We were down in Eau Claire for Christmas and before we left I said to myself, I'm not going to do any grading while we're down in Eau Claire. Since I'm not going to grade the essays that were due right before break, there is no need to bring a computer. While In Eau Claire, I realized that it was going to be quite difficult to blog about Thanksgiving and other pre-Christmas adventures without the computer. So, we have five days left of vacation. My goal is to get caught up on blog posts by the time we go back to work.
First, a quick sweet story. I took the girls to Taiko to America. Taiko is a type of Japanese dancing/drumming. The band students learned one of the dances and the elderly in the community were served dinner, then brought to the gym for a performance from a group from Okinawa, Japan. It was free and open to the public, so I brought the girls. Greta was super into the dancing and drumming and wanted to go on the gym floor and dance with them many times. Lilly ended up sitting next to an elderly woman, who chatted Lilly up. It was so sweet to see my shy girl having a conversation with the woman. My favorite part of their conversation (I think her name was Linda, so that is what I will call her here).
Linda: Do you have any pets?
Lilly: No, I'm allergic.
Linda: Oh, then you couldn't come to my house. I have five cats!
Lilly: And I don't know where you live.
Ah, always so practical that girl. When the performance wrapped up, Lilly said goodbye and gave the kind woman a hug. It was a very heart-warming moment, and I know we made the woman's night.
Now, on to Thanksgiving. We drove down to Eau Claire on Wednesday, after having the girls in day care for the morning so we could pack without also having to entertain kids. Since it was over a month ago, all the details are a bit fuzzy, but we did stay at Nick's parent's house, had dinner with my parents on Wednesday and Thursday at Nick's parents' house. We went to my brother's house on Friday for my extended family's potato and soup bar Thanksgiving, and the Brainerd Robertsons came to Eau Claire on Saturday and we hung out on Saturday and Sunday. We drove back on Sunday with Lilly in tears.
Oh - Thursday morning my mom, Lilly, and I walked the two mile Turkey Trot. Lilly did awesome and we only carried her off and on. We learned she has a tiny bit of a competitive streak - when I pointed out we were in last place, she jogged a little bit and put the group that was in front of us behind us for good. Luckily my dad agreed to drop us off and pick us up. There were tons of people and no parking. We walked across the starting line as they were taking it down.
Friday was fun, my brother and Lilly worked hard playing with model trains, including building a tunnel for the train and watching the train on the Go Pro camera. Greta took a nap and games were played. Oh, we also did the mannequin challenge but had a few mistakes, so no public viewing of the video.
First, a quick sweet story. I took the girls to Taiko to America. Taiko is a type of Japanese dancing/drumming. The band students learned one of the dances and the elderly in the community were served dinner, then brought to the gym for a performance from a group from Okinawa, Japan. It was free and open to the public, so I brought the girls. Greta was super into the dancing and drumming and wanted to go on the gym floor and dance with them many times. Lilly ended up sitting next to an elderly woman, who chatted Lilly up. It was so sweet to see my shy girl having a conversation with the woman. My favorite part of their conversation (I think her name was Linda, so that is what I will call her here).
Linda: Do you have any pets?
Lilly: No, I'm allergic.
Linda: Oh, then you couldn't come to my house. I have five cats!
Lilly: And I don't know where you live.
Ah, always so practical that girl. When the performance wrapped up, Lilly said goodbye and gave the kind woman a hug. It was a very heart-warming moment, and I know we made the woman's night.
Now, on to Thanksgiving. We drove down to Eau Claire on Wednesday, after having the girls in day care for the morning so we could pack without also having to entertain kids. Since it was over a month ago, all the details are a bit fuzzy, but we did stay at Nick's parent's house, had dinner with my parents on Wednesday and Thursday at Nick's parents' house. We went to my brother's house on Friday for my extended family's potato and soup bar Thanksgiving, and the Brainerd Robertsons came to Eau Claire on Saturday and we hung out on Saturday and Sunday. We drove back on Sunday with Lilly in tears.
Oh - Thursday morning my mom, Lilly, and I walked the two mile Turkey Trot. Lilly did awesome and we only carried her off and on. We learned she has a tiny bit of a competitive streak - when I pointed out we were in last place, she jogged a little bit and put the group that was in front of us behind us for good. Luckily my dad agreed to drop us off and pick us up. There were tons of people and no parking. We walked across the starting line as they were taking it down.
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| The fire department visited my grandma's condo and gave them toy fire hats for grandkids and great-grandkids. |
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| Train Fun |
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| Miscellaneous, including a little sisters and big sisters photo |
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| The required family photo (my mom did some nice photoshop work) |
Then Saturday there was the excitement for the cousins' arrival. And the excitement of playing with the cousins. And, the benefit of cousins older than your children? They can just go off and play and you can just let your daughter go with, popping in on them occasionally, not needing to watch them every second of the day. The weather was nice enough where they could play outside and ride scooters. It was nice for Lilly to see some skilled scootering, hopefully that will help her figure things out.
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| Waiting for the cousins |
On Sunday there was ornament making, my mom and dad came with the finished Lilly's princess hat my mom knit for her, and fun times had by all. The drive home must have been uneventful minus Lilly's tears, for I don't remember it. Thanksgiving is a great holiday - a time for family to get together, eat good food, and no present pressure. My favorite holiday.
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