Noah's ship comes in

Cousin Noah, who appears to be growing his hair like his idol, Matisyahu (the very cool Hassidic reggae singer, pictured at right), went down to the Duluth harbor with his friends Jacob, Abe and the inexplicably named Moose yesterday to greet the shipping season. He said he didn't realize until he saw the great lake in thaw how much he'll miss it when he transfers to Minneapolis. Well, we can always visit. Naturally, the scrapblog editor's first response to seeing the photo above was to call Noah and ask him where his coat was. "I had a sweatshirt," he said. Noah, like the Inuit in Anchorage, rarely wears a coat, even on the coldest day. More snapshots from their day:

Welcoming a baby girl

Dan O'Donahoe, husband of cousin Cindi, welcomed his first grandchild into the world this week. That's Dan with his daughter, Tess, and granddaughter, Taviah Jo. Taviah, 5 pounds, 5 ounces, was born Wednesday, March 26. Congrats to all!

An urban kid gets his wish

Congrats to the scrapblog editor's favorite son, Noah, who has just learned he's been accepted at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus for fall 2008. Noah, a freshman at UM-Duluth, is a big-city kid at heart, so he's delighted, and so are his proud mom and dad. Noah loves his Minneapolis, which he actually considers a smallish city compared to his even more beloved New York City, where his idea of a good time on a recent trip was to take the subway to all five boroughs in one day, just for the heck of it. Noah on top of the world, which in his case is the Empire State Building. With the lovely Tara in Duluth.

Happy sailing!

Cousin Chris and his crew, shown above, have set out on a Caribbean cruise. Below is a picture of their ship, the Voyager: Wait! That's not right! They're on a NAUTICAL SHIP, not a SPACESHIP! Below is the correct picture: Wait! That's not right either! We'll Google it again... Oh my gosh! This is certainly not it, either! (Don't show Aunt Anna this post!) ... And this one is listing just a tad too much for our comfort. Where can that ship be? ... Whew, here it is! The mega cruise ship Voyager will leave Galveston, Texas, for Jamaica, Cozumel and the Cayman Islands with five rowdy Millers aboard. (Zack couldn't go because he's at college. The scrapblog editor was invited to come along as chaperone, but had to work at her highly important Star Tribune job doing something or other highly important.) The Millers are sentimental about cruises because Alverna's near-to-last days were spent on a fun family cruise in 2006. That trip, like this one, began and ended with a marathon all-night, all-day car trip from Minnesota to Texas in which the Millers, swigging large cups of truck-stop coffee to stay awake, communicated between cars using walkie-talkies on which they sang all 53 verses of "Froggy Went A'Courtin'." Good times!

'08 race heats up; shameless campaigning ensues

As May 31, 2008, the date of the Coveted Burnt Wienie Award Party approaches, cousins and elders are sending your scrapblog editor brilliant observations. Here are a couple of examples: Cousin Leah Sprick Davidson, above right: "Wish I could be at your open house to dramatically read your entry -- as you* should have won the last time when we were at Kirkwoods' -- not fair that the winner had two stories nominated. I won it the year my dad died for letting my fingernail polish leak in my purse and glue all my money together." Senior scrapblog investigative correspondent E.W. Sprick, above left: "For the record, advise the cousins that I was the first triple-crown winner of the Burnt Wienie (not a two-nominations winner) and that I feel guilty having had it for two whole years when there have been so many deserving cousins** who have been screwing up going completely unnoticed. Justice will prevail!" ________________________________________ FOOTNOTES *"You" would be your favorite scrapblog editor. Cousin Leah is so astute, is she not? **Whoever could E.W. mean by this??!!

Easter in Texas: No snow boots necessary

Ah, wish we'd been in Texas for Easter. Cousins Sandy, Kelly and Paul look so happy and warm in their spring outfits with beautiful flowers in the background. Meanwhile, here in Minnesota, the earnest-browed weatherman is predicting more snow. Cousins, let's caravan down to Texas and show up at Sandy's unannounced!

Easter at Brobergs': A feast of photos

The scrapblog editor didn't make it to Easter at cousins' Sam and Bridget's because she was working in her highly important job at the Star Tribune, putting together highly important news, although she can't remember what it was. So, darn! She missed one of the larger gatherings of cousins we've seen recently. Luckily, Auntie Mary Miller, the scrapblog's new senior esteemed photographer, stepped in to heroically take a bunch of 'blog photos. Thanks, Mary! A random grouping of cousins in the kitchen: Bridget, Sam, Mo, K. and H.B.

Easter at Brobergs': Sarah and her favorite cousin

Cousin Sarah loves all of us, but when her not-so-secret favorite, ChrisMiller!ChrisMiller!, arrives on the scene, woe to the unfortunate also-ran cousin who gets in the way of Sarah stampeding toward the door to greet him. You'd better believe it, buddy!

Easter at Brobergs': Lavone, Dan, Sam and Sarah

Cousins Dan, Sarah and Sam posed for a nice portrait with their Aunt Lavone Broberg.

