Come to Chicago!

Dear Ones:

I want you to come to Chicago! I hope this is alluring.

1. There is an interesting church closer to you. It's south and west of Skokie. It's : Old St. Pat's Church, 700 W. Adams St., (312) 648-1021. It's in a poor/safe part of Chicago. The poor do not attend Old St. Pat's church, however; Irish yuppies from the suburbs do. good homilies.

2. Millennium Park, (312) 742-1168, is my favorite space in Chicago. It's at: Michigan Ave between Randolph and Monroe. It has fabulous architecture including: the Pritzker Music Pavilion, Cloud Gate, the Crown Fountain, etc., etc., etc, (25 acres just south of the Art Institute) usually free. (The Art Institute of Chicago completed a new addition recently; it has a huge collection of Impressionist paintings)

3. For lunch: Manny's Delicatessen, (312) 939-2855 1141 S. Jefferson, Chicago huge corned beef sandwich, poor/safe neighborhood.

4. For Sunday brunch: The Drake Hotel Restaurant (312)787-2200, 140 East Walton Place, Chicago On the Magnificent Mile, Breath taking view of Lake Michigan and Lake shore Dr., great location for high end/interesting shopping after brunch.

5. For good Mediterranean Food: The Parthenon Restaurant, (312) 726-2407 314 S. Halsted St., Chicago.

6. Best Pizza: Pizzeria Uno, (312) 321-1000 29 E. Ohio St. (between State ST. and Wabash Ave., Chicago luscious deep dish pizza.

7. The Million Dollar Quartet Performance, (it will take you back to your roots) Apollo Theater 2540 N Lincoln Ave. Chicago, about the night Big Bopper, Elvis, Carl Perkins and ?, performed together.

Lots of you remember these places from your first visit here. I want you to come back.

Ratcliff Wedding Update

Listed below are all te top ten lists that Joyce recieved after Michael and Lindsey's wedding. She had asked me to post them so a little tardy but here they are. So fun to relive the memories. I am attaching a link to my snapfish album containing all the pictures that I took of the wedding.

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7026023008/a=42358884_42358884/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Comming soon Keeler/Herron wedding posts......

Leona's List

-the priest's story about the old Dust Bowl couple reminded me of Mom and Dad
-the flowers in Mason jars in the women's rest room
-the fabulous brunch staff at the hotel... amazing service
-Gwen and Floyd bringing me Starbucks' coffee
-Michael dancing with the flower girls,
-Ashely introducing me to her wonderful boys
-Meeting Anna Kathryn and Tony, Karen Birkenfeld's friend; I like welcoming new members to the tribe
-Lindsey's unique touch was everywhere, beginning with her Spanish, lace veil and gown
-visiting with Viola and Dennis when I came and Katherine, Elizabeth and Paul when I left
-my favorite moments were/are always dancing with the tribe; I especially liked welcoming a new crop of young dancers, dancers who will keep the tribe going. Mary and Nub would have smiled to see them
-the fabulous hot, BBQ meal would have made our Mother happy

Thanks, Joyce Dick, Lindsey's folks this was a wonderful, wonderful, time.
Leona

Rusty List

1) Michael’s co-worker (green shirt) when the band stopped and he called out for any standup comedians and when no one answered he said he would have to do it. LOL.

2)Michael’s co-worker (green shirt) when he took off his shirt and soaped up his chest and slide on the floor.

3)Travis and Eric falling on the floor when you were trying to mop up beer.

4)Travis and Eric sliding head first on the floor.

5)The dancing/band.

6)Lindsey’s brother…he was fun.

7)The wedding ceremony/Fathers homily.

8)Dancing the dollar dance with Lindsey and she said to me “Am I one of the outlaws now”?

9)Outside at the “car bar” (reception) when Michael and some others were smoking a cigarette and one of the “wild girls” asked Michael if he smoked after sex and Michael stated “I don’t know because I have never looked to see” LOL!

10)The rehearsal dinner was great conversations, great “Irish Beer”, awesome food and awesome atmosphere.

11)The morning breakfast/visiting.

12)The 2nd floor visiting with stories. Adam is so funny.

13)Lindsey’s Grandfather singing to her.

14)Going on the OU campus and seeing the football trophies and memorabilia.

15)So many more. Just an overall fun weekend with the wedding and visiting, etc.

Viola's list

The memories will live forever!!! There is never such a great wedding that doesn't live on forever in my memory.

My best times were the priests words about what make a marrige work. He said always be postive in words and deeds to your spouse and about faith being the building block. Great talk.

I was honored to serve the body of Christ at communion. I could feel the commitment and love of our family.

Breakfast was a blast both days I would love to do that part again. To get up and go down and there was coffee and conversation. Great way to visit and catch up.

The Texes Gang, the wild Girls are always ready for a good time. There may be a new movie to replace BONNIE & CLYDE it will be KENNY & CINCE.

