Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It was great to have a nice long vacation from school this year, with two full weeks off! With so much time on our hands, we had plenty of time after Christmas for some shopping, relaxing, entertaining, and a quick trip to Two Harbors.

Andy's parents and sister made the long trek to Minnesota from Pittsburgh to spend a week with Jenna and Andy, and we were able to get together with them several times during their visit. They came to Cannon Falls on New Year's Eve for some fondue. We started in the dining room with steak, chicken, wild rice, salad, bread, etc., and ended in the kitchen with chocolate and fruit for dessert. It was delicious!

Jenna and Andy had another party to go to, so after they left, we headed over to Stangler's just in time for champagne and more dessert. We missed Snyder's, who were celebrating in India this year!

I spent New Year's Day playing with Maddox while Heidi slept (after working all night) and Corey nursed a nasty infection in his foot. He had to keep it elevated, which made chasing a 2-year old impossible! Maddox took this picture - not bad, huh? Kinda looks like Corey has a serious case of pillow-head, though.

When I got home, Phebe wanted to celebrate New Year's with us (she spent Wednesday night at Kyle's and fell asleep at 11:00), so we donned hats and leis, got out the noise-makers, and ate cookies and juice.

We took off Friday morning for a quick trip to Two Harbors to visit Chuck's mom. We were supposed to go the day after Christmas, but put it off due to a predicted snow/sleet storm. We stopped for lunch at The Scenic Cafe, my all-time favorite restaurant on the North Shore. Phebe had worms and dirt for dessert, which we ended up sharing since there was no way she could eat all that chocolate ice cream and oreo cookie crumbs, although she had no problem finding room for the gummy worms.

After Phebe helped Great Grandma Flo open her Christmas and birthday presents (she turns 83 on Sunday), we ate again, and then we watched Mama Mia and played some games before bedtime. Another snowstorm was predicted for Saturday, so we left at about 10:30 in the morning. I really wanted to go up to Gooseberry to hike in the snow and get some winter pictures, but it's a good thing we took off since Two Harbors got about 6 inches of snow

later in the day.

So.....it's back to school tomorrow. It will be good to get back into our usual routine, and Phebe is very ready to see all her friends at school!