Family Update

Wow, it's been a busy month.  Family busy.  Here's the crew after a concert by my oldest son, Lars (The Laohu) at The Velour in Provo, Utah last week.  Yes, we made the roadtrip through Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and into Utah on beautiful Interstate 80 to take Chelsea (on the far right) back out to BYU for her senior year in piano performance.  A bonus was that we got to see Nate (in the purple tee) who is a super senior (in Japanese and business) at BYU and didn't come home for the summer.  Rounding out the group is my husband on the left, Lars' wife, Spring, in the turquoise tee, Keaton (soon starting his senior year of high school) in stripes and me in black.  That's the whole gang.  It was a lot of fun for all of us to have some time together.  And important to get a family pic since some are heading back to the four corners again.  It's only days now until Lars and Spring head to Glasgow, Scotland for his master's degree in International Politics and Nate will be moving to Japan within the year I suspect.  After China, Japan, Taiwan, and now Glasgow, I get a little jealous when I hear moms who get upset when their kids go to school in UW Madison 90 minutes away.  Sigh.  Such is life.  Thank goodness for Skype.  Anyway, I love my kids and I love that they are independent world travelers... I think.

What's the Laohu?  Translated, that's "tiger" - Lars' Chinese nickname.  When he came home from China, Keaton taught him how to create chip music with the gameboy (don't ask).  Anyway, Lars loved it and combined it with guitar and vocals -- the "Laohu" was born.  He composed half a dozen songs and we were all pleasantly surprised when he won a contest to play at Milwaukee's Summerfest on July 3rd on the Cascio Interstate Music Groove stage! Pretty cool.  Now he's actually got an album out.  Wha?

Soon everyone will be where they are supposed to be (if we survive the Scotland VISA drama) and life in Menomonee Falls will finally settle down.  There will only be three of us at home.  I am no longer on the school board.  No more excuses.  The time has come to make RubyLemons what I dream it could be... or not.  Excuse the expression, 'time to poop or get off the pot.'  (Sorry, I feel like that sounds a bit crass.)  So, stay tuned.  RubyLemons will either flourish or fold.  Da-da-da -- dum!