Senior Prom!

Its hard to believe that our little girls are all grown up and had their Senior Prom.  Seems like just yesterday when were were doing hair and makeup for dance recitals.

We learned a couple of lessons from this year's activities.... 1) Don't order your dress online and 2) Make an appointment to have your hair done.  Why?  Well, Julia ordered her dress a couple of months ago only to find out the Monday before prom that it wouldn't be shipped until the next week.  So, the dress order was canceled and we made a mad dash for a dress store.  Since the tux and flowers were already ordered we were limited to selecting only one color in dresses...purple.  Luckily, we ended up with a dress that was absolutely STUNNING on her.  Then, the day of prom we went to Fantastic Sams to have their updo's only to find they have 1 person that does them and she was busy doing a color.  So, we drove around town and found a little hole in the wall beauty shop that had immediate openings.  We were a little nervous about it, but it all worked out with minimal issues.  Mom had to make some minor fixes to Stephi's hair.

The girls, as usual, were down to the wire primping and doing their make up until their dates came over.  Stephi's date showed up in a red Mustang convertible.  After a few pictures at the house they hopped in the back and quickly decided that riding with the top down was NOT a good idea.  Pictures at the Lenzmeir's went off without a hitch and they headed to school for the grand march.

After grand march they packed like sardines in their limo bus and headed off to the dance and had the time of their lives.  They were dropped off at the McKenzie home where they spent the night in tents.  Thank God for good weather!

We had two very tired girls come home then next morning.  But, they had a night that they will never forget. 

Red, Red Wine... Go to my head...

 After getting up at 4:45 a.m. and catching a 7 a.m. flight to California, what a better way to start the trip.  Sitting on the tarmac in MN watching the wings get de-iced...yes...de-iced in OCTOBER...we couldn't help but start to feel a little excitement at the prospect of landing on some warmer soil and heading up to the wine coutnry of Sonoma Valley to enjoiy some beautiful scenery, good company, and oh yeah, WINE!

We got off the plan to rain and mid-50s, but that didn't stop us.  At least it wasn't the gale force winds, rain and 40s with snowflakes mixed in that we had left in MN.  First thing we did when we got in our rental was plug in the GPS and type in the address for our first destination, Seghesio Family Vinyards.  It was an almost 2 hour drive there, but we finally arrived and the fun began.  We weren't nearly as impressed as we thought we'd be with that place based on the recommendations.  However, we didn't let that stop us.  We headed down to the Russian River Valley and were quickly wooed by the beauty of the tree tops that umbrellaed the winding roads with the changing fall colors of the vines of the wineries in between. 

On our way to Gary Ferrell winery we happened upon Hop Kiln winery.  Before they began making wine this place was an old hop kiln, where hops were processed for the production of beer.  There wasn't a wine there that we tried that we didn't like.  From there we drove a short way down the road to Gary Farrell.  Up the long and winding drive to a breathtaking view, where we could sit and sip wine and watch the clouds pass through the hilltops all day long.  Being the designated driver, John decided to skip the tasting here, but Michelle indulged and was most pleasantly suprised by the Chardonnay.  It was rich and smooth with a nice butterscotch finish.  While it would have been nice to stay all day, most of the wineries were only open until 5 p.m. so we had to move on. 

Next stop was Korbel winery.  There we enjoyed a nice change of pace with the tasting of some great bubbly.  We also found out that Korbel is now allowed to officially be called champagne due to some sort of grandfathering rule.  So, instead of sparkling wine it's now called California Champagne.  After 5 different taste tests we settled on a nice bottle of Korbel Sec that we fully intend to use for a nice memosa breakfast during our stay.

The last stop was Martinelli Winery.  Like Hop Kiln, this was an old hops processing building.  It was close to 5 p.m. so we were a bit rushed to taste a few selections and found their Pinot Noir to be very good.   

After alot of wine we really needed a good place to stop and enjoy some of the Sonoma Valley food.  We drove a short way to Graton, where we stopped at a small, trendy restaurant called Underwood (this was a recommendation from the taste master at Korbel).  We settled into a corner booth and had a nice meal. When we sufficiently full we got in the car for the 1 1/2 drive down to our hotel in Foster City where we climbed into bed and Michelle fell fast asleep within about 10 seconds.  Great wine, great company, great day!

The Last Homecoming Dance!

Ok, so we couldn't have had 2 more opposite styles.  Stephi went totally glam with sequins and rocker heels and Julia was more low key with a down to earth halter dress and cowboy boots.  As unique as each selection was, each girl pulled off their look like runway models.  This is their last homecoming dance and they were going to make it a memorable one.  Neither one had a date (well... technically Stephi did since she asked Rachel to go to homecoming with her through a game of hangman.), but then again, neither did 3/4 of the senior class.  It was more important for them all to enjoy the night with their friends than it was to have a date to worry about.

