Christmas in Jamestown, ND

Since Erin had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we delayed our departure to visit family until Christmas NIGHT! We spent a couple of days with Erin's parents and her sister's family in Jamestown, ND. Right when we got there, the boys wanted to open their presents ... Seemingly five minutes later, they were finished. Here's Noah showing Sarah one of her presents.


"Dang, getting that last item out of the stocking toe is HARD!"


"Look what I got, Rich!"


Jamestown had a lot more snow than the Twin Cities. So much so, that Erin and Caleb spent two hours building a snow fort in the deep snow right outside Lloyd and Kathy's front door.


Sarah woke up the next morning and sat with her great-grandma. Myrtle got a ride down from Minot from Lloyd and Kathy for the holidays.

Christmas in Jamestown, Part 2

These two little cuties were virtually inseparable during our visit! Sarah calls Peyton "my girlfriend," and Peyton calls Sarah "my new best friend." They had so much fun playing together.



Sarah and Peyton received matching mini-vans!



Zane worked hard to get on Harley's good side.



Noah helped Aunt Libby figure out iTunes.


The Two Amigas take an ice-cream break.

Visiting Aunt Libby's

Aunt Libby and Uncle Brian invited everyone over to their house in Jamestown for a night of pizza and visiting. Even before we all got inside the house, Sarah took Peyton back to her room and they put on a couple of Peyton's princess outfits!



Kathy and Erin with Chester the dog.


Nanny Myrtle with six great-grandkids.


Awwww. Sarah and Peyton love their nanny!

Christmas at Bowstring

From Jamestown, we headed east to spend a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa Gordon at Bowstring Lake. Harley rode most of the way on Erin's lap.



Erin and Gus took a breather in Grandma's easy chair.


Grandma had a wonderful turkey dinner ready for us. Yum!


Sarah received her very own kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa. Yes, an ENTIRE kitchen!

Sledding at Mosomo Point

We slogged a mile through knee-deep snow to reach the big sledding hill at Mosomo Point on Monday. Here's Noah about to hit the big bump at the bottom.


Lucas riding Grandpa and Grandma's sled.


Even Sarah got into the act! Here's mommy setting her up for another run from halfway up the hill.


Wheeeeeee!

Under Water World

A rare event occurred Friday night when both Erin and Rich were off from work. Erin has been wanting to take the kids to the Mall of America to see Under Water World, a large aquarium. Before heading there, we ate supper at the mall, and Sarah showed Daddy a little love.


"I love my daddy!"



Here we are in the glass tunnel that goes below the main aquarium at Under Water World ... it was like snorkeling without getting wet!


Sharks swam up above us!


I think Erin wanted to take this cute sea turtle home with us.

Earlier, Sarah wanted nothing to do with Santa Claus and his little photography elves, but she managed to pose with Daddy and Diver Doug.



These are REAL sea horses! Can you spot all three? Looks like one or more might have been carrying babies, and their tails were all hooked together so they could sleep.



Lucas and Caleb dared Rich to jump in and kiss a shark, and Rich barely escaped with his life.



Caleb and Erin got to pet one of two reindeer that were brought in for the holidays. The reindeer LOVED all the attention!


Sarah spent at least 20 minutes petting the rays at the end of the trail. We even spent $2 to feed the rays some fish during their suppertime! They sucked it up like vacuum cleaners.

Snow has arrived

We had a couple of one-inch snowfalls last weekend, followed by three more inches on Monday night. So today we got Sarah bundled up to brave the cold and snow for a little while.



Snow angels!



Ruddy-cheeked girl says "Cheese!" out of the side of her mouth while eating supper ... and doing Caleb's homework for him.


Here's your cardinal, Grandma G. (extreme blow-up).

Ready for lift-off

Sarah is an astronaut! Daddy came across his 40-year-old astronaut suit in the basement last night, and had to put it on Sarah. It was a little big, but one rollup on each arm and two on each leg did the trick. And Sarah knows how to accessorize! No self-respecting astronaut would be caught dead in space without her lip balm.


There's just enough time before launch for a little "booster dance."


"Thas' right ... I'm going into space, foo."

Oh Tanenbaum

We finally got around to decorating our Christmas tree this evening, after a couple days' worth of pestering from Lucas and Caleb. Here they are hanging ornaments.



We gave Sarah the honor of putting the star on the top of the tree.



The Three Amigos. Or The Three Elvitos.



Lickin' the beaters from the Christmas cookies.


We think Sarah got a little loopy from dunking too many cookies in milk.

Turkeys eat turkey

We had a quiet Thanksgiving this year with Grandma and Grandpa Gordon. While the turkey was cooking, everyone kinda did their own thing. Erin surfed the Web with Lucas and Caleb ...


Sarah had a tea party with Grandma ...


Grandpa took a nap on the couch ... and he hadn't even eaten any turkey yet! ...


And Rich kept an eye on the turkey.


Let's dig in!

After dinner, we took a brisk walk around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. This is our house!


Harley must have eaten some turkey, too. The tryptophan kicked in, and he and Grandpa ended up on the couch together!