Race Day

Today was race day. I took part in the B-B-BRRR Winter Classic bike race in downtown Fargo - a 5K race through the snow and trees and on the frozen Red River.



It was -4 with about a -20 wind chill for the race, but it was a whole lot of fun.


After the race was done, I hustled back to Horace to get Alison to her first Pinewood Derby. She had a great time, and came in 2nd in her troop and 6th overall. She also got the "Best Car that's not a Car Award."

A little mid-winter roundup

It seems like we're still digging out from the holidays. Eli had his preschool Christmas program at our church, which was just large enough to hold the hordes of parents and grandparents assembled to watch. His teachers were brilliant, once the kids were lined up in front, they said "Ok, wave at your moms and dads, get it out of your system!" It seemed to work.



Alison had her school program at the middle school, again, a packed house.



Our niece Stephanie and husband Muhammad stopped in on their way to Bismarck for Christmas, and Alison had a great time playing with Maya (so did we).



After Christmas in Bismarck, Grandma and Grandpa came up to be snowed in with us for New Years - it seems to be a new tradition. We celebrated Grandpa's birthday with a devils food cake with mocha frosting - a big hit with everyone.



The weather's been so cold lately that we haven't been playing much outside, but Eli has been very entertained with his GeoTrax train set. Okay, mom and dad have been very entertained putting the tracks together, Eli just gets to work on his patience while our layouts get more and more elaborate.

Holiday Train

We decided to somewhat ignore the weather advisories tonight and headed south to Hankinson to watch the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train roll through. The event was pretty short, but just right for a night out in the snow. It was about 20 degrees for the concert, but a great time was had by all. We pulled into town just as the train was pulling up.

Santa started off the festivities.


A little chilly, but everyone was having a good time.


Each car of the train was decorated for the event.


Trains, Santa, and loud music. What else does a boy need?


The band was lead by Melanie Doane, a Canadian who plays a mean fiddle.


Before the train left, I was able to run up by the engine to get a picture of the lights.

Christmas Program Time!

Alison and Eli had their Christmas program at church tonight. Both of them did great, despite some concerns that Eli would have a meltdown before getting up to the front. But, typical Eli, he was resistant to practice, resistant to leave the house, wouldn't go up to the front for Children's Chat today during the regular church service, but then showtime comes...



Apparently he got over his stage fright. Alison, on the other hand, was ready to go from the beginning and was more than happy to get into the show.



Small town church. Good thing they built the new building, I can't believe how many kids are in the congregation.

Let's do the time warp again

It's still October, right? What? December? That can't be right...oh well, here goes.
Alison and Eli still have the proper level of cuteness to score really big on Halloween. Eli was a monkey and Alison was a belly dancer/genie/whatever. Whenever anyone would ask what she was, she would just respond "Well, the package said 'Harem'". It was a great way to say "I don't care, I just thought it looked cute".

I finally decided that it was time for new shocks on the Tahoe, and rather than bring it in, I replaced them almost all by myself in the garage. Eli took great pride in helping me out.

This past weekend we really got into the holiday spirit. Alison had practice for the Christmas program at church, followed by her first skating lesson of the new session. After the lesson was done, she said the teacher wanted to talk to me. As it turns out, the teacher felt Alison should have been passed the previous session, so now she gets to move up to Basic 3!
After the lesson, we went back to Horace to visit Santa - he just happened to be in town. The Lions Club hosts an event at the community center each year, and servers sloppy joes and the kids all get small gifts. Other than having to wait in line for a long time, it's a neat setup.





After visiting Santa, we got home and decorated the tree.





We also gave making a gingerbread house a try - it worked, for the most part. And it's from a kit, we're not that ambitious.

Punkin Chucker

Eli got to experience one of the joys of fall at a harvest festival in town recently. A local church was selling pumpkins from a patch they had grown, but all the "too small" pumpkins were put into buckets for their pumpkin-chucking activity.

I showed Eli how to do it once, then he took over and wanted to go over and over again. Here's a sample:

Another September in the Books

Wow, does time fly when you're having fun. When I got back from the elk trip, I met Jennifer and the kids for Eli's first night of gymnastics. He's been going weekly and really seems to enjoy it. Even better, he's absolutely wiped out by the end of the night, so it makes bedtime easy!



That weekend we had a little cookout and grilled - what else - elk. Big ol' steaks and burgers. Yummy.



The following weekend, Jennifer had her "payback" day and went to Carlos Creek winery with Jodi for the annual grape stomping.


During Horace Bean Days this year, Horace Lutheran Church held a salvage sale at the old church building and sold the pews. We bought one to use as a bench in our entryway, and with a little length adjustment made it fit perfectly. Here is the finished product:



Eli's also been participating in free track nights put on by the park district. More energy to burn!



For my birthday weekend, we went to Park Rapids for the Headwaters 100 bike ride. I did the 100 mile route with Joel, and Jennifer did the 45 mile route with Patty. The day started cool and rainy, but the rain stopped and the sun came out and it made for a great ride in northern Minnesota. The leaves were changing nicely too, which made for a very pretty ride.



With a new school year comes a new year of scouting - Alison had her Girl Scouts kickoff ceremony last week.



This week I've been hauling beets again - on Sunday Jennifer and the kids were able to come up and see just what I've been up to during the day. Alison got to ride in the tractor pulling the beet lifter while Jennifer and Eli rode in the truck with me while loading.