Thanksgiving 2017

Happy New Year!  Now, let's talk about Thanksgiving . . .

First, a few photos from between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Snow came, so they had to go for a sled ride.

The blinding sunlight into my new classroom!

The best game ever: waiting for the bus!

What every teacher wants to do when they get home, play school.

We have had more and more moments of cooperative
play between Lilly and Greta.  It is awesome.

Like this one

This needs no caption.

Our Thanksgiving was a little complicated and fragmented this year.  Some years our students have the entire week off, as do staff as it is deer hunting season.  When we have students come to school, our attendance is abysmal.  Some years, like this year, we have no students, but staff have inservice.  Also, Nick ended up needing to run samples at UWEC, so that meant our original plan of Nick's mom coming up to watch the girls wasn't going to work as well, since he was going to be in Eau Claire.  Then, Nick's brother and his wife who live in Brooklyn were coming in the weekend before Thanksgiving to Minneapolis to visit Sam and Suzy and their new son, Julian.  Finally, I was asked to visit the high school in Medford, WI to see their schedule system, along with a handful of other high school teachers on Monday.

So this was our plan.  Saturday morning (my birthday), drive down to Minneapolis to go to Sam and Suzy's house.  Hang out there during the day and have take out for dinner when everyone was there (side note, it was also my birthday).  Then stay at a hotel Saturday night.  Sunday, meet at the Hen House for brunch with everyone (all 16 of us), then back to Sam and Suzy's to hang out for awhile.  Then drive to Eau Claire.  Nick stayed in Eau Claire with the girls for the week.  Monday morning I drove my mom's car to Medford, where I met the other teachers.  I drove back to Ashland with two of them for more inservice on Tuesday.  Then, back to Eau Claire on Wednesday morning.  We had a few calm days in Eau Claire, then Saturday had Thanksgiving with my extended family, then back to Ashland.  Phew!

Now for the photos (and I apologize for the number, we did a ton).  First, Minneapolis:

 We had to make a pit stop in Duluth on the way down because we had the heat on too high in the back seat and Greta got carsick and puked all over herself.  She was quite distressed, especially standing in the cold parking lot, trying to get her puke-covered clothes off in the frigid air as we looked for a change of clothes.  (At Christmas, we traveled with an accessible bag of clothes and a puke bucket, thankfully, no need for either).  The rest of the drive was a little stinky but Greta managed to stay fine the rest of the way (did I mention Saturday was my birthday?).  When we got to Sam and Suzy's house, Nick spent a good chunk of time washing her clothes and the carseat.

Sam and Julian!

A family of readers

Sam and Suzy have an awesome park just a few blocks from their house.  Although it was quite windy and cold, we braved the cold (well, Dianne, Matt and Nisse stayed back in the warm house) to play at the park.

Lilly was proud of the fact she could climb on
this structure because she was 5

Saturday evening, Ben, Cally, and Nole met us at Sam and Suzy's house.  Owen had strep throat, so he and Becky stayed at the hotel while the rest of us had delicious dinner and birthday cake!

The girls haven't stayed in a hotel for a long time, so they were pretty excited when we got to our hotel and learned we were staying on the 11th floor.  Luckily they were both worn out from the day, so went to sleep quickly.  

In the morning, we swam in the hotel pool for a bit then headed through the Skyway to eat brunch at the Hen House.  We were able to have a table for 16 but had a hard time getting everyone food at the same time.  But, everyone did get to eat and then we had to say goodbye to the Brainerd Robertsons.  Then we went back to Sam and Suzy's after checking out of the hotel and played there some more and made another trip to the park.

Lilly absolutely loved the white stool chair Sam and Suzy have

Nick and Matt

Lilly and Suzy

Since Matt is over 5, he checked out the playground too

I tried to get a picture of Greta and her baby Julius and Sam and his baby Julian,
this is the best I could get

We left Sam and Suzy's house late afternoon and stepped out onto their porch.  Greta asked if we were there yet (speaking about her Grandparent's house).  

Monday the girls spent the day with Dianne and my parents while Nick ran samples at UWEC with one of his research students and I was in Medford and then driving back to Ashland.  My mom sent some cool photos which I didn't download, so just imagine them having lots of fun.  

On Monday evening, I cleaned the house.  I went crazy and got so much done around the house.  I did laundry, picked up all the rooms downstairs, vacuumed, and cleared the table and the counter.  It is amazing how efficient one can be when there aren't kids around.  Plus I was listening to a good audiobook, so I had something to keep me entertained.

Tuesday the girls did more fun things with their grandparents while the rest of us worked.  Tuesday night I went out for dinner with my friend, which was pretty nice.  

Wednesday, Nick and the girls (and my parents) went back to the Eau Claire Children's Museum while I drove back down to Eau Claire.  Nick hung out with Greta during the time at the museum.  My parents hung out with Lilly, who mainly liked to play in the giant digestive system that ends with a slide into a giant mat that looks like a toilet (she is very into potty humor).

I was to Nick's parent's house a few minutes before Nick and the girls.  The first thing Greta asked Nick is if I brought her toothpaste.  I'm glad to see you too, Greta.

Thursday through Saturday we stayed at my parents' house.  The girls made gingerbread houses and we made turkeys out of TP rolls as name tags for dinner.  On Thursday, Nick's parents came over for a Thanksgiving dinner.  We went to the park while dinner was cooking, and I am pretty sure my dad forgot he was in his mid-60s.

On Friday, Nick and I went out to a coffee shop to do some work and have some conversation.  While we were gone, my parents and Lilly found the dress up clothes . . . .

We also went to a new park by Altoona (just outside of Eau Claire).  It was at this park my mom forgot she was in her mid-sixties and rolled down the hill.

Saturday was Thanksgiving with my extended family at my brother's house.  We packed up everything and headed over that morning.   My brother is setting up an impressive model train layout in his basement.  It is a highlight for Lilly to check out and help a bit.

Lilly discovered the game Mouse Trap.  They didn't play,

but she had fun setting the game up and then trapping the mice.

Matt and Mandy are expecting a baby in February, so my aunt Julie put together a baby shower for them.  A low key, Star Wars themed party where we played bingo and guessed how many Star Wars Legos were in the jar.

Greta lost interest in bingo, so played with her doll and read juggling books to him.

Big sisters and little sisters annual photo

Thanks for making it through this long post!  It was a crazy week and it was nice to get back to Ashland and into some sort of routine before Christmas break rolled around four weeks later.