Welcome, 2010!!

Happy New Year, everybody! We hope you've been enjoying a great holiday season. We sure have been! It's been great to have time with both Cliff and Laura home from school. We've enjoyed lots of family fun time over the past few weeks. We started our holiday season off with our 3rd annual family retreat. This year, we spent 2 nights at Mahoney State Park, which is halfway between Lincoln and Omaha. We rented a room in their lodge and enjoyed lots of time and space to play, relax, read, reflect on 2009 and prepare goals for 2010. We had a large room that allowed us lots of space to play with the kids, as well as lots of cozy places in the lodge for Cliff and myself to relax. We went to the toboggan runs at the park, and boy were they icy! Despite the ice pack, all four of us made it down the hill at least once. There were only a few minor war wounds along the way; otherwise, it was a lot of fun. There was also a large indoor activity center where Cliff took the kids to play while I did some scrapbooking in the room. On our second evening, we enjoyed a nice dinner in the lodge restaurant. We are definitely looking forward to continuing this tradition as our kids grow older.

When we returned home, we were treated to a huge winter storm that dumped more snow on top of the pile we already had from a few weeks before. Around here it was dubbed the Christmas '09 Blizzard. We were stuck at home from late Christmas Eve (Thursday) until the storm passed. I finally got out on Sunday afternoon, but it was another day or two for the rest of the family. The big issue with this was that the storm effectively canceled Cliff's scheduled travels with the Cornhusker Marching Band. They were set to leave town on bus for the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on the morning of 12/26. Due to the blizzard warnings, their departure got delayed until that evening, but then canceled altogether when the day came and went and all highways leading out of Lincoln were still closed due to snow cover. Of course this was a little disappointing, as Cliff would've loved the experience of taking the band to a bowl game (not to mention witnessing the smackdown the Huskers put on Arizona in person!), but at least he was home safe and warm with the three of us.

A few days later, we were dealt another weather-induced blow when we learned that my parents' visit would be delayed a couple of weeks due to poor road conditions on their route from there to here. This was another bummer, but we have made the best of this surprise week together. We've gotten together with our neighbors three times this week, which is great for the kids as they have 2 little boys for them to play with. Last night, we went to their house for New Year's Eve--the dads and kids made party hats, the families made gingerbread houses, the kids played and the grown-ups played some games. A good time was had by all.

Today, we've been enjoying playing with the kids and watching lots of football. I am thrilled with the Buckeyes' big Rose Bowl win, but unfortunately, Cliff's Bearcats are not faring so well againts Florida thus far. We'll see what the second half brings. In the last month, we've taught our children to say "Go Huskers", "Go X", "Go Bearcats" and "Go Buckeyes." The poor things are so confused-they never know who we're cheering for on any given day! :)

Happy New Year to all of you. May your 2010 be filled with fun and adventure!

Gina