...Busy!

Whew! The patience paid off! As the snow keeps falling intermittently, we accumulate more of that fun white stuff. Skiing, skating, sledding, snowboarding, winter hikes, snowball fights, snow forts, etc. have all been done by one or more of us so far this winter.

The ski season kicked off with a home meet at Hidden Valley in Ely. It was such a fun experience for us! Both Raif and Cora are enjoying skiing. Raif has been placing in the top 10 in all his races, and finished 2nd overall in the last skate race in Duluth. Cora will have her next two meets coming up since she is only in 6th grade and unable to compete in all of the meets. We have noticed a change in both of them. Skiing is a disciplined sport with lots of personal responsibility. If you forget one piece of your necessary gear it means not only annoyance but true discomfort! Raif has learned in this one season how to skate ski effectively and continues to improve. He is a tenacious racer who competes with a smile on his face. Cora hasn't been as competitive, but seeing her flushed pink cheeks and satisfaction at climbing that next hill and swooshing down the next is wonderful. The ski season will officially end with the JV/Jr. High Champs at Spirit Mountain in Duluth on Feb. 8th, but our kids will be skiing in the Junior Birkie in Hayward on Feb. 19th.

Raif "Smiley" Olson

Cora "Rosy Cheeks" Olson

The top three finishers from Ely's ski team at the season opener: James Schwinghamer (1st overall), Raif Olson (4th overall) and Jasper Johnston (3rd overall). 

The shop continues to progress with each week. Mark was able to take off some days over the holiday break, but he works everyday on the project. Help from David and Toby has proved invaluable. There were some slow days when the weather was bitterly cold, but now the mild winter days have returned. The roof is on with shingles coming this week. Windows and doors will be next, and then the floor and wall coverings. The rafters were sheeted in boards salvaged from the building, then two layers of foam were installed, then another layer of the salvaged boards, finally the felt and shingles. Mark also built a small entry over the door for a sheltered entrance to the building. The stovepipe has been installed, and is ready for a stove. The stove is waiting in storage, just like the rest of Mark's tools. 

Since the last blog post, so much has happened. We felt for awhile that we were in a holding pattern, but suddenly life is too busy for a blog post! We celebrated Fiona's 2nd birthday with our wonderful friends Janet and her daughter Tesla. It was such a joy to watch Fiona enter this new stage of life, and then quickly we realized what that meant again. The floor tantrums started immediately. Her awesome quote from her birthday week was, "I don't care!" in response to any question. She became well aware what those brightly wrapped packages were and since her birthday is on Dec. 18th, she began to think that she should get a present everyday. "More presents please? Happy Birthday?" she would plead. We spread those gifts out from Dec. 18 through Dec. 28. 

We struggled to capture a photo of Fifi at her birthday party. The party balloons were just simply too exciting!

We celebrated Christmas several times as is our custom. First with the Olson's in Chisholm, next traveling down to Nature Nook's to be with Pam, Tom, and my sister Nell and brother Luke's families. We stopped on our way back to roller skate and stay the night with Taura and her girls, then headed up to see some friends in Prairie Farm for a sweet gathering hosted by our good friends Jim and Becky. So many treats were consumed! Raif possibly had all the egg nog he could drink. The saddest part for me was losing our camera in the van and thinking that we had left it home. Few photos to document all of the smiles, laughter and joy we felt over the holiday season. I am sharing the photo collage my mom included in her holiday letter. 

When we returned to Winton, we hosted Nadine and Bryan with their 3 kids over the New Year's weekend. Part of our New Year's Day celebration involved a Korean feast attended by the wonderful Lou and Alice, as well as Janet and Tesla. We dined on bibimbap and Korean short ribs along with kimchee. Delicious and memorable, our evening ended with a singalong in the fire gazebo. Lou played and we all sang in the new year.

The Wetzel-Curtis family enjoyed skiing, sledding, and hiking on the lake as well as playing games, cooking and just hanging out. We didn't want them to leave, but we know they'll visit again soon!

