13th Annual Savanah Bradshaw Memorial Golf Tournament

 

13th Annual Savanah Bradshaw Memorial Golf Tournament

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for August 13, 2023

We were awoken at 6:15am on Wednesday to a loud crack.  Our fears were realized when we looked out the window to see one of our old basswood trees had snapped and came crashing down.  We've lived in this house for 22 years, always worried about this tree falling and it finally did.  The really sad thing is we had already contracted a tree service to remove it which was scheduled for late August.  

Unlike a tree that fell on us two years ago, this time we sustained no property damage.  I wish the same could be said for our neighbor's house.

On Saturday, we drove down to Clear Lake, Iowa for the 13th annual Savanah Bradshaw Memorial Golf Tournament at Oak Hills Golf Course.

Savanah was the daughter of our good friends, Jason & Julie Bradshaw.  This is the 13th time they've hosted this tournament in the last 14 years with one missed due to Covid.  They put in countless hours staging an amazing day of golf, a silent auction, and other fun activities.  They also raise a lot of money for charity in the process.  

They had a record number of entrants this year.  120 golfers competed in 30 different foursomes which kept the course very busy.

Miss Sheri and I hosted a booth at Hole#5.  She sold jello shots and I dealt blackjack for a 50/50 drawing.  We were quite popular and kept busy for the entire day.

We love getting back to Clear Lake and running into old friends.

Some people accused us of slowing down the rate of play, but there's no way I'm going to see all of these fun people and not get pictures with them!

I went to high school with all of these fellows.  Most of us still act like we're still there.

We can't take a picture of the boys without getting one of the ladies.

We didn't get to spend any time with our boys this weekend, but my good friend Jen sent me this picture of Luke hanging out with some friends.

Avery and Abby spent the weekend in Panama City, Florida.  I thought this was a pretty fun picture so I stole it from them.

Eagle Scout Court of Honor

Eagle Scout Court of Honor

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for March 26, 2017

I've had a fascination with public speaking for some time and have been a member of the Oracle Toastmasters team for the past couple of years.  I decided to throw my hat in the ring for the local area international speech competition and was fortunate enough to win and advance to the district contest in a couple of weeks.  

Wish me luck!

On Saturday morning, we went to see my old Oracle buddy, Orlando Mazzolini along with his daughter and brother in law as they raised money for a local charity.  Billy runs Laker Outfitters the Under Armor dealer in Prior Lake and they were selling a bunch of cool merchandise for a great cause.  They're such good people.

Ten-year-old Sanya Pirani has spent the last three years organizing donation drives for various charities in the metro area.  You can read about her here.  She's a pretty impressive young lady and has collected more than 13,000 diapers for needy families.  Very inspiring.

On Saturday, Uncle Jerry and Grandma Leona came to town for a visit.  We went to Outback and had a darned good time.

The reason they came to town was to help us celebrate Luke & Avery's Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  We were very happy they were able to attend.

Luke and Avery celebrated their achievement of earning the rank of Eagle Scout with two other fine young men, Parker Jorenby and Adam Fowler.  We were very fortunate to be able to share this honor with two great families.

We have known the Fowlers for several years now and spend a lot of time together for Scouts and Robotics.  We really got to know one another the past couple of months while spending many hours together preparing for this event.

Parker is a year younger than Luke and Avery, but he is an over achiever who could have earned his rank of Eagle several years ago if he would have chosen to do so.  Lucky for us, he timed it the way he did and allowed us to celebrate the event together.  Chuck and Clarice are very involved in Boy Scouts so their input was quite valuable for planning of the actual ceremony.

There was a time where I never thought it possible that our boys would stick with scouting long enough to attain eagle scout status, but they continue to amaze and inspire us every day.  Miss Sheri and I are very proud of these boys.

We were excited to have Grandma Linda and her good friend, Mike, join us for the ceremony.

Prior Lake Mayor Kirt Briggs was kind enough to attend and spoke during the court of honor.  His words were inspiring and made me feel like we've got a great guy in charge of our home town.

Minnesota State Representative, Drew Christensen, also spoke at the event and informed us that he created a House resolution congratulating the boys for receiving their Eagle Awards.  We thought that was extremely cool!

We had several community leaders in attendance including our old friend and Scott County Commissioner, Tom Wolf.  He was kind enough to help present the Eagle jackets that were given to them by the Lions.

We were blessed to have so many wonderful scouts in attendance with us to celebrate the occasion.

The ceremony had a lot of speaking parts, so the boys thought it would  be a good idea to rehearse their lines before things began.

We created this video featuring pictures of the Boys' scouting adventures over the years and played it before the ceremony.

We held the event at the Savage Environmental Learning Center and it was getting filled to capacity before we started.

Before we knew it, the clock struck two and it was time for the ceremony to begin.

The Troop is boy led as much as it can be and we had several great young men help lead the ceremony.

Eventually the boys recited the Eagle Oath and their designation was official.

They bestowed Miss Sheri and I with Eagle parent pins and we repaid them the favor by helping them put on their new eagle neckerchiefs.

They received some pretty nice red jackets from the local chapter of the Lions to commemorate the occasion.

Each of the boys paid honor to mentors who helped them earn their achievements.  Troy Brown was with both Luke and Avery from the beginning.  He was recruiting Cub Scouts back when we were in the first grade and looking for a Pack to join and he was with both of them as they attended their Eagle Certification meetings.  Pretty cool for him to be with them throughout the entire process.

