Some things you just can't learn at Stanford

Some things they don't teach at Stanford, but Uncle Joe, grandpa to cousin C., teaches 'em very well. Some photos of their filleting sesson after a good morning of fishing in Lake City follow.
 

The bonding begins

Mary and Moriah sent more photos from China. Avamarie is starting to bond with them and smile a lot. The cute meter is hitting the bell big-time. Don't you all think she looks just like her Auntie Pam?

Chatsie in Israel

Michael sent this photo of cousin Chatsie taken during their recent trip to Israel. (We don't think that's a cigar in her mouth, but you never know.) Wrote Michael: "At Caesarea Phillip, Tel-Dan, and other places, we would encounter groups of Israeli schoolchildren accompanied by an armed guard for protection. None were any match for Chats!" We hope they'll send us more photos from their trip of a lifetime!

More photos from China

More photos of our newest cousin, Avamarie, sent by Mary and Moriah from China:

By contrast, below is a photo of Elizabeth taken a few days after she was fetched by Mary and Zack in China. It took Elizabeth a little longer to smile and accept her fate as a new Miller, but she came around. Most days, she out-Millers the other Millers.

Gotcha

On Monday, July 20 ("Gotcha Day," as cousin Chris Miller called it), our newest cousin arrived in the eager arms of her new family. They'll arrive home in Minnesota on Aug. 2. Some photos sent to Chris this week: Sweet little Xin, who is to be called Avamarie, at the moment she met her mother, Mary Miller.

Moriah and Avamarie meet. They seemed to like each other, and like Elizabeth at first, Avamarie was comforted by the gift of sweet-smelling lip balm Moriah handed her. (By the way, Saturday, July 24, was Moriah's 18th birthday. What an exciting one, spent in China with her new little sister! Happy Birthday, dear Mo!)

Big sister, little sister: Avamarie is in good hands.

Mary on the Great Wall of China.

M&M in China.

While waiting for Avamarie...

It's a very exciting time in the extended Miller family, and that would include all of you cousins, as we await the Aug. 2 return of Mary and Moriah from China with the newest Miller, little Xin, whose American name will be Avamarie. In the meantime, cousin Chris is working hard at the Strib on the whole Brett Sprick Favre thing, which must be spinning the head of cousins who are Packers fans. But we digress. As Chris works hard, Pam is goofing off with cousins Hannah and Elizabeth. They spent the past four days in Lake City doing fun things such as... ... visiting Joe and Mavis, where Elizabeth sat in Joe's boat, delighted in their house with its many interesting features and asked many questions about Joe and Mavis' great-granddaughter Maria Cook, who Elizabeth has declared the cousin she's most eager to see again soon. (Elizabeth and Maria will both turn 6 and start kindergarten in September.) ...

... visiting Aunt Anna, who was impressed with Elizabeth's writing, alphabet and number knowledge ...

... cavorting in nature, including wild mayfly chases at the Old Frontenac beach (Elizabeth collected about 1,000 mayflies -- anyone want any?), firefly capture-and-release bouts and sightings of approximately 100 white-tailed deer.

... and of course a ride on the beautiful carousel at the Lark Toy Factory in Kellogg, Minn.

Elizabeth, who seems to be very good at everything she does, picked up a hula hoop at the Toy Factory and demonstrated how to do it (Hannah took this little video). No one was seriously injured.

During a more urban adventure last week, Hannah, Elizabeth and I visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Pepinorama

Love these Pepin family photos taken by Jenn Stafne, Nathan's girlfriend: Will (Christine's friend), Christine, Harry, Florence, Patty, Nathan, Ben and Steve.

Proud U.S. Marines Harry Greason and Nathan Pepin.

Anna and Nathan.

Happy Birthday to cousin Davy!

Happy Birthday to cousin David Sprick, who is 51 today. We can't resist yet again running this photo, taken last year when then-candidate Barack Obama visited the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where Davy is police chief.

Photos from Burnt Wienie '09, Part I

A first batch of photos from Saturday's Coveted Burnt Wienie Award Potluck Banquet and Gala Awards Ceremony Saturday at Pam's party pad in Lake City, Minn.: And the winner was ... Hannah Miller! Here she took the preciousssss 'dog from '08 winner Auntie Pam. Hannah won for calling her dad, cousin CMill, on her cell phone whilst sitting on the family throne (i.e, the toilet) and saying, "More toilet paper on the main level, please!" only to be told by an embarrassed male voice that she had the wrong number. Noah, looking properly awed, posed with his newly famous cousin.

Lovely cousins Christine Pepin, Hannah Miller, Katie Hagberg and Moriah Miller nabbed front-row seats for the glittering awards ceremony. Aunt Mavis and cousin CMill confabbed in the garage biergarten.

Wonderful young cousins Zachary Broberg, Alex Broberg, Tyler Broberg, Katie Hagberg, Hannah Miller and Moriah Miller. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

Anna and Pam. Anna hasn't quite mastered the goofy art of posing for a self-taken digital photo yet!

Cousins Noah and Elizabeth compared suntans and cooked up some mischief.

Photos from Burnt Wienie '09, Part II

More snapshots from Saturday's Burnt Wienie gala.: E.W. nominated senior cousin Leah for the B.W. Back in January, Leah came up to Minnesota for her mother's funeral wearing sandals. It was about 30 below zero and snowing mountains. So she ended up wearing Elmer's big boots to the funeral.

Patty Pepin cast husband Steve a tender look as she nominated him for smashing one of Nathan's cars into another of Nathan's cars and ruining her nice new lawn chairs in the process. Good stuff, good stuff.