The biggest news of the new year so far is the final closing of the property - Ann and David are now the owners of 20 acres on Summer Road! They haven't booted us out yet, and as I sit here typing I am so grateful for their generosity. We have grown to love this place, and it will be so exciting to see what they do with it once they get rid of those pesky tenants (us)! We celebrated with them and collectively heaved a sigh of relief. It has been so wonderful to have them more in our lives. They have still been keeping us in canned goods, as well as homemade sausages and breads! 

After months of preparation, "The Lion King" proved to be a spectacular success! There was plenty of stress in the last weeks leading up to the show, but the performers prevailed! The costumes, make-up, choreography and set all combined to make the story come alive. Raif was almost unrecognizable with his headress, and Cora became a lioness through her body language. Raif had to sing a solo, and did so with a kingly attitude. Cora danced her way through the show with sassy flair. 

A special visit from Grandma Pam and Tom the week of the show was the icing on the cake. They came and helped with the shop, skied with Mark and Raif, and even got to care for a sick Fiona - lucky them! The skiing was phenomenal that week, and even though they got lost on the Hidden Valley trails once, nothing could dampen their enthusiasm. They brought tons of food ...of course cheese and milk from Organic Valley, but also homemade marinara to go with the fresh pasta we made using my Christmas present from Mark  - a pasta maker! It was so great to have them here for the opening night performance and we celebrated the night with a small gathering afterwards at our house. 

Cora played young Nala and Raif was the king Mufasa. I created most of the choreography, and worked with the students almost every day of the semester. Very rewarding in the end!

As I write this post, I am preparing for a visit from our Spanish exchange student Laia and group of her relatives and friends by baking another rum cake (thanks to Grandma Nonie for this tradition). We will be hosting 6 ladies from Spain this week! Fiona is ready to meet Laia saying, "My sister Laia will find our house." They have never met, but I am so eager to see them interact! This will be a bittersweet reunion as we no longer live in the house that Laia called home for 10 months. She will travel to Prairie Farm over the next weekend to tour that area before heading home. We are so excited to show them all of the fun things to do here in the wintery north!

I feel that these posts are letters to each of you reading about our lives. Somewhat mundane sometimes, other times exciting things to report. I find that it is so much more fun to present our fun times and the good things, while leaving the messy and depressing parts out. This makes me a bit guilty, and I know that if I was a reader of this blog I might scoff and say, "Humpf, it can't all be that good." True. It isn't always wonderful. Both Mark and I have had our days of doubt, wondering aloud what we were thinking?!...leaving our home, our friends, jobs, the gardens, etc...? The floor in the kitchen here is almost always full of crumbs and rice sticking to the dirty brown carpet despite our frequent vacuuming. Our toddler and two teens share one bedroom which currently smells of toddler pee. The narrow entry hallway in this house seems to always be filled with ski boots and winter boots. I currently am volunteering as a math tutor. Mark is toiling away at his third shop he has built ...on our third property. Just what are we doing?!!!... Well, I guess we are living. 

One final note about our doings up here in Winton/Ely. Through our involvement with the Ely Folk School, we had the opportunity to attend a movie night that I helped organize. The movie was hosted by Paul Schurke and featured two short documentaries about his travels by dogsled in the frozen Arctic. He was co-leader with Will Steger on the first successful un-supported trip to the North Pole. Since it was the 30th anniversary of the trip, this presentation was particularly interesting. I can tell you that after seeing the hardships that the crew withstood to reach their goal, it makes any problems I perceive currently in my life seem mere annoyances. Seriously folks. #cozyprobs. While basking in our luxuriously hot living room (thanks to a large wood stove and Mark's efforts in fueling it) and feeling sorry for myself, I only have to remember the crew's frostbitten toes, weeks without bathing, days upon days of prying dogsleds over the uneven ice and snow to feel simultaneously ashamed and also renewed purpose. While we have not set out to achieve any lofty goals, we have committed ourselves to an adventure, and every day is part of the process. 

Standing room only at Ely Folk School for Paul Schurke's talk and showing of "North to the Pole".

Taken from our kitchen window in the morning sunlight.