Christmas/New Year's 2015-2016


Another Christmas season has come and gone; the kids have one more day off before they restart school, and Hope will be back at her job tomorrow (I'm taking the day off to watch the kids, and use up a last bit of use-or-lose leave I have).  I'll start this seasonal blog post with some pictures from a very cool light display they do at a place called Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.


Garvan (https://www.garvangardens.org/) is actually operated by the School of Architecture of the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, and Hope has free admission to it as an employee of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension program (her 4-H job).  They have strung thousands of lights in very attractive displays over quite an area that you can walk through after dark:


Our Christmas trip first took us up through Wisconsin, where we visited a number of my siblings and my parents.  Our first stop in Wisconsin, of course, was one of our favorite cheese factories:


(Yes, I did say ONE of...we have several favorite Wisconsin cheese factories!).  We had to make this a quick stop, because we were meeting my sister Laurie and brother Bob at a restaurant (Bistro 101, in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin) where my brother-in-law Mark Valasky (Laurie's husband) works.  Below, Laurie, Beth, Bob, and Bob's girlfriend Nancy settled in for a fantastic supper:


Beth joined her Uncle Mark in the kitchen for a picture:


We spent that night at Bob and Nancy's, which suited Beth just fine--she adores Nancy's dogs, including the cute little brown puppy we were calling "Puddles" (for unfortunately obvious reasons) by the next day:


We only spent one night in the Madison area, having our next stop already booked in the small western Wisconsin town of Colfax.  There, we joined my beaming older sister Lisa, brother John, and Lisa's son Michael to watch her oldest daughter Emma play basketball:


Emma (pictured below, warming up) is only a freshman, but she is tall and pretty talented, and is on the Colfax varsity basketball team:


After the game, we went to a nearby bowling alley, and let the cousins bowl and eat pizza before returning to Lisa's home for more visiting with cousins and uncles (and a little gift opening).  Again, we didn't have time to linger, and left the next day (Sunday) to get to my mom and dad's home in Rhinelander.  A day after we got there, we journeyed up to Houghton, Michigan (about 2 hours north) to visit our alma mater (Michigan Tech; pictured in their hockey rink below), as well as obligatory stops for smoked salmon, pasties, and birdseye, as well as a quick drive through of the Ford Forestry Center about an hour from Houghton:


(That's my mom on the left of the picture above).  Part of the trip was also to be sure to see some snow...it had been a pretty quiet snow year in Rhinelander to that point.  Fortunately, on Christmas Eve a front came through and brought a couple inches of snow:


Christmas day was full of present opening, good food, and good conversation:


Grandpa was in fine form, telling Stephen and the rest of us many stories, including one about a constipated beaver:


We didn't spend quite a week with my parents; we headed to lower Michigan the day after Christmas.  This was our first Christmas without Ann Pruden, which was hard on everyone.  We did our best, finding some time to travel into Detroit for a hockey game.  Below, we are headed to Joe Louis Arena on the People Mover:


We got to see Michigan Tech play Michigan State in an invitational tournament.  After falling behind 2-0 by the end of the second period, Michigan Tech tied the game with less than two minutes left, and then won this round in overtime!  Below is a picture of the exciting hockey action:


Unfortunately, Michigan Tech lost to the University of Michigan in the championship game, but we had a great time watching excellent hockey, and enjoyed visits to Libby Glass Outlet stores, Hope's grandparents' home, and a nice Greek restaurant with Hope's dad Rich.  After an all-too-short visit, we headed back to Arkansas.  We got one night in our own beds in Monticello before heading to Little Rock for a couple days to attend the wedding of our archeology friend Jessica Howe:


Hope and I were very honored to be asked to read Scripture for the ceremony, and Kenny operated a video camera, while Beth and Stephen helped keep some of the little ones entertained.  We had an excellent time at Jessica and Jeremy's wedding, as you can see from the picture below:


Over the years, we have gotten pretty close to the Howe family, including her parents and grandparents, and really felt at home with them.  What a joyous way to ring in the new year!

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