Special Visitor

Gerrit's teacher is a HUGE football fan and the 2 of them have a special bond. They talk football at lunch and beyond. Ms. Hunt's son plays football for Rutgers and Gerrit paid special attention this fall to how Rutgers was doing. (They didn't do real well, but made it to a bowl game.) Gerrit thinks its cool that Ms. Hunt has a son who plays college football. 

This fall, Gerrit wrote a letter to Andre and Ms. Hunt sent it to Andre. Andre did not write him back as he was busy with football. (He was a walk on this year and played offense in high school. He recently learned he was switched to Safety and potentially will get scholarshiped next year! It was fun hearing about his experience with a bowl game and all the perks the got through the whole ordeal (Ms. Hunt told me all about it!)

Today, Gerrit (and the class) had a special visitor - Andre! Ms. Hunt wanted him to stop in before he headed back to college so Gerrit could meet him. She took a picture of the 2 of them together and Andre gave Gerrit a Rutger's pencil. No one else in class got a pencil but Gerrit! At dinner Gerrit said: "I've never met a real football player before". He was in shock that he didn't say much to Andre. There is a chance Andre will be coming back to the class this week and hopefully Gerrit will step it up and talk to him! 

I have a feeling that we will be going to a Rutger's football game in the future now that they will be in the Big 10. Gerrit still is a Duck's and Spartan's fan first, but there is a special place in his heart for Rutgers! 

Christmas Michigan Style

Gerrit wanted to learn how to snowboard so who better to learn from than Uncle Jeff! We mentioned it to Jeff and he was all over getting the equipment and spending time with him. Christmas Eve we went to a nearby sledding hill to give him a few pointers.

Emmit didn't mind because he LOVES sledding! Mia took her board and Max and Ella went sledding. Emmit seemed to make the rounds sledding with everyone - even Uncle Jeff!

His favorite way to sled - on his tummy, head first!

Gerrit got 'new' snowboard equipment (Max's old board and boots)  and Emmit got a helmet! Adam made the boys wear their helmets earlier in the week when they were sledding because of the ice storm! And now Emmit thinks he needs to wear it every time he sleds...not a bad idea!

He was even laughing with all the snow in his face!

Even Adam got in on the action with Max. Jeff thought the 2 of the maxed out the weight limit on the sled!

Here he is in action! 

He took a break from snow boarding too:

Our new little snowboarder!

After sledding/snowboarding we met back at Jeff and Erika's with the rest of the family. Here is "Santa" Ella and her elves...

2 boys really excited for presents!

We even had time later in the week for a few birthday celebrations. Max, Emmit and Bill (who was sick) all have birthdays with in 2 weeks of each other....Max kindly stood next to Emmit for the annual picture by the cake:

We visited Grandma and GG with Travis and Millie and saw Grandpa Bob and Geri too. The rest of the trip was cousin time! Hockey, sledding, snowboarding (at a real ski hill), presents, and hanging out pretty much sums up our trip this year. It is fun to see the cousins play so well together - they pick up where they left off the last time they saw each other. It makes living so far away not so bad. We look forward to the cousins coming to MN this summer!!