Another opening...Another show!

So after about 10 hours of rehearsal, here we are going into the second preview of Guys on Ice!


We open tonight, run for two weeks, take a break for a week and then hit the road for five weeks touring Wisconsin (plus one night in Red Wing MN).

It's a fun musical about Ice Fishing. Yes, you read correctly, a musical about Ice Fishing. It's an entertaining night in the theater. Beginning January 18th, look for a link to our road blog with pictures and stories from Guys on Tour!

Merry Christmas!

Here in the Koenig household we have been celebrating for days already. We had Christmas up in the fox valley with Kathi's family rounding out with a trip through a light display in menomonie park. We made a stop and saw live reindeer and had our picture taken in a sleigh.








And visions of sugar plums danced in their furry little heads! (note the festive collars - they have matching leashes!)

Jingle dogs - both of our puppies sported Christmas collars with jingle bells on them. Puja, for a short time had bells on her little paws. She tried to get them off and Mojo tried to help her. Eventually we gave her a break and left her with just the collar.











The puppies were starting to wind down after a long day. We had a relaxing day watching Christmas movies and getting ready for Christmas Eve. Late in the afternoon we had several friends over for dinner and then headed off to church. We ended the evening playing games at our friend Raleen's house. .

Patience isn't usually a puppy virtue, but they have been threatened with enough coal that they are being very good down the streach as they wait for Santa.








Finally the big day - Santa arrived and was very good to us.









The puppies loved their giant rawhide candy canes and all the stuffed, squeaky things Santa left them. They've chewed and sniffed and explored the tree. Double checked those stockings again to make sure they were empty, and finally... a nap.









And to all a good night. The paper is in the trash and we've played with all our toys and have now settled down to enjoy all of the wonderful Christmas gifts that we received this year. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Oh Christms Tree

I bribed those dogs with biscuits, and banana and that little rat Mojo still blinked!! Well, at least they sat still for one moment!

So.. Here's our tree, we got it on Saturday and decorated it Sunday night. So far we have gone two days without an ornament fatalitie due to dog intervention.

We;re very happy with the tree, it's taller than we're used to and really fills up the door way. Last night we spent a relaxing evening watching the tree and the two Santa Clause movies.

More pictures to come! Hope everyone is having a happy holiday so far!

Mojo's First Snow

The first big blizzard of this winter has hit. Amazing when you realize it was 65 degrees earlier this week. Now it's 25 degrees and we are digging out of almost a foot of snow.


This is the first time Mojo has played in the snow since we adopted him last spring. He had a blast. He bounded through the snow like a rabbit, it was very funny to watch. He and Puja were wired from the time they got up, it's almost like they knew something was different from the last time they were outside.


I guess this is what Steven was talking about when he said they won't move to Wisconsin!! I've spent the day Christmas shopping from my lap-top and NOW I'm ready to get the tree and start decorating! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Our radio station has put a ban on the song "Let it Snow" until after the blizzard advisary is lifted around 3:00 this afternoon.

Happy Turkey Day!

This Thanksgiving Pete and I hosted Pete's entire family plus my Dad and Gram, Brother Dan and his wife Christina. It was a house full, but we had a great time and we're still working on finishing up a couple of leftovers!




Wednesday evening just before dinner Pete's sister Mary Jo, husband Mike and our nephew Evan arrived from St. Louis. I had a show, but Pete was able to meet them for a drink. While I was at the show, Pete's parents and cousin Glenn arrived. They were staying with us at the house, so Pete got them settled and was just getting started on his Thanksgiving Pies when I got home. Pete's sister Patty, her fiance and our soon to be Nieces and nephew Emily, Daniel and Chandra arrived around 11 or so and stopped over to distract Pete from Pie creation!! Pete's grandmother Ruth who passed away a little over a year ago passed on to Pete her holiday pie technique and he has been making them ever since. I wish that I had taken a picture of his Apple pie, it looked good enough to be in a magazine! And both pies tasted great!

Patty's big Thanksgiving announcement is that she and Jeremy have set a date! We'll have another wedding in the family on May 26th!

After getting to bed VERY late, we had to get up early to get the food started. Pete's sisters and their families were in a hotel, but they all got to the house mid morning while the Turkey was in the oven and a ham was in a friend's oven across town! My family arrived around noon and we played some games, had some snacks, and eventually all sat down to dinner. I was very happy with how the meal turned out and if anyone didn't get enough to eat, they were really trying! it was a great family holiday!

And then...tryptophan set in

After dinner we all relaxed (more like a turkey induced coma) and watched movies.

