A safe return from another happy holiday season

Kenny and Beth, hopefully learning a lesson on charity... Whew!! We arrived back in Monticello safely Saturday evening after a day-long drive from Whitmore Lake, Michigan. Another enjoyable holiday season visit up north, even when all the driving is figured in. Let me update y'all from the material I posted earlier today... We had a number of Christmas parties to attend before we headed up north, including a nice little get together with members of our research unit, their family, and some friends:

I had previously posted on an archeology party we attended--the kids also had parties at their schools. We picked Kenny up after his school's Christmas party, and started driving northward. By the time we reached our hotel in Vandalia, Illinois, a moderate rain was turning into a rain/snow mix, and all snow by the next morning. The snow tapered off as we headed to Wisconsin the next day. The Madison area was well-blanketed by a heavy snow they had gotten a week or so earlier, and we maintained this snow cover as we got to Rhinelander. Below, Beth and Grandma Rose look through an interesting collection of items:

Kenny and Beth LOVED that there was so much snow up north--they spent a lot of time sledding at Grandma and Grandpa's house:

We also took a number of walks in the woods, whether it was snowing or on some of the clear days we had. Below is a picture of the car shed my brother Bob has been expanding in recent years:

Oscar, the golden retriever, loved the fact that there were a lot of people to walk him. During the week leading up to Christmas, most of my siblings were able to make it to Rhinelander for at least a short visit. Below, my sister Laurie (aka Lulu) hams it up with Stephen:

We were also graced with a visit by my sister Lisa, her husband Jon Hurlburt, and their three kids. Below, Jon holds his youngest daughter Lelia, as older sister Emma goofs off nearby:

We had a blast, with multiple gift openings, lots of snowy walks with lots of dogs, and some consternation by Lulu when beaten to the punch with a camera:

The Christmas morning gift opening was the biggest. Below, I help Stephen get into a toy tool set he got:

and here Grandpa Bragg surveys the crazy scene:

My mother also got Lulu and Hope some stylish holiday jammies:

My camera failed to capture the twinkle of the lights in the festive shirts (and did not do Lulu's early morning glam look justice). The weather warmed slightly over Christmas, softening the snow and making it pack, so Aunt Lulu made a cool snowman with Beth and Oscar:

We also had a fabulous Christmas dinner in Rhinelander, prepared primarily by Hope, Lulu's husband Mark Valasky, Grandma, and Lisa (her famous carrot dish). Unfortunately, Lisa and her family could not stay long, as they had other family to visit. My brother John and his partner Jim braved the icy road conditions and came up for a couple night's visit over Christmas, and my youngest brother Bill came home from his college in Minnesota for a few days. The only one who couldn't make it was brother Bob, who had to remain in Madison due to his snow removal business. By Saturday, most everybody had returned home, and we started wrapping up our visit. On Sunday, I took Kenny and Beth to a local sledding hill in a park in Rhinelander:

We joined our good friends Brian and Michele Bennett and their son David, plus a lot of Rhinelander friends and their families, for a few hours of "high impact" sledding. Below, Michele Bennett starts grilling brats and hotdogs on the Bennett family camping gear that Brian and I hauled to the park:

We had quite a gathering, and lots of fun, despite several trips to the emergency room that day (one child got a broken nose and some cut lips from one ill-fated sled trip; another man dislocated his elbow (probably off the same jump)). Our kids did not escape minor injury--Beth cut her lips and scraped her face falling off one sled, and Kenny had the wind knocked out of him going off of a jump. We actually took Kenny to the emergency room that night when he suddenly started complaining about pain in his chest and abdomen, but had nothing worse than some minor bruising.

We were also blessed that my youngest brother Bill escaped injury when the car he was driving back to Minnesota after the Christmas get-together in Rhinelander skidded off of an icy highway near Abbotsford, Wisconsin, and rolled. The car (a used one he had borrowed from our parents) was totaled (which didn't take much, given its age and mileage), but he walked away without further incident, and was safely shuttled back to college. On the Monday after Christmas, we said our goodbyes to my parents and drove to Whitmore Lake to spend most of the next week with Hope's parents. Below, Tucker the Turtle helps frame the Chicago skyline:

You may have noticed Tucker with Beth in some of the other pictures. This stuffed animal is taken by each of the kids in Beth's preschool class for a week or two at a time. The child and her parents are then supposed to describe the adventures Tucker has--obviously, seeing snow and visiting a big northern city like Chicago were big-time adventures for Tucker! While they didn't have as much snow as we had in Rhinelander, it was a white week in Whitmore Lake, and Kenny spent a lot of time throwing (and ducking) snowballs:

Rich Pruden (Hope's dad) and I spent some time welding a "kickstand" onto the small trailer we hauled up north (well, Rich actually did the welding, but I did a lot of first-class supervising!). We needed the trailer in part to relieve the crowding in our van, which would have been particularly bad on this trip, given that we hauled our new cats Bella and Draco up north with us. Below, Draco peaks at the larger and grumpier cat (named CC) of Rich and Ann Pruden:

The cats never really got used to each other (neither did the ones at my folks' house), but there were no big fights, so it seemed to go okay. Rich Pruden spends a lot of time cutting firewood, which he sells on the internet and to family and friends:

Rich orders logging truck loads of oak, cuts, splits, and then stacks & dries the wood before hauling it to satisfied customers in southeastern Michigan. Below, Stephen and his "Bumpa" take a break after a busy day:

On New Year's Day, a number of Hope's family came from the area to have a belated gift exchange and spend some time visiting:

In the picture above, Beth's great-grandmother Kay Pruden admires Tucker the Turtle, while her great-grandfather Don Pruden chimes in. Also pictured is grandmother Ann ("Nahma") Pruden (seated) and great-aunt Diane Pruden (yellow shirt, in background). All too soon, our time to return to Arkansas arrived, and we left Michigan early Saturday morning for the 900+ mile drive. Fortunately, road conditions were good, the weather was largely clear if a bit breezy, and we got to listen to the Arkansas Razorbacks rally in the second half of their college football bowl game to beat East Carolina in overtime. Now all we have to do is get back into our routine after a couple hectic weeks!