New Years

We went up to the lake house for New Year's.

We brought Ann and met O'd and family from Chi-Town. Ann went back with them to spend a few days before flying home to D.C. Of course Olive came as well. She was not sure about this new environment - but felt better once we got her kennel set up. She also loved being out in the snow.



Cody was on a Cross Country Ski team trip for the first few days and Slade and I actually had to go and pick him up from Duluth, MN - it was a solid 11 hours of driving that day. But, he had a great trip and has really gotten into being on the team and doing the races. He is learning classic and skate skiing.

It was really fun to have the older college-bound cousins with us for a few days (Alex and Wes). It is amazing to watch them mature into such amazing adults.

We had many poker games, much board game playing, one day we went to Pine Mountain for skiing - except Ann, O'd, Olive and I hung out in the Lodge. We had a good taste off of the different Old Fashioned drinks - the Wisconsin version (sweet) and the Michigan version (sour). The sweet won out.

Here are some pics from Pine Mountain:

Cody, Wes, Graham



Zane



Seby & Liam




Seby and Liam had a great time skiing together. Liam usually tries to do snowboarding - and this year I think realized he didn't like it and ended up trying downhill. He was amazing. First time and he and Seby were going up the lift and down the hill on their own (well after many runs with adults or older siblings/cousins) - but by the end of the day it was just the two of them going up and down. It was awesome!

Back at the lake house Seby was really getting into Cross Country skiing. He was a trail blazer on a few trips out. Graham spent a lot of time trying to help Zane figure out the skiing - more work is required for both of them!

The day we left Minneapolis we also dropped in the mail our closing documents for purchasing the lot next to us. We are very excited about getting this property, as our driveway has an easement on it. Here is the lake view from this new parcel.



Zane and I observed several times a little bird coming into the front porch (the screen door was stuck in a slightly open fashion). We were able to get a photo of it sitting on one of the many stones brought up during the summer.



We also had a few amazing sunsets while up there. One night I also saw a touch of the Northern Lights (but I was going to bed and didn't go out to photo it!).



We are excited about going back up to the lake for Martin Luther King weekend - and doing more skiing!