Lots of Snow and Gma's Birthday

During our last two days in Rapids, it snowed. A lot. We estimate that over 20 inches fell between Tuesday and Wednesday. It made for some tricky road conditions on Thursday when we drove home ... but until then, we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Quinn had been begging to go sledding at Murphy Hill since we got arrived, so she, Mike, Dec, and I headed to the hill after lunch on Tuesday while Fiona went on a lunch date with Gma and Auntie. Fiona's plan was smarter. It was COLD and the wind was wicked. It was basically sand-blasting our faces with hard, icy snowflakes, especially when we had to face the wind to go down the hill. The snow was also so deep already that it was hard to cut through it to get any speed on the sled. 

Long walk up the hill short, we made it for about twenty miserable minutes before we called it and headed back to Gma and Gpa's house. 

Later that afternoon, Fiona was back and the wind seemed to have died down. So we grabbed the sleds and tried again at the sledding hill by Liv's house. We had been hoping for sledding company, but unfortunately, a bad cold was working its way through the cousin houses. The flu had also popped up at Auntie Tracey's house. Basically everyone we saw on Christmas Eve and Christmas day was sick. We are both grateful we saw them while they were healthy and we avoided those germs!

It was a much more enjoyable sledding experience. We packed down two trails, added a couple jumps, had tree obstacles, and basically lived our best lives. When we were done, we headed out to my cousin Harry's to walk the Grinch Trail. We were going to meet the cousins out there, but they passed because they still weren't feeling well. But we had the best time. The only disappointment was that Harry had strung a bunch of Christmas lights at the end of the trail and it was too light out when we finished to really appreciate them.

The next day was Grandma's 70th birthday!!!! We had big plans to spoil her rotten. The day started with me making a chocolate peanut butter bundt cake. The middle consisted of making brown sugar ribs and cheesy potatoes at Auntie's. And it ended with very happy, full tummies. Oh, and there were presents, snuggles with Grandma, movie watching, and happy hour (with sparkling juice for the kids) mixed in there too.

After dinner, Gma asked for peace and quiet to read her book - so the rest of us headed back out to the Grinch Trail to walk it at night. It was the perfect evening and Mother Nature was showing off! The new snow was hanging on the trees, the lights were amazing, and it was pure magic!

With visible unhappiness and threats of mutiny from the backseat, we loaded up and headed out Thursday morning. The good news was that Santa had visited while we were gone. So once the car was unloaded, they opened their gifts from Santa and enjoyed their new toys. Mike had to work on Friday, but the kids and I had until through the weekend to get ready to go back to real life.

Mt. Itasca Day

The day after Christmas, we decided to hit up the ski hill in Rapids. Winter is my favorite season and I love almost everything about it ... sledding, skating, snowshoeing, snowmen, even shoveling. 

But real truth, I do not know how to ski. I can sort of cross-country ski (if Mike ever catches up on the blog, I will know because he will make a comment about my epic wipeout last time we x-country skied together), but I have never downhill skied. And now that I have to pay my own medical bills and don't want a broken leg, I'm not so interested in learning [should have taken advantage of the interest from teenage me many years ago!].

Fiona is grown up me in 11-year-old form and is also not terribly interested in skiing either. But - Mt. Itasca has tubing and she and I were both down to try that. Mike knows how to ski, but wasn't sure about the interest from numbers 2 and 3. Our plan was to do a family day of tubing and if a group was interested in hitting the actual slope, we'd make that happen. 

We bought passes for everyone for the tubing slope. They were two-hour passes, but the hill didn't enforce the time limit - so Bugs and I tubed for three hours! I think everyone's favorite part was the rope tow that pulled us (in tubes) up the hill. I ended up with over 10,000 steps as it was - so I cannot imagine how tired I would have been if we were also climbing that hill! There were single tubes and doubles, which was perfect for our gang. Fiona decided she felt more comfortable in a double, so she and I partnered up for the afternoon and had the best time! 

