Glewwe Castle Brewery Open House

Glewwe Castle Brewery Open House

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for July 9, 2017

On Friday night, we went to the Lakeville Car Cruise to visit Grandma Linda and her friend, Mike.  Mike has a 1968 Imperial convertible that he likes to bring to various shows.  Apparently it's 1 of only 2000 that were manufactured.  It's really big and unlike any other convertibles I've ever seen.

There were old cars there and also new ones like this Dodge Viper.  I think I'd look good in a car like this.

  

Later that night we went to our friends, The Korkowskis. 

Luke, Adam, and Jackson were pretty excited to be there.

We went swimming in the pool and ate dinner together.  Not at the same time, though.

When we were all done, we did our best to clean up after ourselves.  It can be pretty challenging to do that, but we try hard.

Saturday morning brought us to the movies to see the new Spiderman: Homecoming.  Avery said he thought it was the best Spiderman movie ever made and I think I'd have to agree with him.  Although I'm not 100% positive that I've seen every Spiderman movie ever made especially if any were ever made in other countries or back when there were only silent movies.  

We went to Sarah Patrick's graduation party which was fun.  Sarah is going to go to school to be a nurse next year which is really cool in case I get hurt in the future I will know who to call.

Saturday night brought us to Arden Hills to Victoria Bailey's "Welcome to the World" party.  We had the joy of seeing a bunch of Hornbuckles and other friends while we were there which is always a good time.

On Sunday, we went to the Glewwe Castle Brewery open house.  Details of which can be seen here.  Mark and Laurel Glewwe have been good friends to the Prior Lake robotics program so we and some of the other robotics parents thought it would be fun to go to their open house.

The Country Squirrels played some tunes for us.  They were a pleasant sounding band which made for an enjoyable afternoon out in the country.

Mark is a brew master who creates a wide variety of soda, beer and wines many of which are quite tasty!  If you're in Prior Lake, you can see Mark at the farmer's market or go to one of his open houses and experience it for yourself.

The 2017 4th of July Celebrations

The 2017 4th of July Celebrations

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for July 4, 2017

We've had a wonderful holiday weekend spent with good friends.  On Friday night, we went to Guy & Jeanine Perera's house for a rousing match of Monopoly Deal.  We had never played that game before, but rushed out and bought our own set after they introduced us to it.  It's very fun.

On Sunday, we went to the St. Croix River to hang out with Karl & Tina Zitzewitz.  They're such an attractive couple.

We were also joined by our good friends, Troy and Rhonda Brown.  They're pretty attractive also.

We had a bunch of attractive boys with us as well.

We spent the day playing in the river.

Karl brought along his jet ski which is always a treat.

Although it might have not been a treat for all of us.

The boys and I took it for a ride.  I can only tolerate Luke's driving so much before I have to take over again.  He gets pretty crazy with the wave jumping.

Avery likes to spin the jet ski in circles until I go flying off the side which is not nearly as fun as it may sound.

Pretty soon a car came floating by us so we figured it might be a good time to get out of the water.

We were all getting pretty excited for the fireworks to start being shot out from the city of Hudson, Wisconsin.

The guys were on pins and needles with anticipation wondering about all the colors we'd soon be seeing in the sky.

All in all, it was a beautiful night on the St. Croix River.

On Monday morning, we drove down to Clear Lake, Iowa for the actual 4th of July holiday.

We connected with friends and family to play golf at Oak Hills.

We had lunch at the OP.  I love me some grinder subs!!

Then we headed downtown to the carnival where we saw all sorts of fun people.

We saw Jason Davis and his boys.

We spent most of our time with the Madson clan.

We even saw Bobbi and Gene driving around in the Monte Carlo which is a pretty common site in Clear Lake.

We saw Uncle Jerry and cousin Joey along with Hannah who is related to us in some way, shape, or form, but I'm not sure I can describe it.

We saw Jason and Debbie for a short time which is always quite special.

On the 4th of July, we went to Main Street to watch the parade.

The usual cast of characters was there.

We even got Jason to join us to watch which was very nice.

All in all, we had a most excellent Independence Day.  Happy 4th of July to all of you as well!

The Wedding of Dr. Justin and Bailey Hartman

The Wedding of Dr. Justin and Bailey Hartman

Luke and Avery have been having a good time this summer since graduating spending a lot of time with friends.

On Thursday, my family and I flew to Dallas, Texas.

The reason we were there was to celebrate the wedding of my niece, Bailey, and her new husband, Justin Hartman.  They're so darn happy together.

The wedding was at the Heard Museum in McKinney, Texas.  It  is an inspiring place for a ceremony with a 289 acre wildlife sanctuary in the background.

The couple had a great idea to set up a selfie station in front of the museum, but we just kept knocking it out of the tree.

It was great seeing Uncle Cliff.  He always made me laugh when we grew up together, so it's nice to see he has the same effect on my boys.

We had the pleasure of meeting the parents of the groom at the rehearsal dinner.  They were wonderful people named Barry and Tammy Hartman.  We had such fun meeting them and their family members who made the journey to McKinney.

On Saturday, we all dressed up in our Sunday best and were excited to help celebrate Justin and Bailey's wedding.

These six cousins have grown up together for the past 17 years or so.  They love getting together, but this was a first for them to be celebrating one of their marriages!

It was fantastic to get to spend the weekend with my mom and sisters.  We've been through a lot together so it's always nice when we come to see each other for such a happy occasion.

Soon enough, the ceremony began and we  had a chance to see all the beautiful people make their way down the aisle.

Pretty soon, the groom and his groomsmen were at the altar anticipating the arrival of the bride.

Eli kind of missed his cue to turn when he arrived at the aisle and just kept marching forward.  He was pretty darn cute when he course corrected and came my way.

Cliff and my sister split up quite a few years ago and David has been Bailey's step-dad almost ever since.  We thought it was pretty special then when they both ended up walking Bailey down the aisle to be with her groom.  

The ceremony was beautiful, the temperature was just right, and you could sense a special feeling of happiness for this couple as they read their vows to one another.

Bailey and Justin have a whole lot of people who love them and it was a really great day getting to see them all being together.

They asked me to be the emcee at the reception which was right up my alley.  I worked with Ivan and Adrienne as they DJ'd the event and kept the schedule of events on track.  We made a great team!

A special shout-out to my brother in law, Cliff, and his beautiful wife, Claudia.  We never get to see each other enough when we get together, but it always so nice to see them.

We watched the bride and groom do their first dance of the evening and then we joined them and danced the rest of the night away.

Congratulations, Bailey and Justin!!