Christmas 2020

 Still in the middle of Covid and staying home. The kids were going insane waiting for Christmas to arrive. We ended up having a white Christmas with 5-8 inches of snow surprising us on Christmas Eve. 

Nana Sheila and Papa Guitar stopped by in all their finery to exchange gifts. 

The kids' faces when they opened the XBox1 from Santa. 

Milo enjoying his reindeer antler. 

None too happy to be wearing his antlers.

Thanksgiving

 With COVID keeping everyone home, we decided to tackle the traditional turkey and trimmings. 

Found out that the turkey was a bit too large for the electric roaster. Bill made a foil rim to extend the height of the roaster and fit the lid. It worked pretty well. 

Since we couldn't be together in MN, each family wrote a thankful note to each other and we used them to create our thankful trees. Here's ours with a message from Sydney.

Hungry!

Welcome Home Milo

 Well, Bill and I finally decided it was time to consider a dog. Working with Coco's Heart Rescue, we found Milo, a 2yr old German Shepherd. He's coming out of his shell and is a real sweetie. The kids are in love. 

Punkins' carving pumpkins

 It's freezing outside! We had to defrost the pumpkins before carving. Made for easy scooping since the innards dried up with surprisingly few seeds. 

Llama Llama Red Pajamas

 Shya organized all of us to head out to llama farm to walk llamas. I was skeptical, but it was a lot of fun.

First we learned about llamas and the difference between them and alpacas. Then, we each selected our llama walking buddy. Colin chose Zaros -he starred in an online match making app commercial (I think E Harmony). My llama was the chill Couska, and Sydney walked Pauley. By the end, the kids were feeding, brushing and hugging the llamas. 

Tippecanoe

 Such an old joke... The kids and I ventured out a few times with Nana and Papa's new canoe on their lake. We probably resembled the Three Stooges. 

A Day at the Arb

 It was a gorgeous day to walk around the MN arboretum. The kids kept asking if I was happy to be among all the flowers. Yes! We had a great time with Nana and Papa as we explored the new trails and paths. Syd was our cartographer making sure we stayed on the path. 

All This Learnin'

She has figured out how to listen to the Jonas Brothers while doing math. 

Last Hurrah of Summer

 We had a nice, warmish day over the Labor Day weekend before highs of 50 degrees and clouds greeted us. We enjoyed some time at the Preserve pool playing in the sand. The water was really cold, but kids enjoyed creating and destroying their sand village. 

Now That's a Knife

 Some summer boredom. Bill gave Colin a knife to whittle some tree branches. Syd helped with using a rasp. This new activity kept them occupied and entertained for some time. 

 

First Day of School 2020

 Well, it's the first day of school -ish during the 2020 pandemic. Sydney starts 3rd grade online and Colin starts 7th grade online. We opted not to do the hybrid model (two days in school, 3 days online)  They know a few of the kids in their classes. The kids were happy they weren't getting on a bus when they watched it drive by, especially Colin as his bus arrives at 7:15am. 

Mini Lake Week

It was no where near as fun as annual Lake Week, but I was going to lose my mind if we didn't get out of town and on some water. We rented a little place on Battle Lake, in Battle Lake, MN (population 875). It had several cozy similarities to YBHome and we settled in pretty well. There was some road paving going on, happily, most of it moved on down the street. The weather was beautiful. The water was fine, not too cool. The kids were happy to have Bill jumping off the end of the dock with them. And a rock collection was started. We watched several Star Wars movies -out of order! 

Here we are at a rest stop. Masks on!

The Holand grill was certainly an experience in cooking. Bill had to google a tutorial to figure it out. 

Ottertail, MN bakery with the 'best buns in town'. We stopped at Ottertail Lake to enjoy our donuts.

On the way home we stopped and 'hiked' Inspiration Peak, the 2nd highest plateau in the state. It's 400 above ground level and a 1/4 mile hike up to the top.