December 2017

Sunday, December 31st

We closed out the year and found

 St. Hugh's church down the street from Donna's

Cousins Rich and Carla, their kids and her parents

joined us, Corey and Ana, and Donna

 for an early New Year's Eve dinner.

We flew to Miami on the 27th to

celebrate New Year's at Donna's 

and attend the Orange Bowl game 

between Miami and Wisconsin 

on the 30th.

 "Flash" befriended some tailgaters and tried on

a "U" chain which is a symbol of a sack on the field

 Cousin Sean, Flash, and some tailgaters

 The Badgers take the field (and the game)

 The Hurricanes lost their wind in the 4th quarter

Halftime show at the Hard Rock Stadium

December 26th at the Mall of America

 The Mall used to be the Twins stadium...

Harmon Killebrew hit a 520 foot home run marked by the chair!

Christmas at Tom and Trina's 

There were 24 of us celebrating an Iowa Christmas.

The kids' shirts are a map of Iowa with a star 

by Cedar Rapids. They say, "Fritel Family

Christmas 2017"

The Gang's all here: Ariana, Andrew, Jett, Caiden, Claire, Matthew,
Annika, Grace, Cecelia, Lydia, R.J., Julia, and Luke
Key: Black, Trina's; Red, Jimmy's; Purple, Ana's; Blue, Sara's

 Mom, Dad, and "the kids"

 The Grinch even showed up :-)

 Yummy Joe's Stone Crabs--

Thank You Emilio and Lucy!!!

 Julia wanted to hang on Mommy's leg, 

but Trina and Sara wanted to hang on their mommy's leg

 Annika with the laughing dog!

 Grampa Bob and his "Pope Soap"

 Tom and Trina, our exhausted hosts

 The Grandkids exchanged names

 "Lucky 13"

Andrew and Tom discussing Lego construction...

Ana's girls opened gifts when we stopped

en route to Iowa.  They came down later

with some honey-baked hams--we brought

Theresa's German potato salad and macaroni

salad......mmmm, good!

 We swam at the pool in Buffalo

and the girls read stories to Grampa...

Go Dog Go! is a favorite for another generation.

First stop: Fargo, so Bob could check out the

Germans from Russia section of the NDSU library.

We visited our friend Ray in the nursing home,

and Diane did some shopping at the NDSU Bookstore.

 This was the weather we faced when we left home.

 Our tree--which is actually the top 

of Gramma Fritel's tree

Dec. 15-17 We went to the Farmers' Union

Convention in Bismarck

 View from our picture window

There's nothing like a North Dakota sunset!

November 2017

Celebrating 47 years! :-)

Thanksgiving weekend: Ana and the girls came home:

 They found lots to do with the "old toys" at the farm.

 Lydia, Claire, and Cecelia

 Kathy whipped this up on Thanksmas morning.

Our theme this year was the letter "E"

 (Some of) the Fritel men

 Jill got a whole new set of encyclopedias!

 Doug became "The Elf" (not on the shelf)

with his prize gift

The gang is(n't) all here!

On Friday, we headed to Grand Forks to see "The Nutcracker"

and take in a hockey game.

 We posed with a ballerina.

 We sat in the mezzanine at the Chester Fritz...

Free time was spent in the pool.

 The girls had to take a pic with Uncle Jerry and Grampa

 Claire found a new friend.

 The girls were excited when they were on the big screen

at the hockey arena, but were tired after the overtime game.

But, we still managed to have a "pretend" birthday party

for Claire and eat ice cream and cupcakes!

Heading to Killdeer to visit Jimmy and Kelly--

we took two pickups because Bob was heading

to Wisconsin on Sunday and I was coming home.

A gloomy crossing over Lakes Audubon and Sakakawea

 Dunn Center is Jimmy and Kelly's new mailing address

 The road from the farm to Killdeer where their church
and school are located

 Luke and Matthew beat everyone to the breakfast table

By early afternoon they were ready for a nap!

...must be genetic

Ready for spaghetti!

 

The kids with both sets of grandparents

 Andrew and his friends....

Luke, Grace, and Matthew keep busy

The pickups and trailers are ready at 4 a.m. Sunday

as Bob and Jimmy get on the road to Wisconsin

to bring some of Jimmy's equipment to ND

 Is that a four-o'clock (a.m)-shadow, Jimmy?

When I arrived home on Sunday, I found

5" of snow in the yard.....but it's still Fall, isn't it?