Go West, young man...

Another edition of old photos being digitized.  February is a good time to do that since I rarely go outside anymore.  Enjoy...

Aunt Suzanne and I on a great adventure on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  (Shopping Cart Riding will be added to the 2018 XXIII Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea) 

Aunt Sharon holding up a villainous sculpture at the Swetsville Zoo (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10787) in Fort Collins, Colorado.  A really great place to visit to see lots of sculptures made of car parts.  Highly recommended! 

See Heather, I have been to the Great Platte River Road Archway (http://www.archway.org/) over I-80 in Kearney, Nebraska.  It's really a museum dedicated to the history of people passing through Nebraska in covered wagons, trains, Model T's, to today.

Uncle John and Aunt Sharon in Fort Collins.

Grandpa George enjoying a Greek Chili Dog Special at G and L (http://www.glchilidogs.com/) in 2002.  

Dave Scholtens and Rodd Moon snowboarding in Roosevelt Park, Michigan.  

Walking in a park, I heard a strange noise when I threw my popcorn box into the garbage.  I pulled out my camera and quickly took this shot of a baby raccoon.

Cousin Mal, myself, and Aunt Mo after my high school graduation.

Me and my sister Lisa after my high school graduation.

 Gilana Alpert and Rodd Moon at the homecoming game in our senior year at Mona Shores High School.  

 Band photo: Me, Karen Schumacher, and Kelly Ruele at the School of the Art Institute around 2000-2001

Jed Roberts and Brian Cook in 2002  

I believe we won 4th place...  outta 4 teams...  But, here are your St. Francis de Sales Knights!

Back row: Coach Mantovani, Paul Bourdon, Brian Mantovani, KoryAndryscik, John Hurley, Steve Sprague, Coach Kraus

Front row: John Gautraud, Ernie Stasker, Andy Price, me, Mike Ryan, Steve Hanson

New Years Eve With the Razorsharks

As part of my xmas present, Megan brought me to my first Rochester Razorshark minor league basketball game at the Blue Cross Arena.  Please let me introduce you to Finley, the Razorshark.



warming up



More Finley



Oh man!  My first Razorshark game is also a banner raising ceremony!  Now I can tell my kids that I was there when it all happened!



The banner!






Mayor Tom Richards throwing the highest tip off in the history of basketball.  






Unfortunately, this ladie's half-court shot for $10,000 barely made it to the free throw line.  



The Razorsharks beat the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Steamers 107-98 in the 2012 championship banner raising home opener.  Megan and I had a great time.  Lots of great people watching.  For some reason, the pictures didn't turn out very good.  Hopefully, my next Blue Cross Arena event will look much better next week...



Well, winter started about three months later than it did last year.  Hopefully, this doesn't mean that it will ending in August to make up for lost time.  


That's about it for now.  Very, very busy at work right now catching up on everything with the holiday season.  So, nothing too exciting to report...

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend with Tachel!



The best way to babysit is to put the child in a burrito.  She had her first day of school without sparkle pants today



Burritos are only fun until the babysitter ends up in one



LET ME OUT!!!



Here's the other kid we had to babysit this weekend...



Jordan, James, Kraus...


 
The Aquahoop was tested out and next summer it will be amazing!



Oh yeah!  Puppy time!



So much calmer when they get spayed...






I don't know what happened to Dock.  He just seemed to pass out in the cat condo.



I'll leave you to ponder the wolf hat.


As always, I'm asking for your support at Barktober Fest 2011.  I'll be organizing the runners and walkers this year.  I may shoot the pistol to start the race.  So, help me help homeless and abused animals at:  http://lollypop.kintera.org/barktoberfest/mike

The Classy Kraus' of Rochester

This is Air Bud.  Who's Air Bud?  We didn't know either.  We just tried to play basketball at Cobbles Elementary and he'd steal the ball...



Genesee Waterways Center in Genesee Valley Park in Rochester.  Megan's work helped fund a regatta called the Diversity Invitational.



While we were waiting for the regatta to start, I saw this crazy tree in the park.  A bit tropical looking for this area.



Crew racing!






Here's my crew boat.















I believe this is the boat Megan's work bought.  I could be wrong though...


 









First of all, there's a "Professional Disc Golf Association."  Second, the "World Championship" was going on.  Third, this guy had a disc golf cart.  If I were in Buffalo I'd say "For Realz?"



We're still celebrating our first wedding anniversary.  This time, we had a free night stay at the Hyatt Rochester because that's where our reception was (if you remember).  We didn't get the Presidential Suite this time, but we still managed to have a good time...



It's amazingly difficult to take a picture of downtown Rochester without getting it full of empty parking spaces.  It's the difficult position many mid-sized cities have.  People won't come downtown unless there is more parking than in the suburbs.  But, people don't want to come downtown because it is boring since they bulldozed all the retail space to make parking lots.  



Thanks Lindsay!  If you ever get the opportunity to work with her, you are very lucky!



Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.  Oh la la!



Take note, to the Hyatt Corporation this is our official name.  



Goodbye Midtown Plaza.  This was a urban renewal project in the 60s that closed off a bunch of streets and made a huge, windowless superblock indoor mall.  For my Michigan folk, think the old malls in downtown Muskegon and Grand Rapids which met the same fate.  



Despite the whole Paetec situation, I think downtown is still heading in a much more stable and sustainable direction.  



Goodbye Robocop Architecture.



The old Sibley Department Store.  This reminds me of the Merchandise Mart building in Chicago.  Under the right management, this place could be the crown jewel of Rochester.



Dinner at Scene on Main in the Hyatt.  Since we got married, they renovated the first few floors of the Hyatt and it's pretty swanky (and "IT'S OUR WEDDING COLORS!" as Megan pointed out immediately).  I believe this was called "Scene Snax"


 
This is the flatbread 



The filet and fingerling fries.  I know it's in a hotel, but it is really super good food and you should go to it.  And, we happened to be there when the Tall Club had their convention, which meant that Megan and I were the shortest people there.


NOW FOR SOME BUSINESS:
BARKTOBER FEST 2011 is on September 24th in Egypt Park (next to Lollypop Farm) and I'm on The Dirty Dogs team.  So, please support me (and the homeless and abused animals of Lollypop Farm) by going to http://lollypop.kintera.org/ba​rktoberfest/mike to make a donation!


That's it for now.  Megan's trying to make a cake with Rachel...