Welcome to "Formanek Pond."  Our family moved to Wadena, Minnesota in the fall of 1994 to pursue our careers as a registered nurse (Traci) and a high school visual arts teacher (Jim) and have loved our time here.  Both of our parents live in our home town of Forest City, Iowa but often times come up to visit us and their grandchildren.  Mikena and Josie are now 11 and 8 years of age.
   This website is a journal of our lives in the summer and winter here in Minnesota and the places we visit.  Near the end of summer 2006 we bought an addition to our summer activities with the purchase of a 25' pontoon boat which you will find in the "Toon Tales" link.  The winter of 2006 we purchased a backyard ice rink kit and are learning to skate all together.  Now the winters are filled with rink outings and snow stories.
  Updates will be frequent so be sure to keep watching the Recent Updates link below along with the main pull-downs above.

İRex McDonald Studio

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.:: New Updates

2.28.10 "Mikena's Skating Party"  
  Mikena's skating party started out like a Junior High Dance.  Girls on one side and boys on the other.  They soon started enjoying the 40 degree weather and skated for 6 hours straight.  The day ended with a couple of the boys being made up by the girls.

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2.27.10 "Josie's Skating Party"

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3.7.10 "The last Hurrah?"
   42 degrees today and the snow pack is going fast.  The girls have been wanting to go snowmobiling for over 3 weeks and I haven't taken them.  Finally today I loaded up their Sno Scoots and took them to Tapley Park. 

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3.3.10 "Just When You Think It Is Over"
   Mother Nature can be such a tease, temptress and sometimes just a plain ol' bitch.  I love winter.  Not so much the real cold spells, but I can't get enough snow.  If a storm dumps 15" of snow at my location, I want 16".  If it doesn't snow once a week, I keep looking at forecasts hoping something changes.  Once I get back from my annual snowmobile trip to the U.P. I am not as obsessed.  Still obsessive however.

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2.7 - 2.12.10 "2010 U.P. Trip"

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1.23.10 "A Weekend Away at the Water Park"

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1.29.10 "Rock n' Roll Wrestling" What better way to break in the bus than midget wrestling?

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"The Uptown Party Bus.  Another new idea, more money and more for Jim to do."    
   Maybe you remember this bus from the 2007-2008 Formanek Pond Journal.  We took a voyage in the bus with Kenny driving us from place to place.  Ever since I can remember I have always loved to entertain people and share time and adventures.  Just imagine what I will come up with on this bus!  Traci... not too impressed yet.  :)

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1.10.10 "Trail Scoots" Finally I get some time to ride with Mikena and Josie.  Our snow situation is not great, but their persistence brought us together to enjoy each other and winter.

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1.6.10 "Boys Night Out Ride"

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12.26.09 "New Years Eve Ride" Since we received our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day snow the girls have been anxious for me to get the Sno Scoot's out and running.  I seem to have so many things pulling at me that I can't keep my head straight.  Too many times I have to do things that pull me away from my kids and family.

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12.26.09 "Plowing the Rink"  During one of my "conversations" with Doug at The Uptown he mentioned how last year he took responsibility for plowing the outdoor rink.  He started to use only his four wheeler with the plow on it then toward the middle of last season realized ...

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12.30.09 "First Ride"  Wednesday nights has traditionally been "Boys Night Out."  When there is snow it becomes riding night.  Tonight was our first of the season.

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December 2009 "Snow Stories"

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Enjoy and feel free to contact us at: formanek@wcta.net
 

 
 

Traci, Jim, Mikena & Josie Formanek
Year two.
 
 

İFormanek Designs

Formanek Designs
formanek@wcta.net
218/631-7356
www.formanekdesigns.com