Our neighbor, Jim, was also very helpful to both of our sons when they completed their required Eagle projects.

Lisa Maldonado has been a mentor for the boys in robotics and was instrumental in helping them come up with the ideas for their eagle projects.  We certainly appreciate all the help she has provided them.

We had lots of friends in attendance to us help us celebrate the occasion.

It was a whirlwind of activity and I wish we would have had more time to talk with everyone who was kind enough to attend, but we certainly enjoyed the time we had.

  

My Oracle co-worker, Aaron Symicek, attended with his son who just recently crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and was excited to be there.  I'm glad they had the chance to join us. 

One of Chuck and Clarice's friends was kind enough to make us this incredible cake for the occasion.  Unfortunately, I was too busy taking pictures to even have a piece of it.  Sure looks tasty, though.

  

Minnesota Vikings Winterfest 2017

Minnesota Vikings Winterfest 2017

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for February 19, 2017

This weekend, the Minnesota Vikings came to town as part of their winterfest celebration.  This was their first year doing it in Prior Lake, but we were glad they did and participated in several of the events.  This is Captain Munnerlyn who is a cornerback for the Vikings and attended a lot of the festivities.  He was around so much I heard people start referring to him as the Mayor of Prior Lake!

We also met some Vikings legends including Doug Sutherland who was a member of the Vikings Purple People Eaters and went to several Super Bowls with the team.

I also had the good fortune to see an old friend while Miss Sheri and I were out and about on the town.  Holly Krieger and I went to elementary school together and it's been about 30 years since I've last seen her!  Coincidentally enough, we now live only a few miles away from each other.  It's such a small world!

On Friday night, we connected with our good friends, Troy and Rhonda Brown for the next night of Vikings Activities.  A Hairball Concert at Mystic Lake Casino!

First, we had to eat, though.  So we tried out a restaurant called Triggers at the Prior Lake Horse & Hunt Club.  Whoever shot my steak did a pretty good job!

We also saw our friends, Jen and Dan Walters, at the concert.  They looked like they were Ready to Rock!

Several of the Vikings came out before the show started to say hi to the audience and remind us we were there as part of the Vikings Winterfest.

I had never seen Hairball perform before, but what a great band!  It was like a nostalgia ride through my favorite hair bands of the eighties including Van Halen!

I really liked when they played KISS songs including Detroit Rock City!!

Guns n Roses was fun.  Oh Sweet Child O Mine!

Alice Cooper reminded us that school was not only out for the summer.  It was out forever.

Ozzie Barked at the Moon, but I didn't see him bite any heads off bats like he used to do back in the old days.  Must be getting too rough on his stomach.

AC DC was there to remind us who the real Iron Man was and still is!

Freddie Mercury ended the show and told us a sad story about the time he killed a man.  He put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger, and now he's dead.  I'm sure that made his mama pretty sad also.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to the VFW for breakfast.  I kind of forgot it was still Vikings Winterfest until I realized that it was none other than Vikings Running Back, CJ Ham, making my pancakes.  I'm sure he doesn't do this kind of thing on a normal Saturday morning.

Vikings fullback, Zach Line, was also there doing some kind of kitchen chores but was still nice enough to stop and have a chat with me.

Former Vikings star, Carl Lee, was working at the beverage stand and gave me an orange juice.  I thought that was pretty nice of him.

We had a very pleasant chat with Vikings Cheerleaders, Jordan and Nao.  Jordan told us she loved all the outreach opportunities she gets to have as a Vikings Cheerleader.  I told her she's going to be a good mom some day.  Then we all shed a couple of tears together and went our separate ways.  True story.

We saved the best event of the Vikings Winterfest for last.  The Minnesota Polar Plunge which was being done to support the Special Olympics.  Ted Fristed has asked me to do it the past couple of years since we are on the Prior Lake Robotics booster club together and this year I said "Let's Do It!"

Fox 9 weatherman, Ian Leonard, was the Polar Plunge Ambassador and welcomed us to the event.

We also bumped into my favorite Scott County Commissioner, Tom Wolf.  He was there as a volunteer, but I'm thinking next year we'll get him to join us for the plunge.  

When I saw the size of the hole, I became a little intimidated.  They told me it was about 6 feet deep where we were jumping in and I was a little surprised to see how far we had to swim before we could get out of the water.  But we lucked out with some unseasonable warm weather.  55 degrees in Minnesota in February is practically unheard of so that was good!

As usual, Miss Sheri was in my corner ready to support Ted and I and to be our official photographer for the event!  Notice that cute Vikings scarf she was wearing courtesy of Captain Munnerlyn.

Jen and Dan Walters were also there to cheer us on.  We're definitely getting them to jump with us next time!

The crowds started arriving and we knew it was getting close to time to freeze our rear-ends!

Our Plunge Ambassador kicked off the event and we were ready to go!

There were a lot of crazy people jumping in the water!!

I have to be honest.  It was much colder than I was expecting.  In this moment, I had just lifted my head out of the water and for a split second I looked at the rescue workers in the water and thought I was going to need them.  I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to control my muscles, but somehow they kicked in and started working.  I probably swam as fast as I ever have before in my life because I had such a strong desire to get out of that water!!

Here's the video of my plunge with Ted: