The Reflective Month Comes to Pass..

January has all but faded and left some snow to cover the brown stubble once again.  We have had big snows, big melts and rain too.  Mostly indoor activities either due sloppy rain or basketball tournaments.  Grace is playing some great bball and her team took first place last weekend after two back to back nail bitter 2 point wins.  There was also her first Jazz night, a big fund raiser for the band, where Ella disappeared quickly to find a boy...I think we unknowingly drove her to a date.  A trend that would continue during the month as she unbeknownst to us tried out for the school play and scored a pretty solid part as a policeman in Sweeney Todd.  Sophia is still working out with the soccer team, but not convinced she will tryout next month.  Merrick is working his way through Karate and logged his first injury, a twisted up toe that swelled about three sizes and turned completely purple looking like a small eggplant.  Grace and I did get the dogs out for a run which then required a bath for them, but they loved it and we saw a golden eagle and found a fish vertebral column and deer femur...did I mention the dogs need a bath?

The Holidays Cometh...

The New Year has arrived as it always does with a flourish of hustle and bustle and then back to the grind.  The snow has mostly held off and while we had a white Christmas, we also had plenty of rain that gobbled up the ski trails and all of those plans like so much run off.  We spent the first weekend back in EC with laughter and a large campfire in the balmy temps.  Christmas eve was spent playing pool and the kids cashing in pull tabs in our second annual trip.  We ended at the Chatterhouse after finding out the Abbey had removed its table in favor of more seating and profits.  The evening found our bellies filled with pasta and the kids were able to open comfy anoraks that they basically lived in for a week. Christmas Day was a drive to TR for plenty of ham and laughter.  The kids collectively flowed through the house there was always a sleep over or a kid sleeping over somewhere else all break long but by New Years eve it was time to bowl.  We hit the lanes for two 'solid' games before ringing in the new year.

The week before Christmas....

 

A season to be grateful.  We are caught up in the full hustle and bustle of the winter season with the solstice upon us.  Merrick and Ella bookend the week with concerts and Grace and I jingled some bells at for a cause.  The cookies were made and iced with care, the best they have ever done to be fair.  We spent some time in Oshkosh for a B-ball tourney and Grace came out smiling and Sophia says she doesn't have a new boyfriend, but we assume she is lying.  Merrick will graduate to a new belt this week in karate and we are all getting excited for the pending vacay!

Tunes and timestamps

The Concert season has begun.  Grace had a massive support turn out with five grandparents in the audience, pretty good showing and much appreciated all the travel it took to get everyone there.  She played with two bands, the 6th grade band and the Jazz band.  She is loving the trumpet and enjoying the songs.  Ella had a couple pretty big rites of passage as well, getting a job and a her drivers temps.  She is having fun working in the bakery and trying to punch the clock and fit everything into a now very busy schedule. 

Oh, Tannenbaum

Its the second week of deer camp and with some hunting out of the way on Friday, Saturday was wide open to hit the woods for in search of the perfect tree.  There were squat ones and tall ones, purple, pink and black.  The place had a full size bus come in for a cut your own bonanza.  It was wall to wall people without a saw to spare.  With multiple rolling hills to traverse in search of the perfect tree we found a saw before Cheryl.  That is correct, our tree's name was Cheryl.  It said so right on the label.  We cut her down and hoofed her back over the hills and through the traffic and got her home before the first winter storm hit.  Saturday night was spent transforming the house into a winter wonderland of all things Christmas.  The outdoor lights are on hold, with only the ground effects lit up.  Too much snow in the gutters and blowing wind to trim the eaves.  But more weekends will come before the fat man so there is still time...although not much.

An early January....

Record setting cold snap across the whole region.  The temperature was 9 degrees this morning and there is enough snow to cover the leaves that didn't get raked.  Seemingly it is January only a week after Halloween.  We did get the pumpkins carved with only hours to spare before the Holiday and Grace headed out to knock on the doors in the neighborhood.  With a fresh inch of snow Amy and I sat near the campfire and passed out candy to all forms of hidden faces.  Ella had elected for indoor duties and book ended the evening and candy responsibilities.  Grace tallied up her take and even recorded it all in her journal...which was fortunate because Hazel broke into her closed room and ate most of it, so it was nice to know exactly how much chocolate the little dog ate....she is still alive so it was clearly under the lethal dose.  Merrick is progressing through his karate and enjoying it.  He has moved into the next stage is participating in open sparring.  Sophia has started soccer training again and says it feels good to get back on the pitch.  Ella just finished up in the pit band for a hilarious rendition of the Wedding Singer, complete with all the 80's allusions.  Grace's basketball season has started as well and there are weekend tournaments most every Saturday from now until June.  She is playing well and won 2/3 in Pulaski over the weekend with some great rebounding and some points on the board.

To the Devil and Parfrey

With a three day weekend to burn we headed out Saturday morning, once Grace could work it into her social schedule and I into some hunting time, for Devil's lake state park.  Heading south allowed us to hit some more fall foliage at its peak and we hike trails literally around the lake.  It was amazing beautiful.  The maples were at full yellow and cast a golden glow to the light and reflected off the carpeted forest floor of the same hue.  The stark contrast of the foliage and ancient quartzite rocks was gorgeous as it has been since the last ice age.  14000 years in the making.  The trails are steep enough to be considered moderate plus.  We hit the hot-spots of elephant rock, Devil's doorway and Balancing rock.  We actually passed the spur trail for balancing rock but it didn't disappoint when we headed back to check it out.  It may have been the busiest state park we were ever at, I am not sure we were ever more than 50 feet away from another person or group doing the same thing we were doing.  Sometimes there is a reason an area draws a crowd.  We grabbed a hotel and dinner and had a chill evening and a little swimming.  The morning gave way to more sites to visit and out of the handful of options we opted for Parfrey's glen. It is an easy walk initially, and busy with people again, but then gives way to some boulder scrambling up a creek bed to a fair-sized water fall (10'-12').  The glen is deeply walled and 100 foot high in some areas, the geological striations are really great to consider.  The Glen is also the states first designated natural area.  Preserved and rededicated to the citizens to protect its unique beauty for all.