Prior Lake Lakefront Days Parade 2016

Prior Lake Lakefront Days Parade 2016

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for August 7, 2016

Saturday brought us Prior Lake's annual Lakefront Days parade and we were there to support the Prior Lake Robotic's team float.

Before the parade began we saw a lot of old friends like Wayne who used to be the boys Tball coach about 100 years ago.

I saw my personal work hero, Orlando Mazzolini, and his lovely daughter Sofia.  They were here to support a friend who is running for city council.

Ronald McDonald and I go way back.  I used to go to his house and eat a lot when I was a kid.

I met Tony Albright who is a member of the Minnesota house of representatives and a great guy.  He has been a good friend to Prior Lake Robotics and is going to help us work on some projects this year.

Some of the team captains had a chance to talk to Tony.  They discussed ways to spread the word about all the good things that First Robotics is doing for kids to help them build their STEM skills as well as so many other great leadership qualities.

We chatted with Melissa and Todd from the Prior Lake school board.  We had a great conversation and talked about ways to continue to grow the robotics program going forward.

Soon enough the parade started and we had to run to the front of the pack to see Avery.  He normally works on Saturday mornings so he walked along with his co-workers at Versatile Vehicles.

We saw Tony Albright again spreading good will to the community while spreading candy to the kids.

We have been fans of Jason Lewis for years as he used to have a talk radio show in the Twin Cities before deciding to run for the US House of Representatives.  Miss Sheri was standing on the side of the road taking his picture when he noticed her.

He said a picture of him by himself was no fun so insisted she joined him for another shot.  What a good guy!

Most of the time, though, we hung out with the KING TeC kids.  They looked so fashionable that it just felt good to be around them.

Luke worked hard as he walked the parade route handing out program flyers to people in the community.

Liz and I also walked much of the way trying to figure out ways to make ourselves useful.  That comes real hard for me.

Jackson and crew were rocking out as they made their way down Main Street.

I don't know if Jen and Dan had the toughest job or the easiest job as they drove the float through town.

After the parade, all the kids went to a party so we grabbed a few of the other parents and decided to have a party of our own on the boat.

We got pretty loony!

We even picked up a hitchhiker as we passed by Pat Hines on her dock.  She joined us while we hung out on Candy Cove.

All in all, it was a pretty darned good day!

Prior Lake Lakefront Days 2015

Prior Lake Lakefront Days 2015

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for August 9, 2015

On Sunday, we got to go boating one more time with Cousin Joey before he had to go back home.  Luke was pretty excited about that.

Avery has made it a goal this summer to learn how to knee board.  He's doing pretty good getting up, but I haven't seen any back-flips or 360 twists or anything yet.  He's gotta work on that.

Joey gave it a wack also and did pretty good.  He only bit the water a few times before getting up on it.

On Friday night, we headed down to Lakefront Days.  It's Prior Lake's annual festival to celebrate summer.  I go down there to celebrate my lovely wife.

We also went down to support our kids who were busy manning one of the booths for their high school robotics team.  They brought some of the cool robots down to show off to the kids in the community.

You can just see the joy in my boy's faces when they have the opportunity to work with kids.  It's kind of heartwarming for me to witness it.

On Saturday, we went down town to watch the parade.  

I Love A Parade!

This guy was all tongue.

It's been a long time since I've seen an actual DeLorean.  I kept yelling at the guy to get it up to 88 MPH so we could see it disappear into the future, but he didn't pay me any attention.  It was a little bit of a disappointment.

This lady appears to have been attacked by a snake while she was walking the parade route, but didn't seem too stressed out about it.  I was kind of surprised nobody was trying to help her.

Finally, the float we were waiting for arrived and we were pretty  impressed with it.  The KING TeC kids did a great job at building their castle and Coach Volm was beaming with pride while walking along side his team.  We're looking forward to another great year ahead of us!

Their future is so bright, they gotta wear shades.

When the horses come, you know the parade is over.  I always think they should make the horses go first so we can watch everyone have to navigate their droppings.  It would add an additional layer of excitement to the festivities.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to the high school graduation celebration of our old friend, Andy Schoen.  We've known Andy since he was a little boy, so it was a bit shocking seeing him as the man he has become.  Andy has signed a contract to play hockey in Sioux Falls this year and we're hoping to find the chance to go and see him play some time.  Congratulations, Andy!

On Saturday night, we connected with our old friends, Tim, Kelly, Dan, and Jen.  We were planning on going to Lakefront Days, but were side tracked by a Karaoke Bar.  I just can never pass the chance to sing Karaoke!

Dan and Jen are always game to get on the stage and sing it up also.  We were surprised to find the place pretty much empty, so we took turns serenading each other for most of the evening.  We had a great time, but I'm guessing the lady who was running the Karaoke machine was pretty much ready to quit her job before we were done.

Sheri took the stage and blew me away with her singing.  I think Jen kind of liked it also.

Christmas by the Lake in Clear Lake, Iowa

Christmas by the Lake in Clear Lake, Iowa

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for December 7, 2014

On Monday night, we went to a ceremony at the high school where Avery was recognized for being a Board Scholar student.  This honor is given to the kids who achieve at least an overall 3.8 GPA after their first year of high school.  I guess all that screaming his mother and I do at him to do his homework is really starting to pay off.

Luke just missed the cut this year to also receive the honor.  He was absolutely thrilled to sit through the ceremony while his brother and his friends received their awards.  Absolutely thrilled.

On Saturday morning, the boys woke up bright and early to perform their duty of selling Christmas trees at the Boy Scout tree lot.

It seems like every year it's getting easier and easier for them to haul trees around.  Not sure why that is.

Miss Sheri stayed there to help them but insisted I bring the Windex because the dirty windows on the office building were driving her crazy!

On Saturday night, I drove to Clear Lake, Iowa to visit some old friends and enjoy the 20th annual Christmas by the Lake celebration the town puts on every year.

My buddy, Ron Myers, came also and brought his beautiful family.  It was hard to pull him away from the singalong he was hosting, but we had to get down town!

It was an absolutely beautiful night with the temperatures a balmy 38 degrees.  A perfect evening for a parade.

I hung out with Krazy Kory all night and we had the pleasure of hooking up with his parents, Gene and Bobbe, for awhile.  They are like the ambassadors for Clear Lake and were able to get us a front row seat for the main event of the evening.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a winter fireworks display, but was absolutely blown away by the show.  They had plenty of red and green fireworks and ended the show with two incredible fireball explosions.  Definitely worth the trip just to see these.

  

We then went to our old buddy Jason Bradshaw's birthday party and saw a bunch of old friends.  And we got leid!

  

I haven't hung out with Dancing Dave Hansen, Jason A, and Krazy Kory all at the same time since high school.  It was plenty of fun seeing these guys.

We ended the night at Elly's Lakefront Tap and danced the night away to some of that good old rock and roll.  Always a good time going home to Clear Lake!

On Sunday morning I drove home just in time to join my wife and mother for a Pancake breakfast to support the high school band at the local VFW.  Mmmmm, pancakes!