Rhinelander visit

Well, we had a good trip to Rhinelander. There had been some dire warnings about road conditions for that weekend, but the roads were clear on Friday and we had (mostly) good roads on Sunday, when we headed back to Eau Claire. There was a lot of drifting snow in the Wausau-Abbotsford area, as always, and one car in the ditch, but we made it through without mishap.

Responsible parent that I am, I tried to creatively pack things that might be helpful should we wind up in the ditch. I had a shovel, jackknife, cell phone (of course), blankets, first aid kit, flashlights, food and water, tool kit, and more-- just in case. Jon laughed at me when we returned and he saw that I had packed a camping lantern, along with the two flashlights. Apparently he thought that was excessive...

Speaking of being a good scout-! This coming weekend Michael is slated to have his first winter camping experience, at the Boy Scout camp. It's not technically camping-- they stay in a heated cabin-- but it will be his first time away without Mom. I asked him if he wanted me to come along (apparently some moms do), but he was adamant that he did NOT want that. He'll be gone two nights, and I think it will be a good experience for him.

Emma will be very lonely without him, but I'll try and do something special with her this weekend while he's gone... maybe go to a matinee at the theater or have some coffee/cocoa girl chat.

Eau Claire has had about ten inches of snow over the past 2-3 days. It's relatively warm out, so the snow is heavy and packy. Great snow fort conditions. You see a lot more local kids outdoors when it's like this.

We look forward to Laurie and Mark coming over for a visit during the last weekend of March. They'll come to Eau Claire after visiting Bill in Minneapolis. Brother John will be home for a two-week visit around that time, so we hope to see him as well. We can either go to Madison or Rhinelander to visit him, when we know his schedule better.

We hope to see Don's family in Rhinelander, at Easter time. So that just leaves brother Bob unaccounted for! He's probably recovering from all the snow removal he had to do in Madison this weekend!

Nostalgic tidbit: Mom and I went to Pine Lake School this weekend. The school's shut down, but the building and playground are still there, mostly intact. Desks and chalkboards fill most of the classrooms, but there are no kids. Most of the building is closed off and there's a makeshift Thrift Shop set up in the kindergarten and first grade rooms. The third grade building addition that I remember is no longer there. It's become an informal parking lot, right next to the big-rooted pine trees we used to play house in and chase each other around. I don't know if those are the same trees I remember, but they sure look like it. Except they don't seem to have gotten larger; if anything, they've shrunk. Maybe all those years of being trampled by little feet... or maybe because I'm a giant grown-up, now!