Christmas Week 2014

Grandpa Jim, Grammie Liz, and Kasie came to MN to be with us for Xmas this year. The week was filled with many amazing memories and surprises (like Aunt Kimmy coming into town). The Kohls family spent a lot of the time at the hockey rink watching Canyon and Presley play hockey. Both kids scored goals for their relatives. Ronnie also made sure they got to experience a traditional hockey tailgate before the game.






We took the Kohls out to experience the famous Juicy Lucy at Matt's bar. Thumbs up from all!



The Kohls took all the kids (including Kim and Trisha) shopping at the Mall of America. The kids had a blast and now have a real appreciation for shopping ("uh oh").



Our week was filled with our traditional Christmas week activities including our annual pizza making party, Christmas Eve service at the Upper room, and a great Christmas Eve dinner. This year Aunt Carol, Uncle Bob, and Great Granny joined us for dinner. We ended dinner with a great rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas by the fire.




And Santa totally surprised everyone with amazing gifts for all! We enjoyed a leisurely morning opening presents and eating lots of treats!





On the 26th, we headed down to Red Wing to have an amazing lunch with the cousins at Smokin' Oak followed by a competitive game of bowling at the local bowling alley. And as the week came to an end, we finally got our white christmas on the evening of the 26th so Kasie could tell her friends back home that it really does snow in MN.

Grandma Harriet Comes to Town

Grandma Harriet arrived in MN this year for a two week visit for the holidays. Her first week in town was filled with a lot of fun activities...

On the night of her arrival, Canyon had his first middle school band concert. It was awesome to see him all dressed up. The band is really maturing and they were able to play both traditional and contemporary songs (like Poker face).




We waited to decorate the tree with Grandma Harriet. It was fun to have the kids pull out their ornaments and debate who's turn it was to put Santa on top of the tree. It was Canyon's turn but for the first time he was too big to get on to Dad's shoulders. Wow do they grow up fast!




Grandma Harriet also continued her tradition of making gingerbread cookies with the kids...




We treated Grandma Harriet to a Christmas show at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater. We enjoyed a nice dinner in the "cavern" and then smiled and laughed at the holiday comedy with great skits and great music...



We enjoyed our traditional christmas eve dinner with Barbara and the Abbeys a couple of days earlier this year. We decorated gingerbread cookies and had a fun gift exchange game. The highlight of the evening was singing Christmas carols because this year both Ryan and Canyon participated in playing the Christmas carol songs (in addition to Ron)...




This week Presley also enjoyed a secret santa party with her hockey team...

Hockey Season Well Underway

Canyon and Presley's hockey seasons are well underway. Canyon's team has had 3 tournaments and Presley's team has had 1 tournament. They both have had lots of practices, scrimmages, and games. We are fortunate on both teams to have some parents that have great cameras and take pictures of all the kids. Both seasons are off to a fun start! And both kids are #14 this year.

Excerpts from 10UA - Cake Eater Tournament in Edina. Note that Ron consistently has his red cooler at all hockey events...






Excerpts from the Peewee Big Pumpkin tournament in Moorhead, MN...






They also love to play hockey just for fun with their friends. Both kids have enjoyed an early pond hockey season with their teammates. An excerpt from one of Canyon's get togethers...



Additionally, both teams participate in service projects to give back to the community. Canyon was down with the flu during his service project but Presley was able to participate in hers. Here are a couple of excerpts from Presley's hockey team service project where they made sandwiches for the homeless...

Peewee AA Tournament - Duluth

Mom and Canyon headed to Duluth for a Peewee AA tournament while Dad and Presley got some quality one-on-one time at home. Canyon's team started strong with three straight wins. They ended in 4th place after an overtime game against a strong Canadian team from Thunder Bay. While in Duluth, the boys also got some time to enjoy the lakefront during some downtime.

Canyon icing his ankle after blocking a hard shot during one of our first games...



Beautiful Duluth...

Thanksgiving - Turks and Caicos

Since 2006, we have been spending almost every Thanksgiving with our dear friends the Grays and the Hansons. The kids look forward to this tradition every year. This year we decided to head for the islands! We had enjoyed an amazing seven days at Beaches in Turks and Caicos, where the water is really the amazing turquoise blue it is in the pictures. And the resort has so much that you can't get bored.



The resort has 10 pools, all with different features and amazingly warm temperatures, including great water slides, surf simulators, swim up pool bars, waterfalls, and hot tubs. The kids spent at least 8 hours a day (and night) in the pool. Presley did come back to the states with swimmer's ear. But I don't think she would trade it for less time in the pool.







We also spent time on the beach every day. The resort had unlimited use of kayaks, snorkeling, diving, waterbikes, hobie sailing, trampolines, etc. Ron and Trisha went diving one day and we saw sharks and lobsters. The whole family went snorkeling on a reef off the shore where we saw sea turtles, sand fish, and beautiful grouper fish. Mom and the kids enjoyed kayaking and waterbiking. Trisha went running almost every morning on the beautiful coastline. But mostly, we played in the sand and water and enjoyed nightly sunsets with Ron and Eric's guitars.





One of the highlights of the trip was chartering a sailing boat to take us around the island. We took the boat out to one of the reefs where we went snorkeling and then headed to an uninhabited island for some some swimming and exploring! A great day!





The resort has about 20 restaurants. Our goal was to eat at everyone of them. We didn't quite hit each one but we had some amazing group dinners. One of our favorites was the hibachi where Eric got the servers and our group up and dancing. Another favorite was our breakfast at the Sky Restaurant, which had an amazing view of the coastline.




Great trip with great friends and great memories! Until next year!