November Updates

Happy Holiday Season!  It's hard to believe we are entering another winter of freezing temperatures ALREADY.  Didn't we just kick off the summer?  What happened to August and September?

This was the snow level on Thanksgiving.  We have a couple more inches now and it is currently snowing.  It's 10 degrees outside and the overnight low was -8.  I am officially a shut-in now.  I have no need to feel -8 degrees.  Our next cabin reservations are in December for ice fishing.  While November has been an easy month of doing what we want all day....ABC's, the Hokey Pokey, playing outside when the sun comes out.....I'll be forced to leave the house and clean some cabins.  It's good to have guests.  This will be my mantra as I psyche myself up to get out the door.  It's good to have guests!  It's good to have guests!

This is Andie playing in the first snow.  Literally, this is all she did.  She doesn't know she is able to walk in the snow and pretty much stands in one place waiting to be picked up.  I suppose the 10 pounds of warm clothes may feel a bit constricting.  But it's so cute!

Deer season came and went.  We had to wear orange vests when we were out running to avoid being shot.  Rick actually took 2 whole days off to hunt.  He enjoys being able to go hunting right out in the back yard.   I've been asked if I will be hunting sometime soon.  Answer: No.  Nope.  No way.

We had a great Thanksgiving!  Nikki organized a Turkey Trot in the morning.  I can't remember the temperature, but it was below freezing and there was a slight breeze.  Little chilly, but we had fun.

Runners on the road, and the walkers are up toward the left.  We went to Big Rick's in the afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a nice gathering of family and friends.  Lots of laughs and good food.

The new cabin is coming right along.  It has a partial roof now too.  But it may be awhile before you see it on the blog since I'd have to go outside to take a picture.  That is a level of dedication I cannot commit to at this time.

Tyson watching for pirates.  It's a concern and he has taken on the task of watchman.

Before the snow when Andie was able to motor around in her winter garb.  She may turn out to be just like me.  A sunshine girl not impressed with cold weather and snow, desiring a warmer climate. But I heard on the news the other day that people in tropical climates have a shorter average lifespan by 7 years from various environmental factors.  Check back with me in a month to see if I care about having my life stretched out by 7 years after a few weeks of Minnesota winter.

Halloween

We did a  few fun things for Halloween this year, the first time we've done anything since having kids. The first was a costume party at the one-room schoolhouse.  The students made invitations and included all the little kids in their party. Lots of great snacks and some fun games.

Here they are posing for the group photo.  This is a cropped version since  I don't know the parents of 2 girls in the picture, I better not post their little faces on the internet.  The hunter and the pirate shall remain nameless as well, just in case.  But the monkey and the fire chief are mine, and I give permission.

There were quite a few games at the party.  This is Musical Chairs.  A concept that Tyson can't quite grasp, as you can see him sitting in a chair that has already been taken out of the circle.  This didn't happen just one time, but repeatedly.  He hits his head a lot, what can I say.

Trick or Treating at the Angle is bountiful, to say the least.  We only went to 5 houses, but we came home with about 10 pounds of candy.  Since it's a small community some treats were very personalized.  Susan gave Andie some animal crackers since she can't have candy.  Grammy Nancy gave her a sweet little stuffed monkey for the same reason.  So thoughtful.   The picture is the 4 cousins at Al & Linnea's house while making the rounds.  This is a fun house for all to T or T.  The kids got hoards of candy, while the Mommies and Daddies got whiskey drinks.  TREAT!

And last stop of the night is the bar, naturally.  Jerry loves the kids and always has gifts for them.  So we would never leave him out of the fun.  That's Michelle doing the honors of handing out the goods.

Andie just went straight to the ATM machine (on the right)  for her T or T.  Smart little baby.  If you can't eat candy, might as well have cash.

Nikki, me and Bonny at the Monster Mash 5K Dash in Warroad.  We won 2nd place as a group for our costumes.  There were only about 25 other super heroes there.  But we arrived before the rest and got a jump on impressing the judges. It was a brisk 23 degrees or so that morning.  All the more encouraging to run fast.  Wearing a tutu also gives you a little extra pizzazz and hop to your step.

Nikki took first place in our age group (no surprise), but adding to the excitement, I took 2nd behind her and Bonny took 3rd in her age bracket.  We had quite a celebration when they announced the medal winners.  Apparently we also caused a little ruckus at US customs when we came in that morning because we were in "disguise" and Bonny has a new car, so we had no real license plate number.  Alarms were going off and officers were preparing for trouble, we could see them all standing up as we pulled in to the booth. Although we thought they were just checking out the crazy people dressed as the Justice League. Luckily we knew the agent checking us in and all officers were told to stand down.  Just another day in the life of your average Angle women.

Addition to the Reverse Bucket List:
1.  Breastfeed a baby while icefishing.
2.  Attend a Tupperware party in a bar on a Friday afternoon.
3.  Watch the sunrise over the lake that I live on.
4.  TAKE OUR SMALL CHILDREN TRICK-OR-TREATING IN A BAR.

World Vision

Yesterday Tyson and I were looking through a "World Vision Gift Catalog".  This is an organization that works with communities of poverty worldwide.  You pick out gifts to donate such as chickens to lay eggs, oxen to plow a field, Bibles, medicine, school supplies etc.  So I told him we were going to pick a gift to send to a needy family for Christmas.  First he chose a donkey for their travel, then he thought Bibles would be best, then we were on to school supplies.  After that we came across an article on Orphans.  I explained that an orphan means the child has lost his parents and we could send clothing or medicine, something like that to help. His response was, "Maybe we should send him a donkey so he can go look for his mom and dad."