Boys visit MN

We flew the boys up after the new year for a week to see the city. GP has gone from gagging at the sight of sushi to actually enjoying it. We totally sank the sushi boat at Crave.

There's a bocce ball place not far from us. None of us had ever played - it was a blast!! Incredible food, too.

Welcome to Your New Home

I had been living in Minneapolis for a month and had started to know my way around. For JP, it was all new. She had only seen pictures of our apartment. She was very happy when I took her to the local wine supermarket.

The cat had more than enough new places to check out once she felt safe and left her kitty carrier.

Move to MN

JP & I left the sunny open space of NE for the snow covered northland. Every time I have driven to MN this year, it's been through a snowstorm. This time was no different.

Our new playground awaits us!!

S LOVES the snow! This is his kind of place to live.

Last Night in Lincoln

It was weird leaving the big house in Lincoln. 

We spent the night at our home away from home in the country. S was loving the snow and blowing wind.

Moving Day

The movers showed up on time on the 27th with a HUGE semi trailer. 

It took them 2 days to load all our junk. Note to self: next time you move, just pack a suitcase and leave all that other stuff behind; you don't need it!!

X-Mas Day 2019

Christmas Day 2019 was pretty low key. No snow. The house was all packed. No x-mas tree, no decorations. 

That being said, we still had good friends to hang with.

X-Mas 2019

I flew home Friday and Saturday we took off to Nana's for an early X-Mas. S is an awesome car dog - except he has to be touching someone at all times.

We hit the CC for a nice Sunday breakfast.

The boys are now lumberjacks.

House Shopping

The stretch between Thanksgiving and the New Year isn't the time to be shopping for homes. There are a few, but not a lot.

These two have streets on three sides. That's a lot of sidewalk to scoop when it snows. I should have negotiated a monster snow blower as part of my new job's benefit package.

Curling

I drove up on Saturday, and by Sunday I was on the ice throwing rocks at the curling club in Lakeville.

Seems like a fun sport for couples. Kinda like bowling, but colder and slower.

New Digs

Nov. 30 was moving day into the temporary housing. It was a grey foggy trek across Iowa and as soon as I got close to the Cities, the snow kicked in. The new place is spectacular! 

The snow kept coming down.

I'm ready!

Last Supper

This was our last dinner together here. Fortunately, it was Thanksgiving Dinner. 

This year we had something to truly be thankful for (beyond family, good health, etc.): we got an offer on our house!

Deck for Sale

It's official - The house is on the market. It took a month to get it here; we're hoping it will sell quicker. JP has everything sparkling clean and she won't let any of us do #2 or shower; we have to go over to the neighbors. 

We have 60 days of temporary housing in which we need to sell this place, find a new place, and move. It's going to be exciting!

Dogsitting

We babysat another Shiba for the weekend. V likes her kennel.

Usually K babysits this one, but she couldn't this time. She was able to come over with her pack and it turned into a puppy party.

Don't Let the Magic Smoke Out

CP is pretty proud of his first circuit board. (I'm proud of him, too!). It's all surface mount components with a DC-DC power supply and microcontroller on board. At this point, he has it packed full of magic smoke. Hopefully it will all stay in there; once it gets out, things won't work as well.

It's amazing what the kids graduating today can do!

Road Trip

GP took off with some guys from his Frat and went to the NU - Purdue game in Indiana. It sounds like they had a good time. 

...except for the endless drive home.

Growing Up Fast

D came home for a couple days to check in and show off his dress uniform. He is doing really well in the Marines. Funny how accelerated his growing up is compared to his buddies here.

Final Firepit

Yesterday we hit 74° in Lincoln. Today the forecast high is 28 and windy.

We took advantage of the beautiful night and full moon to burn through the last of the scrap wood in the garage and some of the remaining firewood. Didn't get through all of it, but it's now manageable.

Formal

GP is really enjoying college life and his Fraternity. Last weekend he went with a bunch of guys to the Husker game at Purdue (West Lafayette, IN). This weekend he took K to the formal dinner/dance.

White Stuff

It snowed every day I was in MN except for the day after when it was 3°F. 

What did we sign up for?!?

The Minneapolis station's weatherman does his show from outside, regardless of the the conditions. His name is Sven Sungaard. We are moving to the land of the Vikings!

Familiar Faces

We borrowed the neighbor's camera and GP had fun with the 400mm zoom lens.