Who stole January?

Bit scary that it's been a month since the last blog - not quite sure where the month has gone really. Work has been a bit rubbish - I should be keeping a secret blog where I can be honest about some of the stuff I deal with on a daily basis but really can't - it can be frustrating sometimes!!!

Weather has been a bit mixed, we took the kids to the science museum one day when it was a bit nippy (see the temp reading below)
but other than the odd day its been a relatively mild Jan, it even went above freezing for a couple of days which is almost unheard of. It got to about a degree above freezing and we went skiing and there were people out in shorts and T-shirts. Here's Dan with a nice view of Minneapolis in the background.
And you can spot him in the center of the picture going up the tow rope in the freestyle area which he loves although he's not on the big rails and tubes yet. I did my first rail on the snowboard recently which I was pretty pleased about given how long it's taken me to get the hang of boarding. It made me feel like I'd still got some teenager inside me - the good kind, not the spotty kind.
We also had some surprise visitors, Zahava (my cousin from Israel) and Joey came to stay for a few days with their kids Ofia, Mya and Danielle. They've also been living in the states, Oregon to be precise, for 18 months and were on their move back to Israel but wanted to stop in Minneapolis for a few days which is where a lot of Joey's relatives are. We had a great time with them as their girls are 12, 8 and 2 so Dan was right in there with Ofia and Mya and Becky loved having Mya as an older girl friend and Danielle as a toddler she could look after. We also met up with Joey's relatives who were really hospitable and I found out that one of them works in the same building that I do! We took them for an obligatory lake walk (if you ever visit in the winter we'll take you for a walk on the lake) despite it being in the middle of a heatwave and their being about an inch of slush and water on the surface as you can see.



We've also been getting ready for Dan's party which is tomorrow - Dan and Becky helped to bake the cake.

One thing about the cold temperatures is that it created some icicles which Andy loves to crunch.
I also took this photo today (31st Jan) of our back garden. Guess how long it has been since it last snowed? It's actually nearly 5 weeks since we last had snow - which just shows how long it stays around.
Martin and Margaret have just arrived in time for Dan's birthday too which the kids are super excited about. So we took Martin for his lake walk today, its a little colder than this time last week with Zahava and Joey - same lake though. Dan was a mini ninja attacking the bullrushes.
And this is the river that runs into the lake
We're expecting some snow tomorrow for Dan's birthday, I do hope so....

Happy New Year

In the last few days of the year we've been making the most of our season pass to the local skiing hill and gone 3 out of 4 days. As its only 10 minutes away and floodlit we've even been able to go after tea. The kids are picking it up rather quickly even if they do find it all a bit tiring at times.
Come new year's eve we're celebrating in what is becoming a rather splendid tradition and having the Kellys and Terrells over for the night. This year was the 'Quest for Bacon' year as we'd decided to do an English fry up for dinner and wanted some back bacon rather than the strips of fat that masquerade as bacon in the midwest. The quest has taken us far and wide and all was looking hopeless until the day before new year's when I asked one ofmy work colleagues and she picked some up from a place about an hour away from us. It called Irish bacon and its at least similar. So our bacon quest is not yet over, but we were able to sort out something for new year at least. Even sausages are pretty hard to find, the only two places we know of are a butcher a fair distance away and a British pub.

Still, it all came together on the night and the kids, big and small tucked in very happily.


It was also a bleated birthday for yours truly as we meant to have a sleepover for my 40th and Tina's birthday a while back but Izzy has Swine Flu so we postponed. Andy made me chocolate covered brownies with a dime bar in the center!!!
We kept the kids occupied with the Wii and a treasure hunt, Kim put together a great goody bag including this non-PC foam plane.
The adults were easier to keep amused, plenty of acohol and hugs! Andy made mid-life crisis cocktails (belgian chocolate ice cream, cream, Baileys and brandy - what's not to like) and we had vodka orange with the breakfast
Then we let the kids stay up at least until New Year's on the east coast (or 11pm central)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

We didn't make it to bed until 3:30am hoping that by letting the kids stay up late we'd get some lie in, which we did. If you call 6:30am a lie-in. Had cinnamon rolls and waffles for breakfast - not that Becky enjoys that sort of thing in the slightest.

After everyone had gone we decided to head out for a walk around the local lake before having a siesta. Bit nippy today and in the days coming up as you can see on the BBC website.


So goodbye to 2009, a fantastic year in which we've felt blessed in many ways. We're looking forward to 2010 and seeing a few visitors brave the elements maybe.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day and it's a beautiful day to be outside in Minnesota, not too cold fresh snow on the ground. Really glad we cleared the driveway yesterday as the snow was rock hard this morning.
We went for a walk around the local skating lake this morning but they hadn't groomed the ice and they weren't letting people on it so we just had a stroll and pushed the kids on the bench-swings they have all around the park

Then off for some sledging with the Kellys and Terrells at the nearby sledging hill. we stayed for well over 2 hours, the snow was really hard from the partial thaw yesterday so the jumps were pretty brutal. Ken was trying out his new 'hair-hat'