Update on Holiday Fun

With this posting you will see our basketball star daughter Julia tear up the other team with her unstoppable drive to the hoop. Our theatrical star Joshua in his first holiday program at school. And finally, Gabe on his first (yes we know he is 3, but we have not yet let him experiment with fire, I think that's good??) candle lighting during Hanukkah. Enjoy

Oh yes congratulations to my Bro and sister-in-law on the birth of their first child Ella, nice job!!

Winter in Wisconsin

Well December 1st came and so did our first snowstorm. Believe it or not it was the most snow we had in one snowfall since we moved here 5 years ago. We had about 12 inches. It was also the kids first time they had a day off of school due to snow. Julia was happy because she was supposed to have a "mean" substitute that day. Joshua said it was "the first time he had a day off in his whole world." Tough life that kid has had. Good old Danielle said, "How cheap, that means we have 3 days off in a row." I wonder when that will change? I guess I should be happy she loves school so much. Although it has been very cold, and getting four kids dressed in snowpants, coats, hats, gloves and boots isn't always fun, I must say it is beautiful. Especially at night when the neighborhood is lit with Christmas lights. We have snowmen and snowflake lights in case you can't tell. Just trying to keep everyone happy. Well keep warm, we'll post more soon.

Important Info

As a matter of info if you do not already know you can click on the photo for an enlarged photo view. Here are a few more from the trip.

Hey Gang:

Here are some pics from our first ever traveling Thanksgiving. Some of you may know that the family we have celebrated Thanksgiving with since living in Wisconsin moved recently to San Antonio of all places. Anyway, we spent a couple of days in the Wisconsin Dells. The Dells (for short) really is nothing more than a first class tourist attraction situated in and around the Wisconsin River. The glacier movements caused both "Dells" and "Kettles" which has created some really spectacular scenery.

Oh by the way, as we enjoyed the day inside we discovered that Wisconsin had the warmest Thanksgiving (60's) on record in 134 years. I am sure it was nice outside!

We stayed at a resort that had an all you can eat buffet and a giant water park that seemed to suit the kids rather well albeit the parents were bushed come the end of the day.

Enjoy the photos.

Joshua's kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving Feast. It was a lot of fun. They had made a lot of quick bread the day before, blueberry, apple, banana, and more. I think Joshua tried every kind. There was a lot of other goodies too. The children were dressed up as pilgrims and native americans. They sang songs and gave thanks.

Joshua received his first torah at his kindergarten consecration. His whole class (which consists of four children) recited the shamah (a hebrew prayer). It was very cute.

Gabby the monkey

Mommy and Gabby had zoo class today. We learned all about apes and monkeys. The latest photo is Gabe as a monkey. Gabe can now tell you the difference between monkeys and apes (for those of you who don't know, monkeys have tails and apes don't).

Still Riding Bikes????

Here are some recent photos of Velo Trocadero's (my team) annual Halloween cycle cross race. For those of you that don't know cycle cross it is called "cross" because it is a cross between road racing and mountain bike racing. Take notice of the bicycle and you will find that it looks like a road bike but has off road tires and some other minor modifications.

Last year it was the best attended cross race in state history! We have prizes for the best costume and require (well we try) all riders to race in costume, it is pretty funny.

Oh yea check out the kids race where our child prodigy Danielle took 2ND......


Here is a link to our team web site if you would like to check it out:

www.velotrocadero.com

Here's some photos from one of our camping trips this summer(some of you may have heard we are now proud owners of an RV). Joshua takes the prize for biggest fish, and that's not a fish story!

Hello family & friends!

Well after many requests to send photos and update everyone as to the status of things at the Thistle house we have decided to create our own blog to better manage communications. Sounds pretty organized hey? Well not really it is very simple and frankly a bit easier than doings things the "old" fashion way with e-mail. The girls are now at the age were we can allow them to make postings and they should have a good time with it.

We promise to load photos and some videos just as soon as it all gets figured out. Which is code for "as soon as Dad gets around to it".

Well, since this is my kind of platform i.e. I can give opinions and nobody argues with me. I promise to keep it full of meaningless opinions and thoughts about the world's problems. After all isn't that what you are supposed to do with a Blog?

Ok, just kidding-(as grandma says whew.....) we plan to update the site with family happens and the like.

Enjoy