Hey everybody. I'm writing to you right now from a suburb of Minneapolis Minnesota called Excelsior. We're staying in a barn that was converted into a house. it's very nice and they have highspeed internet on wireless so i'm excited to share some photos with you. This first picture is of our drummer from minnesota and his daughter betty. Betty is only just 2 years old and is amazing at talking, she's very smart and very kind. she got to hang out with us all day yesterday.Here is a picture of perry presenting world vision to a group of students at the minnehaha high school.
There was an amazing response to the world vision talk
Kids were signing up to sponsor a child left right and center
162 children were sponsored - this is a world record. It was so amazing.
Yesterday we went to guitar center to look for a bass for me *which we found one by the way, my dream bass* but while we were there the air raid sirens for tornado warnings started going off. we looked outsid and saw this crazy green sky! then the rain started going almost straight sideways! it was super scary!

more world vision presenting
old way of navigating
new way of navigating

here is a video of me at a health store called trader joes, i was drivng a cart. good times. no one kicked me off. i love minnesota.

Last Florida Post

Well i'm back from florida! It's good to be home. I wanted to post some pictures of Gatorland - a place we went yesterday to see and feed some aligators. check out these picturesThis was during a 'gator wrestling' show. You couldn't pay me enough to do what that guy is doing.
We payed a bit of extra money and got to get within 3 feet of these gators and feed them chunks of chicken. It was really cool to see how they feed. They only eat out of the sides of their mouths and they can't see anything straight infront of them

At the feeding hole they all try to climb on top of eachother to get closer to the front. So, if you throw your piece of chiken to the back row they all splash around and fight for it!
Here's an example of them eating with the side of their mouth
Here is Shanna throwing a piece of chicken into the crowd. The only that seperated us from them was a little stick that the guide was holding - yet somehow we all felt safe. HA!
How's that for close?

Here's a good part of the group that was on tour. Nate on the left from houston texas (electric guitar), Myself (bass), Shanna (Jareds wife, and Merchandise Girl), Mike from Minnesota was flown into do a promotional video for the band and my good friend Jared (drums)





Everyday we were in florida it rained. Usually just around mid day for 2 or so hours. Except for yesterday - just after we got to feed the gators it poured rain like you would not believe - it basically poured like this late into the evening. Even the airport flooded on their bottom floor and escalators were shut down and flights were delayed! But we got home safe and sound!

Who knows what my next adventure will be! There's word of an October Hawaii tour!

Till Next Time,

Steve

Forida - Tour Days

ey Guys, Sorry it's been so long. The tour has come to a close, tomorrow we have a day off - going to see some alligators at at an alligator farm then we travel home on thursday.

We've played 16 concerts in 3 days. no, i'm not kidding. By the end of the week we will have played 20 events in 7 days (we're playing 4 services at Northview in Abbotsford this week)

For those of you who don't know, I've been on tour playing bass with Perry and The Poorboys. I've known Perry a long time and we've recently started to play together quite a bit. It's a lot of fun and i get to travel and play with a good band so i enjoy it.

For this particular tour we've been blessed to only have to play one built in venue - the LCMS Lutheran Youth Gathering, It takes place once every 3 years and this year there are 27,000 or so kids at the event. I've never seen so many people in one area in my life. We did do 1 off site concert for 600 kids from kansas, that was a lot of fun. here are some pictures from our busy time here thus far.

This one is for Courts. I found this gecko on the screen meshing around our swimming pool. I florida there are so many creatures, mosquitos, geckos and alligators that out door poolyards have these huge framed in mesh things like this. i'll get a better picture to show you guys tomorrow. The body of this gecko was only about an inch long, maybe a bit less. The thing was just tiny

This is the main auditorium to the youth conference

On the first day of the conference there was a pilot writing messages in the sky! he wrote Got Jesus, God = :) and a few other things - just goes to show how much of a big deal this youth conference is
This is a picture from the night that we did the Kansas District Concert. These kids were really responsive and really got into it.
Our merch table
This is a photo for my Mom, Ricka, and Carolyn. It says MN essentials you do not need in Orlando.
This is a picture of perry with a few of our new fans. If you look closely they have orange buttons on their shirts that say 'kiss me, i'm lutheran' i don't think i understand that. mom? do you get that?

Talk to you guys soon, - also, feel free to comment! It makes me feel like blogging more often if i know someone is reading!

Floriday Day 2

Once we got to florida we found that we didn't have to play until Sunday. So Jared and Shanna and I decided to spend some time at Universal Orlando . We went on tons of rides and had lots fun. We went to the hardrock cafe for dinner and saw a person with 2 heads. i'm not even kidding. 2 heads, 2 names, one body. Here are some pictures from the day!
I tried to get this guy in the weak spot but he got kind of upset with me
Dad, this ones for you! I know you love the blues
I got to volunteer to sail on a boat for a blue screen demonstration, i'm pretty sure i'm a natural.
Jared was to scared to go on all the big coasters, so shanna and i went on them. This particular one is called the Hulk. It was intense. Another we went on is called Dueling Dragons - a feet free coaster that battles against another coaster. At one point the coasters come within 12 inches oc eachother



This guy would turn his jet ski around and spray people
In one of the twin parks there was a huge lake and they did water sports on them - a big show. It was lots of fun

Gotta go - going to see a movie!

I love courtney nickel.

SK.

Florida Day 1

So a few days ago i travelled to florida with a few friends to play some music. Jared and Shanna, Perry, Julia, Helen, Emma and Ryan and I all travelled down to Sunny Orlando to play at a huge youth conference - there are 26,000 kids at this event. It's the largest set up i've ever seen. I'll post pictures of that later
On the way to landing there were about 80 or so thunderstorms going on. There were massive thunderstorms everywhere. when we were above the clouds the sky looked amazing! when we landed in the airport it was pouring rain like you wouldn't believe. Jared said it was the worst driving weather he'd ever experienced while driving from the rental car place to the airport.
After we left the airport the sky cleared and this is some of the sights that we got to see
Here is the mirmaid, trust me, you don't want to see whats behind those tree's.
more sky
we're staying in a 5 bedroom villa with a private pool and hottub. its lots of fun, except for nate from texas, he kind of smells funny. but i'll get over it.

Thats it for now.

Airport Posting

Well, we're on our way home. we're all sitting in the airpot at bologna waiting for our flight. i have a few minutes left of internet i bought so i thought i would give you all some photos and an update.

Please pray for those of our crew who don't travel well,

The two young families, mama toews, courts and ricka, jenny, and maybe some others. also, please pray that i can be awarded an exit row for our next 9hr flight from london to vancouver. check out the shots and see you soon!The other night we went to dinner in a dungeon that we'd ate in before. look at this bruschetta! mmmmmmhm

Prince Ali
look at those big monster lips!