Anna got to meet Alan's family. Everyone wanted to touch, hold and hug that sweet little Radwanski girl. It is a proud moment for Grandma Viola to show off Anna to everyone at the wedding.

Thanks for the great memories.
ILY
Viola

Ken & Cince Crew list

Nikki, Nicole & I talked about the fun times while we canned corn yesterday. What a fun time we all had, the wedding was so much fun, They are a great couple.

Loved the red boots.

Friday Night & Sat morning: sitting, talking, celebrating.

The loud reception room vs the quiet reception room. Really weren't sure which one we belonged in!

Was glad Heath & Nicole finally made a Kansas Shindig, think we may have opened a can of worms putting Heath, Eric & Travis together. Who knows what the next dance craze will be!!!

Floyd and JoEllen Hoelting -- Top 5 Events

Michael and Lindsey's wedding weekend –

Floyd and JoEllen Hoelting -- Top 5 Events

#1.The liturgy at St. Thomas More University Parish and the meaningful homily Reverend James Goins gave. The gathering, sharing and celebration of this beautiful wedding ceremony.

#2. Sharing the happiness of this special day with Michael, Lindsey and the Ratcliff family.

#3.Observing how well this next generation (our children) of Hoelting's connect, get along and have fun together.

#4. Jo and I met Ralph, Evie, Mary Lou and Ray at the front desk while checking in and suggested that we go to the hotel bar where it might be cooler. During the next ten minutes, Ken, Cince, Nikki, Nicole and Heath walked in and the weekend had officially gotten underway. Two hours later, the group had expanded to about 30 until the bar ran out of Coors and BudLight, so it was time to move on. About 15 of the group joined the Schulte's and us at The Outback next door.

#5. The excitement and contagion of being part of another situation where "Hoelting family meets celebration opportunity." It's hard to explain it, but the combination of the excitement of the occasion, the extended Hoelting family, the new and old friends of the family, the alcohol, the story telling, the music, Michael and Lindsey's special day, just exploded into a heck of a party.

Stacy and Travis List

Well Travis and I both had a BALL! We are so thankful for you and your family…we truly LOVE you all. As for ranking the fun in order???

1.The slip and slide with Travis’ bloody lip and the huge grunt when he hit the ground!!!!! If he wasn’t dumb enough Eric attempted to follow him! At least Heath was smart and tried the slide with one of the green tablecloths. (What were they thinking?!?!)

2.Father’s sermon was among the best I have heard lately. Travis definitely got something out of it. Father was talking about telling people that your “wife is wonderful.” Although I believe he combined Father’s sermon and the NASCAR minister’s words, most of the night I was referred to as “My Wonderful Smoking Hot Wife.”

3. We both enjoyed visiting with our cousins/family. We loved catching up with everyone and the wonderful conversations/memories that we made that night.

4.The food!!!!!!! Absolutely wonderful!!!!

5.The bride and decorations ~ BEAUTIFUL! And Michael didn’t look too shabby himself.

6. Breakfast the next morning. This is one of the greatest parts of an out of town wedding, we all can wake up and join each other while waking from our stupor. I love sitting downstairs and seeing who is going to make it up, and who it going the sleep the night off! J

Michael and Lindsey – Congratulations! We wish you so many years of happiness. We feel so fortunate to have been part of your celebration. Thanks! With Love, Travis and Stacy

Welcome back after a long hiatus from the blog world. We are still trying to recover from a great weekend and a lack of sleep. We are not used to partying like college students anymore and it takes a toll on us old folks. From the moment we arrived in Norman we knew we were in for a good time and everyone that had made the trip was ready to have a good time. It was so great to to see the Texas crew and catch up with so many Hoeltings that we had not seen in way too long. Michael and Lindsey make such a beautiful couple and you could totally see all the love that was put into planning their special day. As Joyce requested here are a few of our favorite moments.

* The smoking jacket making yet another appearance and as always making its way to the dance floor. Anyone that has yet to get married better get a move on that jacket has got to be on its last leg.

* Joyce and Donna singing inappropriate songs to any male that would listen as they exited the Men's room. I think Michael may have some explaining to do to his co-workers about his crazy family.

* Knowing that you probably shouldn't go out after the wedding but going anyways only to sing with a band at the bar and dance on the tables. Trish we should really go out together more often.

* Riding the "Maxi Taxi" with a wide array of quite intoxicated wedding goers.

* Eating @ The Fuzzy Taco at 3:00 am. I am sure it was horrible but god it was good at that time in the morning.

* Eric and Travis slip and sliding across the dance floor quite unsuccessfully. I am sure they felt that one Sunday Morning.

* A endless supply of bulldogs and pink lemonade. Seriously are you guys bootleggers!

* Alan and Eric taking over for the MIA bartenders while everyone around the bar sang Kokomo.

