A little slice of heaven.

Suncrest Gardens pizza farm in Cochran, WI is literally a little slice of heaven.  Located in a valley, you feel immediately at peace when you arrive.  Flowers, farm animals, live music and the smell of the most delicious oven-fired pizza await you upon arrival.  The kids think it's paradise.  No one tells them to sit down and be quiet.  They run around and play and stop back at the blanket every once in awhile to nibble some 'za.  I highly suggest a visit.  http://suncrestgardensfarm.com/

Where to find us.

In the summer, we are never home.  If you are trying to find us, please look on the river, at the beach or at the pool.
Thank you,
The Swanson Family

Angie vs. Shimmer

Simone and Cullen love catching toads.  After a very successful afternoon and two toads in the bucket, the kids started toad races.  Simone named the toads Angie and Shimmer.  I am not sure who was faster, but both the Swanson kids and the Nelson kids loved the competition!

CRUSA

 Cullen and Simone finished another soccer season with Coulee Region Unite Soccer Association.  They love playing with their buddies, making new friends and singing the "Staying Alive" song with coach Gabe from Brazil.  Cullen ruled the field during his rainy end of season tourney under the friday night lights.  I actually embarked on my first coaching venture with the 4-5 year olds. We played similar aged teams from Tomah and Winona but it felt more like teams from the Premiere Soccer League in Europe.  At the end-of-season tourney, the Winona team scored about 10 goals before my 4-5 year old CRUSA team could blink.  I tried my hardest to keep the kids motivated and keep the game fun.  I finally looked at my squad and said, "if anyone scores a goal, we will all do cartwheels!".  Charlie Nordeen promptly dribbled across the field and scored.  Keeping true to my word, we all did cartwheels.  Not knowing a ton about the actual rules of the game, I think I was able to keep the mood light and the kids engaged.  Both kids say they will be back for more next spring!

Schools out for the summer!

Nothing beats the feeling of excitement during the end of the school year.  Simone finished 4K with Miss Jensen and Cullen wrapped up 1st grade with Mrs. Servais.  Now onto summer camps, boating and hanging with Abby!

Curry

There is something real special about taking your son to see his favorite sports idol (not his Dad) in person for the first time,  In the last year Cullen has landed firmly on Planet Steph.  Curry shirts, Curry shoes, he even drew the number 30 on the back of his basketball uniform.   So it was great excitement that Lisa and I were able to secure tickets for him and I to watch the Golden State Warriors take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.

We made quite the day of it.  I picked Cullen up early at school so we could make it in time to watch the teams warmup.  We arrived early enough to secure a spot at the beginning of the line.  If you haven't heard of this, it's pretty common at all the away venues that Golden State plays at.  Thousands of people show up to watch Curry put on a ball handling and shooting display warming up.  You felt a bit bad for the T-Wolves players who were warming up on the other side of the court.  Two thousand watching the away team and 20 watching them.

After warmups, we headed out to the concourse where they had a bunch of games setup.  Cullen played those for about 45 minutes (I tried to have him get his picture with the cheerleaders, he said "no way")  We then grabbed some dogs and made our way to our seats  The seats weren't the greatest (right behind the backboard), however, the 4 rather intoxicated middle aged ladies sitting behind us screaming "Steph will you marry me" convinced me it was time to show my young boy the time honored tradition of the "seat upgrade"  So as Cullen watched in amazement as Curry dribbled, shot, and did what Steph does, I scanned the arena for a couple of unoccupied seats.  After the first quarter and a half, allowing time for some late arrivals, I had located where our new seats were going to be.  I grabbed Cullen, told the ladies behind us that Curry was already married, and we headed down.

This game had been sold out for months.  So I figured security to get in the lower ring was going to be tough.  So I filled Cullen and my hands with popcorn, beer, and milk.   I told him the plan and he should  walk like he  knows where he's going and  if anyone tries to stop him just keep walking.  We were successfully able to make our way down the seats I had spotted.  About 10 rows off the floor on the baseline, even on the side that Golden State would be playing offense in the 2nd half.  Perfect.

The rest of the game was great.    It was a close game and there was some great back and forth with some  guys sitting behind us.  They would razz Cullen when the T-Wolves would score and he would stand up and yell "Oh, yeah" after Golden State would put the ball in.  Everyone was cracking up.  It was tremendous.  The Warriors held on for a 109-104 victory, but in my eyes it was a blow out win all around.