Ice Fishing

So after snow tubing, what other stereotypically Minnesotan things could we do with Nate while he was visiting from Florida? How about ice fishing (despite the fact that neither my dad nor Steve is an ice fisherman)? It was pretty chilly standing out on the lake and the fish weren’t biting, but Nate isn’t going to see trucks driving on the lake back at home.

Wild Mountain Snow Tubing

What is there to do when visiting Minnesota in the middle of the winter? Snow tubing!

Karl and Nate during the car ride to Taylors Falls.

One of Nathan’s requests was to visit Wisconsin—why visit just one state when you’re so close to two. So we crossed the river and headed into Saint Croix Falls, Wisconsin for lunch. Here’s the photographic proof—notice the fireworks shop, the main draw for Minnesotans to cross the river. Deborah said it best, “Here's Wisconsin, Nate, where everything is just slightly worse than Minnesota.”

After lunch it was back to Minnesota and on to Wild Mountain for some tubing. Initially, Oma and Opa were going to watch and take pictures, but they just couldn’t resist once they saw how much fun we were having.

A couple of hours of snow tubing does wonders for a lady’s hair.

More Meissner Christmas Fun

The day after Christmas we all went down to Tanya and Jeff’s house to visit with my uncles David and Gene who were in from San Francisco. Gene’s guide dog Paddy, playing it cool on Oscar’s turf. You can see the anticipation on their faces—they were just minutes away from going outside for skating and sliding. Steve stopped by later that evening to collect his customary kisses from Penelope.