Mom Koenig and Mary Jo









Our new niece Emily and the puppies! Jeremy and Patty

Walking off dinner

We walked off dinner on Friday in the Dog park and Pete and Evan had a relaxing game of Chess before the Rhoda's hit the road on Saturday.

Mercy of a Storm

My second show of the season opens tonight. It's a 1940's Mystery/Romance. It's very good. My friends Jim Pickering and Abbey Siegworth are the two people in the cast and they are wonderful. The show runs at Next Act Theater tonight through December 17th. It's really worth a night in the theater.

Les Miz

Last weekend we had a fun family weekend seeing our niece Ashley's High School Musical. It was great to get the whole family together (without someone getting married!)

Ashley was a lovely "whore number five"!








The puppies also had a fun vacation weekend playing with their cousins - they kept those big dogs on the run for a little while, but slept well for the next couple of days!

WORLD CHAMPS!

We're the world champions of the f***in' world! as Pete put it!



It was a great game. Through a bizarre series of events, we were not actually available to watch the game tonight (see: sometimes they win... rain...) We had tickets to a show. So we created an information blackout and made it home from the show without seeing or hearing anything. Managed to get the game running on the DVR without seeing any scores or info. We didn't find out that we won until around 1:10a! It was still a nerve wracking game, even with fast forward capabilities!

Sorry to everyone who tried to call us, as part of the blackout we had the phones turned off. But it was a lot of fun to get all of your messages after the game!

We're thrilled and couldn't be prouder of our boys, especially Eckstein, Molina, Adam Wainwright and of course the dream Weaver! Pete says "Perhaps he (La Russa) really is a SUPER GENIUS!"

GO CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A day at the dog park

Today we treated the puppies to a day at Milwaukee's one off-leash dog park. We weren't sure what to expect, but it is beautiful. Rather than a wide-open fenced area, it was much more wooded and there were paths. So we walked along the path and as they encountered other dogs they ran and played and herded.

Mojo and Puja were romping and running. Puja led the pack in a race through the mud. And there were a lot of paths running over hills.













It was a really nice day - a crisp fall Wisconsin day.


And the puppies aren't the only ones ready for a nap. I think we may have found our new Sunday activity!

CARDS HEAD TO WORLD SERIES 2006!!!!!

The Cards did it!!!! We're going to the world series. It was a hell of a series against the Mets and no one thought we could win, but we're going! Congrats to the Mets on a hell of a season and a great series. Both Pete and I were on the verge of throwing up the entire game and the dogs... well, they went to bed and waited there. For some reason they were out on the couch with us when Yadi hit his home run and there was much dancing and barking all around. When we finally won the game Pete and I joined the Cards in a little Champagne bath on our front porch and the pups helped themselves to some Peanuts left on the coffee table. Everyone had a great night.

We're excited about Saturday and the start of the World Seriies! It's all gravy now!

Sometimes you win... sometimes you lose... sometimes it rains...
Nuke LaLouche

The Big 4-0

It was a great weekend and a wonderful way to turn 40! I took the train in to Chicago early Friday morning. I had some business meetings with my union and then I was able to spend some time getting caught up with friends in the Equity office. When I finally wore out my welcome there, I took the train up to Watertower place and wandered around the Borders and
the mall for a while.

Pete finished work, threw the puppies in the car and headed down to Chicago and we met at a little motel north of town where we got some take-out fried chicken and beer and watched the baseball game (Yankees/Tigers).

Saturday we spent a relaxing day sleeping in (something we haven't done in WEEKS!) and then watching the Cardinals/Padres game. This was a win-win situation since if the Cardinals won, we won the series, if we lost, we had tickets to the game on
Sunday in St. Louis. Well, the Cards lost (boo!) (but wait yeah!)

We took a long walk with the puppies in Lincoln Park and down to the lake, it was a beautiful day for it.



Then we got all dressed up and Pete took me to Giordanos for real Chicago deep dish pizza and to see the musical Wicked which I absolutely LOVED. It was really a wonderful show. Although I had read the book when it first came out, I knew from the brief glimpses I had seen of the musical that it would have little resemblance to the book. I was not wrong. But the Musical was GREAT and I think I liked it better than the book. When I read the book review those many years ago, I think the musical captured what I THOUGHT the book would be and the interesting concept that made me want to read the book. The book is interesting on its own merits, but the musical is wonderful.