After the girls' 11 a.m. soccer game we hurried to Eden Praire (remember the 101 bridge is still closed so we had to go the long way around) to find a pair of shoes for Stephi.  We lucked out at the first stop and found some fun, strappy heels at JC Penney.  When we got home, Julia had already showered and was basically ready, which was a good thing because when we got to Rachel's house to finish getting ready she ended up doing makeup for 4 other girls (including Stephi's) and hair for  5th.  While she did help Stephi get the 'tease' in her up-do, Stephi did most of it herself.  However, to mom's frustration, Stephi was the very last to be ready.  As usual, we were running late for the pictures, so we hurried to John Erickson's house where everyone met for a photo opportunity and John's parents served lasagna, salad, garlic bread and dessert for the whole crew of 21. 

The girls headed to the dance, where they had a blast dancing the night away.   Afterwards they came home and left a trail of shoes and clothes to their room as they rushed to change and go to Travis' house for a bonfire and sleepover with about 20 other kids.  A big thanks to Travis' mom, who is a total saint, for staying up all night to make sure the kids behaved and for making them a huge breakfast of eggs, pancakes, muffins, doughnuts and oj before they came home. 

The girls came home completely exhausted, but stayed awake to hang out with their Grandparents for the day since they are leaving for Texas in a couple of weeks.  Thanks girls for being good sports!

Take a look at 2010 Homecoming Dance under the Pictures section of the blog on the left or at http://picasaweb.google.com/jdovolos/2010HomecomingDance?authkey=Gv1sRgCMP378GUpYn5ggE#

2010 Missota Champions!

On Thursday, October 7th 2010 the Shakopee Girls Varsity Soccer team made history by taking the Missota Conference Championship for the first time.  They beat the Northfield Raiders 2-1 to finish with a conference record of 6-0-1 and an overall record of 9-5-2.

Within 5 minutes in the first half, we scored, which got the girls excited and just kept the momentum of the game moving in Shakopee's direction.  The Sabers dominated the field and at half time the score was 2-0.  The crowd played a big factor in the game as we had  a whole section of students (aka. superfans) there to cheer them onto victory.  Shakopee held Northfield to 1 goal in the 2nd half for a final score of 2-1.

Julia and Stephi both had great games and controlled the middle of the field to help draw the Raiders outside where their offense was cornered and virtually shut down.

Lookout Burnsville...Here we come!  

Senior Picture Time!

Well, it took 2 sessions and a 2+ hour drive to Granite Falls, MN.  But we finally got the girls senior pictures finished.  We know most seniors do summer pictures, but since mom loves the fall colors the most we thought it would be great to have the pictures taken when the colors peaked.  Unfortunately, with the busy schedule that the girls keep getting pictures at just the right time was impossible.

The photographer came to Shakopee for the first session.  We encountered a bit of a problem at the first photo spot at a barn off of Cty. Rd. 14 in Shakopee, when the grandson of the farm owner pulled up and informed the girls and the photographer that they were trespassing on private property.  There were posted signs, but with the high grass nobody seemed to see them.  Thankfully, the photographer talked to him and agreed that he would go no further onto the property other than by the barn and silo on the side of the road.

We moved from the barn to Memorial Park and then broke the law again by sneaking into Murphy's Landing through a broken fence.  They ended their first session at an abandoned gas station off of 1st avenue.

The girls scheduled their 2nd session for October 4th, but due to a rescheduled soccer game we had to postpone the final shoot to October 6th.  We had to detour around the closed bridges to make our way over to Highway 212 which added an extra 20 minutes to our already long drive, but we made it to Granite Falls right in time to begin the studio session.  Julia forgot one pair of shoes and her scarf for one of her outfits, but we made the best of what we had.  After an indoor session we moved onto a park by a creek where he took several outdoor pictures.  From there we all went to lunch at the local golf course and then afterwards headed to the Minnesota River where we decided to take some of our own photos (attached).   On our way home we also found an old railcar with some graffiti.  Unfortunately the sun  and the fact that the girls were tired of smiling made it hard to get any good pictures, but we managed to snap a couple.   The rest of the drive home was pretty quiet.  The girls were exhausted and napped and mom and dad enjoyed the quiet time. 

In 2 weeks we will get our proof books from the photographer.  We're so excited to see the pictures, its going to be hard to wait that long.  You can also look at some of the pictures we took ourselves under our Pictures section.  Look at 2010 Granite Falls or go to http://picasaweb.google.com/jdovolos/2010JuliaStephiSeniorPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCLrEgOrhv_ziwQE#

Soccer from the Faribault News Paper

If you look close, that is Julia on the right in the background.

http://faribault.com/news.php?viewStory=101957

Stephanie gets some Credit

http://scoreboardmn.ourvarsity.com/schools/school-article-profile.php?ID=2311