One Last Holiday Weekend

My brother and his family came up to see us yesterday from their home in Dayton, Ohio.  We got together for a belated Christmas celebration.  It was nice to see them all.  Although it was very cold and still is today, the roads were clear and no new snow was coming down, so they had no troubles with the drive here. We picked up my mom from the nursing home and all went out to eat at a local restaurant.  We sat and ate and talked there for quite a while.

My brother and my sister-in-law

After we left the restaurant, we took my mom back to the care center, and then went back to the house to visit some more.  My older son had been given the movie "Up" on DVD for Christmas, so we thought it seemed like a good time to all watch it together.  

If you haven't seen it, I recommend it to you.  It is both moving and amusing.  Parts of it are so touching that tears will spring to your eyes and other parts are laugh out loud funny.  It is also appropriate for, and enjoyed by, all ages.

My nieces and nephews range in age from 13 to 22 years old.

As always, it is nice to share the holiday season with family members, if for no other reason than that I get to wear the Santa hat for one more day. HA!

Max, was underfoot, as usual.  He thought while everyone was there just sitting around, they might as well be doing something useful like playing fetch with him, so he kept bringing his hot dog toy that is missing the squeaker and dropping it unceremoniously on the feet of our guests.

 

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My sons have both been off from school for the last two weeks, although for the last week neither was here at home.  My younger son went to Orlando, Florida with the high school wrestling team for a wrestling tournament there.  They combined the trip with visits to area attractions and amusement parks while they were there.  One of the memorable moments of his trip was that he tasted alligator tail meat for the first time.  He said it tasted a little like chicken or maybe like frog legs to him.  They went down and back, a 20 hour ride each way, on a chartered bus.  I was glad he had the opportunity to go, but also glad to have him return back home again safely too.

 

My older son spent the last week in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Campus Crusade for Christ winter conference.  Today he returns to his dorm room at Ohio Northern University.  Here he is working on a school paper on his laptop before packing up to leave today.

I baked some chocolate peanut butter brownies for him to take back to the dorm with him.

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If you'd like to know a little more about the movie, "Up," and the making of it, you might enjoy this video.

This next video I also found amusing.  It shows how they worked with Jordan Nagai, the young man who did the voice of Russell in the movie, to get the best results for the production.