Minnesnowta

I'm sure everyone is expecting me to carry on about how cold it was during our visit to Minnesota. Yes, it was cold. Yes, I'm enjoying my 58 degree weather again. Now on to more exciting topics.... uhhhh.... not that the topic of weather isn't exciting.

Nathan got a lot of cousin time in during our visit. He wasn't so sure about the Crazy Cousin Clan during his last encounter with them, but things were definitely different this time around. He may have been the new kid on the block, but he certainly wasn't intimidated by them. He played so hard and had such a good time with them. They got a chance to play all together as we celebrated Laura's seventh birthday.
That's the birthday girl on the far right.
Emily and Nathan
"Elpie" (Penelope) and Nathan
Nathan even got to open few early Christmas presents.
Karl took Nathan under his wing.

Nathan had his first real snow experience over the weekend. People ask, "You live in South Dakota, don't you get a lot of snow there?" The answer is yes, but you're crazy if you think I'm going outside to play in that junk. Besides, this is the first snow that Nathan has seen since he's been old enough to actually play in it. Judging by his reaction, it looks like Nathan and I share the same opinion on Minnesota winters.
It's a good thing Nathan's vocabulary is still limited because I don't even want to know what he would have to say about us dragging him out there.
Coincidentally, I walked around with that same look on my face.
Nathan with Laura and Karl.

He's relieved to finally shed the bulky coat, furry hat and mittens. Now he can actually move.
We went to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Tanya's house for dinner on Sunday. Uncle Jeff saw how much Nathan loves cars, so he was nice enough to share his vintage car collection from his childhood.
We watched Aly and Emily's performances in their Christmas program. Nathan really enjoyed their singing and clapped with excitement after each song. 

Nathan played with Aunt Tanya, Uncle Matt and Daddy's old toys at Oma and Opa's house.


Nathan took a bath before heading over to play with Karl one more time before we left for the airport. I love this picture.

It's a good thing we got the airport with plenty of time to spare because Nathan decided that he was going to walk to the gate. I bet I heard the phrase, "Little Viking" at least 15 times as we walked through the MSP airport. 
After we arrived at our gate, this is how we passed some time.
Then we went over to watch the airplanes prepare for take-off. 
Nathan's response to seeing the airplanes, "Oh wow!!!"

We made it back to Georgia last night. Our plane took off an hour late as we had to sit on the plane while it was de-iced. The days of the sleeping traveler are long gone so, as I expected, Nathan's patience wore a little thin during the flight. I'm lucky it happened with only 45 minutes left because I don't think I would have been able to provide my amped up entertainment any longer than that. Needless to say, I was so happy to see Grandma waiting at baggage claim! It helped that she had Chick-fil-a for us, too. 

Nathan spent a little time catching up with Grandma and Grandpa and Hank and most importantly, Mace. As soon as we turned in the neighborhood he started calling out for Mace. He took a bath and went straight to bed. Then this morning, I decided that Nathan needed to catch up on some sleep, so I let him sleep until he woke up on his own. He ended up sleeping until 10:45 a.m. I feel bad that he missed school, but he was definitely in need of sleep.