through all of the exhibits, and although it was a bit cold we really enjoyed ourselves. The animals are great – and the habitats that they have for them are so intricate and interesting. It was a really great afternoon – be sure to check out all of the photos!

We drove to the Mall of America after the zoo, so that we could at the Rain Forest Cafe. It is always a great time. We love the restaurant, and Michael had never been to it before, so he enjoyed himself too. After dinner Liza and Michael went on one of the roller coasters in what used to be called Camp Snoopy but is now something to do with Nickelodeon.  Then, we headed home to Howard Lake, and had a relaxing evening letting the dogs play together and watching the news.

Tomorrow we are heading back out again for more adventures – the Science Museum and Star Wars exhibit, for one. Stay tuned!

And check out the pictures!

1 Whole Year! June 14, 2008

June 9th, for any of you that don’t know it, was our anniversary. We have officially been married for one whole year! Although we did go out and have a good time at the STP show on Friday night, we didn’t really have any plans for our anniversary, other than the fact that both of us were off work and going to enjoy the day together.

We decided that we’d like to start a few traditions on our anniversary. Once we got up and got going, we drove to Buffalo with a backseat full of old clothes and things that we were going to donate to the Salvation Army. We figured that even though we’ve had a really tough year, money-wise, we are still fortunate enough to have too many clothes that we don’t wear anymore, and other things that we no longer use. We thought that a good way to be thankful for all of the wonderful things that have been given to us – and to show our thanks for our blessings – was to give the things that we no longer had a use for to charity. It kind of helped us to see that even though times are tough, we’ve been very blessed. It also helped us focus on the things that we DO have. We think that it is a good tradition to celebrate each year of our marriage.

After that, we found a nice little diner in Buffalo – BJ’s Deli – for lunch. They had awesome European-style food and a great atmopshere. Since we’ve both been craving over-seas times, it seemed like a great way to spend the afternoon. We ate outside and watched the passers-by.

After a short walk in Buffalo, we headed home. We’d decided a few months ago that since we both had our wedding clothes, we wanted to start another tradition – that of dressing up in our wedding clothes (to whatever degree we can) and taking a picture each year on our anniversary – to show where we are each year on June 9th. We want to post them in our room, so that when we’re old we can look back and see where we’ve been each year. This year’s photo was taken on our rooftop. We’ve got a deck out there, and we had spent the weekend putting together our bucket garden and our grill. We decided that since it was such a nice place, we’d take our photos there.

Then, we stayed in our wedding clothes long enough to cut the top tier of our wedding cake and eat a piece. It had been frozen all year long, and it actually tasted very good. Apprantly we had wrapped it up well and kept it frozen, because it had thawed out all night long and neither of us could even tell it had at one time been frozen. We each had a peice, along with a glass of champaign in our toast-glasses from the reception.

THEN, we changed clothes and proceeded to watch our wedding video and eat more cake, as well as drink more champaign. We watched the entire video, which is something that we haven’t done since after we got home from our honeymoon. It took us quite some time, and before we knew it our 1-year day had come and gone.

We are very thankful for this year, and very happy to have spent it together. We are looking forward to so many more!!!

Pictures from our Anniversary are also on the Picassa site!!!

STP June 14, 2008

Friday, June 6th, we treated ourselves to a concert. Tony had heard that Stone Temple Pilots was going on tour, and they were one of his favorite bands – one he’d never had the chance to see. So, when we heard that they were going to be in Minneapolis, we couldn’t resist.

The show was to start around 7:30, so we headed down to Roy Wilkins at about 7. No need to wait in line this time, because we had tickets with seats attached – like good grown ups. The opening band was something that neither of us had heard of (and both of us probably could have done without) but there was tap beer so it went pretty fast. STP played a great set, and we completely enjoyed ourselves.

When the show was over, we didn’t quite feel like going home, so we wandered down a block or so to a great bar and stayed for awhile. We got home just in time for Tony to leave for his paper route. Obviously, we spent the rest of that weekend relaxing!

Check out the photo albums for pictures from the show and the evening!

This was the moment! June 4, 2008

After seeing Barack Obama in Aberdeen over the weekend, we were delighted to hear that he was planning to give his victory speech in St. Paul on Tuesday  night. We knew that this would be a moment in history – and we very much wanted to be there. Liza got back to Howard Lake very late on Monday night, and so Tuesday was a bit of a rush, to get everything done on time. We couldn’t go early like we had the last time Obama was in Minneapolis, because Tony worked until 5 pm in Buffalo. We knew that we’d be pushing it, but decided it would be completely worth it.

Liza did some work and unpacked from her trip, and then fed the dogs an early supper and packed dinner for the humans. She drove to Buffalo and met Tony as he was getting off of work. We left his van in the parking lot of Walmart, and headed into the city. It was good thing we had dinner in the car, because we got stuck in traffic and didn’t end up getting downtown St. Paul until about 6 or a little bit after. We hit the Excel center and immediately knew that we were in trouble. There are no words to describe the line. Some say it wound for 1.5 miles around city blocks downtown. Luckily, thanks be, we had spots saved for us in line by our dear friends Heather and Dustin. They had been there for awhile, and were 16 blocks back in line. However, there were at least that many blocks, probably more, behind him, so we were very glad to find them and take our spots in line. Thanks be, as well, to those nice people behind them that didn’t mind us getting in line.