Easter at Brobergs': Lavone and her great-nephews

Aunt Lavone Broberg proudly posed with her great-nephews.

Easter at Brobergs': A whole pile of Brobergs

How many Brobergs can you put in one photo? This one has nine: Clockwise from upper left: Dan, Aunt Lavone Broberg, T., Z., Sam, A., Sarah, N. and M. Sarah wasn't so sure about posing... ...but soon got in the mood.

Easter at Brobergs': Dan and his boys

Three strong men: M., N. and their dad, cousin Dan.

Easter at Brobergs': Boy oh boy, X 7!

Clockwise from left: Teddy, Zachary, M., T., N., A. and Z. what a handsome bunch! Wonder how photographer Mary got them to stop playing Wii and pose?

Easter at Brobergs': The Miller kids sit still a minute

The scrapblog editor's nieces and nephew, all of whom, she likes to think, look exactly like her: H.B., Izzbee, Mo and Zachary.

Easter at Brobergs': The Kirkwood-Hagberg clan

A couple of nice family portraits taken by Auntie Mary Miller: Kate and Charles (John) Kirkwood with two of their grandkids, Teddy and K. Hagberg. Clockwise from left: Jane, Katie, John, Ted, K. and Teddy.

Easter at Brobergs': Grrrrrl talk

Grrrrrl power was strong as Mo, K. and H.B. posed for a lovely portrait... Then, brrrrrrrrrrrring! Who could be calling? Everyone they knew was there! Talk talk talk talk talk talk! Good grief! Could those be boys calling our innocent young grrrrrl cousins? Quick! Bar the doors and let the pit bulls off their leashes! Ha ha! Nope, not this time ... they were just calling each other! Not to be left out of the fun, youngest grrrrrl cousin Izzbee joined the text-messaging frenzia.

Easter at Brobergs': Bess and the boys

Izzbee, the littlest cousin at the Easter gathering, had a great time. Some snapshots: In this photo of beautiful and delicious desserts, you may also notice some young cousins. The handsome young men are Z. and A. Notice how Izzbee admires the handsome young men even more than the beautiful and delicious desserts. She's got her priorities straight! Cousin T. didn't make a peep as Izzbee walked all over him during a hot game of Wii. Cousin N.'s cool concentration was not broken by her charming antics. Izzbee is already an expert Wii player.

Happy Birthday to a young cousin!

Happy Birthday to bright and shining young cousin N. Broberg, who turns 14 today! N. is good at building snow castles, tapping trees for maple syrup, chopping wood, running, art, math, thoughtful conversation and caring for his beloved dog, Rosie. We wish him all the best!

Happy Easter, cousins and elders!

Is it just us, or are there 2 feet of new snow this morning and is it still snowing? Happy Easter, anyway! Here is an old photo of suntanned little Millers to get you in the proper sunny mood:

Close encounters in Centerville

The scrapblog editor, who has to work Easter Sunday, had a very nice alternative family day on Saturday at cousin brother Chris' place in Centerville. Mary made a delicious light lunch of lasagna, healthy elbow macaroni hotdish, fresh bread, cream of carrot soup, Jell-O with bananas and ice cream. Then some hot games of Memory were played, which the scrapblog editor inexplicably did not win. Some snapshots from this highly formal affair: Wee Bess signaled something or other to her peeps. As divine entities looked on proudly from the mantle, Mo showed off her National Honor Society award and Hannah her Most Improved Gymnast award. Very impressive! Wee Bess didn't have an award, so showed a pretty box instead. Someday she'll have lots of awards, we feel sure (or someone will be in big trouble). Given how large Miller faces are, it's pretty impressive that there are three in this picture. Cousin Zachary, who was home from UW-Stout for the weekend, had been working since 6 a.m. and spent the entire visit curled up fast asleep in a pink sleeping bag on the living room floor. Once in a while wee Bess would jump on him, to no avail.

Hagberg-omania

Cousins Ted and Jane Hagberg are plenty proud of their terrific teenagers, Katie and Teddy. Katie is a star player on the Woodbury sophomore basketball team though she's in eighth grade. At the Woodbury varsity basketball banquet, Katie was honored as most-improved player on her team and for a 3.6 grade-point average. Most impressive. Below, Teddy, who turned 18 that day (March 19), and Katie.

Happy Birthday to two cousins!

Happy Birthday to cousins Cindi and Teddy! Hope someone is baking them large, delicious cakes. Teddy is turning 18, and judging by the photo, Cindi is, too, although we seem to remember having seen her somewhere in the 1950s.

May 31: Be there, baby

You should all receive this impressive, professionally done invitation in the mail soon. (Click on this version to make it bigger and easier to read.) Put it on your refrigerator and start chronicling those bloopers now!

A really Wild birthday

Alex Broberg, who turned 12 on Feb. 19, got a very special greeting at the Minnesota Wild game. We bet Marion would have been very proud, and we don't mean Marion Gaborik.