Pancakes

Odin made pancakes for breakfast today, all by himself. While he was getting started, John and I were still in bed, and Odin would shout questions to me. It was not the most restful, but I wasn't sleeping. John asked why I didn't just get up and help him. I stayed in our room until I was sure Odin was mostly done with the batter. Knowing that he would give up if I entered too soon, I waited. And I am glad that I did. Odin did a fantastic job. Washing his hands after cracking the eggs in to the bowl. Putting the eggshells into the compost bin. He did it all. And correctly! They were the tastiest pancakes ever.

Lately . . .

Our tree was not up that long, but it was pretty.

Wearing out holiday finest, oh wait. . . 

On the way to Aurora MN, we stopped at Jenny's house overnight. 

Tropical drinks do not make it any warmer outside.

At Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We braved the cold to go sledding. Did I say that it was cold? It was.

I am wearing too many jackets to be attractive, but not enough to be warm.

Now, it is time to relax

My "work" life has been hectic since the end of summer. Camp season went right in the the fundraising campaign, Harvest Festival and yesterday's Holiday Festival. While there is no shortage of work, I can relax a bit now.

Yesterday's event was a great success. We had clear skies, below freezing temps, and an over abundance of cheerful volunteers.

 

Happy turkey

Instead of traveling halfway across the country to be with family for only a few short days this thanksgiving, we spent it with friends. In another country! We went to Whistler, BC to ski and play with four other couples and assorted kiddos. We all had a blast. We feasted on Thursday; turkey with all the trimmings. A group of us went skiing on Friday and the rest of the time we explored the village, soaked on the hot tub, and played games.
The kids has a blast playing together and having a four night slumber party.

Building, one brick at a time

Through school, Odin has been involved in a lego engineering club. It is a part of the first lego league. Each year there is a theme and the students build a model that will be helpful to some aspect of the theme. This year the theme was natural disasters. Odin and another student worked together and decided to build a large fan on top of a bridge to blow away tsunamis.
 It has been so much fun for him to learn and build and play each week. A few weeks ago, the club went to the expo  (much like a science fair). There were also robots made by high school robotics teams to look at and a police bombot, a bomb diffusing robot.  It was a great event that got me (and Odin) excited about engineering and robotics.

John's Phone

We have recently upgraded technology at our house. John has a new windows phone and we recently got a new computer. All of this is great until you need to figure out how to make it all work together. We all have our own log-on on the computer and I do not have full access to the image files from John's phone. Lame excuses, I know, but that is the reason for delays in my postings.

 These first three are from our Labor Day camping trip on the coast.

I am pretty sure Odin is up there in the tree.

smores fail

 The new outdoor exhibit area at the Children's museum.

Scarecrows at the farm.

Big leaf maple leaf pile on an evening walk.

Freki as Dino Dog

Halloween Party!

Last weekend we went to a Halloween party at a friends house. Only the friends live about 80 miles away. So we took the RV and had a wonderful time.

It was a great weekend with loads of great company and fun for all. This was our second year going to the party and it was the hosts 18th annual Halloween party.