Saturday, April 1, 2017

Family Time



Hi there!!

How are ya? I am well. I've got a few pictures for you. This last week the kids and I got to see my family!  Wahoo!  It was so great to see my sisters and their kids. It was just awesome to see the cousins together. I think that was my favorite part.

My sister from Colorado emailed in December to let us all know she'd be driving up to the Twin Cities because her husband had some post-graduate classes going on during her spring break. With a little checking around, we found that everyone's spring break lined up! Yay! Of course, ours is whenever we make it. I've actually never taken much time off for a spring break, so it was fun to give it a try this year. The husbands didn't come along this time. ***Scratch that. Actually, three couldn't make it. Nicole, an older cousin in Wisconsin couldn't make it. Her spring break didn't line up. Kelsey, an older cousin and Aunt Jaemi in Alaska couldn't make it either.

My mom flew in to Milkwaukee and so Doug, the kids, and I drove over to pick her up. She took us out for a lovely dinner on the way home. Mom stayed at our house Saturday and Sunday. Monday we drove to meet up with everyone. So it was my sister from Colorado and her kids, my sister from Oregon, my sister from Minnesota and one of her kids, my mom (from Alaska), and us. 

We rented a big cabin on the Iowa side of the Mississippi. One day we drove to the town of Decorah, Iowa to visit Vesterheim: The National Norweigen-American Musem and Heritage Center.   In case, you didn't know, my mom has 100% Norweigen heritage. After the museum we ate at a little Norweigen cafe. We tried some lefse and rosettes. We grew up making lefse together for holidays and were going to make a batch with all the grandkids but we ended up not having time. We made pulled taffy instead. We did that often too as kids. 

Mostly we relaxed around the cabin and played games but a few us visited Prairie du Chien and all the cousins, Aunt Donna, and I did some geocaching.  Oh, the time was so short!  It makes my heart ache a bit to think of how short the time is and to wonder when I will see them all again. I miss these people! But I do have to say I am very, very grateful to have had these precious few days.  







a loom. Nutmeg loves weaving. 




Ha! Had to take a picture of this. Combination high chair and potty chair!!  If you look at the seat there
is a lid to lift up.  Then you can open the front door to pull out a pan for waste. Boy, those Norweigens really get it done!
Too bad I didn't inherit that trait! 




Mace had SO MUCH fun with all the cousins, aunts, and Grandma!!

These two were connected at the hip!

Trying out the lefse.







The kids and I were so happy to learn how to play "Ticket to Ride." 

Making taffy

1 comment:

  1. Love all these pictures! There are some on FB but these are better. Looks like they all had a good time and the cousins that could be there really had fun. Max was certainly a hit with all of them... Jalen gave Max shoulder rides. Michael did that in one other picture someone posted. They sure seemed to have a great time with the activities and renewed times together!Emily seemed to like crafts and such. They all got along, I hope! More boys than girls...But girls ruled as parents and one Grandma. I liked the game ...I wonder if that was one I got or one someone else got. I remember "Ticket to ride" and there is a series of these. So who cooked or did you bring a dish with you to pass, and go out more than once. Love it!!

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