Knowledge Bowl

Laura’s Knowledge Bowl season started out on a high note on January 14 with a first place finish!

Laura’s team wrapped up the season with a second and a third place finish. Great job, Laura!

Bakery Buddies

On January 10, Wyatt spent the day with his grandma and grandpa. What better way to celebrate than to have lunch at the bakery in Cambridge with his Aunt Deborah in tow.

Vikings vs. Packers—Game 2

The following week, the Elliotts invited us over to catch the big Vikings-Packers rematch. This game didn’t quite match the excitement of the previous game, but the boys found other ways to have fun.

I got really excited after halftime when Spider-Man made an appearance. He’s my favorite.

Karl and Deborah stayed overnight while Laura and I went back home to let the dog out. We missed out on a delicious breakfast.

I also missed out on an appearance by the Batman! I am so disappointed.

NFL pajamas are popular with this crowd.

Vikings vs. Packers—Game 1

We’ve been busy the last month—too busy to blog and too busy to take too many pictures… But I’ll try to get caught up in the next few posts.

As Vikings fans, we’ve been conditioned to expect the worst. So we were all a little nervous watching the grand finale of the NFL season: the Vikings versus their arch-rival, the Packers.

(Photo by Laura, the only stick-in-the-mud who didn’t wear purple.)

It’s been a long time since the game, but I remember it being a fun game to watch. The Vikings won, and bought themselves a playoff berth. I think Nate being in Minnesota was the good-luck-charm we needed. So if the Florida Meissners would just come to their senses and move to Minnesota, the Vikings could finally have that Super Bowl victory. It’s all up to you, Megan.

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.