12.10.2008
Basket Update
Still working on it. I decided to wait until after the Holidays when it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. My wonderful big sis was kind enough to follow up with some contacts and get me an autographed bat by Joe Mauer--sure to be a big draw for the kids!! My mom was kind enough to donate a game to my family night basket as well...so it is looking good for a drawing prize as well. Speaking of which, I got the ok from my principal to have a drawing, but not a raffle. So, I am considering putting names in the drawing for every $5 of donations my students, or anyone interested, brings/sends in. I look forward to how it'll all turn out...should be interesting!
Becoming the Griswolds
I will admit, I've never seen Christmas Vacation all the way through (*gasp*) However, I know enough about the Vacation series to know that we had a very Griswold-ish experience as we went to pick out our Christmas tree. We thought it would be such a great idea to cut down our own tree this year, so we piled into the car (late of course) and headed out to Champlin to the Rum River Tree Farm. I had visions of sleigh rides, santa visits, a nice family hike, in my head...
We decided we should stop and get food because it was after 1 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast...and if you know anything about Alix you know you do NOT want her blood sugar to drop ;) We pulled into Mc Donalds (a rare treat since I detest the place) and we sit at the drive through for a few minutes. We say "hello...hello" to which we get no reply. So crankily we drive around to the window to see a closed sign on it. When does McDonald's ever close in the middle of the afternoon??? Of course we should have known it was an omen and headed back right then, but no such luck. We go on our way vowing to stop at the next place. Off we head, all's looking well until the sign over the freeway tells us that the freeway has been shut down and we must exit...nice. Traffic is at a standstill and so we sit, hungrily waiting to get back on our way...and we sit...and we sit. Finally we start to move and luckily we get to the spot of the closure and they are letting us past! Hurray! Food is sure to be just around the corner. Fast forward a half hour--still no food. It seems remarkable that you could go that long without passing a fast food place...but that's just what happened. Anna is starting to get fussy now...she's hungry too. Finally we find a "fast" food place in a DQ. Well, apparently DQ falls into the food category, but not the "fast food" category. 10 min later our food comes to the window. I have since traded seats with Alix and have begun feeding Anna in the back seat. She is quiet. We are all fed...and happy. Until Anna starts to wail just seconds later. When we get to Rum River area we are once again diverted due to an accident, but at least we keep moving and arrive at the tree farm...whew!! We get our saw and head out into the field. Now we are driving around the fields...wondering what to do. We've never done this before and we aren't sure if we look for a parking lot, pull over the side, or what. To top it off we see no twine around, so we call back to the main building and they tell us we have to return to the gate to get twine...Ugh, we're never going to get our tree! Then the tide turns...we see people pulled over on the side of the road, so we stop. We see a bucket of twine, so don't have to go all the way back! We pile out of the car...stuff Anna into her snow suit which she loves--NOT! We put Alix in charge of the dog, who is now trapsing all around in the snow--including over the saw which I had thrown there...luckily no blood was shed. We did not need a trip to the animal ER on top of everything else. We are yelling at Alix about getting the dog off the saw, we are trying to buckle Anna down enough so she doesn't roll out of the car seat as we put it on the sled, and we are trying to figure out what kind of trees these are all at the same time (we never do find out...we figured at this point we'd cut down anything if it meant we could go home.) We stumbled through the snow, pulling the dog and Anna along as we go. Steve pulls Anna into a tree branch that dumps snow all over her faces...wails begin again. We can't agree on a tree...no too big, no too small, no crooked, not enough branches, looks like it has too many dead needles...Finally we just give up and settle on the nearest one. Then begins the chore of cutting it down. Steve lays down in the snow and begins cutting. After a many minutes the frustration sets in and I offer to try. I cut for a while, but very little progress is being made. So we decide that I'll hold Anna in one hand while pushing the tree with the other, all as Steve cuts. A matter of minutes later we hear the "cracking" of the tree as it thumps to the ground. Who knew all it needed was a push?! We haul it to the car, tie it on, try to get feeling back in our hands, look for the camera which dumped out of my pocket somewhere along the way, brush all the snow off it once we find it (and hope it still works). After we pay (for which i forgot the coupon at home), we head out on our journey home with no smiles on our face...not anywhere near being in the Christmas spirit. We bypassed the petting zoo and Santa...we were all ready to be home...and NoW. The ride back consisted of plenty of 11 year old whining (I apparently should not be singing my own words to the songs, and on top of that if we had listened to her we wouldn't be out in the middle of nowhere cutting down a christmas tree anyway)...some adult yelling...followed by silence. Gooooooood Times!! At least we got a good story, a beautiful tree, and some family memories that won't fade for quite some time. I should mention that the night was saved by the decorating. Our tree looks beautiful!
