December and Winter is Here!!!

Well December is suddenly here and already almost 1/2 way over. We had a fun Thanksgiving (including a week of vacation for Dad) that included lots of football and good eats. The weather changed pretty quick after turkey-day and we've now had snow on the ground for several weeks. Luckily the old Troy-built snowblower is running like a champ - after Dad figured out how to run it again - was last winter that long ago?


We were busy picking out a Christmas tree over Thanksgiving too. Kyle enjoyed heading to a local nursery to wander amongst the trees. We did cheat this year though - the trees were inside an unheated shed -so not the real walk in the woods experience. We'll have to do that next year when Kyle is a little better on his feet. It's our first real tree since we left Wisconsin 8 years ago! We also put up our artificial tree - so we have twice as much fun for the cats and Kyle! We were inspired by the previous homeowner who did a great job with the decorating at Christmas time. Still a work in progress, but we've definitely got some good stuff and good ideas for next year.


Kyle and I have been able to get some good sledding in too since the snow has landed. The temperature was 10 degrees F when we took the picture below. Kyle loves being outside and the snow hasn't slowed him down at all.

We've battled for a good picture for Christmas cards with Kyle too - he's been interested in everything but sitting still and smiling for the camera. He's getting to be quite a handful.

Kyle is eating better and better, seems like two steps forward and one step back. He's definitely starting to put on some weight - we've got him drinking Mega-Mass 2000 power shakes 3 times a day. He'd bulk up even faster if he focused on his bench press a little more. He's doing really well though - he's about 3 mph short of running and we think he's only a few days or weeks from being a complete motor-mouth. He's got alot to say right now but isn't really good at saying it - won't be long for sure.

Kyle is really starting to get around. He's been going up the stairs for a long time but has recently started going down. He typically says "boom" after every step but this was a quiet descent...

So Dad and friend JW made a recent acquisition. We bought an old out of service ice fishing shanty from a neighbor and are in the process of restoring it to it's 1973 glory. It's actually an old sturgeon spearing shack that has been primarily used to watch tip-ups and host card games. We plan on cleaning it up, getting the stove running and adding some holes for jigging. We'll hopefully have it on the ice by mid-January.

This is how you celebrate the purchase of a new-used ice fishing shack. Two Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales after you've jammed the shack into the garage for the rebuild!!!

I think we've got some work to do, good thing JW has a heated garage!!!