December with the Girlies
For our girlies first Christmas we decided to go to Minnesota (click here for official soundtrack), where Kim's brother Stevie lives. Stevie works for one of the big consumer product firms (I can't remember which one, as he doesn't like to talk about it much) and has three boys, each more strapping than the next.
All of Kim's siblings were able to come to Minnesota except for her brother Scott, who was busy at home, working on his haikus. The best part was the girlies getting to spend time with our nephews.
My nephew Austin has a very large dog (part St. Bernard, part Weimaraner) and the girlies had their first experience with a big dog, which was very fun to watch. This dog, named 'Fido', was big (see photo below) but gentle as a little baby fawn, and the girlies had a lot of fun petting him (her?) and touching his big snotty dog nose.
We also took the girlies sledding for the first time ever which they really enjoyed, but because we were in Minnesota we could only stay outside for 3 1/2 minutes at a time, or else our fingers would become numb and require immediate amputation.
Stevie also has a Nintendo Wii, which was fun, but I felt bad for my young nephews because I repeatedly dominated them playing Tennis and Bowling. It is not in my nature to be a gracious winner, so every time I would crush them at one of these games, I would point at them and taunt them and remind them that I am the greatest ever. They enjoyed that part, I think.
Below are some photos and junk - please enjoy, won't you?
All of Kim's siblings were able to come to Minnesota except for her brother Scott, who was busy at home, working on his haikus. The best part was the girlies getting to spend time with our nephews.
My nephew Austin has a very large dog (part St. Bernard, part Weimaraner) and the girlies had their first experience with a big dog, which was very fun to watch. This dog, named 'Fido', was big (see photo below) but gentle as a little baby fawn, and the girlies had a lot of fun petting him (her?) and touching his big snotty dog nose.
We also took the girlies sledding for the first time ever which they really enjoyed, but because we were in Minnesota we could only stay outside for 3 1/2 minutes at a time, or else our fingers would become numb and require immediate amputation.
Stevie also has a Nintendo Wii, which was fun, but I felt bad for my young nephews because I repeatedly dominated them playing Tennis and Bowling. It is not in my nature to be a gracious winner, so every time I would crush them at one of these games, I would point at them and taunt them and remind them that I am the greatest ever. They enjoyed that part, I think.
Below are some photos and junk - please enjoy, won't you?
The girlies Christmas card photo - if you didn't get one, uh, our computer crashed and we lost your address or something, probably. I blame the Germans.
Three groovy chicks
Kim's Mom made the girlies their stockings. My mom would have done it, but she was busy dusting.
Sledding with the girlies.
Sally in her St. Louis Cardinals outfit
Me with Amelia at Church - Original Gary (Kim's sister Julie's husband, who is a minister of Jesus) sat behind us and Amelia had an odd reaction to
Original Gary's singing voice. He has a low vibrating bass, like Lou Rawls and my sister D;;alskjdf, and every time he would sing Amelia would suffer from involuntary spasms. I quite enjoyed his singing, however, even though the church did like 8 or 9 verses for every Christmas song (did you know that in the sixth verse of Good King Wenceslas, the King gets mad at the poor man from the first verse and makes him give back the pine log and apologize for wasting old Wenceslas's time? It's true. The song also uses the word 'thither', which you don't hear every day) Original Gary also made a gospel album in the 1970s (right).
The girlies with Austin's hound dog
Kim with Sally and her stocking - Sally looks a bit tired, or maybe she got into the Nyquil
The girlies with Santy Claus at the Mall of America - they were thrilled, as you can tell
Happy New Year!
And now for some video:
Trying to take our Christmas card picture:
In the Starbucks (YUCK!) after we took the Christmas card picture:
