Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Monday

• Super cold and windy. Did an hour on the treadmill at work over lunch. (7:00 pace)

Tuesday

• Ran at lunch with JVD and Joe.


• Did a half day to take off for Manchester, IA before the snow. Slow moving out of town and then came to a standstill by Elko as a semi rolled under an overpass. Sat still on the interstate for 30 minutes.


• Ate dinner at Applebee's in Waverly, IA and made it to Grandma Rotach's around 9:00. Roads were fine until freezing fog about 20 miles outside of Manchester.

Wednesday

• Ran an hour on Manchester's city trail.


• Swam with Lilly and Grandpa Bob at their hotel's pool.


• We went to the Community Congregational UCC candlelight service. Lilly was surprised to hear Angels We Have Heard on High but didn't belt out the chorus like Olivia.


• Chili for dinner and presents afterwards.

Thursday

• Santa came to grandmas!
  Lilly's "princess bouncy ball":
  
  
  
  A recorder:
  
  
  
  Princesses:
  
  
  
  Festive Boo:
  
  
  
  


• I did the same run as Wednesday. Colder and a little slick. I wiped once on some super packed snow at an intersection.


• Christmas meal at Grandmas.


• Lilly went sledding with Megan, Caleb and Aunt Bee while we packed to leave. We were leaving early to avoid the weekly Iowa ice storm.


• Arrived in Des Moines after a drive through 35mph winds that blew us sideways a couple times on a somewhat slick I35.


• A great dinner at Grandma Merical's house thanks to Kate.


• More presents.

Friday

• A nice day of hanging out at Legacy Pointe. Game room, walking through the halls, 11:30 lunch in the private dining room.


• Holly and I soaked our feet as we walked the dogs to Dahl's. The sidewalks and trails weren't plowed and with the temp in the mid 50's they were very sloppy.


• Out to dinner at Chopstiks. The service was a little frustrating but it was still a good time. Lilly met a friend and Buddha:
  
  
  
  
  
• We all went over to Jerel and Elaine's to visit and pick out pottery. It is always fun to see the new pieces and we especially enjoyed the stories and old family photographs.

Saturday

• There was another ice storm overnight:
  
  
  
  


• Geoff and Beth took off early for CO. Geoff forgot his flannel shirt which dad found in the closet:
  
  
  
  


• We took off late afternoon and the drive was ok with some weather off and on. We stopped in Ames for the world's best pizza at Great Plains Sauce and Dough Company:
  
  
  
  

Sunday

• Skied for 2 hrs at Elm Creek. There has been a huge meltdown and the manmade loop is all that is good skiing. Northern Lights was passable but pretty stinking hard - bordering on ice.


• Unpacked everything and got ready for round two of travel this week. Played with Lilly's Christmas gifts:
  
  
  
  


• Had the neighbor kids over for a while and played the "Monster Game"


• Boo is tired: