Taking the Plunge

Nick signed up to do the Polar Plunge with the police department of the village he works for. We thought he was pretty crazy, but we were happy to go watch and support him. Lucky for Nick, it was only mildly cool that day.

We hung out for a while beforehand, eating and playing some bags.

Then we found a spot on the beach to wait for his team's turn.

Wyatt, being Wyatt, instantly made friends with a random little girl. At one point a man standing near me asked his grandson where this little girl was. His grandson answered, "She's over there playing with her friend." Yup.

Finally, it was Nick's team to enter the water. Here they go.

He stumbled a bit and fell on his butt. Poor daddy (far left in the next two pictures).

He was pretty cold when he got out and didn't want to stop for a picture.

It was an exhausting day.

For dinner, we met Grandma for a birthday celebration. Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Giving

We started a tradition this year where we do a Season of Kindness around Thanksgiving. Noah's school gave us little packets to drop anonymously for neighbors and friends to let them know why we appreciate them. The anonymous part didn't go over too well as all three spotted us. There was snow and ice on the ground so that slowed our departure down some. We almost got away with it one time, but our next door neighbor's dog tracked us down. Noah seemed to think this was pretty fun although I'm not sure he understood the 'why' of it.

The next day we went shopping to 'Pack a Shoebox' for a less fortunate child somewhere in the world. It's a program through Samaritan's Purse where you donate items that will fit in one shoebox for a specific age child to receive at Christmas. We chose to pack for a boy ages 2-4 since that's who our shopping buddies were. The boys enjoyed picking out some fun (and also practical) things.

When we got home, Noah helped me fit everything into the shoebox. We gave a pad of drawing paper, crayons, markers, pencils, Go Fish, a bar of soap, a Mickey Mouse stamp set, a Ninja Turtle ball, toothbrushes, Snoopy underwear, Paw Patrol socks, a Minion activity set, a whistle, and a Panda. Noah also helped put the tracking label on the box and then we dropped it off at a nearby church. On Christmas Eve we found out our box was being delivered to a boy in Tanzania. We hope he likes it!

Lung Force Walk

The last weekend in September we participated in the Lung Force charity 5K walk in honor of (and with) my brother's friend who has a lung condition and is on the waiting list for a transplant. It was the last really warm weekend we have had and perfect weather for a nice stroll around McDonald's corporate campus.