My Baby's All Grown Up and Going to Thailand!

Sarah came home on 12/16 for the holidays. A few days later she got her haircut and died it back to her original red color (She was born a strawberry blond). She looks so mature with her new hairdo. The boys and Maya loved having her home. Yesterday she left for a month in Thailand with her friend Gretchen. She left me in charge of my grand-dog, Lilly. I think I'm going to be a better Grandma than I am a mother. Especially if all my grandchildren are dogs! Yesterday I took her for a walk, on a leash and everything! She's my new exercise buddy. Trevor pulls which makes walking on icy roads even more treacherous, and he weighs 100 pounds!


We had a nice Christmas. Santa brought the boys a real hockey goal. It was in our living room for a few days, now it's outside on the homemade ice skating rink where it belongs. Today Matt's siblings will start arriving for our Annual Wise Clan New Year Gathering. We will exchange gifts and feast on King crab and Prime rib. On Saturday Matt's siblings will all go fishing for Winter King, which is the best salmon on earth. It melts in your mouth like butter! We will be in Soldotna for Chris' first two hockey games. He's going to play goalie! I don't know if his ego can take it. Not everyone is cut out to be a goalie. Our coach is going to rotate several kids through the goalie position. I wanted him to play other positions, too, since it's his first year of hockey.


Maya has been resisting learning to skate. We had our first melt down a couple of weeks ago. Last week she did fine once we were out there. She doesn't like the group activities, prefers to do her own thing. I think I'm going to try her in a dance/movement class after New Year's. We can try skating again next year. Maybe she'll actually be able to bend her arms and legs in her gear! She turns 4 on January 2nd. She decided to have a swimming party with 10 of her friends. We are going to have her birthday party next week, since Matt is on call this weekend.


Sarah leaving for Thailand.

Our homemade ice rink.

Now the boys want a mini-Zamboni!

Yes, our whole family fits in a hockey goal.