Nolan Family

Being born on 4 th of July weekend can greatly impact your ability to celebrate your birthday.   However, this year Ryan’s birthday week started early and continued on past his Birthday.   We decided to have Ryan’s party a week early, to beat the holiday celebrations and because we were going to be camping on his birthday.   Ryan chose to go to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday party.   Several of his friends joined him to make it a special time.   Ryan enjoyed games, pizza, cake, and a special visit from Chuck E Cheese. One of the new features at Chuck E Cheese is the ticket blaster.   I had watched other kids not end up with many tickets, so I had set my mind that Ryan would end up with the minimum 200 bonus tickets.   The other two birthday stars from the other parties went first.   Neither of them was able to get the special 1000 bonus ticket.   So my expectations were low as Ryan prepared to enter the ticket blaster.   Ryan on the other hand was full of confidence

Dave and I decided that we would like to go to Commander College again.   We had forgotten about the intense schedule of Awana Commander College.   201 had an even more intense schedule then 101.   We completed 28 hours of training in a 49 hour period.   On Thursday, June 7 th we headed to Plymouth, MN.   We arrived at 3pm and settled into our very warm dorm room.   We were happy to learn that the classrooms were air conditioned and since we would spend most of our time there this was good news.   For 2 ½ days we learned from the other commanders in the room and from our instructors.   We were challenged to continue to strive for excellence as Awana Commanders and as Christians. Friday night we headed to the Mall of America for a special outing.   After a time of prayer, our team decided to reach outside our comfort zone.   It scared us to death.   My stomach was in knots.    Dave was trying to come up with any new plan that did not take us out of our comfort zone.   But i

Josh signed up to play in little league for a second spring season.   This year he was on the Iron Pigs.   They started off the season looking very rough.   But their coach did not give up on them and continued to work on teaching them the basics.   Slowly the team began to work together and started winning games.   The Iron Pigs moved up from last place to mid-way in the pack.   Josh enjoyed pitching and playing 1 st and 3 rd base. Warming Up On 1st Base Josh and the team after the game!