After an hour or so, we headed to the chalet to warm up. From there, Mike, Quinn, and Dec decided to rent snowboards and try out the slope. Bugs and I were good to stick with the tubing! So we headed back to our happy place - only to find the tubing hills being freshly groomed. Holy fast, Batman! Those first few runs after the grooming are not for the faint of heart!

Meanwhile, Mike was also trying to figure out how to snowboard along with the rookies. He is a very good skier, but has not snowboarded since he was a teenager. He much prefers skis. Fiona and I could not stop laughing as he tried to get up on the snowboard when they were practicing on the bunniest of bunny hills. Both Q and D were doing better, and Mike was not a fan! Eventually they all felt minimally competent enough to get on the chair lift to the top of the "mountain" [what passes for mountains in Minnesota]. Mike would like the record to show that he did much better on actual slopes instead of the bunny hill. 

Bugs and I timed a "check in" pretty well and got to see them finish the first trip down. Quinn really wanted to try again, so she and Mike headed back to the chair lift. Dec decided to join Fiona and me on the tubing hill. While Fiona and I enjoyed sticking together, Dec had no time for us and left us in the dust (or snow powder) many times. It's fine ... totally normal for a 7yo to be independent on a giant ice-covered hill. 

We also ran into one of my sister's best friends and his family on the tube hill. Fiona was super excited to see Jeremy and ask to get a picture with him so she could show Auntie. Jeremy willingly obliged her big smile. I also think he wanted to make her happy because she and I had just survived a major crash at the bottom of the run. We ran straight into the ice/snow wall that is supposed to slow you down at the end of the hill - and when we went straight up, my weight caused her side of the tube to go up and then ricochet back. She basically folded in half and her head landed in my lap before it bounced back up. According to Jeremy, it was pretty epic - and looked really painful. He even texted my sister later that night to make sure Bugs was doing okay. She was - she was sore for a couple days, but no lasting damage.

We had the best day and I would not be surprised if this becomes a normal part of the Christmas break entertainment rotation. We also learned after the fact, that all Minnesota 4th graders (Quinn) can get a discounted pass that gets them in to every ski hill in the state. We were bummed - except here we are, end of January, with no free weekend in sight for Q and Mike to go to a ski hill around here. So maybe it's not such a big loss that we didn't jump on that opportunity.

Enjoying a White Christmas

Christmas morning was fun, relaxed, and delicious. As we opened stockings and presents, Gma had an egg bake cooking in the oven. That was a fantastic treat once we had finished the presents portion of the morning. We cut back a lot on presents this year across the board - and no one seemed to mind a bit. In fact, everyone seemed to be able to enjoy what they did get a little more. 

Fiona was thrilled by the white board and dry erase markers she got for her room; Quinn immediately wrapped herself up in her new tie dye blanket; and Declan made good use of his new Battleship game. 

They had opened their big presents from us before we headed north because this year, they were actually big. Declan got an air hockey table that has proven quite popular and Quinn got a balance beam. We got Fiona a chair for her desk, but I fell victim to the risks of online ordering and it was waaaaaaaaaay too small for her! Post-Christmas break, it was returned and a new chair has appeared in its place. 

After we all thoroughly enjoyed Gma's egg bake, I pulled out the gingerbread house kits that I had bought for Thanksgiving that were never used (ahem, covid). I put together two gingerbread treehouses and then divided the family into two teams. It was Mike, Gpa, Q, and Dec vs Fiona, me, Gma, and Auntie. 

We had 20 minutes to decorate our treehouses and it was, of course, a competition that was taken VERY seriously. The end results were pretty impressive. 

Early afternoon, we headed out to Auntie Tracey's house to see everyone, including Gpa Vanneste. It was a beautiful day, so our gang spent most of the afternoon outside. Auntie Tracey and Uncle Kyle have a rather death-defying drop-off at the end of their hill, which of course meant we needed to sled it. There were a lot of wipeouts and bailouts - combined with a ton of laughter. Gpa watched from the window and thought we were all crazy!

