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Hello Michigan Family. Joan is just getting me started on this thing. I hope it works. :)
I'm so excited to get to play on the computer with you guys. Keep posting pictures. I love it. I'm hoping to come out this summer to see you girls (cousins). It's a little cool here right now. I think its about 70 degrees at about 9pm. I shouldn't make fun. I will be just as misserable when it is 110 this summer. Let me know if you get this.
Love, Dana

Petersons Head To World Series

The Lakes Athletic Association Colts team; managed by Randy Peterson and featuring 2nd Baseman, Blake; are headed to the 2007 Colt World Series in Lafayette, Indiana. They earned the trip to Lafayette with a five game sweep of the North Zone tournament in Grand Ledge, Michigan this weekend.

Their pool play included wins over Chicago Midway 9-2; Marion, Illinois 11-8; and Mt. Pleasant, Michigan 5-4 (with 2 runs in their final at bat). Having completed a perfect record in pool play they met Tippy Central of Lafayette, Indiana in the semi-finals and moved on with a 4-1 victory. In the championship game Lakes never trailed while again defeating Marion; this time by a 9-2 score.

The Lakes team begins their quest for the Colt World Series Championship on Wednesday August 1st at 2:30 PM. Their pool play continues with games on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Then, if they finish 1st or 2nd in their pool they will play in the semi-finals on Tuesday August 7th. You can follow their progress at http://www.coltworldseries.com/ where the game schedules and standings are posted. On the schedule they are the North Zone team.

Blake and his teammates are all smiles as they contemplate a trip to the Colt World Series. Good Luck Lakes!

Cousins German Cooking Weekend

Well...we got together at Joan's house in Rockford to spend some time cooking several of Grandma Deal's German dishes that we remember from our childhood. What a great time we had! We even had a pajama party last night. In addition to some of our pictures posted here, Julie filmed the day for posterity. We watched the video twice last night and laughed so hard there was a line-up at the bathroom door!!! Grandma Deal.we just want to tell you that we loved you very much and hoped so many times that you were able to see us cooking your recipes. We hope we would have made you proud of us. We certainly were exhausted after cooking all day and have a new appreciation for you...afterall, we had mixers, dishwashers, fancy utensils etc. that you didn't have. (Just that spoon that was flat on the side).

Here are some pictures to document our day.

Julie was very good at filling and folding kraut baruk

We made 6 batches of Kraut baruk..65 in all. Don't they look good? We had some for supper last night and they were delicious!

We made 2 batches of Grebel. Jane is reading the recipe and giving directions. Barb, Linda and Sue are mixing the dough. Julie is filming.

Grebel..the finished product. Even though we couldn't figure out how Grandma cut and twisted them we all agreed that they tasted "just like Grandma's"

Butterballs....2 batches. Barb was our expert resource here. Sue was the quality control, rejecting any butterball that wasn't the correct size or if it had any imperfection.




Kuchen

Linda is putting the topping on 1 of our products. We made four or five kuchen (I lost count!) It tasted great and we had some for breakfast today.

Rye Bread

We made 6 loaves of rye bread. We decided that although we got the taste like Grandma's, the texture was not the same. We need to practice rye bread.


Lunch on the deck.

What a Great Weekend! We have made some wonderful memories. I love you guys!

Finally, thanks to my patient, loving husband who allowed us to have such a memorable weekend. You can come out of the bedroom now, honey, they are on their way home ;)

North meets west in the South!

As Connie alluded to Uncle Bob and Dave, representing the Arizona Deals, met up with Joan and Jim while they were on spring break from Michigan. As seen below the foursome spent last Monday in Augusta, GA watching the players practice for this year's Master's Championship. It was a beautiful spring day and The Augusta National Golf Club was in full bloom as we all walked the course and watched players like Tiger Woods, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk and Ian Woosnam as they sharpened their skills for the challenge ahead. Everyone had a wonderful day and it was great to spend time with Uncle Bob and Dave.

Happy Easter!

Hi Everyone-
Just checking in to say Happy Easter. We trust that you are all enjoying this weekend set aside to celebrate the resurrection of Christ!

Dave and Dad (Bob) had an absolutely FABULOUS time with Jim and Joan romping around Augusta. They are still talking about all of the wonderful sights and activities. Apparently the golf course is a "religious experience" according to some who saw it. :)
Dave's laptop seems to be sick, so I haven't yet been able to see any of the pictures from this trip, but we're hoping it will be "healed" soon. Otherwise we'll be hitting you up, Jim and Joan, for copies of everything.

Last night most of us were at the Bowman's for their traditional Good Friday gathering. We sat out in the backyard around the fire pit while worshipping and sharing of the goodness of what God has done for us. It's always a special time of reflection and hearing testimonies and it was neat to see a crowd of high schoolers from church join in the tradition this year.

We will all gather at Dana's house tomorrow to eat lots of ham, broccoli casserole, potato casserole, jello salad, green salad, rolls, deviled eggs, and probably a lot of other things that I don't even know are on the menu yet. It will be nice to be together, of course, and the kids will likely have fun doing an Easter egg hunt as per tradition.

Luke and Abby are doing well, although they missed having Daddy around. It's good to have him back home! Abby is recovering from a double ear infection but doesn't seem much worse for the wear (I only found out she had it when I took her to the doctor for her "well" check-up!).
OK, that's enough news for now. We'll try to do better at checking in on the blog and updating as we can.
He is Risen!