An All American Meal

Monday night was the all American meal, this of course as any non-communist knows, consists of bacon-cheese burgers, fries and chocolate malts. Lisa and Sophia planned this meal, as it is one of Sophia's favorites. It destroys the kitchen, leaves not only a pile of dishes but also a lingering smell of restaurant quality grease that no scented candle can overpower. As in all of the finest eateries tonight's meal came with entertainment. As the kids do not seem to learn any American classics in their music classes (This land is Your Land, Puff the magic Dragon, Hurt etc.) I have taken it upon myself to teach them the music of the land. At any rate, after the meal Merrick broke into song and then was quickly followed by his adoring sister and we were able to capture it on film. Yes that is likely malt in his hair, a small price to pay for our little dinner theater.

A weekend Update

A post that has been a long time in coming, not that we haven't been busy but rather have been busy enough not to do a post. So long as Mark is back blogging I figured I could compress the past few months into a handful of anecdotes and photos from the beggining of the new decade. We enjoyed an nice Christmas eve at the house complete with the traditional frozen pizza and shrimp sauce and the family exchanged the gifts. The kids awoke to the offerings of Santa the following morning before we had a big breakfast and then made the drive to Eau Claire for some family time. This year we added what will hopefully become a new tradition of an extended family hockey game at the Altoona rink. Merrick mostly hung out on the bleachers although Grandpa Bob did get him out on the ice for a while, much to his delight. Sophia and I were out for the duration and there was a lot of fun had by all. The Christmas break came and went and much of January was lost to play dates, birthday parties and cold weather with little snow. We did get out for a family night hike in the Oconto forest. We hiked back into the woods and had some hot chocolate on the propane stove while the kids sled in the darkened woods on a small hill. Lisa and I pulled them back out, as their little legs were all done for the night. One afternoon after the 20 minutes required to dress the kids we headed over to the neighborhood sledding hill. After a nearly snowless January the hill was just a bear heap of dirt. To this point we still have not been able to go out sledding except for that one night, and Sophia doesn't seem to think that counts. We have gotten out to the outdoor ice rink. Merrick got a new pair of skates and was very excited to use them so he could play hockey. His excitement quickly turned to disappointment when he realized that he could not actually skate which more importantly meant that he could not shoot the puck into the net. He sat for a while in the chair I brought along for him to push and then he just sat on the ice until I took his skates off. With his boots on he could have spent the whole day on the ice shooting pucks. He did not cry again until it was time to go and he had to get off the ice. Last weekend we did spend a little bit of time downtown looking at the ice sculptures. Sophia also hit a new mile stone as she moves from age 6 to age 13. Her friends from school started calling just to chat, she quickly assumed the teenage girl form flopping on the couch and gabbing away.