Visitors from the West

 

Friday evening we were graced by the presence of Grandparents.  Grandma and Grandprize made the drive over late in the afternoon and stayed the weekend with us.  With plenty of laughs over pizza and beer the kids came and went throughout the evening.  Merrick was coming back from a school ski trip and Sophia went to pick him up, Ella was at work until about nine but they joined the festivities.  Puzzle tables were set up by the fire and there were plenty of laughs at the dogs haircuts and Grandprize's growing affection for the dogs.  Saturday we took a tour of the Titletown area hoping to see the hoopla and tailgaters, but much like the Packer's performance later that night, nobody had showed up yet and the area was pretty quite.  We hit Fonferek to check out the frozen waterfall.  Merrick, Grandma and I all crawled behind the massive wall of ice.  It did get a little dicey for Grandma, but she pretty much rocked it on her Birthday weekend.  We walked the river ice down to the hole, natural arch and stayed out of the wind in the glen so it was a pleasant walk.  Hit Greystone on the way home for bloody mary's and some food before dropping "Ronnie" [Grace changed her name during the car ride] off at a friend's house for the night.  The rest of us headed back and started to get prepped for the Packer's playoff game against the 49ers...the game was horrible but the company was great.  A slow Sunday start with coffee and birthday cake for Grandma before they hit the road and headed west.

Catapults in the cold

It was over a week in design and with the garage heater combusting the propane Grace's Catapult came to fruition.  The medieval technology of a trebuchet had to be altered a bit to account for the short acceleration drop on the small scale implement of war; and we used shock cording instead.  Online schooling taught us that the garage shop is easier for getting the work done.  Fewer bottlenecks on the equipment and way fewer safety rules....Grace even pointed out to Amy, "nobody lost a finger yet"...so it is good to see that growth mindset training is really working too.  In the end I am sure he catapult will exceed the relatively hefty parameters of shooting over a 4 foot wall and in excess of 8 feet total with enough precision to hit a 5 gallon bucket target.  Step one however was getting it to school all in one piece and storing it in the shop without anyone messing with it....until it is time to "let Loose!"

**This entry needed an edit. Not only did Grace score an A+ on her Catapult, but she was asked to donate it to the Principal as an example for others.

The New Year Cometh

 Of course the stated and intended purpose is to report on the kids an our outdoor adventures.  These days it seems hard enough to get them together for an hour let alone an extended trip for an adventure.  Our adventures are smaller, closer to home but the time is still as precious.  We have had two family bowling outings...with little improvement.  Grace is playing Bball for the traveling tournament team and Merrick is now a student leader in karate, working with the underbelts.  With the kids gone as much as they are, Amy and I have taken to messing with the dogs and giving them funny haircuts.  Oliver is now sporting a mowhawk and a goatee while Hazel has either a "Betty White" or Angry Ostrich...depending on the angle.

A Christmas wrap

 

The weeks leading up the Christmas holiday are always a flurry.  We met the clans back in EC the preceding week and headed to TR for the holiday proper.  Sophia made it back to our house for Christmas morning and the Christmas eve traditions of pull tabs, pool and homemade spaghetti.  She was awaiting a pcr test results, but the bioassay said negative and the pcr would confirm this in time too. The logistics of getting cut out cookies decorate should get easier as they get older but one 'kid' activity simply replaces another, but in the end we found time to get them cut out an everyone was together for some decorating as well.  The gifts were unwrapped and then we proceeded to chill.  The week betwen the holiday was a celebration of sloth and glutton as everyone took the idea of hygge recharges to heart.  The break seemed short, but well needed by all.  With the big season over we change gears to a milder new years.  Grace had a friend over to watch movies and continue the RnR vibe.

Buckets and Bands...

 The first basketball season has ended and the tourney team will soon start.  Grace is getting plenty of playing time and is a defensive animal.  She also wrapped up her middle school band career for holiday concerts, the program took a noticeable hit with participants but sounded great.  We worked out her schedule to include an early morning gym class for next year so she can continue to play in high school. The braces had just came off, but it didn't impact her playing at all.  Ella also finished off her holiday concert career but for high school.  The even was held on the big stage of the Widener and involved the band, orchestra and choir.  It was a great show in a wonderful venue.

Decking halls and colored balls

Two trees again this year.  The front room tree has become the mature girl tree decked out in Victorian style with reds and golds. And we scored a sweet unsheared natural looking tree for the main room from a family lot near the house.  The unsheared tree was decorated in memories and adorned with ornaments of past years.  Each ornament of a time in the kids life or new adventure.  Hazel just lazed on the couch but strangely Oliver was only content when he was right in the mix.  Each passing year means fewer ornaments broken by the kids during decorating and sadly more found broken in the storage boxes.  Grace has taken over full duty of Herbie and plans to hide him in mischief each night for us to find.  Still a few items to put out of the season, the garland and the village. But having the trees up makes it feel like the season is closing in upon us.

Something for everyone....

 Merrick and I hit the woods early on Friday morning for the opening of gun season.  The tent was set up and the wood stove was stoked as we laughed with the gang and told the stories of old while we made hay for the stories of the years to come. We saw a buck on opening morning and two more sneaked in before sunrise of the second day. There were no deer to take home, but plenty of memories were made and enough day dreams to get us to the next season.  Grace skipped school too to spendFriday hanging out with her Grammy and ended the weekend with a massive pep rally for the basketball program.  Ella of course had to support the festivities and keep everyone singing along to all the pep band songs