Christmas in N. Dakota

Sara's entire family travelled to the farm for a grand-ol'-time for Christmas. RJ and Julia loved the time with their cousins.

Highlights with no pictures:

• Christmas Day football game. Yes, Doug played. Yes, Doug's hip suffered
• Christmas Day dinner. Prime rib via Jimmy's smoker and all the traditional trimmings with some Lebanese sides. 

Travel Day

Dulles > Atlanta > Minneapolis > Minot (except Sara's bag went to Miami)

Christmas Eve

We stayed with the Martins in the new Rugby house

View of the back yard ... White Christmas! (this is from Dec 29)

Christmas Day

Officially it was Christmas day when we went to midnight mass. It was our first ... and probably last time trying to stay up until 2am.

Everybody was cooperative, or frozen, for the family picture

While travelling to skiing, church, farm, etc. kids rode with Anna. Doug and Sara had mini-dates :-)

Ping pong tourney and hanging in basement

Grandpa got out the 4x4 and the kids took turns riding off the back on a sled while Jett drove. After several attempts Julia was the first to land off the jump ... despite RJ's prediction "5% chance of success, 10% chance of crying."

Not to be outdone ... RJ went all in. Injuries were minor. We gave him credit for landing in the saucer.

Hanging on the Farm - Dec 27

RJ, the Martins, and Grace decided it would be a great idea to take the 4x4 to a frozen lake. Doug was all in because he needed to get train pictures.

Weather was 'freezing fog' so everything looks nice

Doug got his train picture

RJ was nominated to take this one ... he was more interested in 4x4 sledding

After some train pictures we went to the 'lake' and used the 4x4 for some sledding.

After sliding on our feet, we took grandpa's advice and got some sleds

Three hours later we headed in for dinner.

Skiing at Bottineau - Dec 27

Wasn't a blue-bird ski day ... but we all had fun

Trip Home

Due to weather in Minneapolis our outbound flight was delayed so we missed our connection. We all spent the night in Minneapolis. Doug caught a 10am flight while Sara and the kids were on the 8pm flight. All was not lost ... the stranded folks watched one of the world junior hockey games.

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Murder on the Slopes

Here is a murder mystery for all you detectives out there. A picture of the crime scene is below and here are some other fact related to the situation.

• At first glance Doug predicted 150 stink bugs. Julia counted 146 exactly.
• All bugs were lying on top of the snow. Snow guns were blowing the prior night.
• Picture was taken on the first day of ski season @ 3:30pm

As a detective you need to determine who / what murdered these bugs and left them scattered on the ski slope.

Julia and Doug didn't really figure it out. Sara knew almost instantly.

Dots on the snow are dead stink bugs ... can you solve the murder mystery?

Opening Weekend at Whitetail

Conditions were pretty darn good for the first weekend of ski season.

RJ checks out the slopes on Friday night

Sara and the kids ready to go at 8:55am on opening day

RJ had a hockey game at 6pm, so Sara and RJ headed out. Doug and Julia did a LOT of skiing and ate leftover pizza, salad, cheese, and peperoni. 

After a depressing dinner, Doug and Julia decided it was time for Dew After Dark (yes, it was $9)

On Sunday the high-speed quad was broken so Easy Rider Quad was all that was available unless you were willing to hike up to the Experts Choice lift. 

RJ and Doug hiked, got first chair, and had gorgeous skiing for 90 minutes before we were scheduled to move out for some incoming renters.

WOW! No crowd, no line, only our tracks

As a result of no crowd, RJ decided to see how fast he could ski. The result is below ... 45.7 mph. Zoiks! Doug did not attempt this.

RJ Haircut

RJ gets a haircut from somebody other than Sara! This was helpful to bring his hair into compliance with school regulations.

RJ's new look

Hockey Skates

RJ's hockey skates were too small and not protective enough ... so Sara took him to Pure Hockey.

For $300 your skates get to be molded

Before school skating on back porch (don't worry, not the new skates)

School in December

Lots of fun school activities (and a few tests) in December.

December 11: 5th grade trip to MD Science Center

Class photo - Sara chaperoned and learned a lot about things other than science

Lots of interactive exhibits (also hanging, pulleys, more)

December 16: 5th grade gift exchanges

Gift exchange #1 at our house

Party #2 at Reagan's house

December 19: 8th grade activities before winter break

Did RJ lose his sweatshirt?

Reindeer ring toss

Cookie challenge

December 19: Julia attends Battle of the Books movie

snacks and lounging around ... fun!

Warrens Visit

Old old neighbors the Warrens were in town and stopped by. Julia and Doug got to see them for 35 seconds before blowing out of the driveway to get to a basketball game.

Jim and Laura even got RJ to smile!

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