We stood in line from a little after 6 until after 9. We wound our way through the city, and moved in very small increments for a long time. We reached the security check points inside the Excel center at about 9:00, and hurried through. We were ushered to the last side that was open on the top floor. By the time we had found seats, we could look around the Excel center and see that there were no more seats to be had. We were the lucky ones. I heard that about 20,000 people were in the Excel center last night – quite a few more than were supposed to be, according to the fire marshal, who wasn’t happy about it. There were 15,000 more people who never made it into the Excel center, and had to watch the speech on the screens outside. It was an amazing moment – once we’d sat down. We just barely made it in time for his speech. He was being introduced as we were searching for seats, and we heard him come on stage as we ran up the stairs to find a place to sit. We got to our seats as he began to talk – but it was completely worth it.

Even though there were light rigs in the way, and even though we had to read the captions on the big screen at times to make out what he was saying underneath the thunderous applause – it was a moment in history that we will never forget. This was unlike his campaign speeches, because it wasn’t one of them. It was a declaration of his platform, and an unofficial acceptance of the nomination. This was the moment. We both feel that this was the moment when everything changed for our country, and for our world. We can’t say enough wonderful things about Barack Obama. All we can do is take pride in knowing that we were there, and gear up for the general election, helping in any way that we can. This truly WAS the moment, and we were very blessed to have been there.

PS. New photos in the album. Check them out!

More Obama! June 1, 2008

We haven’t really been able to do anything on weekends since Tony started his paper job – because his job requires him to work from 2 until 6 AM both Saturday and Sunday mornings. So, when Liza’s brother Scott called her to say he was coming into Aberdeen for the weekend, she decided that she’d go to Aberdeen on her own to see her brother. Scott lives in Ft. Collins, CO, and doesn’t get home much. So, Liza was planning a trip to Aberdeen – when it was announced that Barack  Obama would speak there on Saturday at 5:30. Diane and Mark and Michael waited in line to get tickets, and were able to pick up two tickets apiece. Liza was even more excited when she found out that they were able to exchange their regular tickets for “blue” tickets, which would allowed them to sit in the priority seating area.

Tony decided that he wasn’t going to let work keep him from seeing Obama. He was supposed to have a meeting on Friday night, but after he found out that it got changed to Sunday afternoon, he went to bed on Friday evening after he got home from work at Walmart. He slept from about 8 until 1 or so, and then got up to do his paper route. When he was finished, he just kept driving, and arrived in Aberdeen around 12:30. Everyone was very excited to see him – even though he had to go back to Howard Lake after the Obama Rally.

The town hall meeting started at 5:30, so the Kollmans, Diane, Scott, and Michael got in the car and headed down there to get in line around 3. We waited in line for about an hour or so, and went through security, to get to our priority seats. We ended up being in the 4th row in a small section that was roped off – and was right next to the area where Obama would walk through when he came in. We sat and waited until about 5 – when the Rally started early.  Liza had just gone to the bathroom, so she missed his entrance, but Tony stood up and went to the barrier and was able to shake hands with Obama.

The town hall meeting was fantastic. He gave about a half hour’s worth of a stump speech, and then answered questions from the audience. It was a different atmosphere than the huge rally in Minneapolis, because it was a town-hall meeting, and there were only about 2,200 there instead of 20,000. BUT, the small atmosphere made it fantastic. We were close enough to see his whole speech and to see him clearly while he was giving it .

After he was finished, Liza, Tony, Michael, Scott, Mark and Diane went back up to th barrier to see if they could get close enough to shake hands with Barack. Tony backed up a little bit because he had already done so. Liza was standing right at the railing when Barack came near her. He held the baby that the mother beside her was holding out, and then he started shaking hands. Because Liza was at the railing, and people behind her wanted their hands shaken, for a few seconds Barack was standing directly in front of her, with his hands stretched out on either side of her and slightly above her. She could have leaned forward about 6 inches and hugged him. But, she just stood in his aura for a while. And it was fantastic.

After a dinner at the Mexican restaurant, Tony had to head back to Howard Lake. He called Liza every half hour to make sure that he was staying awake. He got back home at about 1:30, and left right away to do his paper route. He texted Liza at 6:30 AM to say that he was finished with his route and going, finally, to sleep.

Liza was supposed to come back to Howard Lake this afternoon, but when Tony was driving our car to Aberdeen from Howard Lake, something broke in it. The car dealership won’t be open until tomorrow morning, and since Tony took the van back to Howard Lake to do his papers, she will have to wait until the car is fixed before she can go home again. So, Liza and the dogs are in Aberdeen at least until Monday afternoon.