Old Oppel Family Photos

I recently received some old Oppel family photos from my Aunt Jill. This is my dad's half sister, same mom different dad. This was a very nice gesture and something that I will cherish especially since before seeing these photos I had never seen a picture of my dad's father.

The below picture is my Grandma Marilyn and my father in 1944, the year my dad was born. This is in Chester Park, Duluth.


Pictured below is my dad's father, Edward Oppel. He passed away sometime around 1980 I believe.


Here is Marilyn and Edward together in Bayview Heights, 1944.


Next two pictures are the same group plus Peter, 1944.



This is Edward's father, Cliff, and Deanna my dad's full sister, Duluth 1943.


Edward during the military deployment, Air Force pilot I believe, and Marilyn's father (my great grandfather) Peter Jens Christensen, Hobbs, NM 1949.


Edward and Marilyn's mother (my great grandmother) Noramay Christensen, Hobbs, NM 1949.


Lastly, my father, Peter Jay Oppel's graduation photo. I am not sure if this is college or high school. If it is high school it would be 1962 and if it is college it would be 1966. You can definitely tell the family resemblance between my dad and his father. My dad passed away on July 21, 2003.

4th of July Weekend

Todd, Shannon, Heather, and I ended up going to Duluth for the 4th of July weekend. We left late on Thursday night to avoid the traffic and got up to Hermantown around 10pm. We then spent some time around the campfire and got to bed late.

Since everyone was a little tired from the night before Friday morning started out a little slow but we eventually got things setup for a bbq with badminton and ladder golf. In attendance were Grandma Mell, Miriam, Zach, Anne, Chase, Todd, Shannon, Dale, Carol, Heather, and myself. After much eating, drinking, and playing games us youngens went down the bayfront to see the fireworks display. Heather and I met up with my mom and family and spent some time catching up. We also ran into Gerry and Bonnie Niemi who weren't surprised when we told them Dale was already asleep when they asked where Dale and Carol were!

Saturday started early with the guys getting up at 5:30 to go up to Lake Nichols for a little bit of fishing. We fished for a few hours and ended up with only a couple sunfish but I enjoyed reminiscing about days and places gone by. We then headed over to the hunting shack to mow and put up a beverage shelf for the sauna that Dale had asked me to build last fall. Later that afternoon we played nine holes at Enger which tired us all out due to the heat and humidity. We ended the day doing a bonfire and making camp fire pizzas.





Sunday was another slow starting morning, especially since when I went to bed the night before the room seemed to be spinning! We eventually loaded up and went out to David's house on Crooked Lake where we spent some time cruising the lake and the "Everglades" where we saw a young fawn with spots.



We did a little fishing and again caught nothing, seems to be a theme doesn't it! Before and after boating we did a little swimming with the dogs. A big part of my want to go to David's was that I wanted to test Baylen out in a canoe since Heather, Baylen, and I will be heading into the BWCAW in late July for the first time as just our little family. Good news was that Baylen passed the test giving me some confidence that he won't end up tipping our canoe during the trip. We then loaded up and headed back to Dale and Carol's for a bite to eat and the trip back to the cities.



It was definitly a trip to remember and the weather couldn't have been better. Glad to report that all had a good time!

Women's US Open

Heather and I decided to take Friday June 27th off of work to attend the Women's US Open at Interlachen. Golf has long been my favorite sport to watch in person and this tournament didn't disappoint.

Heather was particularly excited to see some of the long time greats such as Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam, Juli Inkster, and Cristie Kerr. I was mostly excited to see some of the new up and comers such as Lorena Ochoa, Morgan Pressel, Yani Tseng, Michelle Wie, and Natalie Gulbis. Unfortunately, we never got to see Wie and Gulbis because of a rain delay that ended the day at about 4:30 but thankfully we got there early and still managed to get in a pretty full day.

Seeing pro golfers sure gives you an appreciation for what it takes to be that good. What makes it even more astounding is seeing that some of these women are actually just early teens, one was only 13 and on her second US Open and at least one other was only 15. I can't imagine having that much maturity to cope with those pressures at an age like that. Amazing!

If you have any appreciation for golf I highly recommend you attend every professional tournament you can, you won't be disappointed.