Christmas in Arlington

Christmas Eve we headed down to Arlington, Minnesota to spend some time with Crystal’s family.  We did Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Wiemann’s where we had a great dinner with family.  Kai and Nora tracked Santa on the NORAD site and then put out cookies and made some of our now traditional reindeer oatmeal.  To make reindeer oatmeal you start with some oats but then anything can go in.  Kai and Nora get to choose the spices and do all of the mixing.  Christmas morning Kai was up early but Nora wouldn’t leave the bedroom unless she was holding my hand in case Santa was still there.   It turns out Santa brought all the gifts to Lea Ann and Steven Post’s house so we headed over there still in our pajamas and opened presents from Santa.

Snowman update

We built the snowman a week ago and with some cold temps and high winds he lost a little weight (and a few teeth) due to wind sculpting.  However, the latest snow put a few pounds on him.

Last week we had our first big snow storm and I took some pictures of course.  All told it dropped about 7 inches and it sure gave us plenty to play in.   Over the course of yesterday we got another 7 inches so there may be more snow pictures coming.

Building Our First Snowman

After a little more snow we tackled the task of building our first snowman.  Kai had been looking forward to this for a long time but Nora didn’t stomach the cold for very long.   The snow wasn’t very sticky so getting the pieces of the snowman made proved quite difficult and we had to scale back the plans for a snowman as big as Dad.  Today and tonight we have another 6 inches forecast so perhaps we’ll get another chance before we leave.

First Snowfall

A couple of days after we arrived in Danbury we had our first snowfall.   That morning we bundled up and headed outside for some fun in the snow.  There was only about 2 inches and it was bitter cold but we still had some fun.  We’ve recently had a lot more snow (and a lot more cold).  Stay tuned for more snow pictures!

Christmas at the Fort

The day after putting Crystal on the plane for her conference in DC we bundled up and headed over to Fort Folle Avoine for “Santa at the Fort.”   Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs met us there.  We had a nice meal of wild rice soup, Kai and Nora did a little shopping in the elves shop and we listened to the story on the people-eating elk from the Ojibwe storyteller.   Of course a visit with Santa was on the list as well.