What a perfect weekend and wedding. Looking forward to seeing more pictures and hearing more stories. Keep blogging everyone!!!!!

More pictures to come via email.

Merry Christmas

Very Thankful!

Hi Family,
Our computer wasn't connecting with the internet so we were without for the last few months. You don't realize how much you miss it till its gone! I was sad to see there haven't been too many posts lately. I know everyone is super busy! No big news here in Omaha. Work is going great. I am excited for the upcoming holiday season. Christmas just makes me feel like a big kid. We get to go visit Michael in Dallas in a few weeks and we can't wait!

I just wanted to let everyone know how thankful I am for our family. With Thanksgiving a few days away it has made me start counting my blessings and you all are at the top of my list.

Love you all and hopefully people still at least check this from time to time! :)

Kellen

About Mom and our many blessings

Dear Family,
Brad and Monica I hope you have recovered from your grand wedding celebration.
I'm so sorry I had to miss this gathering of the clan.
Elsie called me Sunday to say Mom seemed disoriented and seemed to only graze her food at meals.
I know Mom has Hospice now and we have all been here before.
When we where here before, I pulled together a final life celebration for Mom with Father Anthony's help. Ryan drew a picture of Mom for her final mass celebration; there was an actual mass with songs, etc. (Someone should perhaps check and make sure the page numbers for the songs are correct)
Joyce, did I email all of that to you?
Did I also email to you the words to "What Wondrous Love Is This" and "I Am The Bread Of Life", etc, that we might use at home, Joyce?
I'm wondering if someone who lives in Olpe should look it over and see if it will pass muster according to Olpe traditions as well as Dad's sensibilities.
It should be okay with Father Anthony because he helped me.
If anyone has time to proof the copy you have my permission to change it as you wish. If you want to add things that's okay too.
Donna, thanks for the pictures you took at Brad and Monica's celebration. As usual the little kids got as much or more out of the dance than the adults did.
Thanks to all of you clan members for all you do for our dear mama and daddy.
Namaste,
Leona

Summer Time

My goodness can summer be coming to an end already. I have been cringing at the sound of the word "school". I can not imagine going back after having such wonderful summer with Briggs. We have been super busy but having a blast in the process. We got to spend a few weekends at tablerock lake, one with Greg's family and one with the Herrons, lots of time in Chanute, a few trips to Olpe and just last weekend headed to Omaha to visit the Zoo and see Kellen and Chad.

I have loved getting to spend all day with Briggs and really just doing what we want when we want. He is a true boy, all over the place and starting to talk like crazy. I have no idea where he gets all of his energy.

We had Allie come to Kansas City and spend some time with us last week. Briggs just adores her and was quite distressed when he realized she had left. Thank you Allie for taking such good care of Briggs and being such a loving little caregiver.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Brad's wedding and spending some time in Olpe. Hope everyone is having a great summer. See you soon.

Hoelting Farm Hay Season 2010

We were in Olpe this weekend and thought you might enjoy some pictures we took of the farm and hay season.

Summer Time!!

I love summer! We are having a great one down here in Texas. Lots of moisture for a change! It's nice to see everything so green. Brad doesn't seem to be getting much at the farm, but he is just glad to have avoided the hail! He stays busy keeping his sprinklers running. It helps so much now that Mason is old enough to be really useful. He gets up, goes to the farm and drives tractor all day long. That frees up Brad's time so he can take care of other things. Brad will be in heaven when he had 3 hands to get stuff done. Big changes are coming to the Kleman farm. Brad's dad is 79 and has finally decided to retire. Kind of bitter sweet, but it's time. Brad is going to take over farming his dad's land, while still keeping his own farm in Dimmitt. Brad will be the 4th generation to farm that land. It's the place his great-grandparents started farming when they moved to Nazareth over 100yrs ago! Not sure how he's going to have enough time in the day to run both places, especially after school starts up again, but some how it will all work out!

We had the opportunity for an amazing vacation in June. The boys and I drove to New York City and back. Brad had to stay to run the farm and finish up wheat harvest. We spent 3 days driving up, stopping to see things all along the way. We went to Gettysburg and the Hershey's Chocolate World. The boys even got to make their own candy bars. My whole family flew to New York. We spent 3 days seeing the sights in the city! After that, Dad joined the boys and I for the trip home. We drove to Philladelphia and saw the US Mint & Liberty Bell, then headed to Washington, DC. We spent another 3 days in DC, then headed home, taking a different route. We made several stops on the way home, but the favorite was when GrandBally took us to Lynchburg to see how they make Jack Daniels whiskey! Many people have told me how brave, crazy etc they think I was, but I wouldn't have traded any of it! The boys did so good, especially for being together 13 days straight. I think they enjoyed it as much as I did!

Looking forward to seeing everyone in August at Brad's wedding! Gwen and I will be road tripping with the kids this time, no husbands! The kids are excited to finally get to go to Kansas! Lots of love, Ashley