Holiday Transitions

I vowed to enjoy one holiday at a time  this year (unlike Retail America!).  Now that Thanksgiving

 is behind us I can remove all my harvest decorations and start thinking about Christmas.

  It helped that we haven't gotten any significant snow yet this year.  

Pumpkins and shades of orange are on their way out to make
way for  evergreens, holly berries and  silver stars.

Different Thanks

Different people have different thoughts on Thanksgiving Day...

                                                             

                                                             

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,             

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanksgiving, man.  Not a good day to be my pants.  ~Kevin James

Four Generations

On this Thanksgiving Day I am thankful for the meeting of my

 grandson Ellis with his Great Grandmother Priscilla.

Priscilla, Jim, Ellis, Mary Hansen

                                                                                       

Sparkles

Maddie's super awesome sparkly shoes, way cool sox and pretty pink tights

Long Shadows

Mary and Maddie a the beach
 making  long legged shadows
11-4-11

Different

Last week could not have been more different for my daughters in law. 

 Linda was in Costa Rica for yoga and surfing, 

Jenice was in Big Rapids having a baby.
Totally different experiences!

Not Linda--this is an unnamed girl surfing in Costa Rica

Jenice with little Ellis

Long and Narrow

He's got Wild feet...

...and he's a Red Wings fan!

                                                                                 

Grandma!

New Grandma with her
 grandson soon after birth

Mary and Ellis the second day  

Love at first sight!

The new little family, looking a little tired but happy!

New Family

The new family
Ellis with his Mama and Daddy

New Daddy Jim admires his little son.

Jenice looks amazingly calm and beautiful.
 This is the easy contented smile of a happy new mother!

Ellis Michael Hansen

My new buddy, the most perfect little boy on earth.  My grandson.  A new life.  New beginnings with endless possibilities.  Limitless potential.  There's something awe inspiring about a newborn.  I fell in love at first sight!

Meet Ellis Michael Hansen

Born 11-11-11 at 11:39am

8lbs 13.4 ou

21.5 in long

Girls Weekend

Last weekend Heather, her mother Lynn, Maddie, and Brooke came to visit for a "Girls Up North Weekend"...the second annual I might add.  It was sunny and warmer than most November days so we spent some time at the beach, in the yard,  shopping around town, dinner out and all kinds of fun indoor stuff!

The girls with their bag of beach treasures

Maddie in the late afternoon sun
Petoskey State Park

Maddie and Heather at La Senorita

Brooke with her baby and all the proper equipment

Brooke's new friends look on while she
 colors her place mat

A visit to Grandma Hansen

                                                                                       

The Girls!
Lynn, Heather, Madison, Mary, Brooke

Maddie picked a flower for "Grandma Handsome"

Maddie's very awesome shoes and sox

Erich wasn't allowed until the last day.
 Then he made a big hit with the young ladies.

       

Chippewa Falls

     My new favorite picture of us..

Mary and Erich at Chippewa Falls near Erich's home

Vacation by Proxy

Vacation by Proxy?  Let me explain.

A couple of places we
didn't get to see in L. A.

Years ago when Erik, Jim and I visited Mike in Los Angeles there were a few places we wanted to see but he apparently did not share our enthusiasm.  I suppose after having countless visitors who all want to see the same tourist attractions he was bored with most of them.  So he said,
 "You don't have to go there.  I've been there a bunch of times and you can see my pictures."
                                                         

Fast forward several years.  Erich and I are in Austria, homeland for him but first visit for me.  I expressed an interest in taking home some souvenirs representative of our trip to Austria.  His reply,
"You know you can get all that stuff on Amazon a lot cheaper."

Mary, walking away from a Salzburg market
 full  of souvenirs with just a bag of grapes.

What is it they don't understand about "the personal experience"??
To be clear, my ribbing is all in fun - both trips were fun, exciting and adventurous thanks to two special hosts - in spite of my moments of "vacation by proxy"!