Intreprid reporter Your Scrapblog Editor took careful notes as Aunt Katie offered a poetic nomination for daughter Jane, who pitched her priceless diamond ring down the bathtub drain.

Anna held on to her walker for support as she submitted a nomination.

Aunt Florence had several nominations to offer, and got nominated herself for forgetting to put the rhubarb in her delicious homemade rhubarb cake.

Cousin Ben Pepin thought Pam's jokes were funny, but he might have been in the minority.

Cousin Moriah Miller nominated her sis Hannah in a delightfully funny pitch that turned out to be the winner.

In a rare solemn moment, we presented cousin Nathan Pepin, our very own U.S. Marine, with a family heirloom -- Uncle Ed Sprick's Combat Infantryman's Medal, earned during his grueling months of fighting across France and Germany in World War II. We think Ed would have wanted Nathan to have it.

Photos from Burnt Wienie '09, Part III

Yet more fab photos: Anna, Elizabeth and Pam, who was inexplicably covered with Spongebob Squarepants stickers.

Leah signed the guestbook as Harry and Anna kibbutzed.

Cousins Katie Hagberg and Bridget Broberg.

Katie, Anna and Jane.

Anna and Katie.

There were many fabulous salads...

... and five very fabulous desserts. The cousins ate every crumb.

Barrel gets rolled out at the Burnt Wienie gala

German cousin Britta Augustin was a surprise guest at Burnt Wienie '09. Her boyfriend, Larry, plays a mean accordion. Here he played "Roll Out the Barrel" for Anna, Britta, Florence, Harry, Kate, John and Leah. That's Mavis and Perrin dancing. Glamorous cousin Jane, sporting her shades, came in from the sunny outdoors portion of the festivities to check out the commotion and also probably the delicious desserts. Click on the arrow and turn on your sound to view the little video.

Hannah Miller is Burnt Wienie champ for 2009!

Your scrapblog editor, in a not-so-rare senior moment, forgot to bring her camera-to-computer connection to Lake City, so can't put up photos from the 35th Coveted Precious Burnt Wienie Gala Potluck and Awards Ceremony at Pam's party pad in Lake City, Minn. She'll post them when she gets back to her other home Sunday night. But say! We're never at a loss for words, so let us just say that a good time was had by all, at least we think so, especially the scrapblog editor, whose pain in giving up the precioussss 'dog was eased by seeing delightful cousin Leah make the old aunties laugh; the honor of having U.S. Marine cousin Nathan Pepin and his lovely, lively girlfriend, Jen, there; Britta Augustin's surprise appearance; Larry's smokin' accordion music; chatting with the Cookies -- sweet Sonya (the only person the scrapblog editor has ever met who, like the scrapblog editor, has a rock tumbler), Maria (we promise we won't take any more photos of sweet, camera-shy Maria!) and Perrin (Batman Junior); the delicious food (despite the trauma of seeing only five desserts vs. 13 salads, God help us); the helpfulness of Ben Pepin, Tyler, Alex and Bridget Broberg and Zack Miller in the confusing but hot game of cribbage; the wonderfulness of Uncle Joe and Aunt Mavis, who frankly did most of the work; the welcome presence of zany, madcap CMill, MMill, ZMill, MMill, HMill and EMill, not to mention having our beloved Noah there, and the terrific awards ceremony, and finally, this sentence is going to end, whew! But we digress. Who won the BW, you're wondering! Cut to the chase! What's the nut graf here? Hannah Marie Miller won! Keeping with a long tradition of Miller family victories related to toileting issues, she won for calling her dad, Chris Miller, from her cell phone whilst seated on the family throne (i.e., toilet) and ordering up "toilet paper on the main level, please!" before some polite, shocked gentleman whom she had inadvertently dialed informed her that she had the wrong number! What an excellent nomination, expertly rendered by Moriah in rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter! The competition was hot this year, cousins. You should all feel proud of your garishly glorious blunders. We were especially impressed by Harry Greason's nomination of Aunt Florence for forgetting to put the rhubarb in her rhubarb cake, Patty Pepin's nomination of Steve Pepin for smashing one of Nathan's cars into another of Nathan's cars and destroying Patty's lawn chairs in the process, cousin Me's nomination of Mary Miller for pulverizing her spatula in a batch of hummus, and Katie's nomination (Katie wins the prize for most cleverly crafted nominations) of Jane Kirkwood Hagberg for washing her precious ring down the bathtub drain (judging by this and last year's nominations, cousin Janie has some Laundry Issues). But Hannah's blunderama stood out, and so she will have the preciousssss 'dog sitting on her bureau for the next year. Watch for photos coming soon.

Birthdays!

Two important birthdays this week... Aunt Katie, the youngest of the original Sprick kids, turned 79 on July 6.

Sonya Rose Cook is 8 today. Here she is with Batman, aka Perrin. Happy Birthday, Sonya!

Our patriot

Anna with a July 4 bouquet she got from one of her former students who remembered her role in World War II.

Off on a lark

Last weekend was Waterski Days in our beloved Lake City, Minn., and so several cousins headed there to celebrate in various ways. Your scrapblog editor trekked south with niece Hannah Miller and Hannah's pretty much identical friend, Amanda Nelson. Some scenes from our day trip to the Lark Toy Factory in Kellogg, Minn., a family favorite: Trying on groovy hats. Which one of these people is 52? More cool hats on cool heads, Hannah's and Amanda's. Above and below, Amanda and Hannah rode the carousel to calm themselves after being roundly beaten by Aunt Pam in a hot game of putt-putt.