Declan (and the girls) also spent plenty of time checking out Nate and Ben's new slot track. There were some serious races. Auntie and I spent our time placing cars back on the track. I think their favorite part was making the cars fly off around the corners. And, of course, there was playing with the cats too. That was probably Fiona's favorite part of the day. So when we got back to Gma and Gpa's, no one was allowed near Gpa until they were showered and wearing clean clothes! [And a convenient reason for me to require the showers that they very much needed]

We had a wonderful dinner back at Gma and Gpa's, played a few more games of Battleship, and started a movie to end our night. The day was a perfect balance of activity, downtime, outside time, and fun. We never felt rushed, but the day have a good amount of things to look forward to. As we tucked the kids in that night, they all agreed it was a very merry Christmas. 

We Were Not Messing Around with Christmas Eve Traditions

Remember how last year's Christmas Eve was good but different? Well, the pendulum swung right back squarely to the traditions camp this year! And honestly, it was one of our favorite days of the whole year. Christmas Eve is honestly the very best.

We started the morning with [very needed] haircuts for the girls and me. Mike and Dec dropped us off and then headed out to Anna and Luke's for Christmas Eve morning skating. Dec loved his solo time with Hux, Milo, and Otto (and the dads!) before the sisters got there. Once the girls were done with their cuts, Auntie scooped them up and brought them out to join the skating party. Bugs would like the record to reflect that her haircut took 13 minutes and Q's took over 30 minutes! #2 has so much hair!

While I got my hair cut, I hear there was a very exciting game on the Francisco rink. Mike V, Mike J, and Jesse took on the kids in an epic battle. I missed the whole thing (my dad picked me up and brought me out when my haircut was done. Nothing like needing a ride from your dad to bring on nostalgia of the good old days!), but caught all the grins as they warmed up with hot cocoa. Fiona was still skating when I got there, so I was able to watch her a bit. 

After the skating party, we headed to Gma and Gpa's for lunch. Then we relaxed a bit, decorated Christmas cookies, made reindeer food, and finished the movie we had started the night before. Then it was time to head out to the lake lot for pre-party sledding, We were the first ones to arrive at Brenda and Mike's, so got our own ride in the trailer over to the sledding hill. Not long after, the rest of the cousins joined. Hux told Fiona that he couldn't wait to 1) sled with her and 2) hit a tree. They managed both on the very first fun!

All the kids are fully independent, which meant that the adults got to have just as much fun as they did on the hill. Next year, we may need a few extra sleds ... because kids were not always willing to share their sleds with us. I was just as disappointed as the kids when Luke told us that it was time to head back to the party. We all piled into the wagon and giggled our way back to the house.

We ate a delicious dinner and then didn't really see the kids for the next few hours ... other than when it was present time. It was just the best return to some normalcy and we were all so happy to be back together to celebrate the holidays. It was a evening spent with our favorite people, laughing, visiting, eating so much food, and snuggling Baby Arlo [he's so delicious]. 

After the party, we read The Night Before Christmas and tucked everyone into bed. And with that, all our favorite traditions were back and we fell asleep with smiles on our faces. Especially Declan, who is sure he saw reindeer flying in the middle of the night. 

Annual Moonlight Walk and Auntie Dates

Thursday morning, we loaded up and pointed the car north. The kids happily watched their favorite Christmas movies in the car (the Disney Christmas Sing-a-long lives on! At this point, it doesn't feel like Christmas until three of us have watched it and two of us have listened to it from the front seat!) and we made good time. Always grateful for decent traffic and no one puking (Dec did feel a bit carsick for the ride because he overheated early on. But we managed it). 

We unloaded the car and then I brought Quinn to meet Auntie at her work. Part of Auntie's gift to the kids this year was 1-on-1 dates with each of them. Q's date was first and was a total surprise ... Auntie had arranged for Q to help in the kitchen for a couple hours. Q was delighted! After a kitchen tour and some cooking, they took a break for hot chocolate. When they were done, Mike, Fiona, Dec, and I met them for a little happy hour and apps. 

