Heidi and Alex go fishing--Birchwood trip 2013

Last week, Heidi and I took a much needed vacation to the North Woods. Our exclusive beachside resort was well provisioned and even included fishing guides Brian and Jeff, as well as a personal chef named Kathy. 

This was Heidi's first ever time fishing, but by all accounts she was a natural. She was even granted the honor of being compared by my mom to Grandma VD, given her style of flawlessly setting the hook, as well as her propensity to outfish the men in the boat. 

Thankfully there were many fish to go around. We had a blast hanging out with my parents and my uncle Jeff and cousin Jeanette and her husband Yut, who serves as an assistant pastor in Chaing Mai, Thailand. 

Below are several pictures of our conquests and experiences. 

Heidi's first fish! I nicknamed Heidi "T-Gill" based on the turquoise raincoat she often wore (see below) along with her tendency to catch a large number of bluegills (as well as every other type of fish as it turned out).

My uncle Jeff with his eyes closed, along with Yut and my dad on an early morning fishing trip.

My dad's incredibly fat 16" largemouth. 

Anything I can do she can do better. I'm actually happy here--not exactly sure why I've pulled an "American Gothic" face.

Grant Wood's "American Gothic"

Heidi came out bass fishing one morning and caught this huge 16.5" largemouth.  Caught on rocky shoreline of big birch with a black spinnerbait. 

A beautiful morning on the water.

After consulting with Heidi and getting a few pointers, I caught my own monster bass. 17". Caught on a huge surface bite using a J-11 rainbow trout pattern jointed rapala along the rocky shoreline of big birch. 

 Not to be outdone, my mom caught the fish of the trip--a 17.5" monster smallmouth. This fish was caught on a slip bobber set at 8 feet in about 12 feet of water by the red pontoon cover near the channel between big birch and chetak.  Naturally, the trophy fish was caught on a black flu flu with a wax worm using severely frayed 2 pound test line. Somehow, she got this in the boat.   Check out the video below for a sense of the excitement. Also, compare my mom's excited/frightened face with Sawyer below--coincidence?

We also highly recommend the dock-up bar in the channel between big birch and chetak.

Thanks very much to Grandpa and Grandma for letting us use the cabin. We had a wonderful time. 

Yous Kids KC Road Trip

This past weekend, Mark, Scott, Conor, and I took to the road for a Kansas City soccer game.

The Major League Soccer team from KC (Sporting Kansas City) recently built a state of the art $200MM stadium that has called the best soccer stadium on the continent. 

So, we decided to check it out. Scott has friends from Trinity that live in KC and are members of the SKC "supporters section" (called the cauldron). Basically, they're the crazy/singing/chanting section behind one or the goals. They are crazy all game every game. They never sit and are always loud!

We drove the 8+ hours, took in some authentic KC BBQ (Amazing!!) and then hit the stadium. It was so much fun. Amazing atmosphere and great experience!

Airborne!

This was taken on my GoPro Video Camera. I left it unedited to make it as realistic as possible.

The Great North Woods!

Saturday we returned from our 4th annual trek to Birchwood being joined by our friends the Krygshelds.  We tried a few new things including the Leinenkugel's Brewery Tour, the world famous Bluegill Festival and the World Lumberjack Championships.  Here's a photo/video recap:

Family Vacation: Camping, Holland Fest, and Gold Cup Final!

This past week, the Rudi/Steph clan had a family vacation.  We camped at Terry Andrae for two nights, stayed at my parents' house for Holland Fest, and then came home to Chicago where I was fortunate enough to have amazing seats for the US Men's National Soccer Team's Gold cup Final win over Panama.

It was an awesome week- and so fun to watch the kids enjoy everything.  We're already planning on this vacation again for next year.

Up North

Birchwood Vacation

Its been quite a number of years since our family has been to Birchwood for a family vacation.  Now I remember what I was missing!  We had a fabulous time, fishing, eating, kayaking, swimming, finding bargains at Goodwill, going to the dirt track car races in Rice Lake, and just relaxing.  The highlight (for Conor) on the ride home was going on a tour of Lambeau Field.

Taking it all in at Lambeau

The Miracle Ear

Dear Family,

After Mike experienced a sudden unexplained severe hearing loss in one ear, many of you prayed for his hearing to be restored.  We returned to the doctor for a hearing test where the audiologist measured his current level of hearing in the “bad” ear.  She couldn’t believe the results and commented that it is nothing short of a miracle.  She has never seen this great of an improvement from someone with such a severe level of hearing loss.   Mike has about 95% hearing back in that ear!   We praise God for answered prayers that are more than we could imagine and are so thankful for your love and support through your prayers. 

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21  

Kim and Mike