A frigid, yet gorgeous day in Colorado!
Come, Holy Spirit.
Let the 1,205 mile trek begin!
I have no idea how this got in the RAM...
Seriously. MAKE. IT. END.
How sweet is this!? Yummy treats for the road!
The road that WILL. NOT. END.
I think this was right before I drove off the road in Iowa...
Trying to outrun the storm that threatened us from the south.
Brad napping - proof I actually drove.
All 45 minutes of it.
And....we're back in Wisconsin!
Everyone has a kangaroo in their living room, right?
So many eyes watching me...
This was more than disturbing.
Wonderful doll and real wooden shoes,
but the size differential is freaky!
Speaking of freaky...the squirrel on Gma Dot's fridge!
Wasn't real sure that the electric saw was the best idea...
There are NOODLES in my jello. What the what?!
What can I say, I had a sore throat!
Still teaching Mom how to use the camera on the iPhone.
I told her to push the button ONCE...
and yet we have the following series of pics!
Three generations: 34, 85, 61
Classy, bro. Classy.
Again with the camera...
Enough said.
Greenwald Fam.
The daily scene in WI. And COOOOOLD!
Brad found some old paperwork in his room.
Somehow, I'm still getting the blame 30 years later!
"Brenda's dominance of communication!?"
Whatever do you mean!?
Booya. Considerable competence.
Now that's amusing.
Mom found this green blanket in the basement and let me know my paternal grandma, Linde, made it for me. Of course, we had to hunt down old pics showing when I first received it...and we found some! It's with me now in Colorado!
Cute!
The Armed Forces of Hope Reformed Church
And more snow.
I don't even know what this is.
Seriously, folks. UPGRADE your phone!
NOT a sight I'd expect to see - Dot brandishing some whiskey for me to drink after briefly shoveling (and coughing and wheezing, etc.) I think she said she'd had the bottle for 15 years! HA!
Mind you, she only poured me this much. :)
So THAT's how Jesus was born. Yikes.
Amazingly comfortable massage chairs.
Packers fans are like NO others.
So, you're telling me Jesus was a Cheesehead?
Even the snowman can't believe the Packers mania in WI.
Mom, I just need some bronze/pink bottle of nail polish.
One bottle, Mom.
Sheesh. She had more selections than the aisle at Walgreens.
This was on our friend, Tim's fridge.
Couldn't think of a better motivational verse
for a man recovering from a stroke.
Christmas at Tim's.
Christmas Eve 2013
New earrings from Nicola!
Jamie was visiting from Minnesota! Yeah!
Apparently, the gnomes were visiting, too.
And the gargoyles.
And the squirrels.
My very own, National Lampoon Squirrel Ornament, commemorating the evening I FREAKED OUT when a squirrel was blocking my home entrance. Brad talked me down (laughing the entire way, I'd like noted) and eventually chucking rocks near it scared the dang thing away.
So many captions, so little time.
What can I say. Hot flashes make one weary.
Rather intense, instructional moment about WHO knows what.
Happy Brad.
Cooking Brad.
Scarfy Brenda.
Live-streamed the Christmas Eve service over at Bethany in CO.
Tuned in just before Ruth Ann blessed the elements at Holy Communion.
"Silent Night, Holy Night..."
"May the Lord bless you and keep you..."
Met with Briana for breakfast. This was HER plate....
....and this was mine! HA!
Time at the lakefront!
Briana, Marissa and I near the Lighthouse! YEAH!
There she is!
Christmas Day in Ripon at
our cousin Amanda and Derrick's home!
Aunt Kris and I!
Doesn't he look comfortable? One, happy Dakota!
Angela and her soon to be husband, Austin.
Welcome to the fam!
For the love of all things Captain.
Amanda and Derrick with Dakota and Bella
Jason and Vanessa with Zahra and Alexia
Aunt Kris with all of her grandkids!
Aren't these awesome!?
Cute grinches!
And VERY, happy CHEESE!
Bella and I.
Christmas Pictionary 2013.
That would be the unfinished gingerbread man.
We guessed it when it was 3/4 done...and the rest was just a blob!
Dad and his rather obscene sketches!
We talked Dakota into playing his trumpet.
Welcome to Family Performance Time, buddy!
The girls!
Dot had already put together the puzzle she
received when we visited her Christmas Day night!
So. Many. Cards. I have no clue how to play.
Happy pics sent from Colorado - the little man is 2 months old already!
FaceTime with the Little People in CO.
Such a perplexed little man!
Maddie Moo!
Just gorgeous.
Whoa, nellie. Those are some icicles on Dot's home!
Meet Dot's new Pineapple Slicer.
Didn't know such a thing existed, did you?
Stick in the top, and TWIST.
Pull up, and....
VOILA! You're very own curly fry, pineapple ring!
Note: do not try to eat the core. OUCH!
Dot and I went through HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS
of photos and stories at her home.
Here's Dot from 1944...
...and we happened to find one at home
of my other grandparents from 1948!
Here's Ken and Linde!
Ah, some REAL flowers in the midst of this crazy coldness!
Caan's Floral Greenhouse. BEAUTIFUL!
Really, now. What's with the squirrels on this trip!?
LOVE IT.
Joy! Joy! Joy! Long-overdue catch-up time with Linda.
And we even convinced Matthew to get in the picture!
Treasured time, indeed.
Lakefront reflections at night.
Found another classic old photo. HA!
What's that? A CHEESE factory!?
Quick stop with Suz before heading to a funeral.
(A former yearbook editor had died.)
Hunk'o'CHEESE.
Oh So Happy Brenda and her CHEESE.
More time at the lakefront.
Check out the blanket of ice and the crash it makes on the rocks!
Um. Yeah. So perhaps I shouldn't walk out there.
Are you kidding?
Of COURSE I'll be walking out there!
A well-timed text from my CO friend, Sarah.
Tred carefully, Brenda Lynn.
Some holiday delight from "Uncle" Jimmy - connecting with my former high school teachers and their spouses adult to adult is absolutely wonderful. The bonds are only strengthened.
Bucks basketball game in Milwaukee.
At least I think it was a basketball game.
We were too close to Heaven to really tell what was happening on the court.
Oh, and Mom's just a WEE bit afraid of heights...
She didn't look down for a good half an hour.
Meanwhile, Brad CLEARLY empathized with her plight...
Lame BobbleHead we received upon entering.
Guess they weren't so lame if you elongate the neck!
What on EARTH is that mascot doing to that blimp!?
That thing dive-bombed us multiple times.
The perils of sitting near the CEILING.
This boy has NO fear of heights!
We figured out that our other cousin, Gary,
was at the game with his family, too!
Thank you social media for connecting us!
End of December.
I think that caroller is in half of our pictures...
THE downstairs bathroom at church.
The sight of many, many escapades!
Playdate with (Jamie) Greyson and Ava!
Again, I don't know where these things came from.
Or how they made it to the back fence in the yard.
That's ok.
I wasn't hoping to PLAY the piano or anything.
Look! Sheboygan has one, too!
Mother of Pearl, THIS is how to eat a sweet potato.
Texas Roadhouse with the Fam.
Goodbye, Lake.
Goodbye, crazy cold weather!
Goodbye, waves.
The sweet pea seated next to me on the ride home.
One last view.
Goodbye, Wisconsin!