Then after dinner, we bundled up and headed out for our annual moonlight walk in the woods. We brought the sleds with us for the hill, but for the most part, small humans were self-propelled! The sledding hill was DARK (not a lot of moonlight), so Gpa stood in a strategic spot and shined a flashlight. Nonetheless, we hit a few trees and broke a sled. We figure that means it was good fun! We continued across the swamp and then walked back home on the lake. It was just a beautiful evening and we had so much fun outside! 

Fiona and Dec had their dates after Christmas. On the morning of the 27th, Auntie and Dec decided to eat popcorn, play games, and watch Encanto. Auntie said that they had a blast and remarked on the level of energy D brings to everything he does. Then that evening after dinner, Fiona headed down the road with Auntie for popcorn, girl talk, and a movie. This time, Auntie got to watch Princess Protection Program, which she remembers watching when she was a teenager. They both returned to Gma and Gpa's with smiles on their faces [although they did show up 7 minutes past curfew, for the record!].

They still talk about their dates with Auntie and how much fun they had!

The Last Days Before Winter Break

Once the piano recital was complete, all we had between us and twelve days of Winter Break was Mike's birthday, a couple days of school, and the first two days at my new job!

Saturday afternoon, after hockey was over, the girls had a Secret Santa party with a few of their friends. This meant we didn't see them for most of the day - and Mike and I got two-on-one Declan time. The dude wasn't too sure about it at first, but once he realized that he got to dictate the agenda of the evening ... well, he was all in. We ended up going sledding in the old neighborhood (and stopped by to say hello to a few of our favorites!). Then we picked up Arby's on the way home and made a movie night of it. Pro tip: watch Luca. It's super sweet.

Then we celebrated Mike's birthday a day early on Sunday because we had plans to go to the Team USA v Team Canada women's hockey game on his actual birthday. Quinn's whole hockey team was going and even Fiona was excited to watch the game. We made a special birthday dinner [both Mike and I can remember was good ... but neither of us can remember what it was. Because when you blog a month later, you forget things!] and I proved to the kids that I can, in fact, make cheesecake. Everyone was a fan of the dessert! 

We do remember that Mike didn't get to use his new birthday present for his birthday. We combined our birthday money and his holiday bonus from work and bought a Traeger grill. I joke that it's his present - but let's be honest. Anytime I don't have to cook dinner on my own, it's a gift to me too. We didn't get to test it out until January, but so far, we are very pleased!

Unfortunately, six hours before game time, the hockey game was canceled out of covid caution. While we understand, it also felt like a very late and arbitrary decision. Quinn (and her teammates) were so disappointed. In order to patch some bruised hearts, we went out to eat at a local cafe for Mike's birthday proper. It opened during The Covid Times and the kids have asked repeated to try it out. We were the only ones in the restaurant, which was lovely - but we also felt terrible for the business. As we were leaving, a few more customers arrived. Whew. Then Mike and the kids played out on the rink until I ruined lives and called them in for bed. While not the birthday we had planned, it was still a fun day! [I declined the rink time and nursed a migraine instead. The first day at a new job is exhausting!]

We also fit in some time to watch Mike's favorite Christmas movie - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Quinn cracks me up more than the movie does (which is saying something!) because she honestly does.not.laugh the entire movie. She claims she likes it, but her face says otherwise.

The kids and I made it through two days of school/work (seriously, two days of work and then twelve days off is not a bad deal!) and used Wednesday to pack for our trek north. We loved how Christmas in the new house felt (yay for new, taller tree and stockings hung by the fireplace!), but we were so ready to get out of town. Christmas up north is our favorite and we couldn't wait!

First Piano Recital

The kids got home from school on Friday, December 17, buzzing with energy. That night was their first piano recital! The first recital ever for both Quinn and Declan. And the first in-person recital for Fiona. Up to this point, her other recitals have been virtual. They were very excited and quite nervous. I think they were equal parts sad that their cheering section was pretty small and thankful that their cheering section was pretty small. 

