What we did, read, watched and thought about this month.

Todd R.: Went south for a few days, staying on the river in Savannah and then with some friends on their boat in Jacksonville. They are taking the Great Loop tour over the next two years, and this was our chance to join their adventures. Best food was Scallops Rockefeller at Vic’s River Grill in Savannah. Best tours were also Savannah – the Prohibition Museum tied with a walking tour that brought us to many of the squares and the Mercer House. I did have time to knock off John Sandford’s latest novel, Toxic Prey, which brought Lucas and Letty together to work on the same case. With an early end to the Wild season, we are slowly making our way through both The Shield and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, with the latter serving as a way of cleansing the tension after a few episodes of the former. But with a second grandchild arriving April 5th and a third coming in June, our streaming time may start to dwindle.

Rich: April was a great month. I love how much daylight we gain in April! The golf courses opened for the season and I have played twice. Still lots of room for improvement, but I have months to work on the swing. On April 8, I completed another trip around the sun and had a fun celebration with our family. Our New York kids, Emma and David (with Andy and Olive), visited us in Minneapolis and gave us five days with everyone here. Always lots of stories and fun when the whole family is together.

Of course, we have really been enjoying the newest edition to the family, our granddaughter, Elin. Her parents, Zach and Ava, have adjusted to their new roles as parents with great success. We have spent as much time with them as we can (or they will allow), and had the opportunity to babysit ourselves when her parents needed us. Although we had five babies of our own, it still is amazing to experience how wonderful babies are. I can’t wait for our next time with Elin.

Todd S.: I will always remember April 2024 as the month when I came down with strep – not once, but twice. Everything else is a blur. ... If pressed, I might recall that Baby Reindeer on Netflix is brilliant and gut-wrenching to watch. Fallout was more creative than I expected, and apparently, I’m the only one in my family who is paying attention to Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.

Jodi: Aging. We can’t avoid it. Yet, as we get older, it feels like we only celebrate it one day a year. I celebrated another trip around the sun in April and reflected a bit on aging. I am more confident in my 50s than I was in my 20s. I find more enjoyment in the simplest pleasures now than in my 30s. I worry less about the little things in life than I did in my 40s. I celebrated this year with our first “grilling out” at the lake, followed by a delicious pastry from Rose Street Patisserie. As I look to the next year, I am excited about what lies ahead. I read Smart Brevity by the co-creators of Axios and Politico on one rainy Saturday afternoon. Quick read, very insightful with great tips. I am now working on one of my goals – saying more with less!

Sean: I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday month. Got to kick things off with an all-expenses paid trip to Aruba, courtesy of a friend’s company who let me tag along as his plus one. It wasn’t exactly adventurous, but it certainly delivered what I needed. In the words of Ryan Gosling’s “Ken”, my job was simply “beach.”

On the home front, milestones were achieved as James went from taking a few steps to walking around consistently. Watching him grow, find his rhythm and develop a personality has been an absolutely magical experience.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I have been glued to every Timberwolves game (even got to hang out courtside at a recent fan event). Thirty-four years of fandom is finally paying off and it almost feels like it was worth all the misery.

Anna: Warmer weather has meant hours of outdoor play, which Owen and I are both enjoying. We took a family excursion to Dinkytown, where we ate cheeseburgers and shared a strawberry chocolate malt at the recently reopened Annie’s Parlour, and swung by The Book House. Ike and I relished a weekend getaway to Duluth, where we stayed at the Merryweather Inn, a beautiful 120-year-old mansion. We meandered through Chester Creek Books and Antiques, which evoked the delightful sense of being lost in a well-read and scattered professor’s office. Per Todd Rapp’s recommendation, we also ate in the solarium at Va Bene, where I had one of my favorite meals to date – white wine with Pesto Frutti Di Mare (shrimp and scallops with sundried tomato pesto sauce and rigatoni pasta). I’m still dreaming about it.

