Family Time

We had a really fun Christmas trip. Started out on Christmas Eve in Escanaba. Opened the Sinterklaas gifts. I made one for Amélie and she liked it a lot. Abigail had me again so she was a bit bored with it. Grampie made quite the carving for Naomi! Naomi made a miniature version of Abigail's room to show how messy it always is. Impressive. 

Christmas itself was full of lots of good food and fun presents. We even got to watch a Christmas movie. The day after we parted ways. Naomi went home to spend a couple days alone and do some baking with French Claire. The five of us drove down to Stevens Point so we could camp out at Grandma Ann's house and get together with the family. Unfortunately there was a virus going through the assisted living home so we couldn't see her, but it was great to see some cousins who live so far away!

Before those adventures, we went skiing for the first time this year. It was Naomi's first time since the snowboarder crashed into her in Germany. She was nervous, but it went well. Abigail had a huge wipeout on the last run. Always the last run. She was bombing down the hill and someone cut across the whole run and crashed into her, so she went flying off the groomed part but ended up being fine. Scary to watch. 

Naomi and I both picked up a bug, so the last couple days have been a bit rough. She managed to get the kitchen organized in spite of feeling sick. Big improvement! Hopefully today is better.

Fun with family.

Happy to be back.

First time!

Snowman time before it all melts.

Sinterklaas creations.

Grampie made Jacob's Ladders for the girls. Tricky!

Christmas morning.

Performances

The girls had two big performances at school this week. On Thursday they had the concert from their music club that meets after school. Abigail played trumpet and Amélie played piano. Amélie had a solo and she was so nervous! It turned out beautifully. Abigail played with the ensemble and in a duet. The next day they had their class Christmas musical. Grammie and Grampie came up for it. Abigail was a penguin and Amélie was a reindeer. 

The girls have been enjoying the sledding hill! Got a little bit of fresh powder yesterday and the day before. Planning to go to the ski hill for the first time this morning. Last night we had a solstice party with some friends who live by the lake. They built an eco-house and I would like to go back sometime to learn more about it. They also started playing some music and the girls joined in. 

I made some progress with the stairwell. Worked on the trim. Tricky getting things to line up when the walls are so crooked. Won't be around much this coming week, and I was hoping to have the trim about done by now, but as with most things, it takes longer than expected and lots of other things popped up this week. 

Music concert at school.

Class play/musical.

Sunset over the big lake.

We walked over to the Carter's Christmas Village.

Just the right size for this year.

Gingerbread Houses

We had a really nice weekend in Escanaba. Went for a Christmas tree hunt on Saturday and Grammie, Naomi, and the Girlies made gingerbread houses on Sunday. We watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and had lots of great food. Brought back half a deer and some leftover turkey for our new chest freezers. Stopped by our friends farm to drop off a copy of the newspaper. They made the front page! 

Had an interview with the person I will write my next article about. Not sure if there will be more articles after this, as immigrants don't seem too keen on having their stories out there any more, but maybe I will find a different topic. 

Managed to get the pantry finished up and made some good progress on the stairwell. The drywall turned out better than I expected! Got it pained and installed the light. Selected some oak and planed it down. Lots to do this coming week but hoping to get some oak installed. 

First check for writing something!

The lights change color.

Sturdy shelves.

Fun with the neighbors at the Christmas Village.

Our friends made the paper.

Human birdfeeder.

Gingerbread houses.

Slabs to Boards

Finally got the big ugly pile of slabs in the basement milled up into half inch boards. Machines in the workshop did great. Dust collector got plugged up and it took a while to figure out what the problem was, but now it's easy to fix. Looked like a sawdust bomb had gone off after all that work! 

Thursday was a snow day. Once again, surrounding areas in all directions got dumped on, and here in Marquette we got a measly couple inches. It was enough to get the sledding hill started though, so the girls had lots of fun. It's melting now, but the cold is coming back in a couple days. Rain tomorrow. Yuck. Abigail did a fun experiment to calculate how long it would take water to freeze outside and then test out her prediction. 

On Friday the piano teacher took our girls and one of their friends that also takes lessons to a high school play/musical in Negaunee. Frozen. Seemed like a really fun night! Quite a compliment that she offered to do that - I guess she likes teaching those three girls. 

Managed to get the floor and lights in the kitchen pantry this week, but that's it for this week in regards to getting the ground floor in order. Way to many other things going on. Discouragingly slow progress. Had to deal with a botched job at the mechanic too. They replaced part of a tail light and broke a piece of trim in the process, trying to pass it off as being fixed even after I took it back once. I left the broken part with them in hopes that they come up with a better solution. Definitely not inspiring much trust, but no other options within walking distance, so rather stuck with them. 

Meijer's parking lot doesn't disappoint. Sunrises and lake views.

All milled up!

Almost.

Abigail's experiment.

Fun in the front yard.

We checked out the laser light show Saturday night.

Family Time

Auntie Claire came to visit us this week! We had lots of fun with her. On Wednesday she took the girls down to Escanaba with her and Naomi and I joined on Thursday. Picked up a fresh turkey from our friend's farm on the way down. My mom grilled it up and it was amazing. Had a wonderful tapas dinner. 