After a quick dinner, we got down to the business of hair (the girls) and working ourselves up to putting on the pre-agreed-upon non-athletic pair of pants (Dec). About halfway through curling all Quinn's hair (which was like 25 minutes into curling), I was seriously worried we were going to run out of time before I finished with her head! I still had Buggy's head to deal with after hers. Yikes! But I somehow managed to get through all of Q's hair and put some beachy waves in Bugs' hair. I also got big time mom points for having found her a black velvet jumper earlier in the day. She rocked it and loved it!

All three kids did a really great job and felt quite proud of themselves. Not one of them remembered to bow after they played. They just awkwardly stared at the audience and then hustled back to their seats. So funny! Pretty good showing for the first official in-front-of-an-audience recital for all!

Feeling Very North Pole

We were still in quarantine when our annual Legion breakfast with Santa happened. All three kids were surprisingly disappointed to miss it. So I promised I would find another Santa visit opportunity for them. Based on the weekend schedule (and the weather), Sunday afternoon was our best option. I was delighted to find outdoor Santa photos at a local restaurant on Prior Lake. 

As luck would have it, Mike had an early game of his own Sunday night that the kids and I could actually go to! So we decided to eat a combo late lunch/early dinner at the restaurant after seeing Santa. It was the first time the five of us have eaten out together in almost two years. When we got the bill, we remembered how expensive it is to feed five people at a nice restaurant. Might be another two years before we go out again ... [ha!]

Mike asked me while we drove to the restaurant what my Plan B was if the line was really long for Santa. I told him there was no Plan B, so to think good thoughts. While the restaurant parking lot was quite full (it's also a very small parking lot), there was virtually no line. I think we waited for maybe three minutes. The kids were so excited that both Santa and Mrs. Claus were there! They climbed into the sleigh, told Santa what they wanted, and smiled for a picture. Easy peasy.

Then we headed in to eat and the children remembered that nice restaurants are hard because you have to wait a looooooooong time for your food. To pass the time, Fiona made up a game. It's essentially Rock, Paper, Scissors - but instead was Santa, Elves, Reindeer. So funny! Then after we were done eating, we ordered dessert. The kids have been asking about cheesecake lately, so we got a slice of caramel apple cheesecake to share. Needless to say, they loved it. They also expressed extreme doubt when I told them I knew how to make cheesecake. Mike's birthday cake the following week may or may not have been a homemade cheesecake! [Well played, children]

After a short break, we piled in the car to head to Mike's game. Unfortunately Uncle Brad wasn't able to make the game (and Q was not happy). But she got to watch Coach Mike (not her dad), Coach Mike (her dad), and Coach Nathan (another Shako coach) play. Coach Nathan's family came too. His oldest son plays at the same level as Q and his younger son is at the same level as Dec. The five kids had a great time running around the rink and cheering for their dads. Mike's team even handily won, which made the trip even better.. Always so much fun to go watch our favorite grown up hockey player. 

The Magic of the First Snow Day

Most of us came out of quarantine (*cough Declan cough*) in time for me to head back in to the office ... to resign. After 15 and a half years at Emerson, I was leaving. That sentence makes it sound so.much.easier than it actually was. In truth, it was the hardest easiest decision I've had to make professionally. Emerson has been my family for a long time - and I loved my current job, team, and awesome network of friends.

But the new opportunity was just too great to pass up. Even good friends at Emerson who wanted to give me a hard time for leaving couldn't when they heard about the new role. It's absolutely something I needed to take a chance on! While there were many sleepless nights leading up to the resignation, everyone was so incredibly supportive and I proud of how I transitioned out. 

I'm on Week 3 (but with the holidays, Day 4) at C.H. Robinson and I'll tell you more about that in a different post.

All that to say, my final day at Emerson was ... weird. A huge winter storm was predicted to blow in that Friday afternoon so my happy hour was postponed to the following week. My boss told everyone to work from home ... except for the two of us. We headed in, finished up a few transition plans, packed my cube, and were on the road by 1pm. Only a few flakes were falling at that point, so the drive home wasn't too back. I ate a quick lunch and by 2pm (when the kids were due home - school was releasing 2 hours early to beat the weather), I was out shoveling about 2 inches off the driveway. 

