Winter in Minnesota

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 18:48:14 -0600

8 inches of snow and the numbers are climbing. I wish we would have had snow like this growing up because then we could definitely get a snow day! Around here, no way! We are all hoping for a day tomorrow, but we shall see. I can’t believe that my last entry was just after Christmas.
Above are some pictures of how the girls have spent their time during the cold weather. We go on several walks daily on the frozen lake or at the dog park. The girls have made some friends at the dog park and are always excited to see them when we arrive. The mountains of snow in the yard have also made a fun obstacle course for them to chase each other. They have been growing a ton, so I will just mention two highlights with them and one low. I love that their new favorite place is the bed because I always know where to find them. Distance training has been great with the new collars that we got for them. I hardly have them on a leash at all anymore. One low is that we had to go back to putting them in their kennels during the day. They chewed on a window ledge. In the big scheme of things...not a big deal...but I don’t want the winter blues to result in my house falling apart. We love you Lucy and Lily!
School is going great this year. I am in my third year of teaching and love almost every minute. There have definitely been times when I have been surprised or let down, but I know that I would not want to be doing anything else. I work in the most wonderful district. I am hopeful to co-teach a class next year with another teacher. Co-teaching allows us to truly focus on students that need extra assistance. My commute can’t be beat. My drive is exactly 8 minutes and I enjoy living in the town that I teach. We just completed a winter reward day at a hockey arena. We played Broomball, went ice skating, and had a relay on the ice. The kids always have a great time and I am amazed at how great the kids are out here in skating. Wow...
Ben is still working at KPMG. He hasn’t traveled much lately, but he should be traveling in May and June quite a bit. We both love the people that he works with and enjoy spending time with them on the boat during the summer. We recently attended a wedding for a colleague of Ben’s and it was beautiful. More than anything else, Ben has been excited about his new car. It is a Subaru WRX. I am sure some of you are thinking, wait, didn’t they get a new car a year ago? Yes. Long story short, there was a recall and being the nice wife that I am, I let Ben pick what he wanted and decided I would drive the truck :).
A few highlights coming up:
My mom arrives on Saturday to stay for a week
We are painting the hallway (last place to paint)
We go to Maui on the 12th of March for 10 days
We are going to New York in June for the Red Bull Air Race
The dogs will be 1 year old in May

Cabin: Day 3

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:36:37 -0600

A hike, sleigh ride, and steak dinner were on the schedule for today. Ben and I started with a hike for the dogs. They love all the new smells and following Lady (my parent’s poodle) around. The family went for a sleigh ride up at Sun Mountain Lodge today. Halfway through the ride, we stop at a little abode and get hot chocolate. My mom decided to sled and almost ran into a tree. The horses did a great job pulling the big old fashioned sleigh. After getting home, the girls were lucky enough to have another long walk on the frozen lake. We devoured a steak dinner and played games in the evening. All around, a great day at the cabin!

Cabin: Day 2 (Christmas Day)

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:39:25 -0600

Snowmobiling started our day today. Ben was thrilled! We rented three snowmobiles and ventured into the mountains. The scenery was beautiful. We traveled 40 miles and by the time we came back to the truck, we were sufficiently frozen. When we arrived back at the cabin, we devoured our traditional Christmas “breakfast” egg casserole and opened gifts. We played Daniel’s new game, Bananagrams, for about 2 hours. What a fun game that was! We enjoyed a movie by firelight and relaxed the rest of the evening away. Oh how I love Christmas break!

Cabin: Day 1 Christmas 2009

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:18:45 -0600

We made it to the cabin last night. We enjoyed a meatball and pasta dinner, then played some games and watched a movie. After a slow-to-rise morning, we ate a delicious cinnamon roll, bacon, and egg breakfast. After breakfast, the dogs, my brothers, dad, Ben and I went for a hike. The girls had great fun with the new smells. Upon completing the hike, we went down to the frozen lake and skated around. Lucy enjoyed chasing a snowball around and the girls quickly became fans of chasing people on ice skates. The girls are now napping on the couch, clearly tuckered out from their “intense” hike. Tonight we are singing Christmas Carols and eating a Turkey dinner.

Arriving (Finally) in Seattle, WA

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:16:19 -0600

View Album titled: Christmas 2009 for more pictures

This entry is for those of you that had incredibly low expectations of our drive to Seattle. Here are a few details that you might enjoy or may alter your opinion:
-We drove 1700 miles or 26 hours
-The girls slept, literally, every hour of our drive (I was so proud)
-We discovered that Lucy can get a bit car sick. She doesn’t do anything, but she will sleep sitting up after looking out the window and refuses to eat treats if offered (that is definitely not normal for our little eater)
-I realized I can actually stay awake late enough to drive coherently at 1:30 in the morning (granted I had many naps)
-North Dakota is by far the most incredibly long and boring state to drive through
-We felt like we had accomplished a lot by driving across Idaho even though it only took an hour
-Our favorite choice of music was the soundtrack from the TV show “Glee”
-It is amazing the places that we decided would work for a bathroom break for the girls :) Hey! Whatever gets the job done!
-We had perfect weather all the way across except for some incredibly thick fog that settled in late in the evening and early in the morning

When we first arrived, we headed straight for bed and were all incredibly tuckered out. The following few days held a variety of activities. We visited with friends, ran errands to prepare for the cabin, drove through neighborhoods with great Christmas light displays, and enjoyed a large family gathering on Sunday. Above are some pictures that show the few days spent in the Seattle area.