Off They Go

The summer flew by and both kids moved onto College. Fortunately, the move-in weekends were a week apart so Big TK and Ang could experience both big changes.

Lil' TK moved 2 1/2 hours west to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. His plans are to study Theology and Youth Ministry. https://www.usiouxfalls.edu/

Kels chose the University of St. Thomas, 1 1/2 hours Northeast.  www.stthomas.edu/

Her initial plans were Pre-Dentistry but Physical Therapy is sounding more and more like what she'd like to do so time will tell what direction she goes. Her boyfriend of over a year, Spig, helped with the move.

Both kids are excited to start this college-life, living in a dorm thing. Big TK and Ang are excited for them...not so much for the loans needed to help put two crazy kids through private college but how could they say no to the opportunity being offered Lil' TK and Kels? 

It's all good. 

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Graduation 2016

The Dittos graduated. What a milestone. What an awesome experience. Ang and Big TK are so excited for their future. Kels and Lil' TK are just happy to be done. Next up, college orientation and getting ready to move. Kels will be attending the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. She has her room-mate all figured out - providing the paperwork is all processed correctly - and is starting to put together the things she's going to need to decorate the dorm room. Lil' TK will be attending the University of Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls, SD. He's excited to move to Sioux Falls and meet up with family friends that live there and have promised to become his second home. Both kids chose colleges that have purple as their colors, cats as their mascots, go by UST and USF and are in towns that start with an S. Twin-Coincidence? Ang thinks so...

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Decisions

The beginning of Senior Year for Kels and Lil' TK was spent discussing, visiting and deciding on a college. After visits to schools, visits to school counselors and visits to visiting schools AT school....the kids found their heart's desire. Kels fell in love with the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The beautiful campus in the heart of the big city felt like home. After a tense couple of weeks waiting for the a response, she got the t-shirt she'd been waiting for. Of course, Big TK loves the mascot name...Tommies.

Lil' TK found the University of Sioux Falls through a rep that visited West and after a fun day of touring, decided this is where he should be. The Christian Liberal Arts College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota has small class sizes, a beautiful campus but more importantly...felt like home. He took the initiative and applied online before telling Ang and Big TK and was thrilled to get his acceptance letter a few weeks later.

With the "where" decisions and deposits made, the next decision on the list is housing...which dorm and who to room with.

Both kids will have cats as their mascots and will be sporting purple and white starting next fall - one for UST and one for USF. Ang is tickled the "twin thing" showed up....however unintentional. ;o)

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Winter Sports 2013

Winter has arrived at the Shack. Brutal cold and winds are reminding us that we live in the land of extremes here in Minnesota. With the cold comes Winter Sports for Kels and Lil' TK - and by association, Ang and Big TK as well.

Kels has become a hockey fan and is looking forward to spending her winter months cheering on the Scarlets at the local ice rink. The team has started the season 2-0 with some big wins and everyone is saying this is the year for them to make a run at State. She was recognized at school as a "Shining Scarlet" with a small awards ceremony and continental breakfast. Shining Scarlets are nominated by the teachers each quarter. Kels was nominated by her Phy Ed teacher for her leadership and positive attitude.

Lil' TK was voted in as one of the Captains of the Wrestling team. He is the youngest of the 4 Captains and is looking forward to good season improving his strength and skill. The team is young but does have someone for every weight class which means they won't be losing points to forfeits. December will be busy with home meets on Thursdays and out of town tournaments on Saturdays in addition to practice on the non-meet week days but the practice is good and the meets are fun.


Having a son voted Captain means Big TK and Ang will be busy planning the food to feed the hungry wrestlers after each home meet, the big youth tournament in January and the end of the season banquet.

With all the sports and awards going on, Ang has not had the time or motivation to decorate for Christmas. This year Christmas Eve will be much different as God-Daughter, Katerbean, will be visiting her Grandmother in Oregon over the holidays. This will be the first Christmas Eve without Katerbean...but the kids are getting older and changes are bound to happen.

Right after Christmas, Kels and Lil' TK turn Sweet 16. The holidays are always such a hectic, but exciting time of the year. You'd think by now Ang would be more organized and ready for the chaos...

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

And they are off...

Lil' TK and Kels headed out to camp on Saturday night. 17 hr bus ride to paradise.

http://crookedcreek.younglife.org/Pages/default.aspx

Ang joked with them that they weren't camping as much as they were "glamping". Pool, hot tub, horses, lakes, mountains and lots and lots of potential new friends. They won't have buffet lines to shuffle through...they get served "family style" at their tables. Each "cabin" (group of 6-8 girls or boys) gets their own bathrooms.

The group leader has a blog that he updates so Ang and Big TK can keep up with the camp as much as possible. http://katoyl.blogspot.com/2013/07/we-have-arrived.html

The Dittos had to surrender their phones upon arrival.

One week without Twitter, Snapchat, texting and internet.

How will they survive?

Ang and Big TK think quite well.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Royals Baseball

The summer baseball season ended rather abruptly thanks to the crazy Minnesota weather. The Royals 15AAA Gold team entered the MBT State Baseball Tournament ranked 13th. Beautiful day for baseball on Friday, July 12th. The team dropped their first pool game to Eastview 3-0 in the morning but came back to win 10-0 against Oakdale in the afternoon. The final pool game was scheduled for Saturday morning. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and sent a deluge of rain storms. The game was pushed back 2 hours, then 4 hours...and finally the tournament decided to cancel the final pool game and use the first two games only to determine bracket play. Lil' TK and the Royals were done were the summer.

