Merry Christmas!!
Just a quick note (and some pix) from the great white north... We arrived in Rhinelander yesterday afternoon after a whirlwind visit with Hope's family in Michigan. We had a good and uneventful drive up from Arkansas, with a nice if brief visit with our friends Mike and Sharon in Memphis.
As we drove northward in Ohio, we eventually found snow, which thrilled Beth and Kenny:
but Stephen seemed underwhelmed:
When we first arrived at Hope's parents' home in Whitmore Lake, they had a fair amount of snow, which "Bumpa" pushed into a big pile for the kids:
Unfortunately, a heavy rain soon thereafter melted almost all of the snow...On Saturday, we visited the Clark family (Ann Pruden's kin). Here, Evan holds his newest cousin:
Speaking of lil' Stephen, if you ever wonder where we get the term "Bumpa hair", question no longer...
On Christmas day, the kids opened gifts before going to Christmas mass:
We then went to Hope's cousin's house for the Pruden family Christmas. Here, Stephen is being held by his great grandfather Don Pruden (Rich's dad):
Here is a picture of the cousins:
And another Pruden Christmas tradition--the difficult-to-open gift (this one actually came apart pretty easily with a cordless drill):
The day after Christmas, we left Whitmore Lake with Hope's parents for a quick visit to the UP of Michigan. We stayed the night in Manistique and visited with a college friend (Sheila Moore, now Sheila Clark after marrying co-MTU forestry alumni Dan Clark) we hadn't seen in a decade or so. Thursday morning, we drove through a light snowfall past Marquette and L'anse to Houghton. We didn't linger long, driving a little further north to Calumet for pasties and Hancock for smoked salmon. We then parted ways with Rich and Ann, who returned to their home, and we drove south to Rhinelander. Plenty of snow along the whole route!!
We arrived before supper, and started our visit with mom and dad:
The kids got some more gifts to open:
We'll try to post more as the next week or so visit continues. We hope to see as many of the Wisconsin contingent as we can, if not up north, then in Madison that first weekend of January.
As we drove northward in Ohio, we eventually found snow, which thrilled Beth and Kenny:
but Stephen seemed underwhelmed:
When we first arrived at Hope's parents' home in Whitmore Lake, they had a fair amount of snow, which "Bumpa" pushed into a big pile for the kids:
Unfortunately, a heavy rain soon thereafter melted almost all of the snow...On Saturday, we visited the Clark family (Ann Pruden's kin). Here, Evan holds his newest cousin:
Speaking of lil' Stephen, if you ever wonder where we get the term "Bumpa hair", question no longer...
On Christmas day, the kids opened gifts before going to Christmas mass:We then went to Hope's cousin's house for the Pruden family Christmas. Here, Stephen is being held by his great grandfather Don Pruden (Rich's dad):
Here is a picture of the cousins:
And another Pruden Christmas tradition--the difficult-to-open gift (this one actually came apart pretty easily with a cordless drill):
The day after Christmas, we left Whitmore Lake with Hope's parents for a quick visit to the UP of Michigan. We stayed the night in Manistique and visited with a college friend (Sheila Moore, now Sheila Clark after marrying co-MTU forestry alumni Dan Clark) we hadn't seen in a decade or so. Thursday morning, we drove through a light snowfall past Marquette and L'anse to Houghton. We didn't linger long, driving a little further north to Calumet for pasties and Hancock for smoked salmon. We then parted ways with Rich and Ann, who returned to their home, and we drove south to Rhinelander. Plenty of snow along the whole route!!
We arrived before supper, and started our visit with mom and dad:
The kids got some more gifts to open:
We'll try to post more as the next week or so visit continues. We hope to see as many of the Wisconsin contingent as we can, if not up north, then in Madison that first weekend of January.
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