south dakota christmas

After spending a week in Kansas we made the trek up north to Freeman for Graber Christmas. 

We had mostly missed Schmeichel Christmas, but managed to see some of the relatives at smaller gatherings throughout the week. 

We only got to see Paula and Tom for a day because they were heading back to Des Moines. 

They had been away from home for 2.5 weeks because of Paula's work. 

We spent New Years with several good friends.

Got another good dose of cold and snow (although we're now "enjoying" this arctic blast), so we spent a good deal of time inside relaxing, eating, and spending time with family and friends. 

We also spent a nice chunk of time "kitty training", which was essentially crate training for 2 kittens that made the long journey back to Milwaukee with us. 

They did a WONDERFUL job, and we had little issues with meowing and defecation. 

Hilde and Terry (both 3 month-old kittens) are now happily adjusting to our home. 

They learned how to use the litter box very quickly, and they're taking their time learning the layout of the house. 

We've actually spent the last 3 days enjoying hosting our friends in MKE.

We decided to head back on Friday so Alyssa and Austin could stay at our place and we could briefly show them MKE, along with the Lakefront Brewery (as seen above).

But as the weather turned, it became clear that Austin and Alyssa did NOT want to face possible travel dangers in subzero temperatures. 

They decided to wait out the weather on both Sunday and Monday.

It was a good thing they decided to stay on Monday because Alyssa's car refused to start in the -17 degrees temp and -40 degree windchill. 

(Turned out to be dead spark plugs.)

Ben used his car to push their car 5 blocks to a nearby automotive repair shop.

YES.

IT'S TRUE.

They put Alyssa's car into neutral and Ben drove behind and pushed it as Austin steered. 

I think we would have looked weird if it wasn't Milwaukee.

I imagine Wisconsinites are not fazed by such things...especially since so few of them were on the road today. 

A fitting way to end Christmas break and this arctic day...although my Christmas break will continue until the 22nd. 

Which is good because I'm not ready to go back yet. 

Still getting practicum details straightened out. 

My spring textbooks just arrived. 

I'll be back to babysitting tomorrow night. 

2 weeks until the busyness begins!