In part because Linda and I had decided to leave for Florida before December 25^th, our son and daughter-in-law decided to have Madeline’s 1^st birthday celebration on Saturday, December 14 instead of her actual birth date on Wednesday the 18^th.  This put in motion a planning process in which Shawna’s mother (Carol) flew in from Denver, Colorado on Friday the 13^th and flew back on Sunday the 15^th.  Linda’s sister (Sister Marilyn) also flew in from St. Louis, Missouri on Friday and flew back on Tuesday the 17^th.

A big present for a little girl.

Marilyn arrived at 9 PM local time.  We now have a one hour drive from our new house to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, so we left early enough to stop at Neehee’s in Canton, Michigan for dinner.  Neehee’s is a chain (I think) that serves Indian vegetarian street food.  It is fast, reasonably priced, and fantastically good eats.  It is not convenient to where we now live, however, so whenever we have to drive anywhere near there (which isn’t very often) we try to plan time to stop and have lunch or dinner.

This is why Michiganders become snowbirds.

On Saturday, in spite of very marginal winter weather, Shawna’s sister (Tracey) and her family (Kyle, Mari, and Andrew) drove over from the Grand Rapids, Michigan area and her brother (Rob) and his family (Becky and Jack) drove up from Columbus, Ohio.  We all gathered at Brendan and Shawna’s house in Ann Arbor late that morning for Madeline’s 1^st birthday party.

Part of our new backyard looking NE from the dining room.

Madeline had come down with croup a few days earlier and developed a bad cold to go with it—her first real illness since she was born—but she was a trooper and enjoyed opening her presents (with a little help from mom and dad).  Meghan, Chris, and Katie were also there and our side of the family took our leave mid-late afternoon so Shawna’s family could have their holiday celebration.

More presents for Madeline at the our family gathering.

The wintry weather continued on Sunday and with temperatures below freezing the snow continued to accumulate.  The bus was winterized so we did not have any concerns about water tanks or pipes freezing, but we kept the electrical heaters in the house and bays running just the same.

Iggy (the cat) getting into the holiday spirit.

Sunday was a quiet day for Linda, Marilyn, and me, but Monday found us headed back to Brendan and Shawna’s in Ann Arbor for the Fay Family holiday celebrations.  Meghan and Chris were there again, but being a school day Katie was not able to join us.  We had a great visit and a lovely dinner meal.  Linda made vegan lasagna, Chris brought salad, bread sticks, meatballs, and dessert from the restaurant (he’s the general manager), and Brendan/Shawna provided the wine.

The holiday meal (Linda is taking the photo).