More Birthday Presents!

 The roads had improved since the big storm (yay!), so Nana Vicki and Bumpa came for a visit.  They brought birthday presents from them and Uncle Cory.  

He was happy to get some fun military Legos, a Diary of a Wimpy Kid game, and other cool stuff.  Score!

This kid got lucky... got to see two sets of grandparents this week!  

Visiting Grandpa O & Grandma J

 We made it to Grandpa Orin and Grandma Judi's house late in the afternoon.   We settled in, visited, and had a bit of supper.

Afterwards, Grandpa Orin showed Ramsey some old antique guns that have been in the family for a while.  Ramsey was ecstatic!

Ramsey knew what models they were, but Grandpa showed him all of the different pieces of the guns and how they worked.

Ramsey had to practice his stance with the gun (unloaded, of course!).  

After a good night's rest, we ate a great homemade Sunday pancake brunch and hung out for a while.  And, Grandpa Orin gave Ramsey a ride in the golf cart.  

Riding wasn't quite good enough for Ramsey.  He had to race.  He won, but it might have been s a mercy win!

Then, G&G showed us all of Grandpa's treasures in the shop.  They have a few large rooms full of collected items - mostly antique tools.  There were a lot of super neat things.

We went for a drive to the outlet mall and sight-seeing, then out for supper at a great Chinese place. Yum!    After supper, we visited more and Ramsey got some snuggle time in with G&G.

Ramsey brought his gun history encyclopedia on the trip, so showing it off to Grandpa Orin was a priority.

Grandpa listened intently while Ramsey talked about his favorite guns, plus various "fun facts" about world war history.   Grandpa offered his knowledge and opinions as well and they had some good conversation on the topic.  😊

I had originally incorporated the visit with a work trip (two birds, one stone!). Monday was the day I had to be on a job site for one of my projects.   The original plan was to stay with Grandpa and Grandma for a few more days and fly home on Thrusday.   

But... a new weather report came out that there was a large storm system coming, sweeping the midwest, mainly the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Illinois.  If we stayed, it would mean we might not make it home for another  6 to 7 days.  With my work schedule and Ramsey needing to get back in school (he'd already missed a LOT of school this year due to illness), we made the tough decision to change our flights and leave early.  😥

On Monday morning, we had a good breakfast, chatted a bit, and then had to say our goodbyes.

The goodbyes were tough.

But, I guess "some" time with G&G was better than none at all.

Ramsey and I drove to my job site.  I completed my construction walk-through with a general contractor and my crew.   Ramsey remained in an office, door closed, with his Kindle.  When my site survey was completed, we had our first meal at Chick Fil-A. Yum!

Then, off to the airport again.   Ramsey had fun on the moving walks, going back and forth.  I'm glad he still had so much energy!  My pep was depleting.

Our first flight from Columbus was delayed, due to weather and airplane issues (yay - more issues!).  While in the waiting area, there were "rumors" of the impending system; it was supposedly bringing wicked terrible winds and freezing rain.   I'm not going to lie, I was very unsettled!!    After a few hours of waiting, the plane finally arrived and we made it safely to Minneapolis. 

In Minneapolis, we had another rather lengthy layover, but Kindles and snacks made it more bearable.  Ramsey was a serious TROOPER and still had plenty of smiles!

I had smiles when we finally got settled on our last plane ride home.  We arrived at the airport around 11:30 that night.  It was COLD and yucky at home, but it hadn't yet started to snow.   

By the next morning, the wind had picked up and the snow was flying (more school snow days!).   We'd made it just in time.  And, incidentally, if we wouldn't have left when we did, we wouldn't have been able to get home until Sunday at the earliest, as the Minneapolis airport was shut down for DAYS.  It could have been later, due to the amount of people who were being rerouted/rescheduled.  Ugh.   Leaving early was a bittersweet decision.

After we had unpacked, Ramsey wanted to ensure that he had a good spot for his Junior Officer sticker he received at the Columbus airport, plus the gold wings he was given on the second flight to Ohio.

They are proudly displayed with Eric's law enforcement challenge coins and pins on the custom flag shelf in the hallway.

Ramsey's First Airplane Ride

 Oh, another FIRST for Ramsey... first trip in an airplane.  Wahoo!   We'd planned a trip to see Grandpa Orin and Grandma Judi at their home in Ohio.   Our flight was to leave around 7AM, so we were up REEEEEEALLY EARLY.  Oye! 

