We spent the past couple of days with family and friends in southern MN. We missed Ry, Jen and Abigail as well as Rachel, Melvin and Dezbah and we thought and talked about them often.

Kelly and Lenny were kind enough to have us out for a Christmas celebration. Great food, lots of laughs and time spent with Julia...I had the pleasure of babysitting while Len and Kel went out for a night on the town and one morning while Len worked and Kel ran errands. Even though Julia is teething she was a joy. Hey Rach...any helpful hints to ease the teething misery?

David and I spent an evening with our friend Jess, had breakfast with Mikey and Jan and visited with our friend Mary. It is always good to see our friends when we go back south as we do miss them.

The weekend in pictures-

Watching the Vikings actually winIs she wondering if that glass of wine is for her?Although she is to young to know what it is, she certainly looks excited to open her presentContemplating or sucking the thumb???Sleeping peacefully after a long day...of grandma babysitting!
Daddy and Julia, mirror imageJulia is not the only photogenic face in that house...Tigger is quite handsome and loves the camera
We had coffee with my aunts Sandy and Etta and Sandy's grand daughter MarissaMarissa kept Julia cooing and smiling for 1 1/2 hours! She will be a fabulous babysitter when she gets a bit older.
Finishing with a beautiful sunrise
And sunset

A Very Different Holiday

This is the first year ever that I have not had a Christmas tree, or decorated the house for Christmas or had any family at the house for either Christmas Eve or Day.

Justin, Kelly and Julia are in Michigan with Kel's family where it has not stopped snowing since they arrived three days ago. Lenny does report that it is 30 degrees or so however. Julia is having a white, warm first Christmas.



Rachel, Melvin and Dezbah are in our old area, Mankato celebrating with Rachel's mom and her family.


Ry, Jen and Abigail are in Corpus where it is a balmy 70 degrees.....I think I remember that Ryan's tradition is to play golf on Christmas...smarty pants Ry!
And of course my dad and David's family are in the Mankato/Stp area as well. Perhaps one day we will be able to gather our entire family (no easy task as the kids are all over the US) together in our new home for Christmas.

I spent the day baking cookies, singing Christmas carols and wrapping a few presents that have yet to be given. David and I took a walk in the woods with the dogs and I mastered my snowshoes only falling down twice. They are one heck of a work out!

Where ever you are and whoever you may be with we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I love This Weather

It has been snowing since before 7am this morning and it is now 3:30pm. It is falling softly with nice big flakes. There is no wind and it is 15 degrees above zero. These are the kind of days that as a kid I dreamed of.

The snow is deep enough to bury Peeko if he isn't in Tackla's already walked path

A fragile snowflakeNow if I could only figure out how to work my garage sale $10 snowshoes I would be a happy camper. You are not supposed to sink to the ground with snowshoes on are you...Ryan, you are an old snowboarder do you know?

We Came Home To This...

During our trip the weather was certainly not as nice as we had hoped it would be however when we finally reached our home in northern MN we found over 2 feet of snow and below zero temps. David had to walk up the driveway (carrying Peeko as the snow was too deep for him to go through...Tackla loves it and plows her way without difficulty)...anyway....he walked up the driveway, got the bobcat and plowed the driveway so that he could drive the truck up it. It took him 2 1/2 hours to clear the snow. I think this snow is beautiful but it could be a tad warmer...above zero would be good.
Because it was too cold to do anything else yesterday we took a drive to see what we could see
A winter wonderland on a northern MN back road
Look out for the open ice.
Chrissy remember this...
Well this is what it looks like in December...this December anyway

Prior to making the four hour journey home (we had spent more than enough time in the truck for one day) we spent the night at the 'Leonard Hotel'.

Here are Oscar, Tigger, Julia and Kelly. She's got quite a bundle there.
Julia has changed a ton in only three weeks. Here she is enjoying sitting up. Soon she will be doing so on her own.
And Daddy reading a Charlie Brown book...precious....
So... David is already wondering where we will be next winter. Somewhere warm I am betting. Mikey and Jan are you ready for us?