Then we took the El back up to the hotel. We thought our game was at 3:00 the next day which would have been nice, we would have gotten on the road early (8a) but would probably be back in Milwaukee by 2a (Pete had a load-in Monday, so there was no calling in sick or a personal day) but then, when Detroit clinched, they moved the game to 12n (now we have to leave at 5a) but then, after the show we checked and when Oakland had clinched, they moved the game to 7p.

We had a leisurely trip down to St. Louis, got there in plenty of time to get to Pete's parents house (south of the city) and get the dogs settled. And then head to the game. We had dinner at a great restaurant downtown (There is NO Italian food like the
food in St. Louis!) Then headed to the game. It was a great game and really a blast to be there when we won the division series. As soon as the final out was recorded (a very classy move by Adam Wainwright - he let Albert take the final put-out) there was cheering and flying confetti and fireworks! All the players were jumping around on the field like little kids! Then they showed the scene in the locker room where everyone was bathed in Champagne and beer. It was a great time!



I was cashed after the game and we (I say we, but it was really Pete driving since I lost my glasses at my brother's wedding) still had to drive back to Milwaukee! We got back to Pete's parents house, Pete's mom made us a pot of coffee, and we got on the road. Pete was wired and had taken a no-doze, that lasted until about Bloomington and then it was a battle the rest of the way back to Milwaukee. But between snacking and singing with the windows open and a couple games of six-degrees we finally pulled up on front of the house at around 5:45a and went straight to bed. We didn't even bring anything in the house except our pillows and the puppies!

It was a wonderful-unforgettable birthday weekend. I'm thinking of turning 40 every year from now on!!!

Sorry there are no real pictures, I broke my camera last weekend (it really was a heck of a party!) But I am half way to getting a new one! So there will be more pix soon!

Dan & Christina Johnson 9.30.06

Well, we did it, we finally got our baby brother married off. We're here in Rochester Minnesota the morning after what was a hell of a party! Dan and Christina were married yesterday afternoon at Pius Catholic Church in MN, in front of approx. 160 people. It was a beautiful ceremony and after the seemingly endless line of well wishers, we put them on their party bus and sent them back to the reception. The reception had a movie theme and if any of you know my brother, it will make a lot of sense to you!
And without even knowing the theme of the party, Pete's toast (as co-best man with my sister's husband Jeff) was filled with Movie Quotes. Afterwards we danced the night away and some of us (Pete!) are still recovering!!
After what I'm sure will prove to be yet another whirl wind day! We will host the newly weds in Milwaukee for the night on their way to Disney World tomorrow for their honeymoon.
Congrats Dan and Christina!

Opening Night

I am opening my first show of the season tonight, Esperanza Rising. It's a lovely show based an the children's book of the same name. It runs now through Oct. 1.

Let me know if you can make it!
K

The Bachelor Party

Four reprobates headed out Saturday night to celebrate Kathi's brothers final weeks of bachelorhood. I dropped the guys off at Buffalo wild wings, sober and smiling around 6:00p. I picked them up at the Harp around 1:00a and well... they were still smiling!Except Dan who was asleep on his feet, until he got in the car and then he was snoring in the back seat. Reports have them painting the whole downtown red, I don't think they missed a bar!

Last official camping trip of the summer

Even after Pete went back to work we still had a few weekends when we could sneak some camping and baseball in before the end of the summer. Now I am back at work too and we took our last official trip of the summer. We headed to the Quad Cities to see a Swing baseball game (the Cardinals A affiliate. It was a good game, the Swing beat the West Michigan White Caps 5-2 and we had a great time camping. This is our site - our view is the Mississippi river.
A little fun with the self-timer on my camera (really trying to convince Pete a) we do need someone to help us take pictures of all four of us and b) yes a new camera with more zoom capabilities does need to be in our future!!

I'm sad the camping season is over, but glad to be back to work. We still have some nice days and evenings before Wisconsin gets too cold to venture out. And I say last official camping trip because there may be fall camping this year... we'll see.

Family Weekend part 3 - The Abrahams

For the finale to our family weekend, Kathi's step brother Quinn and his family came to visit on their way home to Omaha. We went to the State Fair so that Ane could try her first cream puff.
Mojo was in seventh heaven with all of the attention - But don't think that Puja was left out, she's still a favorite with the 'cousins' Alysha and Kylene.


Cream puffs were enjoyed by all - we got a 6 pack and came back to the house to enjoy them. That's a lot of cream!! Mmmmmm!










The weekend wrapped up with brunch at McBob's Pub. We had to introduce Quinn and Ane to Corned Beef Hash they way it oughta be!
All in all it's been a fantastic family weekend.