Our holiday weekend has been anything but predictable this year as it is now being extended to today. Thursday went well with us getting up fairly early (after working 'til midnight) to drive to Mom and Dad's in NW Iowa for the day. Rena (my sister), her girls, my grandparents, Uncle Dave, Julie Grubisich and our family all descended on the farm through the course of the morning, ready to celebrate Thanksgiving (version 1.0) with the parade, the meal, the hapless Lions losing and my Broncos eeking out a very fortunate victory in Dallas. We spent the night and returned to Sioux Falls during the day in time for me to make it back to work.
Friday morning, the first unpredictable thing happened. One of Mom and Dad's neighbors was out on his ATV (four wheeler for the old-school set) checking his traps when he rolled it on top of him. He managed to drag himself back on it and limped his way to the house where Mom and Dad loaded him into their car and Mom drove him to the hospital in Primghar (a town just as beautiful as its name). I guess his face was busted up pretty well, but some family had arrived before Mom left. We missed the whole thing and only got the recap after waking up. Our trip back to Sioux Falls and the work that followed it was rather uneventful.
Saturday morning saw us rise and drive to Yankton to do Thanksgiving with Jim and Marilyn, Casey, Heidi and their kids and Grandma Leanne on Sunday. Amy and I also offered to help out with church on Sunday after being solicited. Saturday was uneventful as we just hung out for the day and tried to catch up on sleep a little. I've been noticing that I'm more irritable on Saturdays due to the schedule. I feel like I finally mellow out toward the end of the day and by Sunday I'm usually okay. I just wonder if other people notice it as much as I do.
Sunday promised to be a day of uncertainty as the weather forecast for Sunday and today was not pleasant. Casey's family and Grandma Leanne decided they'd be safer to just get themselves together in Mitchell (where they all live) than brave the roads. We missed them a lot, but know it was the right decision as things just got worse in their neck of the woods as the day went on. We still planned to stay Sunday night and assess travel conditions this morning before heading back to Sioux Falls for work.
Church was fun, although I think we must have carried some of out technical glitches from last week with us as the guitar player had what sounded like a bad battery, the mix changed from the beginning of first service to the end of first service and we had no drums for the final song of the first service. Amy filled in with vocals, pennywhistle and shaker while I also provided some vocals and played my new djembe. The djembe came in especially useful on "Shout to the North" at the end of the first service when the drums (electronic) were never unmuted.
We got home and Amy and Marilyn prepared Thanksgiving (version 2.0). It was a great meal, followed by the end of the win by my (I hate to admit it) Vikings and a nap during the movie "Madagascar." The evening was pretty laid back while we listened to the rain and wind begin to threaten a bit more.
At 2:30am, we heard Maia start to cry. An unusual event usually tied to some other disruption. The disruption was that Xander had thrown up Thanksgiving (remixed) all over his bed in their room and was working his way to the bathroom when we heard him clattering around in the dark. We got him cleaned up, the bed cleaned up and a spot on the couch with a basin set up for him when the lights went out. The next few hours repeated a cycle of us nodding off, Xander throwing up, us cleaning him up and us trying to go back to bed.
For variety, the power went off a few times in the midst of the cycle making it even more interesting since we're staying on the first floor of a two story that is backed into the cut out side of a hill. That means that there's a part of the basement with no windows including the bathroom and hallway. I fumbled around upstairs until I found some matches and we were able to light a candle and use it to find a flashlight. We left the candle where Xander was sleeping and kept the flashlight with us in case we needed to get up again.
By the time we got up this morning, the power had been on for several hours, Xander was still sick as a dog and the snow had kicked in to the point where we knew we weren't going anywhere. Looking out the window now, the snow is blowing to the point where I can barely make out the gray expanse of the lake and our van has several inches of snow on it. We're going to have another lazy day and hope that tomorrow proves a little more agreeable to leave.
I'm wishing I would have brought some movies or my guitar, but I may have to settle for a good book instead.
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