Dorothy, Toto, The Lion and The Good Witch of The West

Yup we are in Kansas and it is damned cold! Thank goodness we are in a hotel(Mary, it does not have a hot tub though). Last night was the very last night that we will spend in the camper this trip....we stopped in some danged town about 300 miles south of here. When we pulled in it was 63 degrees and very windy. We set up camp, got in the camper and hunkered in....the wind blew like crazy. (Mikey we talked about you...figured since it was so cold and windy you and David should be fishing!) The Wizard of Oz is what it felt like and I was sure we were going to be blown away. We woke up this morning to continued wind gales and cold cold cold-27 degrees. We are currently attempting to avoid the snow and freezing rain on our route home. Oh home...to 6-12 inches of snow and more cold...but it will be home.
OK now our travels and a few pictures-
The Caves of Sonora Texas were awesome. I took 60 plus pictures but will share only a few-
This is an active cave in other words it continues to make formations. The caves are warm in fact in some spots it is 80 degrees with lots of humidity. The tour takes almost two hours to walk through the cave and the pathways are quite narrow.
One formation...David thought it looked like two bears hugging
Worms??These two formations were a drip away from joining in 1948 and 60 years later they are still a drip away. Gives you some idea of how slowly they 'grow'.This is an interesting and very worth it place to go. If you ever get the chance I recommend it.

From Sonora on to New Mexico. We found a state park in the sand dunes. I loved it...Loi and David not so much. Peeko wasn't too thrilled either as there was no grass or trees for him to go potty on. It was quite the chore to get him to do anything while there!
The windmill is used to pump water. These are seen all over where we traveled.While traveling through New Mexico we all wondered just how the folks that live outside of a town survive. The towns are miles and miles apart and the houses/ranches are miles and miles from each other. How do they manage groceries, how do they get their mail (we didn't see any mailboxes) etc etc.

I did get one decent picture of the terrain...
And antelope ...Today we traveled through Oklahoma and onto Kansas and the wind continued to blow as the temperature dropped. Tomorrow we hope to get to Sioux City Iowa. Loi sister lives there and she would like to stop and visit. Then home the next day...if the weather will allow.

By the way, any guesses on who Dorothy is who the Lion is and who the Good witch would be??? Toto goes without saying, or does it?

Isn't She A Beauty Queen

I couldn't resist. Len and Kel sent these pictures from home and I just had to share....she is a beauty queen!

Sorry the pictures are small. I was unable to resize them without messing with the pixels.

We survived the brutal cold, hail, sleet, rain and snow last night. Today we are off to the Caves Of Sorona where it will continue to be cold until hopefully tomorrow.

Corpus And Beyond

Our time at Ry and Jen's was wonderful thanks to our hosts. We had one of the nicest campsites yet (their backyard) with a clean warm shower room (their's) and fabulous tour guides.

The highlight of my trip was seeing Loi so enjoy herself walking barefoot along the gulf at Padre Island. This was the first time that she had seen the gulf coast and seemed to truly enjoy herself.
Peeko was a happy camper as well as he ran off leash most of the walk.
The four generationsOur tour guides also took us to the Botanical Gardens. You really needed to stay on the paths here as their were certainly poisonous snakes in the grass and maybe an alligator or two.

Jen enjoying the scenery.There were butterflies
And flowersAnd frogs...if you can see them
Dave and Ry sitting by the campfire.On this night the guys grilled T-bones....where else but in Texas do you get a family pack of T-bones for only $10.00! They were good.

Grandpa, Great Grandma and AbigailGreat Grandma and Abigail sharing a laugh. Little Abigail is the most serious, deep in thought baby I have ever met. I cannot wait to hear how she has planned her world as I am sure this is what she is doing when she furroughs her brow in thought.
And who can resist this shot.Thanks a ton to Ry and Jen. It was loads of fun and great to be able to spend time with you three.

We are now in San Antonio. Today we ventured to the Alamo. We were a bit disappointed as it is very 'touristy'. We were also not thrilled with River Walk...I know I know most would love it but we all prefer the great outdoors, flea markets and thrift stores. Speaking of which Loi and I have found a few Goodwill stores. We both scored today at 99 cent sales!

The weather has taken a turn. From 80 degrees this afternoon to a low of 39 tonight and cool tomorrow. Tomorrow we are off to the Sonora Caves and then on to New Mexico. I hope this cold front moves through quickly!