 

  

But before the end of the season, Ang was able to capture this shot of the team getting their "GQ"on. Take that, Mother Nature...

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Spring Showers Bring...Make Up Games

Kels and Lil' TK started softball and baseball in March. Or at least attempted to. The most annoying spring in MN history prevented outdoor practice and caused most of the early games to be rescheduled as double headers later in the spring in hopes that the weather would finally cooperate.

Kels made the Mankato West Scarlets JV team this year and was excited to play at a little higher level. At one point, however, they played 5 double headers in one week to make up games from the weather. It all paid off though as she was asked to suit up with the Varsity team for conference, sections and state games. The team won the Big 9 Conference Championship to start off the playoff season. Kels was put in to run in the 5th inning with the score at 12-3. She stole 2nd and 3rd and then scored on a great hit by her teammate to end the game under the 10 run rule. She was surprised by the rest of the team coming to home plate, cheering and congratulating her...thinking maybe the team mate had hit a home run. When she realized what she had been a part of it, she beamed, Ang finally exhaled and the entire Scarlet Nation went nuts!

 Lil' TK and the Mankato West Scarlets C-Squad team has won more than they lost and seem to have a really good time playing the game they love together. Lil' TK plays 2nd base and bats high in the order because he's been hitting well and can zip around the bases in a flash. Where he got that speed, Ang and Big TK have no idea but it's fun to watch.

 Next up for the Kopp Crew...The last day of school. It's obvious cabin fever is setting in. With the weather being what's it's been, everyone is hoping the start of June brings warm, summer type weather finally. Until then, it's traveling baseball with Lil' TK, league volleyball with Kels and same ol', same ol' for Big TK and Ang. And Abby...well, she'll just have to keep putting up with it all.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Can I borrow the car?

Another milestone has been achieved at the Kopp Shack. Kels and Lil' TK have their driving permits!

Ang found a few more gray hairs.
Big TK is excited to take them both driving around the Kato.

December (and 16th Birthdays!) will be here before ya know it.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Wrestling Season

Wrestling season has come to an end for Lil' TK. He finished the season with a 3-18 record. Which is 2 wins better than last year...so improvement! He was able to participate in both the team and individual sections tournament at the varsity level as well. It was a great experience for him. The best part was the team and family camaraderie.

Kels took the winter off (she really doesn't like basketball) and found she loves watching hockey. The boys high school team is on a winning streak heading into playoffs and sections with hopes of making it to state this year.

Big TK has been active with church playing in the contemporary band on Sundays and as a confirmation guide for a small group of boys. Ang is also a confirmation guide and is helping get the Dittos ready for confirmation this May! Seems like just yesterday, they were getting baptized at the same church. Time does fly.

Abby is as patient as ever and puts up with all the chaos like any dog would...sleeping on her comfy chaise lounger in the living room. She's even gotten to the point where she can block everyone out and snore away...when she was younger, she wouldn't close her eyes if someone was in the same room as her. Oh, the life of our lovable mutt.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

Scarlets Football 2012

The Freshman Scarlets finished 2012 football season with a 5-3 record. Lil' TK played wide receiver on offense and corner back on defense...most of the time playing both sides of the ball for the majority of the game.

Ang and Big TK had a great time cheering on their new high school football player. 

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love

No Rest For the Wicked...or the Kopps

Baseball and softball ended in July for Kels and Lil' TK, but August brought no down time as school sports ramped up with two-a-days for both kids.

First though, the Crew had a fun weekend visiting with Big TK's family from the northern iron range region. The weather cooperated perfectly. Even got to meet some new family members who now reside in California. Lots of kids, the annual bean bag tournament and of course, too much food. Ang and Tedna (aka "Team Hot Mamas") won the bean bag tournament. Never underestimate the power of a hot mama!

Kels had tryouts for West Volleyball. She was placed on the C-Squad's "Red" (A) team. She will be starting setter. She has a great serve too and will hopefully be perfecting that this season. The team won their first meet - which was scheduled before school even started. They met a tough Prior Lake team in their 2nd home meet and lost all matches. Kels is a captain on the team and is busy planning events with her co-captain "Hame".

Lil' TK worked through 2-3 hour practices in the summer heat for West Football. He was asked to play on Junior Varsity for a pre-season scrimmage but will be playing on the C-Squad team as well. He has been working on Corner Back, "Y" Wide Receiver (Ang has no idea what that means but all the WR's get a letter assigned - something about their routes?) and special teams as a punt returner. The C-Squad won their first game (away, of course - bummer!) 38-6. Ang and Big TK can't wait to watch their first home game the 2nd week in September.

Big TK is now working for his buddy, Bapper, at Factory Motor Parts. It seems to be going well, especially the weight loss part for him. Ang is still working away at The Occasions Group...19 1/2 years with Taylor Corp at this point. Looking forward to getting the 20 year gift catalog to pick from. They have gift certificates now. To Best Buy. New camera gear may be on the way!! Whoop whoop!

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(¸.•´ (¸.•' Peace and Love