November: Cold and Snowy

 Windy and cold on the first Sunday of the month....

 The snow came....and

never went away...

The sky is awesome

 especially at sunset.

 Tom, Trina and kids came well-prepared

for the snow and cold.

Ari...I hope that isn't gray hair!

Cards kept them busy indoors, too.

Cousin Parker joined the fun on Thanksgiving Day

with Caiden and Matthew

Kelly was the "kitchen manager" 

 Sami had #1 for the gift exchange....
our theme was the letter "L"

but I think Bob's gift was the real prize:

The lilac and lace "teddie"

On Friday we drove to Grand Forks to swim
 and go to the UND hockey game

The guy with the beard is Bob's brother Jerry
who is a goal judge for the team.  Photo on the wall
is from the early 1980's

 Part of "the gang" was here

 Luke was eating his "Dippin' Dots"

and he made some new friends. :-)

 We had 14 seats next to the section
where our season ticket seats are in the Club room

 The kids were excited and hoping for a "win,"
and the team did the job: We won 5-2 on Friday night.

 A bunch of hungry monsters at breakfast on Saturday

 enjoyed the buffet at the Ramada.

 Andrew watched the pancake machine 
produce three pancakes for him.

 Bob and Jerry relaxed before the kids all left.

On Saturday night, the team gave us some excitement...
we were down 3-1 in the third period when they
just exploded and made three goals in three minutes
with about two minutes left after that.  It was a tense
couple of minutes, but they pulled it off and won 4-3!
This is the traditional "salute of the sticks" (my term)
after they "sweep" both weekend games.

Thanksmas 2018:  The gang's (almost) all here! 
Andrew and Jett were outside in the snow!

Sunset

November 30th:  48 Years! Happy Anniversary :-)

October "Fest"ivities

Oh deer--look at this view through our picture window. :-)

We went to the Sioux hockey game at Bemidji last week
and stayed at Jerry's at the lake that night.
The next day the game was in Grand Forks.

 Cousin Sara sent this pic from Cleveland.
Looks like Donna sent shirts to all the family clowns.
Too bad we can't all vote in Florida.

Gramma arrived in Minnesota on the 20th..a few days late
for the birthday party, but we celebrated anyway
and also enjoyed early Halloween treats.

Corey (Daddy), Lydia (panda), 
Claire (cheerleader), and Cecelia (unicorn)

Gramma gets to hug the stuffed animals and the real girls.

Guess who took this photo just before 
Corey and Ana left for Italy on the 21st.  

Later Gramma took the girls to see
the movie "Small Foot." 
Cute movie; cuter girls. :-)

Then we discovered "3-2-1 Jump"

 and slide,

and bounce,

 
 and wiggle,

and climb,

and squeeze.
The girls slept well on Sunday night :-)

and were ready for school at sunrise on Monday morning.
Look, Mom and Dad, we got the star off the ceiling!

The sunrise gets better every day.

 The kids were hungry on Monday night,
and supper wasn't quite ready.
We had a rib-fest.

 Tuesday was gymnastics day after school.

On Wednesday we played pickle ball.
Cecelia and Claire.

The kids moved so fast (mostly chasing balls)
that I didn't get a great shot of Claire and Lydia here.

Claire was her class Student of the Month
for Cooperation.  She was awarded a
free meal at Culver's.

Blurry, but this was the "fort" the girls created

on Friday.

Look who I found on my next adventure!
Bob and I headed out to Doug and Sara's on the 27th.

These two kids were surprised to see us.

 We went to their church on Sunday

and saw the mosaics and the pipe organ.

Doug and Sara celebrated their Tenniversary

on October 11th

..and with the kids

Julia tried on her Halloween costume for us.

She is a "cupcake" with a cherry on top.

RJ made Star Wars come alive in this droid

 Bob and I went to the African-American History Museum
while the kids were in school on Tuesday

An entire room was dedicated to African-Americans
and their music

Ties from the lynching tree

The story behind the art work

 
Chuck Berry's Cadillac El Dorado

Doug made it to the neighborhood Halloween
potluck and parade

This was on Sara's Halloween shirt....
Can you figure it out??

Kelly posted this picture of "Dave, Black Panther,
Groot, and Chase" ...don't you recognize them?