The kids immediately put their gear on and gathered their neighborhood friends. Our backyard has a great sledding hill and promises to be a popular winter gathering spot! The kids sledded, played in the snow, helped me shovel the rink, and enjoyed the storm for over 3 hours. There is nothing more magical than a snow day. And since I was temporarily unemployed, I was able to simply enjoy the magic with them. Around 5, we invited the gang in for hot chocolate and then tucked in for the night. 

The roads were getting pretty questionable by the time Mike headed home from work. I had just finished shoveling another 3 inches off the driveway when he pulled in. Quinn had hockey practice, but Mike and I decided that a snow day and a family night were more needed than practice. We ordered pizza, ate Christmas cookies, turned on the fire, and watched a movie! All with the snow continuing to fall rapidly outside. It was the perfect winter day!

After we put the kids to bed, the day became slightly less perfect (adulting is hard). Mike's rink hadn't frozen through yet, so the weight of all the snow on the ice had pushed it down and pushed water up. Mike and I spent over an hour shoveling the heaviest slush I've ever tried to move. Especially when one has to throw it over the boards. Mike was convinced that the rink was ruined for the year, but I know he would save it. [Spoiler alert: he did!] We wanted to give up when we trudged back to the front of the house and saw about 7 inches on the driveway. Thankfully, our neighbor and his snowblower took care of it for us. We were tapped (and we learned our lungs were not fully recovered from our covit bout). 

It snowed all night and there was probably another 7-8 inches on the driveway in the morning. Mike figures we got around 20 inches total. We did not make it to Q's 7:45am scrimmage (through very little effort on our part), but Mike and I did work hard to clear the driveway so she could make her 10:45 game. We got a path cleared for them - just in time for the plow to come through and deliver the plow pack death blow to the end of the driveway. I shoveled it as fast as my covid lungs would allow while Mike and Q got ready for the game. I cleared a path just wide enough for them to get out - and then our neighbor snowblowed the rest for me later. 

We spent the rest of Saturday playing in the snow and shoveling all.the.things. Including our shed. Mike got it framed up during quarantine - but he hasn't got the roof on it yet. So yes, we shoveled the driveway, rink, deck, patio, stairs, and inside of the shed. No wonder our arms were sore for the next few days!

Holiday Fireworks

Alternate title: The Day We Finally All Left The House!

By Saturday, December 4, Dec was on his last day of quarantine. He had been stuck in the house for three weeks and one day. Boyfriend was over.it! His spirits were greatly lifted, however, when he came downstairs to find our elf Tyler had returned and brought his annual North Pole breakfast. Neither D nor Q lasted very long before they came to wake up the rest of us for breakfast.

Tyler brought donuts, strawberries, hot cocoa, matching buffalo plaid pjs, and tree ornaments for each of them. Declan got a baseball glove, Fiona got the Hogwarts school crest, and Quinn got a beautiful hand-blown set of hockey skates. 

Approximately, 45 seconds after admiring them, Q's skates got knocked off the table onto the hardwood floor. Want to know what hand-blown glass does when it meets wood? It shatters. So do Q's feelings. But don't worry, Tyler brought her a new ornament a couple days later that was significantly less breakable. [Sweet D offered to let Q hang his glove ornament on the tree. He felt so sad for her.]

That night was the annual (except for last year) town Christmas tree lighting. Instead of the usual parade, there was a "walk through" parade. And there would be fireworks. Since Dec was on his final hours of quarantine and everything was outside, we decided to go to the festivities, mask up, and keep our distance from people. The parade was pretty much done by the time we got downtown, but we walked through what was left. Then we grabbed a great spot to see the tree lighting. 

Hannah and Cheryl joined us for fireworks and the four kiddos had so much fun watching them. There is something so magical about winter fireworks (especially since they go off at 5:30pm!). We had a great debate about the best fireworks (complete with sound effects ... as that is a factor in which fireworks are the best!) and thoroughly enjoyed the finale!

We grabbed takeout on the way home and then settled in for a a Christmas movie. It was the perfect way to welcome the Christmas season - and to finally all leave the house together. That felt just a magical as Christmas!