Middle School Holiday Party

We hosted a group of 6th graders at our house this December for a holiday craft making party. The girls had a blast creating gifts for family and singing with our karaoke machine. Analise got to have her good friend, Ella, over too.

Quirks

Although we may appear normal at times, we definitely have a lot of quirks within our family. Erin won't let people touch her but she loves to have her hair braided, Dan takes random pictures of things and no one knows why certain images end up in his photo album (why does one need the pool sign from the hotel?), Emma gets a sense of joy from lifting finished puzzles from the table and Analise likes to sniff her special blanket.

Macbeth Play

Emma was one of the witches in the middle school play. Lots of detailed lines to memorize. Emma's two good friends shared the part of Macbeth this year. The group as a whole did a wonderful job with their performance.

. Double, double, toil and trouble...

Dog Trainer

For the past few months, Emma has had a mini-job of dog walking/pet sitting. She spends time with Chica every week and as helping to train her to be a "Read dog" for schools and a therapy dog for nursing homes. Yesterday she volunteered to help distract dogs at one of their training sessions before testing. Emma and our neighbor dressed up in silly costumes and held up toys that flashed and squeaked to try and upset the dogs. They also pretended to be older people with walkers and wheel chairs to see how the dogs responded to those devices. Emma commented that Chica was a champ at staying calm with loud noises and distractions. Emma will help again in mid-November when the dogs have their final assessment.

Skating and Sight Seeing

It has been a busy start to the year with work and new school activities. September included a skating competition and lots of volleyball games. Dan was the only one that made it through the month unscathed by illness. Much of the last two weeks have included a coughing symphony. Dan also got to go to California for a work trip. He said that it was good to meet colleagues, but also draining to always be ready to interact.

This past weekend, we were able to get out on some hiking adventures. We visited William O'Brien to look at the fall leaves and heard some spooky ghost stories in St. Paul. We also had a chance to light some pumpkins at the Springbrook Nature Center for their Halloween walking trail event. Emma brought along her friend Svea and Erin invited Joy.

Spooky Walking Tour St. Paul near the cathedral

At the end of MEA, both Emma and Analise got to spend time with friends. Emma, Lily and Hannah went to SeaLife at the Mall of America, and Analise had the twins, Juliet and Fiona, over to play.

Next month we have our first middle school conferences, Erin hosts a math night at her school, Emma starts swim team at the YMCA and Analise joins the Liberty basketball team. Although we want some more warm weather for hiking, we are hoping we will have some snow for skiing in late November. We need some more practice for our trip to the mountains to visit Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jeff in December.

Puzzling Our Way Through Fall

Emma began middle school this fall, which started off feeling like quite the puzzle. Her class schedule had her going all over the place and the daily routine was different depending on the day of the week. After two weeks, the puzzle has been solved and Emma is feeling confident in her understanding of how middle school works. Analise is off to a great start for her fourth grade year as well. She enjoys playing the clarinet and practices on a regular basis. This fall, she started volleyball with her Liberty friends. They won their first game and showed great sportsmanship while playing. While Ani practices volleyball, Emma has been lucky to have her good friend attending practices and games. The two of them can be found building forts at the nature center while their sisters hone their bumping skills. Besides sports, we have biked to the apple orchard and visited the library to pick up new puzzles. Lately, we have been completing a puzzle or two per week as a family. We are currently working on a box of twelve different fall themed puzzles. Not sure when the puzzle craze will die down, but it has been a good calming activity for everyone after dinner.

This year for speech meet, Analise will be reciting a silly poem about cows that don't listen well. Emma is in the play Macbeth and has the part of the third witch. We are looking forward to seeing their performances in action later this season.

Paddle boarding and Birthday Parties

Emma went out paddle boarding with Joy and her niece, Chloe on Gervais Lake. At the same time, Analise was invited to her friend Ellie's birthday. She had a pool party and many of Analise's classmates attended. They even learned how to make sausage using a grinder.

Yellowstone Day 4

On our last day at Yellowstone, we ventured over to Lamar Valley and hiked Slough Creek. We started off on the trail around 7:30 am. It was still cold outside and the sun was just rising. This was an area we were told we would see a lot of wildlife, including bears so we were definitely prepared with our spray and lots of clapping. We got about thirty minutes into our hike when we were surrounded by large rocks. As we started to descend into the valley, we heard snorting and growling like noises coming from behind the rocks up ahead. We weren't sure if we should keep going to just head back. We decided to risk it and see if there was anything beyond the rocks. Luckily the sound was actually coming from a huge herd of bison out in the valley. We were surprised that they would make such sounds. Later on, we encountered two bison up close. One had a branch stuck on his horn and was trying desparately to get it off. The other just passed us on the side. As he walked past, he made the deep breathing growl and we knew for sure that the "bear" noises were coming from the bison. We also saw a variety of birds, gophers and chipmunks on the walk.

After finishing the trail, we went over to a few small water falls. There was a picnic area where we stopped to chat with a bird watcher who taught us about the American dipper that dives into the water at a rapid pace. It was quite neat to see them diving. We also stopped at Mammouth Springs but it was too hot. The temps were into the upper 90s. Erin had heat rash all over her face, neck and arms so she had to wear a rain jacket and carry an umbrella to keep out of the sun. We quickly saw the springs and ended the journey in Gardiner for some huckleberry ice cream. As we ate ice cream we watched the river rafters coming down ready avoid the many rocks in the rapids. The day ended again with a trip to Chico Hot Springs for some much needed muscle relaxing water then some Netflix shows before bed.

Yellowstone Trip Day 3

On our second day in the park, we did a lot of hiking up and down the mountain. We started the morning early at the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone. The Upper and Lower Falls were definitely a sight to see. After winding our way down to the look out we were amazed by the amount of water gushing over the side of the rock cliff. We literally saw the entire water cycle taking place before our eyes. After the water sprayed from the bottom of the falls, it rose as vapor and we saw the start of a cloud. It was quite an amazing sight.

After climbing back to our car, we headed for Mt. Washburn. We intended to just climb for an hour or until we got tired. However, as we got closer and closer to the top, we kept encouraging each other to push on. By the time we reached the top, we were over 10,000 feet up. From the top, we were able to see the entire park in all directions. The air was thin, and they didn't have toilet paper at the bathroom on top, so we didn't stay very long, but it was quite an accomplishment for the whole group.

Our last stop of the day was Tower Falls. The sun was beating down at this point. Thank goodness the cliff we climbed down had some shade towards the bottom. When we got close to the river, the cliff became steep. We held hands as we all slipped down together. Dan decided to put his feet in the river, but Emma was still scared there might be leeches like her last river adventure. Instead we stood and gawked as other families slipped down the cliff to get to the river. The journey back up was a tiring one with lots of sweat dripping. We called it a day and headed back to the house for dinner. After dinner we went to Chico Hot Springs to soak in the heated pool. The hotel was originally a hospital where people visited when they were sick. They had lots of old fashioned photos as well as directives that were used at the time to heal people. We also got to see how the hotel was set up with small bedrooms and a common bathroom at the end of the hall.