We went up to Michigan today for a birthday party for Trevor and Cubbie. Headed up in the afternoon, spent a few hours with the family, headed back. Bigger news is that Laura and Thomas have agreed to take the kids for a week around our anniversary this summer, and we've been making arrangements! We are going to stay in St. Catharine's, Ontario. Better get Beth a passport.

Beth had a pretty awesome birthday this weekend. I came pretty close to blowing it because I let her make most of the arrangements herself, and I hadn't really noted that 50 was feeling like a really big deal to her. But, I did make the reservations at the restaurant (which I had to go back and make for more people several times, because way more people than we were expecting kept confirming) and got her a nice big present from Warsaw Cut Glass (sealing kitchen canisters with the sunflower pattern) and a cool mug from MudLove for her from the kids, plus some cheap jewelry also from them that they actually picked out. She wanted a party at Yamato with all her friends there. Pretty much everyone we invited came, including Stephanie and Ric and Marve and all the families from Michigan, which was a surprise. We had an array of appetizers on the table, balloons, and a collection jar for Heifer. The kids all had their own table with the electronics going. Beth got to be social and eat sushi, what could be better? The family came by our home for a while before everyone had to take off, first time most of them have been there in quite a while, and we had some ice cream cake. So it was a pretty good birthday. Beth said she had a wonderful time.

This weekend was dominated by a massive fail at the toboggan run. Beth and I had been thinking we should go do the toboggan run at Pokagon State Park at some point, been thinking that for years. Well, I finally decided that we should just do it. This weekend was supposed to be clear, and below freezing but not ridiculously cold, so we decided to do it Saturday afternoon. Natalie had her friend Maria spent the night at our house for a sleepover (her mom is apparently a worrier, and called us several times, but speaks almost no English). Saturday morning after we dropped off Maria at her house we headed out for the toboggan run. It takes around an hour and a half to drive to the park from home, and there was a bit of a wait just to get in the front gate for some reason. Once at the toboggan run, we needed to rent two sleds since only a max of 4 can go down on one, and I was asked if I wanted the heavy ones (go faster) or the light ones (easier to carry). Here is where the big mistake was. I picked the heavy ones. They were heavier than I expected. The kids had a hard time wangling it up the steps and Natalie wound up doing it pretty much by herself. Anyway, it was close to a good half hour by the time we got to the top. We went down, Alex and me in one sled, Beth, Missy, and Natalie in the other. It really was a fun ride, but first off Beth really hurt her hands holding on while going down with the girls, so she was out for anything more. Then I asked Alex to help Nat carry the sled back, and it was heavy enough that they had problems with it and it devolved into him yelling at her and basically letting her carry it herself. I was helping Missy carry the other because I thought that would make things easier overall. So Missy wanted to go down with me next, and Alex and Missy started fighting about who got to go down with me. Nat and Alex had been a space behind Missy and me in the line and when Alex left her there alone to argue with Missy, she felt pretty abandoned and took off after Beth going back to the van. We wound up turning both sleds back in and leaving, with Alex and Missy grounded from electronics for a week. In good amount my fault, though. So, one trip downhill and we were back on the road again.

I'm wondering a little bit where this weekend went. Friday, I was still at work when Beth called to tell me that they were stuck at the optometrist's because while she and Natalie were picking up her new glasses, the other kids stayed in the van, with the engine off and the blowers and DVD player running, and the battery was flat dead. I couldn't leave work yet, so she called some friends and got a ride over to the Purvis' until I could get them, then we went back and tried to jump the battery to no avail. We tried to jump it for several minutes and got barely a click. So, the van stayed in the parking lot overnight, while we went to Fort Wayne to go to Barnes & Noble. Saturday morning I went back myself and tried to jump it again (did I mention it was probably the coldest night of the year so far?) and again got nothing. So I was worried that it was something besides the battery, like the alternator or the starter. I went to Auto Zone to find out how much a new battery would cost and as it turns out, they will test and charge them for free. So I ran back to the van again, pulled out the battery, and took it back. The guy there tested it and got nothing, and told me in a couple hours they would have it charged and could tell me if it was any good or not. And that they would call me. They never did so I went back there in a few hours. The new crew that was there informed me that they couldn't charge the battery because it was frozen solid, and should be thawed out by tomorrow. Well, we didn't want to leave the van in the parking lot overnight again so I called roadside assistance, and they sent a tow truck. Which, apparently, they called from as far away as possible. They were supposed to be there in 90 minutes, but they driver called after a while and told me he was on the north side of Elkhart and would be much later. It was already dark by the time he arrived, and informed me that because the van didn't have the battery in it, they couldn't get it out of neutral, and to get it onto the truck they would have to drag it, which they couldn't guarantee wouldn't damage the transmission. Not to mention the tires. So, I asked him to wait while I punted, ran back to Auto Zone, bought a new battery, ran back to the van and installed it. Started right up. The driver didn't charge me since he didn't have to give me a tow, but he also told me that usually if a battery is frozen that means it's at the very end of it's life. Would have been good to know a few hours ago. I could have saved the driver a long worthless trip.
Today we pretty much stayed at home. I spend just about the whole afternoon cleaning up after Christmas. The tree is back down, everything is packed and put away except the outside lights (which, interestingly, blew a fuse in the top strand today..after several weeks up and on... so we're back to only the lower part lit).
Beth went and picked up our annual freezer full of meat this week. We tried to go get it a few days ago before I went back to work, but when we got there we realized we should have called first. Closed Saturday, you see. So anyway she had someone load the van for her and timed things so she got home with the meat just before I got home from work, and we didn't have to have a load of meat thawing in the van for long. So anyway, we are stocked up.

