Skip to main content

A Northwoods New Year, Pt. I

We headed up to northern Wisconsin for New Years for the 3rd year in a row. I was mostly excited to see a part of my family since not being able to see them for Christmas.

We first made a stop for lunch at Burrito Cubano. I was glad I thought of this before we got too far for fear of having to get fast food on the way. 

Somewhere along the first couple miles I dropped the burrito on my leg. Burritos that big are not meant for eating while driving.

We followed Snoop Dog for awhile.

I was a little nervous that there wasn't going to be much snow up north. Halfway there there was still just a dusting on the ground.

By the way that's Purple flavored Colt 45 he's shilling for.

My parents called and asked if we could pick up some coffee. I don't think I've ever seen them not have coffee in the morning so I knew it was an emergency. We stopped at Trig's in Rhinelander on the way.

We also picked up some beer, which I picked out. When I got to the register Brooke showed up and said she needed help. She'd never used the bean grinder in a grocery store before. 
 
I came home to slumbering Mr. Mike and Blake reading something about foraging and/or peaceful protests.

Actually he was doing a crossword puzzle. 

They had dinner ready when we got there. Scott was confused and thought the taco dip was for our tacos.

My dad and Blake had cut down a tree and decorated it before we got there. In middle and part of high school we always came up north for New Years for a second Christmas. I used to hate doing that. Who wants to hang out with their parents for New Years as a teenager? Now I love it.

After dinner we exchanged Christmas gifts. I made the mistake of letting my mom open her gifts first. She would take her time examining each thing before opening another one, leaving the rest of us dying in anticipation. 

She literally would read the packaging in front of us!

I got Blake and my dad the same thing so I made them open there's together. 

Blake got me another cookbook for my collection. The Silver Spoon for Children. Another book we checked out from the library and loved. 

We also have The Silver Spoon, but it's such a lummox of a book. 

I was super excited to get this classy shop vac. 

It'll be especially useful when water seeps in the basement. 

Our tree is pretty patriotic. Note the Simpson's tree skirt.

And our homemade angel that Chelsea made years ago.

Of course we had to bring Catan. Although Blake kicked our butts, I don't think I want to play with him again.

He had twenty or more cards at multiple times during the game. We've never seen anyone have more than ten.

The next day we got ready for some time out in the snow. First my mom did my hair. I bet she misses doing that.

But wait, Santa came last night.

We each got more presents to open.

Brooke handed everybody their gifts.

My Mom got the funniest gift. Lady Anti-Monkey Butt powder.

This is what I got: Storage containers, chicken poop chapstick, a flashlight with batteries and a mosaic art kit (more on that later).

I also got a flash light, batteries, a calculator, bungie cords and chicken poop chapstick.

Blake got the best gift. A new kite.

We got our snow gear on and headed outside. For Blake snow gear includes boots and a sweater.

It was pretty warm outside, so I think he had the right idea this time.

We decided to take a walk around the lake.

Actually Brooke showed up about 15 minutes later after getting her hair did.

If Scott scrolls back a few photos he'll see that I got my hair did before we opened presents. I was really doing dishes. 

All of the docks were lined up on shore at each lake home.

It's strange how you can walk on something that you'd be swimming in during the summer.

"That's a bad fisherman," Blake.


Maybe Blake's snow gear wasn't so goofy after all. I became too warm halfway around. 


Blake's been really into foraging lately. He got a few new books for Christmas. My dad made the joke that one day he's going to get lost in the woods and come back fat.

Our neighbors were also up.

The only time my mom comes outside is to do her favorite thing. Light a campfire.

When I first saw her I thought she was a random. I didn't recognize her in her outerwear.

The snowmobile trails had just opened the day before so my dad didn't bring the helmets thinking we couldn't ride. We were only allowed to go around the lake. Scott has had his license for 2 years now and hasn't had a chance to use it yet.

In recent years I've become afraid of driving on the lake for fear of falling in. Is this something that happens to women as they get older? Does some kind of motherly instinct kick in anytime something could be "dangerous"?

Yeah, mom.


We each took turns snowmobiling around the lake, except for Brooke.

I really want to get cross country skis.

We headed back inside for lunch. Tomato soup and grilled cheese.

Blake and I started an impossible puzzle.

They gave up on it shortly thereafter.

To be continued...

Comments

Blake Romenesko said…
The Trigs photo is one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
Amanda said…
What a fun little drive following snoop dog and eating burritos. Do you not ever get fast food? I should follow in those footsteps…

I remember you going up north for New Years. I didn’t relize it was a second Christmas though!! How fun! :)

How fun that Santa came!!! Chicken poop chapstick…where the heck does something like that come from?? Brooke, I scrolled back to check out the hair. :)

Bad fisherman…ha, ha. Getting lost in the woods and getting fat…ha, ha. You guys are cool. I miss you.
We don't get fast food very often. I guess the burrito place is fast food. We love that little restaurant.

Popular posts from this blog

Tettegouche Camp Birthday Weekend 2.0

Another year around the sun means another birthday cabin trip. I originally thought going to Canada would be fun. We also looked at a few Hipcamps in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I was worried a few weeks ago with the warm up that we'd have to find somewhere north to find snow. Then we had the huge snowstorm. Long story short, we found ourselves heading back to Tettegouche Camp.  I spent a whole day looking for the perfect rustic AirBNB or Hipcamp, but then Brooke brought up Tettegouche Camp. I always forget about the long hikes or wood fired stoves.  When we got to Duluth we decided to try out the new Duluth location of Grand Marais' Hungry Hippie Tacos. As usual our eyes are bigger than our stomachs.  We shared a chimichanga and nachos, but should've went with there signature fry bread tacos. Daniel was really excited for us to play games on the VR headset.  So, that's what they did the rest of the night.   Meadow and I shared a bed. I just couldn't get over how beaut

Florida or Bust: Jack White's Bronco, A Tennessee Mystery Cave, Georgia Mountain Camping, A Diner with Talking Birds and Alligator Bait

Day 3 Paul was already at work when we woke up. Since we arrived at night Erin offered to show us their giant backyard. The previous owners had atv's and made trails through their little woods.  Little Wally wanted to show us his new walking skills. 

Playing in the Snow, Attic Floors and Skating with Cake Eaters

Snow got dumped on us again. They originally predicted 28" but we only received 13".  Only...Minnesotans like to complain whether we get too little or too much. It was a big snowstorm over three days! The kids playground is starting to get buried.    Now there's not much of a fall from the monkey bars. Meadow was home from school all week due to the snowstorm. She was done with e-learning early on Friday so we headed to Woodlake Nature Center to go skiing. This place is perfect for us newbies. No trail pass is needed and it's only a 2 mile loop. On Saturday Theo and I did some drawing together. You need to start an art project to get Theo to draw or craft. Otherwise he's happy playing video games or building PicassoTile magnetic masterpieces. Now that the upstairs is clean, and before we start prepping the floors, I tackled my giant mending pile that's been accumulating since last summer. We were back on team stain and poly the pine floors upstairs. I tried a