On Friday we went down to Appleton and did a bit of shopping. New skis for the girls. Next size up. Got a few tools and some groceries. Even found some nice Belgian beer that Naomi loves. It was great to stay with the Sankey's for a couple nights. 

The celebration on Saturday was a lot of fun. Not quite as many people as last year, but we got to watch Michigan beat Ohio State again together, and that was an unexpected surprise! Managed to make it out of Appleton at a decent time on Sunday morning after a great brunch. 

Finished up installing a fan that turns on automatically when it detects warm air. It is pretty quiet and it brings the warm air from our wood stove to our bathroom where it gets too cold. Hopefully that will help with the condensation on the windows too. 

Got a good chunk of the slabs milled into boards on Monday too. That is some physical work, but the slabs were free, and the boards should work well up on the ceiling. Hopefully I can get the rest, or nearly the rest, of the slabs milled up tomorrow. Fun to have an article published in the Marquette Monthly as well. The editor said they want more, so that's a nice compliment. 

We had a great dinner with Pish last Sunday.

Turning the slabs into boards.

The article turned out well.

So did the turkey!

One of three Thanksgiving dinners! What a treat.

Go Blue!

Fun with the family.

Dishwasher

Last Sunday Naomi and I went out to our land to go for a hike and put the camper up on blocks. Good thing I brought the chainsaw as a tree had fallen over the road. We had a really nice lunch with my parents and then stopped by the farm on our way home. Should be able to get a turkey for Thanksgiving and some soup chickens from them for our new chest freezers. Some venison on the way too. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had Friendsgiving last night. Ended up being a lot more people there than expected, and our friends did a great job of hosting in their cute little house by the lake. Fun to see what they have done with the place. The food was great and we were all able to make some new friends. The girls did not want to leave! 

Naomi and the girls have been bugging me since we moved in about the lack of a dishwasher, so I finally put one in this week. The install was a pain but it went okay. Managed to fix the leaky drain as well. Plumbing is definitely not my favorite. It's louder than I hoped for, but oh well. Should get the job done. They had a nice sale going. 

Hooray for chainsaws.

The cabinet was tricky to uncouple.

So corroded that I needed to invent a tool to get it apart.

Came right off once the leverage was there.

It works!

Marshmallow's Return

We haven't seen the albino deer, Marshmallow, around our house for the past year. She has been hanging out a few blocks east of here. Now she is back and she brought some friends. Fun to see more of her again. 

I just ran into a snag with the article I wrote for a local publication. The topic was an interview with an immigrant and their thoughts on life in Marquette. With the shift in the political climate, this person is now apprehensive about drawing unwanted attention, so it looks like it might not be published. Disappointing, but understandable. 

Thursday was my birthday and we had a lot of fun! Naomi was able to work from home, so we managed to pick out some tiles for the basement remodel. My parents took us out for lunch. Iron Bay was closed but we had a great meal at the Cajun place. Amélie came home sick from school, but was feeling better soon. Naomi made a really nice dinner and some delicious cheesecake. We also got to watch the girls figure skate and they made mw some amazing birthday presents!

My parents spent the night, helped out with a few things in the morning, and then we went for a hike after lunch. They took the girls home with them after school. It's been a while since Naomi and I had some time to ourselves! Made some good progress yesterday. Today we will take a little walk on our land before picking up the girls. We also plan to stop by the farm and see the new llamas with the girls on our way home. Just about ready for snow! Ahead of schedule on my checklist. 

She's back!

Learning all about compost.

Great birthday lunch!

Skating practice.

Abigail's present.

Amélie's present.

More than most hunters saw on deer day.

Shooting Class

My neighbor and I had never shot before, so we figured that since we lived in the UP we should probably give it a try. Oddly enough, Naomi has shot before, so she didn't join us. The instructor was really good, and after the classroom part which happened to take place in a church, we ended up way out in the boonies at this gun range which was really just someone's house. Very outspoken MAGA guy. Signs saying "your on camera's" and so forth. My highly educated neighbor, with both parents from India, was rather concerned about the reception he might receive.

In the end, we both had a great connection with the guy who was very welcoming and (after he unloaded a few conspiracy theories) talked about the different countries he had lived in and how he was one of the few remaining gunsmiths. Interesting to get to see his workshop and learn about his work. Quite the craftsman. Retired from the iron mine but working harder than ever as the demand is tremendous. The range itself was fun and we both enjoyed the cultural experience.

Naomi had a particularly rough week with some trouble at work and a rather shocking election result. The girls felt upset and disappointed too. I think it will just accelerate the inevitable outcomes of climate change and hopefully wake some people up and motivate them to focus more on their local communities instead of Washington. 

Made some good progress on the basement remodel and chopped up more firewood. Have barely needed to use the furnace so far this year. Working on the electrical stuff and framed out the new kitchen cabinet. Ordered a couple chest freezers as well - turns out two half size versions are the same price as one full size freezer, so we went for two smaller ones as that gives us more flexibility and options. Just one of many unexpected things that popped up this week. 

Naomi and the girls made some great pizza!

Long way up.

Makes me a little bit nervous to work up there.