Christmas seems to be pretty much over, except for putting away all the decorations. I'm back to work now, just passing time until spring break. Anyway.I'm going to update most of the last several weeks in one posting because I've fallen behind.
Wednesday was also the “gingerbread” house building at church. Graham crackers instead of gingerbread, actually. It was also the Revolution Christmas party night, with the white elephant gift exchange, but the girls wanted to build gingerbread houses so they stayed while Alex went. He came back with a CD of the Hamster dance song, yay. The kids had school through Thursday, but I was off work after Tuesday the 20th (except for a bit of Thursday to take care of some audit response stuff). So I had a couple days free to use however I wanted! I spent it doing odd errands and chores that we never have time for or want to do with the kids. So I loaded the truck with scrap metal from the garage (old grill, old bike we got for free that doesn't work...) and hauled it to the scrapyard, where they gave me cash money for it! $2.40 to be exact, but the important thing is it is gone. I also spent a couple hours in a laundromat washing the comforter that goes in the camper. I got all of our Christmas cards (we did a photo card with a picture of all 5 of us in front of that big crafty place in West Virginia, with a letter explaining who the extra person is) addressed and mailed. I picked up a few things at the hardware store to do some odd repairs. I picked up my new glasses (bifocals, hate them) Yeah, exciting stuff. The weekend, however, was dominated by Christmas (on a Sunday this year, which is a bit odd). Friday afternoon we took everyone to see the new "Star Wars: Rogue One" movie, which I liked a lot. And they did a good job bringing Peter Cushing back from the dead, I thought. Saturday, we all went up to Michigan to join the whole family for a Christmas Eve service at the Pinksters' church. We visited with Judy and Neill at the lake first for a while, then went to a late lunch at Burdick's, then to the service, then headed home. With a stop at Denny's for dessert first, since it is Always Open and nowhere else is. Christmas was downstairs this year; we got up early to open presents so we could do it all before church. Alex got a bunch of video game stuff (games, controllers, Amiibo, more games), Missy got a bunch of art supplies and animal stuff (fancy drawing stylus, fancy colored pencils, dragon hatchling figurines, Webkinz) and Natalie got a bunch of girly stuff (necklaces, clothes, boots, makeup stuff, Orbees). My present from Beth and the kids was a dutch oven cast iron cooking pot. Beth's was the yearly ornament from Warsaw Cut Glass. Thursday, Laura and Thomas arrived for a day on their way back from Chicago and to Michigan to see a John Oliver show at Fox Theater. We went out to dinner at Redwood Grill (left Little Caesar's at home for the kids), played Watch Ya Mouth and Wizard and Apples to Apples, and went out to breakfast in the morning. This was the first visit where we didn't have a guest room so they had to stay in a hotel. We did New Year's Eve with the Boschains and Lancasters again (although the Boschains were hitting the road as soon ac church was over on New Years, so they did dinner with us all at La Troje but then went home to get their kids to bed. We spent the evening at the Lancaster's house, playing games and watching funny videos until midnight. Sunday services came early this year, I tell ya. Believe it or not the Boschains' van was broken into during the service so they didn't get on the road as scheduled. We took the kids to see "Moana" on Monday (the Rock sings very well, but the movie was good but not great). Today, I am back to work.