Nolan Family

The day started with excitement.  The boys helped to pack the car in anticipation of our possibly picking them up early from school.  Josh repeatedly asked what time we would pick him up, using every ounce of his persuasive skills to convince us that the sooner we came the better.  Ryan was torn between the excitement of a movie at school and leaving for our trip. Everyone loaded into the car.  Ryan did not even notice that we had not brought his backpack.  Josh being ever responsible had his.  I told him he would not need it and took it from him.  He adamantly argued that he still had several classes he would need his books for.  I informed him, that he would not need it for such a short day.  And we were off. "I knew it," Josh exclaimed as we drove passed the turn for the school.  "What?" Ryan stated.  "We aren't going to school today!" Josh said.  Ryan joined in on the cheers and our trip to Minneapolis was officially starte...

After many years of not being interested in any sport, Ryan decided this would be the year to play soccer.  He signed up for the Green Bay Strikers.  He even prayed that God would put him on his good friend Joey’s team, but that was not God’s plan.  Instead he ended up on the Grey Wolves team.   At first we were worried on how the year would turn out.  We waited and waited to find out the soccer schedule and finally started practicing the week before games started.  While communication was weak on our team, the talents for coaching was very strong.  The team coaches took a group of 14 boys that were 8 and 9 and taught them to play together.  It was a team goal to work together and to not let any one player be the star.  It was about being good sports and teamwork.  This lesson was very important and together they played very well.  In fact, so well that they won every one of their games including the three this weekend at ...

December 26th marked our big family adventure.  Since we could see the dolphins our our window, everyone voted to take a ferry ride to Daulphin Island.  The ferry stated that it could hold 28 cars but I am not sure how that is possible.  It had an open decks flanked by two open walkways on each side.  Above the one walkway was the small bridge. It was windy on the water and we quickly realized that being the first car on the ferry was not the best idea.  As the boat would hit a wave the water splashed onto the deck and occasionally onto the front of our car.  Rosi was not amused by the small boat or the splashing water. All of us except for Rosi piled out to check out the ferry.  The boys and Dave were quickly cold.  I was cold but figured I could be warm later on, thinking that I do not often get to ride on a boat across Mobil Bay at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico.   John and I were the only two who stayed out the whole time. I...

We had a relaxing morning on Christmas Day and enjoyed a breakfast of Swedish Pancakes.  Once we were all full it was time to open our gifts.  Most of our gifts had been opened the Sunday before our trip, so today it was more about fun gifts.   John gave all of us ladies gloves from the official US Olympic team.  It was fun when we all held up our hands together. For dinner we feasted on Prime Rib, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, Ham, Green Beans, Carrots, and Snow Peas. stuffing, and pie for dessert.

Monday, December 23rd was a day of resting and shopping.  We were pleasantly surprised by dolphins in the water in front of our condo.     It was a pleasant surprise that we had not been able to enjoy the year before! Tuesday, December 24th greeted us with sunshine and dolphins.  We started our morning watching the dolphins playing in the water in front of us. We decided that it would be a great day to go to Gulf Islands National Seashore.  Having run out of time the year before, it was still on my list from the year before.  To get to it we needed to go through Pensacola and take two long bridges across to the Island.   Funny thing about the "G" on Dave's shirt.  He kept getting asked about the "Bulldogs".  Down South the "G" is for Georgia.  Luckily at our condo we met several Wisconsinnites who knew what the "G" stood for! At some points as we drove we could see the water on both ...