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.

A Merry Meissner Christmas 2012

My lack of posts belies our hectic lives between birthdays and Christmas. We had our usual December full of holiday fun, we got just enough snow for a white Christmas, and now we're all on vacation until after the new year. This year I hosted Christmas Eve for my family, and the above picture is what our tree looked like before we opened presents!

Before everyone came over, however, poor Karl was feeling droopy. Luckily Pippa stayed close to keep him company.

My entire immediate family was there, except Mike and Lamiae who stayed in San Antonio. It's been a long time since ALL the Lundgren grandkids were together! Since we had so many people, only the lucky ones got to eat at the dining room table. Clockwise from the left: Bryan, Scott, Brian, Luke, Jim, Laurie, Steven, and Jennifer.


We were lucky enough to get Laura to agree to play her Christmas piece this year, "Carol of the Bells," one more time for us, even though she's very tired of it.


Karl is not one to pass up a performing opportunity, so he and Matt played too.

For having so many kids waiting for presents, it went very well. They all waited until all the gifts were passed out to start opening them. Amazing!


After everyone went home, it was time to get ready for Christmas morning. Here's our tree right before I dropped into bed:

Laura and Karl held out until almost 7:00 before Matt and I got up so we could open presents.


Christmas morning carmel rolls!

Steve and Nathan flew in from Florida on Christmas evening. On the 26th, we went to Pam and Fred's to celebrate with the Meissner side. The Schneiders brought their cutie of a dog, Oscar, with them.

I keep wondering when the kids are going to figure out that "Pass the Present" is really just a drawn out way to pass out stocking stuffers. So far they're still really excited about it! I think they're trying to demonstrate the "L means left" trick for Nathan.


Tanya and I spent a good part of the evening putting this puzzle together.

Nate thinks Minnesota is wonderful, just because you can wear hats like this!

Laura is 11!

Last Thursday was Laura’s 11th birthday, and I think she celebrated in very good fashion. First was our traditional birthday breakfast of presents plus birthday-girl’s meal of choice (carmel rolls).

This is Esmerelda, Laura’s giant-sized cat. We got her for Laura to cuddle at night since Pippa won’t sleep with anyone other than Deborah…

Getting ready to enjoy the delicious rolls.

Awwwww, Pippa came by to wish Laura a happy birthday too.

We snuck Laura out of school at lunch time so she could have a nice, relaxing afternoon. Then it was on to her birthday dinner at Pizza Hut.

Laura had been planning her birthday party for months: snow tubing at Elm Creek Park Reserve. Unfortunately, we hadn’t had any snow and it was far too warm for snow-making. So we had to improvise…Oma donated a pass to the Water Park of America, and we were back on track.

Laura invited her friends Nina and Destiny. We started out at our home where Laura quickly opened gifts.

Then it was on to Dairy Queen for lunch and a kitty-cake.

Karl and I had a little photo-bombing contest.

After the cake, we headed down to Bloomington for an afternoon at the water park.

To cap off Laura’s birthday celebrations, Monday was a snow-day — no school!

Happy 11th birthday Laura!