Back from Christmas

We just returned from Christmas traveling with our families up in Michigan and in Wisconsin. In Michigan, we celebrated with the Bayly family and had 11 adults and 10 kids staying in one house, which seemed less chaotic than this summer when we shared the same house with 7 adults and 8 children under age 4. This will *hopefully* be the last year that adults actually outnumber children in the Bayly family, so let the fun begin! 

Somehow our family has escaped the stomach flu for the past two months and we are not complaining. A rather severe, "I want to die" flu went through our church in November and about half the family in Michigan got the stomach bug, but not us. We enjoyed time on Lake Michigan's beach, which transforms into Antarctica in the winter. Tate spent most of the time repeating a mantra of "too cowd, too cowd"

We headed over to Pardeeville, Wisconsin next to celebrate Christmas with my parents, catch up with our childhood friends, and try to convince Tate that winter can be fun. He did actually have some fun riding in a sled on the frozen lake and thought walking on water was pretty awesome. We saw lots of normal Wisconsin sights - cows, ice fishing villages, a 4-wheeler pulling someone on a sled, cars, trucks, and motorcycles out on the lake.

I am also glad to report that I did not fall down my parents' steps once in the morning. It used to be common for me to, in my rush to escape the frozen tundra, miss the first step and fall all the way down the staircase. I did however, manage to catch only the edge of the mattress one morning as I was bringing Tate into bed with us, and catapult myself into the night table. Tate didn't seem to notice - everyone else did though.

It's good to be back home, have a warm house, and have a new year in front of us.