Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

My parents came for a week of fun and food after Christmas Day and stayed until Jan 2nd.

We played a lot of board games,

 played with Grandpa and Grandma's Ipad,

 card games, 

more board games,

puzzles,

and more card games.   This is Nathan's hand in Quiddler.   Look at all those vowels!

 

Joe made us a surprise drink one night - the Swedish 60.   It is a variation of the French 75 drink.   It was made with aquavit which has an anise taste.  Since I come from a Swedish background, he thought we might find it interesting.

 I liked it.   I especially liked getting a picture of him pouring the drink from our John Deere pitcher!

 Joe also made a copy of the wonderful Poached Pears with Blue Cheese and Walnuts that we had at Molly's this summer with my parents.   They just loved it and my mom was raving about it 6 months later.   So Joe made her some.   He poached the pears for 5 hours in wine, sugar, and water.   Then he cooled them, split them, sprinkled crumbled blue cheese and pecans over the pears, and drizzled them with balsamic vinegar.   They were fantastic and Mom was very pleased.

Illinois Trip - Part III

We rounded up our Illinois trip with a visit to my sister in Chicago. It was my nephew's 4th birthday and he was thrilled to have his cousins visit.

It was such a wonderful day that we walked to a nearby park and enjoyed playing police/jedi/superhero on the playground.

Deborah made sure that her cousin was safe crossing the streets.

Our final vacation event was to visit the Jelly Belly Warehouse in Wisconsin.

We took a tour of the warehouse and learned how they made Jelly Bellys. And the best part - they had a sample counter where you could get a sample of any candy that the company made. It was great!!

Illinois Trip - Part II

We took some time to go to the St. Louis Zoo while we were in Illinois. It was a beautiful fall day - not too hot, beautiful sunshine, and not a cloud in the sky.

Most of the animals were moving around. We watched these dwarf mongooses (mongeese?) wrestle for a long time.

We had to see the elephants fairly early in the day because they are Aaron's favorite. And right next to the elephants were the elusive...

... wild backhoe in its natural habitat.

The lions of course were sleeping. One lioness was sleeping in a tree. I've never seen that before.

We saw the new baby giraffe walk around and even nurse.

The St. Louis Zoo has an aviary that dates back to the 1904 World's Fair. Now it is a swampland exhibit that you walk through.

I think the penguins were everyone's favorite exhibit. This guy was standing right in front of the cold air vent and his feathers were ruffling in the breeze.

I liked the orangutan that was trying to get the other orangutan to play with him. He kept trying to drag the sheet off the "sleeping" one, but in the end had to give up and go play by himself.

Trip to Illinois - part 1

We went to Illinois in late September to visit friends and family. On the way, we stopped in Indiana to visit friends. It was a beautiful fall day and it was a joy to drive through the fields of golden beans and corn.

It was just barely warm enough to swim. Personally I thought it too cold but hey, it was just above 70 so it was warm enough for the children.

One of the girls is in college, so we met up with her for lunch.

Then onto Illinois! We went to one of our cousin's cross country races.

We also met my dh's godparents at a wonderful restaurant on the Hill in St. Louis (fantastic Italian food!). Doesn't this picture remind you of the Norman Rockwell picture of Thanksgiving dinner? Especially Nathan's face partially out of the picture, but looking back.

The Last of the Christmas Pictures

Just some misc. pictures from the visit.

Aaron is extremely flexible or double jointed or whatever you call it. He is secretly proud of his ability to bend his thumbs back like this.

A series of pictures taken through my kitchen window.

All dressed up for the Christmas Eve service.

Overall, it was a wonderful visit and it will be very very hard to ever top this Christmas, what with the snow, the cousins, the wagon ride through the woods singing carols, the good food, and a sleepover on Christmas Eve.

Christmas with the Cousins!

We let the children have a sleepover in the boys room on Christmas Eve. There was barely any floor space left once we got all the mattresses and sleeping bags down. And amazingly, they did go to sleep fairly soon after the lights were out.

Then it was up at 7 am for stockings! We did hear them excitedly whispering at 6:15 am. Who knows how early they were really up, but they couldn't come out of their room until 7 am.

After stockings, we had breakfast of fried eggs and cinnamon rolls.

The tree in all its glory.

The boys were just thrilled to get these mugs.

My sister had made this great calendar for us featuring pictures from our reunion earlier that summer.

More Lego Star Wars!

Matching Princess Barbies!

Nathan got a cool Star Wars (of course) bionic arm that he put together.

And Uncle Mike got a great gift - A year's subscription to Peep of the Month club. I'm sure he's going to enjoy it all year long.

More from the House of Photos

When we toured this house and studio back in May 2009, we know that we would have to take my bro-in-law here. It was so full of angles and cool photos that we knew he would like it. I think he was being polite when we talked it up so much but once he was inside it, he was enthralled.

Here are a few of my pictures from the house. First, my dh coming up the driveway to meet us for the tour.

They had set up the living room with the Christmas decorations of the family, complete with a little tiny electric train.