Thanksgiving 2025

We hosted a fun Thanksgiving complete with traditional food, pickleball, a birthday, and some sports on TV.

Julia preps the origami turkeys for the place settings. Doug made cookies that we forgot to give Granddad

Julia set the timer to 5 seconds ... probably should have been 10

Walter the dishwasher in action!

Julia made a delicious chocolate cake for Grandad's 83rd birthday

RJ regripped the pickleball paddles in the morning. Cousin John couldn't resist ...

Cousin John outlasted RJ (who took a 2 hour nap)

Somehow Walter was invited onto the forbidden couch

Julia on the wheely chair and Walter pulling for food. Walter wasn't exactly the Budweiser Clydesdale, but he got the job done ...  

Whitetail Prep

Quick trip to Whitetail to get equipment for ND, prep ski house, fix internet, and have some fun.

Started with a hike to see if Doug's bead toss was still the highest on the bead tree...

Sadly, bead tree was trimmed

pi Remember to inspect back of chair 40!

Kids recovered fallen beads and Doug started a new bead tree (only 2 necklaces)

Julia hung out with Ava while RJ/Doug gathered food for lunch/dinner. Sadly I have no pictures of Julia/Ava playing pickleball, eating s'mores, and doing whatever else 10-11 year old girls do.

RJ's crew didn't come up so he kept Gunner out of the girls' hair

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No Sports

In a strange sports-free weekend we did some volunteer work ... 

Setting up to prepare 28,000 meals at St. Agnes

RJ working in the meal prep line

KOC pancake breakfast at St. Luke - RJ biked to church, Julia had food in her mouth

Doug made chocolate chip pancakes at the empty workstation near the electrical hazard :-)

... and we treated ourselves to a nice dinner as Sakura.

Kids were mesmerized by the chef ... RJ said to mention he was 3 for 3 catching food in his mouth

Big Sleep

Somebody stole our 11 year old and gave us a teenager ... 

Yes, it's 11:52am and Julia is still sleeping

Julia requested this clarification: The night before she watched "Clifford the Big Red Dog" then read a book until 11:10pm. She needed the sleep.

Power Lunch

Turns out that Halloween candy can make a delicious and healthy lunch. 

RJ's typical post-Halloween lunch

So how is this healthy?

... turns out that you can trade this stuff for things like sandwiches and sodas. It's a lot easier than packing lunch ... like Doug is forced to do except for free-lunch Wednesdays.

Gardening 2025

This year we split the garden into 4 quadrants. Each member of the family got their own quadrant to name, plan, plant, weed, and harvest.

• Doug: Cash is Clay (the crummiest soil with a big path running through it)
• Sara: Make Gardening Great Again (a decent plot with an ever growing mint patch)
• Julia: Worms Welcome (some super soil with some annoying roots from the maple tree)
• RJ: Who 'dat Seed (some good parts, bad parts, and weedy parts)

RJ's section featured an mis-mash of unlabeled seeds. His plan was to plant anything he could put in a salad. After a super fast start ... Who 'dat Seed turned into Who 'dat Weed.

March 16: RJ plans some of his science experiments (beans, lettuce, radishes)

The 4 quadrants (Ginger was not allowed in)

March 23: Tilled and ready to go ... RJ's early plants didn't make it

May 11: Crops starting to come in, RJ getting radishes, lettuce

July 11: garden producing cucumbers (a lot!), cherry tomatoes, squash (yellow and zucchini)

Aug 23: garden producing cantaloupe, lots of cucumbers, very large zucchini, and gross beans

Sept 4: Doug was eating a lot of cantaloupe, Julia got her first (and only) watermelon

Oct 26: patience pays off, Cash-is-Clay hauled in ~10-15 peppers and some large tomatoes

Nov 11: a couple more peppers and some carrots are all that remain

Lessons Learned:

• People work harder when they 'own' their land
• Starting the garden on March 9 is too early
• Cramming 20 cantaloupe plants into a small area results in a lot of small vines and little fruit
• Granddad was right about planting watermelon (again)
• RJ started on fire with lots of lettuce and radishes, but lost focus
• If you want awesome peppers ... get started early and make sure the plants get lots of sun
• Nothing except some random kale grows in the back garden by the new shed
• The plan to take pictures every month didn't pan out

Hockey - weekend games

After cross country, Julia had 2 soccer games, and RJ had a hockey game. On Sunday we took it easy (only one hockey game).

The results of sports after cross country could be described as 'sleepy.'

Nov 8: Team ready to take on Montgomery County (0-1 loss, sleepy)

The hockey game on Nov 9 went a lot better, highlights below.