Meredith: This month I did something I normally wouldn’t do — I watched a television series based on a book series I loved growing up: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Since it has been a while since I read the books, my memory of exact details is hazy, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of animation and acting. My cousin and I binge-watched the entire season while putting together puzzles and playing with her cats. I also learned that I have no idea what a 12-year-old kid should look like because the actors seemed so tiny and young. Still, they did a great job. When I got home from visiting my cousin in Iowa City, I thought I might see if the Percy Jackson movie was just as good since it had drastically different actors and animation. Comparatively, it was so bad that I turned it off within 30 minutes. If you are a lover of Greek mythology, I would clearly recommend the TV series over the movie.

Cullen: In April, I took a tour-de-Colorado to see several long-time friends. Lauren and I spent our first few days in and around Gunnison, hiking in the mountains and along the Gunnison River. Exhausted and sunburned, we returned to the Denver area for the remainder of our trip to see several more friends from college and explore the city. This included a stop at Red Rocks Amphitheater and an excellent dinner at Tamayo. We even got crafty with our credit card points and scored a heavily discounted room for one night at The Brown Palace, which was the closest I have ever felt to royalty.

On the plane, I finished Rule of Wolves (oh yeah, #WolvesBack) and finally watched Everything Everywhere All at Once, which had my head spinning by the time we landed. I also started This is How You Lose the Time War and 3 Body Problem, so now I am fully down the multi-verse rabbit hole. Back home in Madison I relished the warm weather with more bike rides around Lake Monona and a visit to Grampa’s Pizzeria, which was as good as advertised.

Julia: Almost half of Rapp Strategies staff had a birthday in April, so we had lots of great snacks around the office this month! On my birthday, Meredith brought brownies, tiramisu (my favorite) and lemon bars. On Jodi’s birthday, I brought in a box of Cardigan Donuts. This will be hard to beat in May. I spent a quiet Tuesday birthday with friends and ate a delicious dinner with family at Meritage. Once patio weather actually begins in Minnesota, I’ll be sure to ring in a belated birthday celebration.

For media, I started watching Designing Women while I do chores around the house. My parents claim I am named after Julia Sugarbaker, which I now understand to be a high honor. As I commute, I am listening to the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast which goes chronologically through each Digital Short the Lonely Island made for SNL back in their heyday. As a big comedy fan, it has lots of fun insights into their process and what it was like at SNL in the Aughts.

Alida: April was a lot of fun. I got to visit my parents in Florida for a long weekend at the beginning of this month where I soaked up some much-needed sunshine. I also took a quick trip down to Chicago towards the end of the month to check in on my old stomping grounds and see friends. Chicago was particularly fun because a dear friend from high school, who now lives in New York City and works in the art world, was representing a gallery at the annual Art Expo Chicago that weekend. She got me and another friend VIP passes, so we took full advantage and spent an afternoon perusing the many impressive galleries. Now, it's time to re-pot my indoor plants and prepare to enjoy the warmer weather ahead!

Colette: April was a month filled with surprises, the biggest of which was a proposal from Dylan! During a weekend trip to Spearfish, a scenic town surrounded by the beauty of the Black Hills, I said yes! Basking in the excitement we enjoyed a hike to Roughlock Falls, laughed as we observed mountain goats alongside the roadway, and enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner at Nonna’s Kitchen.

Madison: With the weather warming up, April was filled with a lot of long walks outside and patios with friends. My spring semester of grad school wrapped up in late April and it feels amazing to have a full year completed - only one more to go! 

After wrapping up my final projects for the spring semester, some college friends and I went to Boston for a girl's trip. I've never been to the East Coast and let's just say I wasn't disappointed. We ate way too many cannoli and walked about six miles every day. We did all the classic tourist attractions: View Boston at the Prudential Tower, ate a lobster roll at Saltie Girl, walked around Salem, went on a historic boat tour off the Boston Seaport and had dinner at the oldest restaurant in America - Union Oyster House. Excited for summer activities and weather to kick off in May.