Ramsey did GREAT going through Security. He had everything all figured out and knew what to remove from his suitcase and where to scan things.  I was a usual chaotic spaz, having packed too many things that had to be taken out and viewed.  🥴

When it was time to board, Ramsey was OFF and running, leaving me in the dust on the jet bridge.  I have other pictures, but they are ALL blurry because he was hustling so fast.

We had games and Netflix shows downloaded onto his Kindle to make the trip fun.

There was some sort of "issue" on the plane that had to be "looked at".  That's always fun to know and try to explain to a small child.  The tech was dispatched and had fixed the issue in under an hour.  And, they also deiced the plane while we waited. 

Ramsey was starting to get nervous as the plane started to move.  Then, the lights in the cabin went off and it was "go time".

Too bad the lighting couldn't have been better.  Ramsey LOVED take-off and thought it was "perfect"!

We had to move QUICKLY to our next flight.  With the last delay, we didn't have much time. We had two more quick flights; one from Minneapolis to Detroit and then from Detroit to Columbus.   

On Flight 2 from Detroit to Columbus, the flight attendant gave Ramsey a nice gold pair of wings. He was elated and put it on his sweatshirt.  When we landed, he was allowed into the cockpit to meet the pilots and check out the controls!  Even better! 

When we arrived in Detroit, we had a bite to eat and waited for the last flight to Columbus.

Ramsey got a kick out of watching planes taking off and landing.

When we arrived in Columbus, we hopped in the transport van and rented a Nissan 4-door. Ramsey got to pick... he wanted "the cool fast black car".

Then, off we drove to Grandpa and Grandma's house to stay for the week!

Nana Karen's First

 Nana K doesn't get out like she used to.   But, it's been a long winter, so why not?!?  The wind was "only" at 25mph and the temp was about 15°.  

I dragged her to Walmart to get a few groceries for her apartment.  And, I needed a new smallish suitcase for my upcoming trip to Ohio to see Dad and Judi.

Much to our surprise, they no longer have the wheelchairs with carts on the front....sooo... I couldn't push her.  Uh oh.  Mom isn't exactly a marathon walker anymore and she can't hop inside a cart basket like Ramsey can!  We went with the only other option... the ELECTRIC SCOOTER.  I looked at this mechanism as a vehicle of death and doom and mayhem (to oncoming shoppers)!   We asked for a quick training session.  That went about as well as I expected.  🥴  I was scared.  Deeply... mortifyingly scared.  But also very intrigued at the same time. 🤣

Mom has a pretty terrific sense of humor (at least a few people I know think so - ha!), so she scooted along, made funny "Vroom Vroom" noises, and winked at people whilst telling them she was "gonna get 'em".  🤣   It was a good time.  And, she got the hang of it.  I was shocked and pleasantly surprised.

Good job, Momma.  Good job. 😉😎

Sledding Fun

 For his birthday, we gave Ramsey a snow bike (steerable sled).  He'd much rather be more in control and be able to think he can maneuver a bit more vs when flying down a hill on a saucer sled or snow tube. 

(Notice Eric's bare legs!  It was a WARM 30° today! Wahoo!  Eric was outside picking up dog poo.  Good times.)

Luckily, some of the snow had melted, leaving a nicer crunchy ground to slide down.  Jango seemed to have a good time too, chasing Ramsey around and leaping through deeper snow banks like he was a gazelle.  

Happy 21st Birthday Connor!

 Oh, this kid!!  Well... he's no longer a "kid", per se.  He's technically a full-grown man (gosh, that seems so strange to say).  And, he turned 21!   He wasn't with us on his actual birthday (Thursday), but he did come back home this weekend.

On Friday night, he and his friends went out to celebrate.  And... the theme was "Hawaiian"/"I Hate Winter".      "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!" was all I could say.

Happy Happy Birthday, Connor!  We love you so very much!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jango!

 Happy Birthday to our big, sweet, spoiled-rotten, dock-diving, kid-loving, lap dog.   He weighs in at 105 lbs.  Two years has flown by quickly!

January School Fun

 Ramsey has another great teacher this year.  She sends us lots of pictures and updates of the fun things they do in school.  

This week, she sent pictures of the kids' solar system project.

AND, Ramsey's absolute favorite new event.... ice skating.  Ramsey had never ice-skated before (a new first!) and there just happens to be an ice-skating rink right next to the school.   The kids (who hadn't skated much before) used chairs as stabilizers for balance.  And, afterwards, they got warm cups of hot cocoa.  Ramsey said this was one awesome afternoon!

Ramsey is in the front row, wearing the black face mask.