Goodbye 2012

Seems like it has been months since I last posted but it has only been one long week. I am not going to pretend that I can recall the entire past week entirely, instead some highlights. Christmas Eve was very nice. We went to church service at 5PM and then over to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Mom had a sampling of everything for dinner, it was great. The kids patiently waited for presents. Ellie helped play Santa and get the gifts divided up for opening. It was wonderful to watch each of their faces as they opened their presents and see which were their favorites.
Christmas day we stayed at home. The kids opened presents from us under the tree. I was happy to hear a couple were what they truly wanted. Mom and Dad came over for breakfast. I tried a new oatmeal bake that I found online for our vegan option and it was a winner. Dad was sick with a flu and they didn't stay too long. Dean, Lauren and the girls came over for dinner. We made a bunch of appetizers and had a buffet. The kids got to play for a bit before they went home.
We left for vacation on Wednesday morning. We headed to Madison for our 1st night. We were able to meet my girlfriend from high school, Becki, and her son, Eddie, for lunch. We met them at Ella's Deli which is like Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium meets Jewish Deli. There is something everywhere you look and a menu a mile long. We tried fried pickles for the first time and they were a whole bunch tastier than they sounded. Becki led us to our hotel before she left. We stayed at a hotel that had a neat family suite (a regular room plus a bump out with 2 twin beds). They also had a neat pool with a small slide and basketball nets. We went shopping and picked up a couple saucer sleds to take with us up to UBs house the next day.
Thursday we had breakfast and checked out. We visited the Geological Museum on the UW Madison campus before heading to UBs house. We made good time and were there before lunchtime. We went to lunch and then came back to sled and enjoy the snow. UB brought out his tractor and let the kids drive and then use the back hoe to pick up and distribute snow piles. Nick was having so much fun. Ellie liked going down this small hill of snow on her saucer. We watched a couple movies on his projector that night and had popcorn and cheese from the cheese shop. It was very neat that we got to wake up to snow the next morning.
Friday we had breakfast with UB and play for a bit before heading off. We ate lunch at the restaurant in the Dells that had a train that brought the food to the table. It snowed on our journey South. We stopped off in Madison to visit the botanic garden, they had a holiday train exhibit. It wasn't too spectacular but provided a break to stretch our legs. We spent the night in Brookfield. We checked in and got right into the pool which was the best trick we learned this trip...pool at check in = no one in the pool with you. I read about a custard place that we headed to for dessert for dinner. It was very tasty custard and will now be on the list when we travel that way.
Saturday we headed home. We stopped off in Kenosha to visit Jelly Belly and take the tram tour. The kids got their free jelly beans and a little sugar perk. We got home around lunchtime and I got laundry started. Mom got Dad's germs and was sick too (Jo and the boys, too). I made some vegetable soup and bread to take over and cut up a melon. Ellie and I rant to the store to pick up some very basics for the evening and drop dinner by Mom and Dad's house. We picked up some new movies at the store and headed home. We moved things around down in the basement and set Nick's wall mounted Hot Wheels sets up - a true winner.
Today, Ellie joined me for our real grocery shop and some returns. We headed to Meijer with our list and a list for Mom and Dad. We had a cart full of things by the time we checked out. Christmas was reduced to 75% off and we stocked up. We did a quick run into Target to check their clearance - I ended up with a pair of slipper socks for Nick and gift bags to put away for next year. We picked up lunch and dropped it and groceries off at Mom's house. We came home and un-packed. We decided we are going to cancel our cable service. It is really not essential and we don't watch too many of the cable channels anymore. We got our library books and videos together and went on a family adventure. We returned books to the library and got a couple new ones. We went to Abt and bought a new tv to replace the one in the back room so we can get rid of cable. We ran to the video store and the kids picked out some new movies. We came home and Rob and I set up the new tv and the kids played. I played Ellie's new monopoly game with her - it is very cool, the ipad is the bank and there is no need to exchange money. TV installation was successful and we unhooked the cable.
It has been such a long, busy and wonderful week. Rob goes back to work for a couple days this coming week but the kids and I have some adventures planned. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Looking forward to a new year this week. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree