In the Car - Again

Gerrit did not want to take a nap today but of course fell asleep on the way to my brother's house. So, just like on Christmas Eve, one of us is sitting in the truck while Gerrit is sleeping. Christmas Eve was Adam's turn and so today is mine. Luckily I was smart and packed the lap top and can get my brother's wireless signal. I was able to catch up on other blogs - glad to know I am not the only one neglecting to update it! With the computer being in the room where Gerrit sleeps, I have had little time to write what we've been up to. We had a great time Christmas Eve with my family, headed to Adam's dad's on Christmas day, had breakfast with friends, and went to a minor league hockey game in town with the family after hanging with my brothers' family in the afternoon. Sat. we were at the ice rink watching my niece and nephew play hockey and then went to see the Benjamin Button movie - very good. Adam saw Valkery or however you spell it, with my dad and I went with my sis. Grandma stayed and babysat. Today was church - well for the rest of the fam. Gerrit didn't want to be in nursery so I stayed with him so Adam could enjoy the service. Had lunch with the fam. and met a friend for coffee and now back at my bros for pizza and hanging out. My nephew has PS3 and Wii so Adam gets his gaming fix and Max loves playing with him and beating him! I think I will wake Gerrit up and head inside to socialize. We head to Adam's mom tomorrow and then home on Tues. I should be able to post pics tomorrow, don't feel like doing it in the car right now. Till next time...

Typical MI

My side of the family Christmas is today. We are suppose to go sledding seeing there is a lot of snow, but it is raining. So typical of MI! Its is 36 degrees and is suppose to be 40 by Sunday. Yuck. So our back up plan is bowling. Adam is not happy because we did not take his bowling gear. He feels he will have a disadvantage of beating my brother w/o his secret gear. Plus, he'd save my dad a few bucks if he had his shoes! We are eating lunch at my parents and then bowling...but wait, it is snowing now! So we will have to make our final decision when we are done eating. It may be raining by then or we may have another 4 in of snow. Who knows in MI. I think I'll stick to my butt cold temps - at least I know what to expect from Dec. to March! (I may be eating these words come Feb. when I'm sick of bundling up.) Merry Christmas to all if I don't get a chance to write. We are headed to my brother's house for gifts and then Adam's dad tomorrow after stockings.

Michigan Weather – Unpredictable!

We made it! Finally! We had a smooth ride right through WI, IL, and IN. Then around midnight (MI time), in the Benton Harbor area, we came across ice. I was just telling my dad that things had been going great. Gerrit took a long nap, we had dinner in Madison – talk about snow! We have never seen that much snow at one time. We couldn’t even see the cars waiting to turn b/c they were hidden by snow! Chicago was fine, other than a little construction. Who does constriction in Dec in the Midwest? Anyways, I shouldn’t have said things were great and no weather issues because we jinxed ourselves. We noticed the road looked wet but it was sheer ice. Adam was mad because MI doesn’t pre-treat their roads; guess our tax dollars in MN get put to good use. We started slipping a bit and in a matter of 2 miles saw 2 cars in the ditch so we decided to check the weather report. We pulled into a parking lot near a Panera because we knew we could get their Internet connection – got to love technology. So at midnight we were sitting in an empty parking lot looking up the weather and road conditions. The radar looked fine and the road conditions were vague. We decided to get a hotel and not chance it. I called my dad so he wouldn’t worry and we hunted down a respectable hotel. I just wanted a bed at that point but Adam had standards. Plus, we were in Benton Harbor – not known to be the safest place in MI either. We found the lights on at the Red Roof Inn so we pulled in.

Gerrit thought the big bed was cool and he slept between us seeing we didn’t have his pack and play with us. Even though we had this huge bed, Gerrit insisted on laying on me! Adam tried to snuggle with us but Gerrit pushed him off. Adam said to Gerrit: “I’ve known her longer than you!” and rolled over! I had to laugh which caused Gerrit to wake up. As we drove around to find our room, Adam said the lady gave us a ‘cut’ on our room rate. I was thinking 20 bucks or something significant but later in bed found out it was the business rate – 5 bucks off! Another comment that sent my chest a bouncing which prolonged Gerrit’s sleep! Finally I told Adam to stop talking or Gerrit would never get to sleep.

We woke up around 6 our time and Adam looked out the window to see an inch of snow! Uggg. We couldn’t win! We were told the snow wasn’t coming till 10 am! Little did the radio people know…so we threw our clothes on and headed out. We decided to forgo the free breakfast at Sophie’s across the street and deal with breakfast when we were out of the snow. I called my dad and he said it wasn’t snowing by them yet so we figured we just had to get going and we’d drive out of it. Nope. It snowed all the way and is still snowing. We decided that snow covered roads were better than ice covered and didn’t have trouble at all.

Gerrit had to drink the rest of his milk from yesterday which I left in the car on purpose seeing it would act as a refrigerator. The only other foods I had handy were Cheerios and gold fish crackers! What a breakfast. He did get fresh milk, a banana, and waffle when we got to Grandma’s. We knew she’d take care of us!

We have unloaded the car, had breakfast, showered, and all put clean clothes on. We are hoping to get a nap in (all of us) before heading over to my brother’s house to see his family. Never a dull moment traveling in the winter in the Midwest!

Perspective

In Mi. today it was 30 degrees warmer than MN.

In Az today it was 70 degrees warmer than MN.

I'm thankful we will be heading to warmer temps.

We are only packing t-shirts and shorts for our trip to MI.

Finally

Adam (and many others) can't believe I have never seen ET - the movie. I don't know why or how I missed it as a kid, but never saw it. I had to sub the other day for a media class and that was the lesson plan (something about camera angles etc... was the tie in to the class). So I asked the teacher if I could borrow it to see the end. Yesterday I needed to get a long run in for my training so I took the movie with me and watched it as I ran. I'm not quite done with it, I thought it was almost over but then ET came back to life. Seeing I was finished stretching and been gone a while, I shut it off and will try and finish it in the car on our way to MI. So, no more laughing at me for not seeing ET!

So Busy

I should be posting pictures and such but I've been in a knitting zone as well as wrapping zone. We head for MI tomorrow and there is plenty to do yet so updating the blog has been on my mind, just not in the time line of things that need to be done. We had a great time at our progressive dinner with Team Beat. (I'll post pictures when I get time!) Sat. was busy with laundry, watching the snow pile up, watching the snow blow around, and finishing knitted Christmas gifts! I'm one sock short, but will give the single one for now and the 2nd one when we return home. We took time out to watch MSU beat Texas - sweet game and well worth the break. Today we went to church, ya we are tough around here: the bank read -16 (actual) when we past it at 8 this am and now I think it is -7 with a wind chill of -30s! Adam and Gerrit are sleeping, I just finished wrapping gifts, and havn't started packing! I'm going to watch Secret Life of Bees with friends from book club seeing we read the book a few months back. Then I'll have to get down to business and pack. Time is running out!

Hangin' with the Big Boys

Tonight we watched our friends' boys so they could go to a hockey game. Watching them is pretty easy. We combined food to make a decent dinner for all of us and while dinner was cooking, all the boys played basketball in the living room. They raised the hoop and even Gerrit was able to make a bucket or two at a higher height (impressive). After dinner and a yummy dessert (cookie monsters w/ peppermint stick ice cream), we all headed to the basement. When I made it down, the boys were wrestling - Gerrit included! He loves to wrestle with Adam and a few more boys in the house, meant more to wrestle with! He jumped on them and steamrolled them until his cheeks were rosy red. I just hope he can keep the wrestling to the boys and be gentle around his mother (especially in the mornings).