MN Thanksgiving

Warning: Lots of pictures! Long posting!

I spent a happy several days in Minnesota with my children and grandchildren and to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. I rode up with Rob, Carrie and Eleanor, who read several books to me during the ride. Betsy and her family arrived about 15 minutes before we did. Henry was already at work helping Will make pizzas for supper.

Clara waited patiently for her slices.

As did Eleanor.

Meanwhile, Pete and Henry watched Rob play an old-timey game of Simon.

Anders likes pizza too.

Eleanor loves to read.

Naturally, there was some football watching to be done. It's a guy thing.

We spent lots of time at this table over the several days. On Thursday, Sandy made great sticky buns and a breakfast casserole.

Anders was all dressed up for Thanksgiving. I understand Carrie made him this sporty-looking sweater.

Eleanor read more books.

The guys watched more football. (Except for Will, who was slaving away in the kitchen most of the day. He fixed a wonderful turkey dinner.)

Rob showed Eleanor and the other kids one way to play with dominos.

One end of the Thanksgiving table was adorned with these two delightful guests.

While these two anchored the other end.

Naturally, some pinball playing had to take place (in a nuclear free zone).

Clara decided that she had seen enough football.

While Anders lobbied for an outing.

On Friday, we decided to visit the Como Zoo, so Clara donned her hat.

At the zoo, Henry posed by the statue of Don, the gorilla.

Here's the whole gang. I shot about 15 pictures trying to get one with everyone looking at the camera. This was the best I could do, given the distractions and the posing. What a great bunch!

Back in the main building, one of the zoo personnel told a story to a group of children visitors. Henry must have been playing one of the parts in the story--notice the pelt he is holding. He was very attentive.

Afterwards, father and son walked back to the car.

Later, Clara decided to style her dad's hair.

Clara played "I spy" with me.

Sarah and Josh came over on Friday evening. This was Josh's first introduction to all of his new future in-laws. He made a big hit. Sarah, Betsy, Sandy, and Carrie spent lots of time discussing weddings and wedding planning.

Since Will, Sandy and Anders were not able to be in Chicago on the 21st, Will surprised Henry with another birthday cake. I think Henry was a little in awe of the extra attention and the rousing singing of "Happy Birthday to You" by all of us. In truth, Will and Sandy may also have seen this as a good excuse to have one of their favorite cakes from the 50's Diner.

Will gave Henry two Lego sets and then was very patient in helping him put them together.

On Saturday, Pete and I were in charge of breakfast. We did good.

Anders was dazzled with our cooking skills.

Henry showed off on of his completed Lego models.

Anders and his dad took a break from the cooking.

As they say, it doesn't get better than this.

Thanksgiving #1 in CO

Two weekends ago, we were in Colorado for our first Thanksgiving celebration with Travis, his friend Nicole, and Jessica. We started our festivities with the Iowa-OSU football game, which we watched at Maya Cove, the restaurant where Travis and Nicole work. Even though Iowa didn't prevail, we had great fun watching the game, cheering loudly, and engaging the locals as additional Iowa fans.

On Sunday, everyone (except me, I guess) chipped in to make an outstanding turkey dinner with all the fixings. Yum. Then it was time for game playing. We worked through several games, including Apples to Apples and Quiddler. Next came Nertz, and I decided to just get out of the way and take pictures, because Nertz can be a high contact sport. Even Oliver tried to get into the action.

Travis's giant plecostomus watched from the aquarium. I swear that fish is bigger every time we are out there. Travis takes it for walks on a leash.

When Oliver wasn't playing cards, he was either begging me for food or attention.

Evidently, Jessica won.

Henry's 5th Birthday

Betsy has already posted a report on all the "birthday doings" in honor of Henry's 5th birthday this past Saturday, but allow me to add some "grandfather perspective" to the report. I begin with a sidebar story.

Without prompt, Henry recently concocted a very interesting computational device. For a long time, he has had an old keyboard to play with. He evidently decided that hooking it up to a toy abacus was the right thing to do. Naturally, I would find this especially interesting and fascinating. I want to believe that he has some innate understanding of the significance of what he has done. Why wouldn't I think him, along with all my other grandkids, one of the smartest little people around? His parents better keep pushing his math, science, and engineering skills. They are very evident to me!

I'm sorry, but this just blows my mind.

Anyway, back to the birthday. Since we were there a couple days in advance of Henry's birthday, we let him open his gifts from us early.

First, the box...

...which included this very special T-shirt. Well, I think it is special, being the Yankee fan that I am. Evidently, his father or mother have swayed him in the direction of other teams, though. He wasn't too sure about this gift.

Next came this very special case, which Grandma made for one of his gifts...

He seemed to like this one. I had fun making it. I bought the ash blank several years ago and have been waiting for Henry to reach an age where I thought he could handle it. Also, to complete the picture, we got him an official leather glove and a new ball. Later, he and I had fun giving that new glove its first oiling. We also discussed the fine points of wrapping it around a ball and breaking it in in various ways.

My wood-burning skill leaves something to be desired, but Henry didn't complain.

The next morning, as Betsy has reported, Henry had a skunk-themed pancake breakfast birthday. (Henry is very fascinated with skunks right now.) I guess the thing that most impressed me was Betsy's teacher-ability, including a special "teacher voice" and distraction skills, to handle a group of young, energetic boys. I have long forgotten the noise and activity levels that a group of more than two can generate.

I wish everyone could be this happy always!

Leaf Pile

I promised a sequel to "Dirt Pile", which was my last posting. I already have other things to post and need to get caught up. So, here is "Leaf Pile" the sequel I promised.

Every grandparent thinks their grandkids are the best in the world, and I'm no exception. For friends who have not seen this picture elsewhere, here is the entire troupe. Thanks to my daughter for sharing this picture. Getting them all into this pose proved to be a real challenge. You should see the dozen or so other attempted shots of this scene.

Two weeks ago, when the weekend weather was so nice, they all enjoyed playing in the leaf pile that Grandma quickly created with her leaf blower. I'll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves.

While his father and his cousin Henry head for the woods after a soccer ball that got away and Josey shows off her Iowa T-shirt, Anders heads for the leaf pile. He wasn't frightened at the prospect, but there was just enough breeze to give his hair the lift you see here.

Henry wasn't altogether sure about this part, in which his uncle or uncles decided that burying him in leaves might be fun. (For them or for him?)