We decided we should stop and get food because it was after 1 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast...and if you know anything about Alix you know you do NOT want her blood sugar to drop ;) We pulled into Mc Donalds (a rare treat since I detest the place) and we sit at the drive through for a few minutes. We say "hello...hello" to which we get no reply. So crankily we drive around to the window to see a closed sign on it. When does McDonald's ever close in the middle of the afternoon??? Of course we should have known it was an omen and headed back right then, but no such luck. We go on our way vowing to stop at the next place. Off we head, all's looking well until the sign over the freeway tells us that the freeway has been shut down and we must exit...nice. Traffic is at a standstill and so we sit, hungrily waiting to get back on our way...and we sit...and we sit. Finally we start to move and luckily we get to the spot of the closure and they are letting us past! Hurray! Food is sure to be just around the corner. Fast forward a half hour--still no food. It seems remarkable that you could go that long without passing a fast food place...but that's just what happened. Anna is starting to get fussy now...she's hungry too. Finally we find a "fast" food place in a DQ. Well, apparently DQ falls into the food category, but not the "fast food" category. 10 min later our food comes to the window. I have since traded seats with Alix and have begun feeding Anna in the back seat. She is quiet. We are all fed...and happy. Until Anna starts to wail just seconds later. When we get to Rum River area we are once again diverted due to an accident, but at least we keep moving and arrive at the tree farm...whew!! We get our saw and head out into the field. Now we are driving around the fields...wondering what to do. We've never done this before and we aren't sure if we look for a parking lot, pull over the side, or what. To top it off we see no twine around, so we call back to the main building and they tell us we have to return to the gate to get twine...Ugh, we're never going to get our tree! Then the tide turns...we see people pulled over on the side of the road, so we stop. We see a bucket of twine, so don't have to go all the way back! We pile out of the car...stuff Anna into her snow suit which she loves--NOT! We put Alix in charge of the dog, who is now trapsing all around in the snow--including over the saw which I had thrown there...luckily no blood was shed. We did not need a trip to the animal ER on top of everything else. We are yelling at Alix about getting the dog off the saw, we are trying to buckle Anna down enough so she doesn't roll out of the car seat as we put it on the sled, and we are trying to figure out what kind of trees these are all at the same time (we never do find out...we figured at this point we'd cut down anything if it meant we could go home.) We stumbled through the snow, pulling the dog and Anna along as we go. Steve pulls Anna into a tree branch that dumps snow all over her faces...wails begin again. We can't agree on a tree...no too big, no too small, no crooked, not enough branches, looks like it has too many dead needles...Finally we just give up and settle on the nearest one. Then begins the chore of cutting it down. Steve lays down in the snow and begins cutting. After a many minutes the frustration sets in and I offer to try. I cut for a while, but very little progress is being made. So we decide that I'll hold Anna in one hand while pushing the tree with the other, all as Steve cuts. A matter of minutes later we hear the "cracking" of the tree as it thumps to the ground. Who knew all it needed was a push?! We haul it to the car, tie it on, try to get feeling back in our hands, look for the camera which dumped out of my pocket somewhere along the way, brush all the snow off it once we find it (and hope it still works). After we pay (for which i forgot the coupon at home), we head out on our journey home with no smiles on our face...not anywhere near being in the Christmas spirit. We bypassed the petting zoo and Santa...we were all ready to be home...and NoW. The ride back consisted of plenty of 11 year old whining (I apparently should not be singing my own words to the songs, and on top of that if we had listened to her we wouldn't be out in the middle of nowhere cutting down a christmas tree anyway)...some adult yelling...followed by silence. Gooooooood Times!! At least we got a good story, a beautiful tree, and some family memories that won't fade for quite some time. I should mention that the night was saved by the decorating. Our tree looks beautiful!
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