Brrrrmidji Polar Days

Several weekends ago Bemidji held it's annual Polar Days with lots of outdoor/snowy/cold events lined up. Dennis took part in the 5K Polar Challenge. It looks cold, but it was actually pretty nice about 20 degrees, no sun though and the wind was blowing! There were about 120 participants and they're off:

This is what the kids did while we waited the 20 minutes for dad to cross the finish line:

There he is. He came in 10th place. Time 22:52. He got first place in the 40-49 year olds! Not bad considering how icy it was.

Then we went over to watch the polar plunge. The polar plunge is where half-crazy people jump in the freezing cold water for fun. Usually it's for a cause or they're with an organization, but it's crazy to watch. First of all they are half naked. Second, they are standing on ice waiting to jump in the water (I was cold and could hardly have my hands out of my mittens long enough to take these pictues.) Third, they are jumping into freezing cold water. I took pictures of these girls because they are the Bemidji Roller Derby team, the girl in the red tights is a teacher at Schoolcraft. Here she is pumping herself up!

The big jump:

The race for the stairs... It's amazing to see everyone come up out of the water. They are in pure survival mode. Some people, after being in the water for only about 30 seconds came out totally confused and obviously in shock. It was wild to see.

Maybe next year, you'll see us all jump in the lake... or maybe we'll just wait until summer!

A Celebration: Eli, Food For Thought

Last week, Eli and the first grade crews had their "Food For Thought" celebration. They spent the first semester looking at food: why we eat what we eat, where we get our food from and why, my plate (the new food pyramid) and nutrition, parts of plants and how they grow, and why people from other countries and cultures eat what they eat. They had 4 field work (not to be confused with field trips. The kids go to work and learn--as you'll see) days: 1 to a local berry farm, 1 to a dairy farm, and 1 to a local restaurant and the farmers market and 1 to the German Village Bakery. At the berry farm, the farmer said that he really needed help marketing his berries to the public and asked the first graders to help him. They, of course, said that they would help him but they weren't sure how. So, they did a ton of research and decided that they should build a website to help him sell his goods and they included a lot of other local farmers as well.

The students made self-portraits like those from Arcimboldo

Eli shows us how they began the process of designing their website.

I included this picture because this was one of my favorite parts. They looked at a book called "The Hungry Planet" that shows images of what families around the globe eat in one week and how much they spend. The kids had to find the countries on the map, evaluate if the food listed is fresh or processed and if they are getting all of the food groups, and think about why people eat what they do beside just "it tastes yummy." and compare if what they eat is similar or different to we eat.  It was interesting what they discovered!

The French Teacher was there with a bunch of French words and phrases that they learned during the food expedition. It was all about different kids of food, where to shop, etc.

Here Sadie is exploring the web-site that the students built.

Without further ado, click here to go and view the website that they created. As you will see. There was a lot of time put into the creation of this website and the kids were so proud of all of their hard work. Make sure to watch the videos!!

10 Years!!

 How did it happen that 10 years have gone by already? Dennis and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on December 28 by going on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. Neither of us have ever been on a cruise. We had fun and did things that we normally wouldn't do (participate in a Michael Jackson dance-off), but I have to say that we are not cruise people. It was a nice and romantic way to spend out anniversary. We got to spend a lot of time together and reconnect which is always good! We spent our excursion day in Nassau going paddle boarding and snorkeling. We walked the beach and found shells and explored the island a little bit.On board we ate and ate and ate, danced, slept, relaxed, played games, went to comedy shows and other performances and just enjoyed each others company.

Our ship!

Dennis had to wrestle this crazy pirate!

The view coming into Nassau.

On the way our to paddleboard. It was cold!

On board!

My handsome husband of 10 years!

Christmas 2012

I know I've said this before but I'm horrible at taking pictures. Most are blurry, but besides that I just don't capture what I want and I put the camera down too much. I guess I just want to feel like I'm participating instead of taking pictures. So, here is what I captured. It's better than nothing.
This picture cracks me up. I should have had the kids wash their faces before I took the picture but they were way too excited. I had already forced them to sit through church (at 6:30 BTW, so Dennis could join us as he worked all day). Then through our now traditional Christmas Eve tacos and tamales, as seen on their faces. They were at their wits end and could barely contain themselves by the time present opening came. There was no way I was going to get them to wipe their faces. 

I think both of these pictures explain how they feel. The kids pretty much got one present: iPods. Then they got things to go with their iPods: a blue tooth speaker, itunes cards, cases, etc. Because iPods are soooo tiny I did the whole really big box with a present inside a present inside a present inside a present thing. They were confused at first but thought is was funny too.

They love them. They really love the messaging and facetime features, so if you have an apple let us know your email and the kids will message you!

Christmas Day, Grandma and Grandpa came as well as Uncle Darren, Talia, Reed and Anissa. They opened more presents. It's a good thing Sadie knows how to count by 5s!

Santa brought Eli a Giants jersey and helmet and a real football, his size. Just like he requested.

Anissa loved all of the paper and boxes. Reed didn't sit still long enough for me to get a picture of him.

Two cousins shoved in a small box. Doesn't get any better than that!

It was a fun day and because I had most of the meal done by the time everyone arrived I felt like I got to participate more this year. It was a fun and relaxing Christmas filled with laughter and smiles.

School Christmas Party

I love the day before Christmas break! I love the holiday spirit and buzz that's in the air. I love the parties. I love the excitement and energy in the kids. Dennis and I both had the day off so we spent the afternoon attending classroom parties and we had a blast! Sadie's class just finished their celebration so they were in definite relaxing mode after all of their hard work. They had a pajama party and watched movies. Here they all are camped out and watching The Grinch--the cartoon one, not the Jim Carrey one.You should have seen how many snacks their were, it was amazing!

Eli's class went sledding and skating. Eli (and most of the boys) chose sledding. Most of the girls chose skating. Hmmm... Anyways, here's Eli and some friends.

Pulling a friend is a lot of work!

The "halls" at Schoolcraft:

After sledding the kids came in and warmed up with cookies and hot chocolate. They cuddled up with a good book and their reading buddies until it was time to go home.

When school let out, we immediately piled into the car and headed to Napoleon to see Grandma and Grandpa. They were both already in their jammies so they cuddled with a blanket and had a lot of screen time on the way!!